Passage Analysis  

Both A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Taming of the Shrew had insults within many of their prominent scenes. 

LYSANDER: (to HERMIA)        Get you gone, you dwarf,

You minimus of hindering knotgrass made,

You bead, you acorn! (III.ii)

In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Both Lysander and Demitrius are very mean to Helena after they are made to fall in love with Hermia. One of their favorite subjects to comment on is her height, which is bought up several times throughout the play. She is much shorter than Hermia, and once the two men fall in love with her, they play on Helena’s size a lot, using hyperbole and over-exaggerating in order to make her feel worse and worse about herself. 

KATHARINA: "Asses are made to bear, and so are you."

PETRUCHIO: "Women are made to bear, and so are you."

KATHARINA: "No such jade as you, if me you mean."

PETRUCHIO: "Alas, good Kate, I will not burden thee,/For knowing thee to be but young and light."

KATHARINA: "Too light for such a swain as you to catch,/And yet as heavy as my weight should be."

PETRUCHIO: "Should be? Should-buzz!"

KATHARINA: "Well ta'en, and like a buzzard." 

PETRUCHIO: “O slow-winged turtle, shall a buzzard take thee?”

KATHARINA: “ Ay, for a turtle, as he takes a buzzard” (II.i)

Much of the insults in The Taming of the Shrew come about in scenes with Kate in them. In this scene, Kate is very insulting to Petruchio, who is quick and thoughtful enough to come back at Kate whenever she verbally attacks him. Petruchio, however, does not usually insult Kate back, he turns her abuse into implication. 

Genre Commentary

Magic is a common theme in both A Midsummer Night’s Dream and in The Tempest. Within Midsummer, magic came in the form of fairies and the love potion, which also tied together because Puck (a fairy) was the one who put the potion on the four lovers eyes while they were asleep. This magic is the catalyst for the whole plot of the play, the lovers turning against one another, but then, in the end, the potion restores order so Lysander ends up loving Hermia, and vice versa, and Demitrius ends up loving Helena, who she was in love with all along. 

Bottom is also greatly affected by magic in two ways. Firstly, Puck turns Bottom’s head into that of a donkey, though Bottom doesn’t realize it, which makes him the character that he is: ridiculous and completely oblivious to his own stupidity. The other way that Bottom is affected is that Titania, the Queen of the fairies falls in love with him through use of the love potion, and this serves to boost his ego even more and make him feel like he is even more loved and admired. 

The Tempest uses magic in a different way, such that fairies are still seen, but a type that is different than those such as Puck, Titania, and Oberon. Ariel is considered a type of fairy spirit, but she is enslaved by Prospero and can only use his magic for Prospero’s own uses. Prospero also uses his magic to create the circumstances that all of the characters in the play must live under, from Alonso and Ferdinand to Ariel and Caliban to his daughter Miranda. 

Personal Reflection

Overall, I enjoyed reading these two of Shakespeare’s comedies, along with The Tempest. The Taming of the Shrew, while it was slightly harder to read, was very entertaining, with all of the physical and verbal comedy used, especially between Kate and Petruchio and Petruchio and Grumio. While I did like Kate as a character at first, it was good to watch her become a domesticated wife to Petruchio throughout her travels back and forth from Padua to Petruchio’s home in the country. 

A Midsummer Night’s Dream was interesting to read in class because it was easier to keep track of which character was in love with whom and when. I also liked that it was a play within a play, and that there was a play within the second play, though it did confuse me as to why Shakespeare never showed the scene at the inn again where the play was being performed. 

The Tempest was by far my favorite, mostly for the fact that Caliban was my favorite of the characters out of these three plays. Although he was meant to be an antagonist, I almost felt bad for him for the way that Prospero took his island and enslaved him. Caliban was never even given a choice about anything, even though he appeared to be the only real inhabitant of the island before Prospero’s ship wrecked there. 

Shakespeare's Histories

Passage Analysis 

Both Richard and Henry give lengthy speeches within their respective plays, but they are used in very different manners. 

This story shall the good man teach his son;

And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,

From this day to the ending of the world,

But we in it shall be remember'd;

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;

For he to-day that sheds his blood with me

Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,

This day shall gentle his condition:

And gentlemen in England now a-bed

Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,

And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks

That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day. (Henry V. IV. iii.)

