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

The Ramayana

Last week we read and discussed the story of The Ramayana. It is an Indian story that depicts the way of thought that people had in those times. For example, the main character, Rama, is exiled to the woods for no reason and he doesn't complain or say anything in regards to his punishment. Rama goes into exile because he says he wants to fulfill his Darma, or his obligations. In class we discussed why Rama was exiled and concluded that the Hunchback sort of brain washed one of the King's wives to send Rama into exile so that her son would become prince, then king. The hunchback was only trying to look after her well being because she was friends with the queen Kaikeyi and wants her son to become king. In class we also discussed that Kaikeyi refers to the hunchback repetitively by calling her hunchback. We also discussed that in the times of the Ramayana, people believed in reincarnation and that once you died you were born again, but depending on how you comported yourself in your previous life, you would be punished in your current life. For example, we concluded that the hunchback was probably a bad person or had done something terrible in her previous life in order to become a hunchback in her present life.
Rama is sent to exile and he doesn't complain about anything, he just wants to please his father, the king Dasharatha. Rama's wife is kidnapped by the demon Ravana that tries to seduce her into becoming his wife. In class we had a discussion to see if Rama was a superhero because he goes to save his wife from the demon. I think that Rama isn't a superhero because i think that most husbands would go and try to rescue their wife if they are kidnapped. I think that Rama can be classified more as a hero for the actions he took into saving his wife. I think that Rama meets some of the values or characteristics that superheroes must meet in order to be a superhero. For example, Rama protects the weak, Sita, from a demon that he kills. Rama also has unique weapons like an arrow that returns to him after he shoots it. I think that Rama's biggest flaw is when he rescues Sita and then accuses her of infidelity. Rama puts Sita through a test to see if she was unfaithful with Ravana and she passes the test because the Gods save her from the fire and tell Rama that she has not sinned. Rama then says that he knew that she wasn't unfaithful but that he had to make sure that other people knew that she wasn't because he didn't want people to think of Rama as a foolish son of a king that took back his wife after she had lived with another man even though it wasn't voluntary. I think that Rama could have proven to the people or the 3 worlds that Sita was faithful some other way or at least not have insulted Sita as he did in the story. I also think that Rama isn't a superhero because he doesn't dedicate all of his time to protecting people, which is what superheroes should do. 

word count: 545

gilgamesh tablets 6-10

Last week we discussed the tablets of Gilgamesh 6-10. After Gilgamesh and Enkidu return from their heroic journey of killing Humbaba, Ishtar tries to seduce Gilgamesh and make him sleep with her. Gilgamesh refuses to be Ishtar's plaything. Ishtar is the goddess of war and love. She becomes furious and enraged and sets out to harm Gilgamesh for refusing to sleeping with her. Gilgamesh refuses to sleep with Ishtar because he knows what happens to the men that sleep with her, some end up in the underworld. Gilgamesh and Enkidu are faced with another battle, this time the battle is to protect themselves and the city of Uruk because Ishtar released the bull onto Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh and Enkidu kill the bull and toss it to Ishtar. The actions of Gilgamesh and the language that Gilgamesh uses when he speaks to Ishtar seems, misogynistic because of the patriarchal society in which they lived in. In the next tablet, Enkidu becomes ill and he curses the prostitute for taming him and blames her for falling ill for if he would have been left alone, he would still be living in the forest with the animals. I think that there is something interesting about when Enkidu curses the prostitue because he curses her then after a while he reasons and takes back the curse and instead hopes for her good and thanks her for taming him and clothing him. After Enkidu's death, Gilgamesh sets out to find Utanapishtim because he is scared of death and he wants to find a way to overcome death and be immortal and young forever. I think that Gilgamesh's journey to find Utanapishtim is like another heroic journey in which he engages in by himself because his friend is dead. I think that this part of the story is similar to the last part of Beowulf when he fights the dragon. Beowulf realizes that he is not invincible as he though when he was younger and so he uses a shield and sword to fight the dragon. Gilgamesh becomes aware that he isn't invincible after the death of Enkidu so he sets off to try to become invincible, but fails to do so. At the beginning of the epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh seems to be invincible and he treats his people bad and really doesn't care of what happens because he is king and can do whatever he wants. But now the tables are turned around and Gilgamesh experiences fear, which he hadn't experience in the epic.  After traveling through forests and waters, Gilgamesh reaches Utanapishtim and asks him how to become invincible. Utanapishtim tells Gilgamesh that death is our destiny, even if we don't know when it is going to happen and that nothing lives forever. I think that the moral or point of the story is to demonstrate that no matter what someone does to try to avoid death, ebventually it will happen. But that people die and another generation of other people are born and the human race continues. The test that Utanapishtim does on Gilgamesh illustrates this point, Gilgamesh tries to not fall asleep as hard as he can, but eventually he does because it is natural to fall asleep because it is something that our body needs.


