Final week of class

Last week in class we talked about the ending of Othello and how Iago's power was in his words because in his last line he said that he wasn't going to talk anymore and he doesn't. I think that maybe what Iago could have also been referring to was that he wasn't going to talk anymore because he knew they were going to murder him for the evil he did. Either way, it shows how Iago was able to control people very precisely just by talking to them and inserting ideas that make the person curious and to ask questions. In the last day of class we also went over all of the quizzes we have done since the beginning of the semester. Reviewing the quizzes that we already took helped me remember the stories we had talked about and also to remember what questions I answered wrong in the quiz and during class I was able to point out which ones I got wrong and was able to answer them correctly this time around. I think that many people, like myself, learn more after they review material like quizzes because they know what material they need to know and how the question will look.

I would also like to say that before I took this class, English 231, I had never read any of the stories we read in class. I had never read a shakespeare play because I had always heard that it was difficult to read and that most of them are dumb. I think that after this class I will look into reading more shakespeare because Othello was a good story, it had a good twist, a great villain, and a tragic resolution. The only story that I didn't like to read was the Dao De Jing on Daoism because like we discussed in class, it is very difficult to read, even to Mr. B. I think that Daoism is interesting, but it can be very confusing as well and it requires heavy reading and concentration in order to "understand" it better. Before reading The Ramayana I thought that it was going to be very boring and difficult to read, but it turned out to be the only story that I was able to read without having to look up a lot of words in the dictionary because most of it was straight forward. My favorite story that we read in class was Beowulf because he was a great warrior and was happy to proclaim that he was. I think that Beowulf is a superhero because everything he did in the story was to protect the weak, even though he was also being cocky at the same time. At the end, he died because of his stubbornness of wanting to fight a dragon without any armor to show his people that he was a good king and a good warrior, which were great values in those times.

I also liked how the class was structured, the stories we read, and how we had to blog every week about things related to class because a lot of people, including myself, don't talk in class. I have had other english classes were we didn't have to blog and in class it was really quiet and I think that blogging is a good alternative for participation for people that are shy to bring up something in class.


word count: 568

Othello Act 4 and Act 5

Last week in class we discussed Act 4 and we talked about how Iago controls Othello by making Othello think about his insecurities: being a moor, being older than Desdemona, and not knowing much about women. I think that Iago is very clever because he is able to find and bring up Othello's flaws without him noticing. Iago reminds me of the movie The Devil's Advocate starring Keanu Reeves and Al Pacino. Al Pacino is the devil in the movie and Reeves is his son, but he doesn't know until the end of the film. Al Pacino sends him a great job offer and Reeves accepts and flies to New York to work for an important law firm. Al Pacino, like Iago, knows Reeves weaknesses one being that Reeves has never lost a court case and he doesn't plan on losing ever. Al Pacino just silently controls him without him noticing. For example, Al Pacino, being the devil, makes Reeves' wife start seeing demonic and strange things around the house, when Reeves tells Al Pacino that his wife is going crazy Al Pacino tells him to quit an important case that Reeves is working on. Al Pacino knows what Reeves' reaction will be because he doesn't quit, Reeves tells Pacino that he doesn't want to quit the case because if he quits and his wife gets better he will hate her for him quitting. Al Pacino pokes fun at Reeves throughout the movie saying things like,"you can't always win" while laughing. I think that Al Pacino's character is very similar to Iago, making him the devil. Iago knows almost exactly what the reaction of the people he is controlling will be, except at the end when he is forced to kill Emilia because she was going to uncover his plan and is forced to improvise his plan, unless Iago also planned that as well.

Act 5 is the final act and it is when Iago's plan unravels and the tragedy of Othello begins to unfold. First Roderigo attacks Cassio, wounding him, but since it is dark nothing can be seen so Iago kills Roderigo and acts like he is trying to save Cassio. Othello walks on stage and hears Cassio screaming and thinks that Iago already began his plan to kill Cassio and Desdemona, so Othello has to do his part and kill Desdemona. Othello kills desdemona twice, I think that when he kills Desdemona he is imagining that she was still alive and he had began to go insane because of jealousy. One thing that strikes me as odd when I was reading the story was that after Graziano and Lodovico capture Iago they take him back to Othello, Othello stabs Iago wounding him but Iago still manages somehow to stab Emilia. Did they let Iago keep his sword on him when he was captured? I'm not sure if i missed that part, but if they let him keep his sword then I think there is something strange about that. I also think that Othello should have personally killed Iago by torturing him instead of killing himself, but maybe Othello was already crazy and brainwashed by Iago.