Henry, while his main goal is to become heir the the throne of France, does great things to help the soldiers that are fighting for his cause through their battles. This St. Crispin’s Day speech is one of Shakespeare’s most famous, and it is used by Henry to rouse his troops and give them courage and strength to fight against the French army who greatly outnumbered the English. Everything that Henry does while in France is for his troops, and that makes them feel like they really belong where they are and that they should be proud to be there, like calling them his “band of brothers” or sitting around a fire with them, even though the soldiers don’t know who Henry really is.

And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover,

To entertain these fair well-spoken days, 

I am determined to prove a villain

And hate the idle pleasures of these days.

Plots have I laid, inductions dangerous,

By drunken prophecies, libels and dreams,

To set my brother Clarence and the king

In deadly hate the one against the other:

And if King Edward be as true and just

As I am subtle, false and treacherous,

This day should Clarence closely be mewed up,

About a prophecy, which says that 'G'

Of Edward's heirs the murderer shall be. (Richard III.  I. i.)

It is almost as if Richard has given up on himself; if he “cannot prove a lover” then what better things does he have to do than plot against and kill off the majority of his family and friends to become king? Richard does things only for himself (the complete opposite of Henry) and for his name to be immortalized. 

Richard uses this speech at the opening of the play to give background, but also to warn them about what a treacherous person he is. Richard knows that he is a villain, and he wouldn’t have it any other way if he couldn’t be manipulative and antagonistic. He has no conscience to get in the way of his well laid plans and how they will ruin the lives of everyone around him, Richard never does anything for the good of his country, only for the good of himself. Who knows what would have become of England if he had become the king like he had planned to do? There is only so much that he could have attained at that point, especially considering the fact that there was no longer anyone that he could confide in, there were only those left who either hated him or whom he could hire to carry out his bidding.  

Commentary on Histories

 If these histories did not have the action and entertainment factor that Shakespeare added to them, they would be fairly dull and uninteresting. The way that Shakespeare romanticizes both Henry V and Richard III to both extremes, though, keeps the audiences interested and kept the current monarch of England happy, depending on their ancestry and the house that they belonged to, such as Queen Elizabeth the Tudor House. 

During his time, Richard was cruel and did kill people to get closer to the throne, but he was not nearly as horribly deformed as Shakespeare made him out to be and, while he did kill quite a few people, not as many as in the play. He has absolutely no conscience and has people killed only for his own good, which makes it that much easier to hate him. Buckingham, for instance, was the person who was the closest to Richard, but he, too, ended up executed for the smallest thing, hesitation to kill the two young princes. The thing that makes it the easiest to hate Richard is the fact that he knows how antagonistic and manipulative that he is, and he knows he is ruining the lives of everyone around him.

Henry was a good, fair king who always looked out for his people, and he was depicted that way. The bonds that he had with those around him were very strong and he always held them high above his own concerns. People like Falstaff, who Henry was friends with during his wilder days, Henry cut ties off with because he wasn’t a good person for a king to be friends with. Henry was very kind about this, he didn’t have Falstaff executed like Richard would have done. Henry was also much more easy to relate to in the sense that he wanted to know what it was like to be a common man and to be able to walk down the street unrecognizable.

Personal Reflection 

I thoroughly enjoyed reading both histories, and both for different reasons. Henry V was a good story about a noble king fighting for his right to a throne. Henry had a frivolous youth, but now that he had to take on the responsibilities of a king, he took them very seriously and did all that he could for his countrymen. 

Through reading Richard in class, I think that I took a lot more away from it than reading on my own. Being able to hear different voices when reading a play make it much easier to understand how Shakespeare intended each character to act and think and recognize the devices used to make that character who they are. It was great watching Richard become less and less interested in who he was murdering and becoming more and more focused on his goal of becoming king of England. It was also great to finally figure out where the famous line “my kingdom for a horse!” came from. 