word count: 514 

Gilgamesh/presentation

Last week in class we talked about the story of Gilgamesh and talked about whether he was a superhero. I think that most of the class concluded that he was not a superhero because of the way he treated the people of Uruk and how he would sleep with the brides before the husband slept with them. In the beginning of the epic, Gilgamesh didn't protect his people like he was supposed to. Gilgamesh was tamed by Enkidu, who was created to tame Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh and Enkidu fought until they became close friends. It is weird how one second both men are fighting and the next they are best friends and they even kiss. In class we discussed how some readers interpret Enkidu's and Gilgamesh's relationship as homosexual because they kissed after they fought. The story doesn't say where they kissed, but even so some readers interpret it as homoerotic, but as our instructor stated, homoerotic contact doesn't mean that the persons are homosexual it just means that there was contact between two people of the same sex. In class Mr. Bahlmann talked about how back in the day some people considered batman and robin to be homosexual and lovers because they were always together and because of robins inappropriate outfit that led to conclude some people that they were lovers. I think that Gilgamesh isn't a superhero because he would rape women, and superheroes should never do that. Although I don't consider Gilgamesh as a superhero, I would like to point out that he does have a few superhero characteristics like super strength and he goes on a heroic quest that changes who he is and becomes a better king to the people of Uruk. I also wanted to point out that even though Gilgamesh and Enkidu set out on a quest because of the god Shamash, the sun god, their trip was not all good in the sense that they killed Humbaba, the monster of the forest, even though Humbaba was the servant of Elil, the god of Earth and a superior god than Shamash. Humababa warned the men that if they killed him that they would bring a curse upon themselves. Both men didn't care at the moment and hurried up to kill Humababa before Enlil found out and set out to stop them. Because of that action both men are not considered as superheroes because they killed a "monster" on their quest to becomes better men. On wednesday there was also a presentation on Gilgamesh and I think that most of the class enjoyed the presentation and remember it well because of the song that the group put together that summarized the entire story of Gilgamesh and was entertaining. 

word count: 453

The Iliad book 1 and 18

This week we read The Iliad book 1 and book 18. I think that Achilles doesn't qualify as a superhero because he really doesn't have any special power and his attitude is not superhero like. For example in The Iliad book 1, Achilles gets into an argument with Agamemnon because of some women that they claimed to be theirs after they won a battle. Chryses, the father of Chryseis, one of the girls that were taken by the Achaean army, begs Agamemnon to return his daughter to him. That is the reason that Achilles and Agamemnon get into an argument. Agamemnon says he will return Chryseis only if Achilles gives him Briseis, which is the other woman that they captured. Achilles attitude is arrogant  because he doesn't want to give up his prize and both men treat women as objects rather than human beings. That is one reason Achilles doesn't qualify as a superhero. I think that Achilles acts like a little kid because after the argument he has with Agamemnon, he refuses to fight in the battle with the Trojans and he lets his people, the Achaeans fight alone, when he is a great warrior that can help his people win in battle. Achilles doesn't participate in the war until after the death of his friend, Patroklos, is killed by Hektor, a trojan warrior. Achilles only goes back to the war to avenge the death of his friend. I think that Achilles isn't a superhero because if he was, he wouldn't have let his people fight the war by themselves because of an argument he had with Agamemnon. A superhero is supposed to help and protect the weak, not abandon them in times of war and danger because of his foolish attitude. Also, the only reason that Agamemnon returned Chryseis to her father was because Apollo had put a plague on the Achaeans because of what they did. I wanted to point out that Zeus and Hera act like human beings and often tend to be humorous. For example, Zeus doesn't want to help out the Trojans because he says that his wife is going to get mad at him. Also, later on in the story Zeus threatens Hera of strangling her when she found out that Zeus was helping the Trojans. Zeus's argument with Hera contrasts the argument between Achilles and Agamemnon, which almost resulted in death if it wasn't for Athena that talked some sense into Achilles. I have a question about Achilles, why do the Trojans get scared when Achilles shows up in the battle to recover the body of Patroklos? Does Achilles scream so loud that he scares the Trojans? or is it just the fact that the Trojans know it is Achilles and that he has returned to battle?