word count: 528

Othello Act 3

This past week in class we talked about the first 2 acts of Othello. We had to read Act 3 for next class. Act 3 takes place in the island of Cyprus and it continues to unfold Iago's plan of making Othello believe that Desdemona is cheating on him with Cassio. I continue to think that Iago is very similar to The Joker because everything he does seems to be done easily and well planned out because Iago know how the people will react and he doesn't really even do anything. I watched The Dark Knight over the weekend and I was observing how The Joker doesn't really plan things but he knows how to make people do what he wants. For example in the movie The Dark Knight, The Joker sets up bombs on two ferries that are full with people and he lets the people decide who wants to live because only one ferry full of people can survive. One ferry is filled with criminals and the other is filled with "good" citizens of Gotham city. In the end none of the ferries decide to pull the trigger to blow up the other ferry because they don't have the heart to kill people. While all of this is going on, The Joker is standing on a tall building just waiting for everything to unfold and to see fireworks, but this time everything he thought was going to happen didn't and Batman comes and captures him. Iago is the same as The joker because he starts to fill Othello with ideas and make Othello question Desdemona's fidelity. Iago makes Othello become jealous and doubt Desdemona and and he is blinded by his jealousy to see that Iago is controlling him by feeding him false observations. Iago controls everything and makes everything seem as something that it is not. For example, Iago tells Othello to observe how Desdemona acts when she is with Cassio and that Desdemona will try to convince Othello to give Cassio back his rank as Lieutenant but Iago tells Othello that the reason Desdemona is trying to convince him in doing so is because she is cheating on him with Cassio. At the end of act 3 Iago has convinced Othello in getting revenge on Desdemona and Cassio and he has also been promoted to Lieutenant. So far Iago has manipulated Othello supposedly because Iago thinks that Emilia slept with Othello. I think that the moral behind the story of Othello is that jealousy makes people blind and make people think and see things that are not true and that they often lead to violent acts by the person who thinks he is being cheated on because jealousy spreads like a deadly disease.


word count: 457

Sir Gawain part 4 & Othello acts I and II

This past week in class we had to finish reading Sir Gawain and The Green Knight and begin reading The Tragedy of Othello. In part 4 of Gawain, the Green Knight spares Gawain from decapitation and tells him the reason why he went to Camelot. I think that Gawain can be classified as a brave war hero because he demonstrated courage and bravery in going to meet up with the Green Knight to be decapitated. If Gawain wasn't a hero he would have just accepted the guides offer to leave and the guide wouldn't tell anyone about Gawain leaving and not meeting up with the Green Knight. I think that part of why Gawain is so brave is that he is a warrior and he has to chivalrous no matter what, its a code of honor by which the people of Camelot lived by and if he wasn't chivalrous he would be frowned upon on if they found out. I don't know if they talk about this in the story, but i noticed that the Green Knight swung 3 times to Gawain meaning that he took one swing for each day that he was in the castle and the way he comported himself. On the third swing the Green Knight nicked Gawain's neck for not telling him that he received a girdle. In class Mr. B told us to look out for the "3's" in the story and that was one of them.

In act 1 of Othello we learn that Iago is helping Roderigo in trying to get Desdemona, which is Othello's wife. When I started reading the story and read that Iago was helping Roderigo, a rich man, get Desdemona I thought to myself that it sounded too good to be true because of the reason that Roderigo was rich. I think that Iago's reason to help Roderigo was only for money, but then Iago says that he is doing it because he wants to get back at Othello for giving Cassio a position that Iago deserved because he was more experienced. Later in the story in act 3, I think, we learn another reason for why Iago is doing what he's doing and its because he thinks that his wife, Emilia, slept with Othello. The point I'm trying to say is that Iago just states reasons for why he is doing what he is ding but I think that he is just messed up in the head and that he only wants to see people burn. In class today we were talking about the Joker and said that Iago is similar to him and I agree because when I read about his reasons for doing what he was doing I thought he was insane and imagined him to look like the Joker. I also think that maybe he wasn't always crazy, maybe something happened in his life that made him turn that way, maybe it had something to with the wars or battles that he fought in.  

word count: 500

Sir Gawain part 2 and 3

This past week we had to read Sir Gawain part 2 and 3. In part 2, it is almost Christmas and almost the time for Gawain to meet up with the Green Knight to complete their covenant. Gawain sets off to find the Green Knight and encounters many enemies like wolves, dragons and bulls. This part of the story reminded me of Beowulf because Beowulf also fought a dragon and other "stronger" enemies. Unlike Gawain, Beowulf died while defeating the dragon which can be contrasted to Gawain because he survived. I think that Gawain has to be more than average strong because you need to be very strong and courageous to fight a dragon. I think that Gawain is strong like Beowulf, but unlike Beowulf, he doesn't brag about his awesomeness and it could have something to do with Gawain's culture and values. I think of knights as being modest and humble men that would be frowned upon if they acted inappropriately. I like the fact that Gawain doesn't boast about his awesomeness when the Green Knight rode into the Camelot the previous year and I think that many of my classmates also liked that he didn't brag about himself because we had a discussion at the beginning of the semester about Beowulf and how some students didn't classify him as a superhero because he was cocky. I find it weird how Gawain prays in the wilderness for a place to pray because it is Christmas eve and when he looks up there is a castle and he ends up going inside of it, which I think is unreasonable because I don't know who would go into a castle that appeared out of thin air. It seems as if Gawain was under a spell or blinded somehow because castles don't appear out of nowhere, maybe the cold had impacted his ability to think clear because in the story they say that he almost froze to death.I don't know why Gawain keeps playing "games" with people he doesn't know because he is going to play a game with the host of the castle and it seems very strange because it involves exchanging things that they received throughout the day while Gawain is at the castle with the host's wife and while the host is out hunting. I think that the covenants are tests to see if Gawain is a true knight and truthful because the covenants test his five knightly virtues; friendship, generosity, courtesy, chastity, and piety.