A Tale of Two Cities

Symbol Analysis

One of the recurring symbols in A Tale of Two Cities is Madame Defarge’s knitting. It is first seen in chapter five, when the wine is spilled all over the street in Saint Antoine, when she is in the beginning of her knitting project, and this scene is a beginning that shows the hunger and new revolutionary ideas that are to come. Also when she is knitting in the wine shop, Madame Defarge looks to be reserved and innocent, where, in fact, she is basically sentencing her victims to death by sewing their names into her knitting project. Outside, the townspeople also appear to be innocent, all that they want to do with the wine is drink it so that they can have some sustenance; all that they really are is hungry and poor. These two scenes, indoor and out, parallel each other, though both foreshadow the bad that is to come to France in the form of a revolution by the proletariat against the bourgeoisie. The fact that this bloodshed is the parallel to Madame Defarge’s knitting, it shows that, underneath, she is a very cold and bitter person, this stemming from her family’s mistreatment by the Marquis. 

Quote Analysis

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness...”

This quote is very important because it has great significance within the novel, but also within the early life of Charles Dickens. The novel is based during one of the most prosperous times in England, the beginning of the industrial revolution, and that was “the best of times;” whereas, in France, the French Revolution was starting, “the worst of times.” This passage also symbolizes the parallel that exists between the two cities, and the equivalents between many of the characters, such as Carton and Darnay and between Lucie and Madame Defarge, a rhythm that continues throughout the novel. 

This quote is also meaningful in relation with Dickens’ early childhood. He was the second of eight children and his family lived comfortably, and usually beyond the means that his father could provide as a lower-ranked government worker. When Dickens was about eleven, his father was put into debtor’s prison, and Dickens’ was forced to go to work in a leather factory. This was in the early eighteen twenties, while the industrial revolution (“the best of times”) was going on around Dickens and his family, who were without a father to support them and very poor. 

Thoughts

Though I did have a difficult time reading it, A Tale of Two Cities is a novel that is very easy to appreciate once you sat back and really looked at the plot and descriptions and literary devices that Dickens used. The passages that contained the repetition of a word, such as the two that used “stone” or “hunger,” gave amazing descriptions of both what was going on in the plot at that time, but it also foreshadowed coming events and gave characterizations. Overall, I did enjoy this novel when I had the chances to read it at a slower pace and take the time to digest small pieces of it at a time. 

The Importance of Being Earnest

Argument Analysis

One of the major arguments in this play by Oscar Wilde is between Cecily and Gwendolen  while they are at Jack’s country house. When they first meet, they act as though they are the best of friends, while they have only just met, and Gwendolen even says, “Something tells me that we are going to be great friends... My first impressions of people are never wrong.” She then contradicts herself by saying that she disliked Cecily from the beginning and that, again, her first impressions are never wrong. Liking or disliking someone should never be based solely on first impressions, especially when, like Gwendolen, someone bases that impression off of a name. Also, when they become angry at each other, it is because they think that another person lied to them, Gwendolen and Cecily never lied to each other, so why are they mad at each other? They should really be angry with “Earnest.”

They then turn to calling each other “sister” after finding out that Jack and Algernon had tricked them. This entire argument supports wholly the theme in the lay of shallowness. At one point when they are angry with each other, Cecily serves Gwendolen tea with sugar when she asked for none and cake when Gwendolen asked for bread and butter. Gwendolen gets even angrier at Cecily for this; something so small and so trivial but something that is still made into something that seems to be so important. 

Quote Analysis

“To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.”

This is my favorite quote from the play because, in context, it is a funny remark, but taken out of context looks even more absurd and is even funnier. Lady Bracknell says this when she is speaking to Jack after he proposes to Gwendolen and is asking about Jack’s parents and background. This quote just goes to show how shallow and “appearance obsessed” the society that Wilde is satirizing is presented to be. The fact that losing both parents “looks like carelessness”  is horrible; it is a very sad situation when a person does not know who their parents are, like Jack. Lady Bracknell is so fixated on her appearance and that of Gwendolen that she completely overlooks the sadness of this situation and looks only to what others will ultimately think of her. 

Thoughts

The Importance of Being Earnest is probably my favorite work that we have read so far this year. It was another satire, but this was presented in a way that was comical to the point of foolishness. Even is we had only read certain pats of this play it would have still been my favorite.  In my opinion, the best scene was when Cecily was telling Algernon all about their engagement that, even though they had never met before, had been arranged for a few months at that point. Cecily had bought herself a ring and had written letters to herself that she signed with Algernon’s name (Ernest to her). Cecily was probably the character who was made to have the most qualities that Wilde was satirizing. She had all the manners that a Victorian lady should, but also came across as the character who was the most flighty and, even though it was said that she was educated, was the least intelligent when it came to dealing with the real world.