word count: 465

oedipus the king

This week we are reading oedipus the king and I think that this story is much easier to read than Beowulf. The words used in Oedipus the king are more modern words and are easy to understand. The story begins by stating that there is a plague in the city of Thebes and the citizens are dying because of the plague and they are asking their king, Oedipus,  for help. Oedipus is married to Jocasta, the queen of Thebes and Creon is Jocasta's brother. Oedipus sends a messenger to the oracle for advice on how to rid the city of Thebes of the plague. The oracle tells the messenger that the killer of Laius is the one responsible for the plague and that he is living in Thebes and until the murderer leaves, the plague will persist. Oedipus hears the message and threatens and promises that he will find the killer of Laius and will punish him to the full extent even if the murderer is living in his own house. Laius was the king of Thebes before Oedipus became king and he was murdered by a group of robbers, but they never searched for the killer until now. I think that it is good to point out that when Oedipus says that he will punish whoever the killer of Laius is even if he is family he is actually foretelling the future without knowing it because he is Laius killer. Oedipus calls Tiresias, a blind prophet to assure what the oracle had told him. Oedipus threatens Tiresias into telling him who the murderer is even though Tiresias doesn't want to tell him because he says that you rather not know what I know. Oedipus insists and Tiresias tells him that Oedipus is the murderer. Oedipus immediately suspects that Creon, his brother in law, and Tiresias were trying to overthrow him and he says that he will kill Creon for betraying the king. Creon denies Oedipus' accusation and says that there is no reason that he would like to be king because he would have to work and have responsibilities if he was king and he didn't want that. Oedipus insists in killing Creon, but Jocasta tries to calm Oedipus down. Oedipus then gets news that his father, the king of Corinth had died. Oedipus fled from Corinth because he had heard about a prophecy that he was going to kill his father and sleep with his mother. Later in the story, Oedipus calls in a man that was with Laius at the time of his death and he confirmed that Oedipus was the killer and that Oedipus' real father was Laius. They explain that Laius heard about the prophecy of Oedipus when he was born so they sent him to die at a deserted area. So Oedipus' real parents are Jocasta and Laius.

I now believe that back then people really believed in fate because in both stories, Oedipus the king and Beowulf, the main characters believed in fate. Oedipus tried to fight fate, but no matter what he did he still fulfilled his prophecy and slept with his mother and killed his father. I am confused on what is a sphinx, the story talks about Oedipus being the only one to be able to solve the riddle of the sphinx and thus relieve Thebes from a plague. was the sphinx a god? did it cast a spell on the city? was it normal back then to be solving riddles?


Word count: 581

Beowulf

Well, Beowulf is sort of difficult to read because it is written in a different form of modern english and I have to stop like twenty times per page and look up the words in a dictionary and write down the definition next to the word in the book. I learn more by writing in my books because whenever I am reviewing or rereading the text I don't have to look up the words again.

I think that the class discussions are good and have helped me understand the story of Beowulf better because we talk about the characteristics that make a superhero. I think that Beowulf is a superhero to the standards of the society and culture of the time it was written. I don't think that Beowulf is considered a superhero to contemporary society because we now value more characteristics and believe that a superhero needs to have special powers like spiderman in order for them to be a superhero. I think that Beowulf is considered a superhero to the Danes people because he went, on his own will, to offer his help in defeating Grendel.

I also wanted to make a point about why Grendel went to help fight Grendel, in the text it says that Beowulf went by his own will, but also because he felt that he owed Hrothgar  because his father owed him money or owed him something. Nevertheless, I think that Beowulf was a superhero because he was courageous, and he protected the weak. I also think that Beowulf is a little too cocky, but I understand why he was. If i had super strength and was like Beowulf, I would be cocky too because  Beowulf can back up what he says and he proved it to Unferth when he was trying to make him look bad by talking trash. 


Also, who is Beow? is it another character with the same name as Beowulf? 




word count: 321 words