In part 3 Gawain spends three days with the hosts wife at the castle and the host spends three days hunting animals and exchanging them with Gawain for whatever he received at the castle. The host's wife continuously tries to persuade Gawain to sleep with her, thus testing his knightly virtues, chastity and generosity because Gawain can't really say no to a woman of higher rank to her and he also doesn't want to commit adultery. That is another reason why i think that both of Gawain's covenants or games are really tests being done by someone that he knows and is trying to make him a better person by doing so.  I also found it interesting that Gawain doesn't mention to the host on the third day the girdle that the host's wife gave him and after she does Gawain goes and confesses his sins because he wasn't truthful to the host about everything he received that day as an effort to avoid being killed by the Green Knight the next day because the girdle supposedly protects him from danger.

word count: 597

Daoism, kung fu panda and sir gawain part 1

Last week in class we finished watching the last part of Kung Fu Panda. I found it interesting how po realized how the dragon scroll worked, he just had to believe that it did work. I found that interesting because it is similar to when people say that all you need to do is believe in yourself if you want to accomplish something. I think that after Po discovered how to use the dragon scroll he became a superhero because it was then when he went back to defend master shifu from Tai Lung and he is successful in doing so. I also thought that it was funny and interesting in how Po defeated Tai Lung because he wasn't really trying to, Tai Lung sort of defeated himself. I think that Po can be classified as a superhero because he defended the entire village from Tai Lung and he continues to use his super powers in the next film. I think that there are a lot of Daoistic elements in Kung Fu Panda, like the part where Mr. Ping tells Po that his secret ingredient soup in reality doesn't have a secret ingredient, Mr. Ping's customers are told that his soup has a secret ingredient soup and therefore believe that it does and that is what makes it taste delicious. That part of the story is similar to a placebo effect because people think that they are eating secret ingredient soup, but there is no secret ingredient soup in the soup. For homework we had to read part 1 of Sir Gawain and so far I have found it really interesting because the Green Knight says that he will come back to give Gawain a blow to his head one year later just as Gawain did to the Green Knight, but the Green knight  didn't die even though he was decapitated. I think that the Green Knight is sort of a metaphor of something that Gawain did and that a year later karma will come back to haunt Gawain the same way Gawain did. I also found it interesting how the story begins by describing how several countries like Britain were founded after the fall of Troy by men whose names are similar to the cities name. I also think that King Arthur summoned the Green Knight to come to the feast and challenge him so that Gawain could step up to the giant as to train or give a lesson to Gawain.

word count: 413

Daoism

Last week in class we discussed Daoism and tried to interpret the best we could of what Daoism explained because it is very difficult to read and understand it well. We discussed how Daoism is a religion and also a philosophy that many people believe in. For example, in class we compared Daoism with 'the force" of star wars because it is similar in that it can't be seen, but people know what it is. The force can be thought of as the way that everything happens naturally without having to do anything, like the flow of life. I like how our instructor related the way of describing Daoism to having to describe what salt tastes like to a person that has never tried salt. It seems impossible to describe exactly what salt tastes like with our language and words because it is like having to describe a color. People know what salt tastes like and also what a certain color looks like because we were born naturally with the capabilities to do so. Daoism is similar in that it is very hard to explain to someone that has never experienced the Dao because it is something almost unexplainable, it is something that occurs naturally. I think that Daoism is very interesting, but like other philosophies it is very difficult to understand so you have to read and reread everything to understand it better. Daoism can be interpreted in different ways by different people from different perspectives because of the way it is written, it doesn't really state something, it leaves the reader having to interpret the reading however he/she may choose. Last week we also watched the first part of Kung Fu Panda and I think that it has some Dao characteristics like when master Shifu and the furious five tell master oogway that the panda can't be the dragon warrior because it was an accident that the master chose the panda as the dragon warrior, but master oogway says that there aren't no accidents. I think that master oogway meant is similar to destiny and to daoism because it happens naturally. My favorite line of the movie so far is when master Oogway tells master Shifu that " yesterday was history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift that's why it's called the present" because it makes you think about why the present is really called the present. I had never though or questioned why we call the present the present until I saw the movie.


word count: 419