Another reason that I liked this play was that I agree with the point that it is making. Victorian society had some of the most ridiculous rules that people had to follow. Why couldn’t a  woman show her ankle or wrist or have a different public opinion on something than what her husband’s views were? Rules like these lead you to believe that people of this era were shallow if they cared so greatly about things like these.

Cat's Cradle

Symbol Analysis

The basic symbol of a cat’s cradle made of string is a huge topic in this novel, especially through the eyes of the character Newt Hoenikker. First, it symbolizes the basic ideas of both religion and science in the sense that they are very complex things that have grown from the simplest of things, the string to the cat’s cradle. Also, those complex structures in their entirety are unable to be seen, at least through Vonnegut’s  eyes, an this is exemplified by Newt saying over and over again, “See the cat? See the cradle?” The author is saying how ridiculous  that all those big ideas are, if someone can’t see the hole picture, is it helping them?

Another reason that a cat’s cradle is a good symbol for Vonnegut’s ideas is that it goes in a vicious cycle, the same few steps repeated over and over. This is like Bokonon saying in one of his books that history is a vicious cycle, where people never learn from their mistakes, or those made in history that could be looked back upon and avoided in the future.

Quote Analysis

“What can a Thoughtful Man Hope for Mankind on Earth Given the Experience of the Past Million Years?”

“Nothing.”

This is, very bluntly, what Vonnegut is saying whit his satire in this novel. He is warning people that if things keep continuing on the way that they have been, there will never be hope fro anything; no progress in science, religion, government, or anything else. The quote is given soon after John learns that the Hoenikker children gave away their ice-nine for personal gain. He wonders why Felix Hoenikker could make something so possibly destructive, and leave it for his “short-sighted children.” Things have continued to become worse and worse; scientific discoveries have become more destructive and people have fewer values and morals, so with more dangerous weapons and more dangerous people, there is nothing that a “thoughtful man” can hope for in the future.

This is this shortest of the Books of Bokonon, and most directly to the point. It is meant to be simple and slightly scary to those who read it. It is possible that Bokonon’s hope with this book was that people would be scared and maybe try to fix things, or at least start by fixing themselves.

Thoughts

Cat’s Cradle is very different than any other book that I have ever read, in the sense that it really made you think about what Vonnegut wanted you to think about. It wasn’t just spelled out on the page that he was satirizing science and religion and the dangers of each, you had to read farther into the book to find that out. 

While the plot was slightly predicable (especially the idea that, somehow, ice-nine would “end the world”), I enjoyed all of Bokonon’s ideas an terms that were found throughout the book. My favorite thing, though, were Bokonon’s Calypsos. They were short, but they very well got out all of Vonnegut’s core ideas; that religion can sometimes take precedent over government, even though both are a bunch of lies, and that lies are the only thing in the world that can be completely trusted to do what they have been set out to do. 

The Handmaid's Tale

Topic Analysis

Was the fact that Jezebel’s even existed really such a shock? I don’t think so. There is absolutely no way that sex in this form could be completely taken out of a society, just look at the profits of today’s industries, some go down, but others people will never give up. Jezebel’s is a place where the Commanders go when they are “unsatisfied” with their lives. It provides a means of escape from the conformity that they had to endure and make sure everyone else did. It was the place where they didn’t have to worry about what others thought, because as soon as you walked in the door as a Commander, you became another face in the crowd. Outside, during the days, is seemed like it belonged in the “don’t ask, don’t tell” category, along with numerous other things looked down upon in Gilead.

Jezebel’s was also an escape for those women who, like Moira, were strong enough to resist the “good” parts of this society, while still being a part of what was normal, even if it was not know about by everyone. While, as a woman, there was still forced sex involved, it was probably much better than what the handmaids had to endure with the “ritual” or the Marthas who were looked upon as frumpy and mostly meaningless and dull. Jezebel’s was the one lace in Gilead where people could conform to the society, but still, in a small way, be their own person. 

Quote Analysis

“And so I step up, into the darkness within; or else the light.”

throughout The Handmaid’s Tale, the idea of good and evil is bought up on a few occasions, and good or evil is exactly what the darkness and light in this quote are representing. This is the last line in the novel before the “Historical Notes”, and sums up the conflict that goes on within Offred throughout the novel. Offred is never fully towards one side or the other when speaking about her daily life, and as much as it seems that she wanted to keep with the beliefs of her old way of life, but some of her thoughts definently lean towards the belief systems that the Gileadean government is trying to instill into the citizens.

Offred also purposely, in her narration, brings up the question of whether this new way of life is better than the old in one main way. This is when she has flashbacks to when she lived in the “Red Center,” she continually questions whether or not the things that the Aunts told them about “old times’ or the Colonies are true and good, and she especially questions if the Aunts themselves are good, a subconscious question about the “darkness” or “lightness” of the government.

Thoughts

I thought that The Handmaid’s Tale was a very good book, an dI agreed with much of the social commentary that Atwood made. Firstly, extremism in any form (religious, political, or any other) can lead to bad things, anything from a closed mind to terrorism to a utopian society turned to a dystopian one. I understand being devoted to a religion or group, but there should always be room for someone to see the opposing point of view.

The part of the book that was my favorite was the last chapter, the “Historical Notes.” As much as the rest of the novel made you think about the author’s views, this last chapter showed how dark she thought our future, or possibly even present, could be. She shows how ridiculous it looks when people take something so serious (in this case Gileadean society) and make it light and amusing conversation (shown by the laughter and applause throughout the speech). It was amazing to read this, and then look at the serious subjects in our society today and see how people try to make them lighter, more easily digestible topics, or even small pieces of information.

Anthem

Symbol Analysis

In this novel, it is the world council that controls everything from what each individual is going to do with their life to what people will use for light. They symbolize the idea that Rand is trying to present that society cannot function well at all without original thinkers and those who are allowed to give their own ideas to society. Equality says that the council is a large group of old men and women who can never agree on anything. It even took them many years to approve the candle as a source of light for their community. The ideas and thoughts that Ayn Rand says people should have are shunned by the World Council, this is plainly seen by the fact that it did take them so long to approve the candle, and is even more evident when they appeared so frightened by Equality’s lightbulb. Without inventions such as Equality’s, their society could not move forward. The reason behind this fear, though, was that if society moved forward, more people would have more new ideas, and they would be back to the way that the world used to be, before this new city was created, or however far this new society reached around the world. That old way of life was what they tried to get away from, but Rand is trying to show how, really, their ideal is the one that is bad, where everyone is unhappy and follows all the rules, instead of having happy people with new ideas.

Quote Analysis

“Never had we seen rooms so full of light. The sunrays that danced upon colors, colors, more colors than we thought possible, we who  had seen no houses save the white ones, the brown ones and the grey.”

If one of the themes of this book is an awakening from a dystopian society, then Prometheus’ awakening is the most important scene in the novella, and this quote is part of it. Light is seen as a new beginning, and the light that comes from the many windows of the house Prometheus and The Golden One find shows that being on his own away from those who tell him what to do and even how to think is new for him. Also, light is a symbol of happiness, and Prometheus is ecstatic that, now that he has found out what happiness really is, he can be his own person and live how he wants to live, even if he cannot fully express his joy or does not know what to call it. 

The colors that he is not used to seeing exhibit the new things to come for him, and new ideas that can be found. If light so radiant and colors so bright could be found simply by leaving the place that he did not want to be, then there are infinite possibilities as to what Prometheus can do and discover if he looks for new things and ideas that fit his ideals and his confinements that he places on himself, if any. It is not for another person to decide what another thinks or does, only that person should be able to limit themselves. 

Thoughts

Before reading Anthem, I had never considered what any society, especially ours, would be like if the word “I,” or any other word dealing with individuality, was taken away from our language. It is a very interesting thought, but is mostly scary. If “I” was taken away from us, everyone would lose their identity and would be unable to express themselves. As soon as you can’t say “I think” or “I feel,” you are no longer one, but, the embodiment of the whole, no longer singular. It must be horrible knowing that you could never express yourself, or not even knowing what expressing yourself is, never mind knowing how to do it. I could barely put Anthem down once I had picked it up, I always wanted to know more about what equality was going to do next.