Blog Post 5

Out of all the plays that I’ve read from Shakespeare, The Tempest by far is my favorite. The play 

itself is an easy read and it is not dragged out compared to his other plays, in my opinion. Prospero, the former duke of Milan was overthrown by his younger brother Antonio. Similar to Hamlet, Shakespeare is no stranger when it comes on to war/disputes against brothers. It was also Lion King themed but ultimately feuds between brothers derived from Cain and Abel. Because Prospero was always locked away in a room studying and educating himself on magic, he made it easier for his brother to dethrone him. Had Prospero been more active amongst his people and getting to know them he probably wouldn't have fallen as hard as he did. He made it seem like he was entitled because since he was in power he probably felt that no one could challenge him or nothing else needed to be done. In other words just wanted the title of Duke but didn't want to work for it. As a result of that, he designed an extraordinary, aggressive storm leaving a ship containing the king of Naples and his party the center of attention, all with the help of Ariel. Of course it's not a real storm but instead an illusion created by Ariel. To me thats what made the play interesting. The way how I look at it is you have a man, Prospero, dictating what he wants painted and Ariel, the spirit creature, is the one actually creating the image. With all of the commotion that was going on, everybody being on separate parts of the island, and Prosper having to keep tabs on everyone, his ultimate goal was for his daughter Miranda to be married to Ferdinand. Mind you he's doing everything within a 6 hours time frame. With so much to accomplish it came to a point where Ariel was basically telling him "sir remember my freedom" and Prospero was saying "remember you owe me". I didn't really appreciate that part because I feel that if you're going to do something for someone do it out of the goodness of your heart and stop thinking that they owe you something just because of your kind gesture. Ariel continued to fulfill his duties and his loyalty to Prospero until his work was done.

But overall what prospero did was art. Art comes in different form and what he did was way more than anyone could've ever imagined. He created a story and what’s even better was he made that story come to life. In the end he did the unexpected and forgave his brother instead of killing him. Forgiveness is always the right thing to do because it shows how great of a person you are and that you are able to lift that type of burden from off of your heart. His daughter also got married to Ferdinand. If it wasn't for Ariel, Prospero wouldn't have gotten so far. From reading and understanding this play, I realized that all artist paint, draw, dance, etc. to tell a story. Whatever their story may be, they use their artistic skill to communicate to their audience. Art is such a beautiful thing and life without art would just be dull and bland. We all should appreciate art and never take it for granted because without it life wouldn't even exist. 

The girl with the pearl earrings

        The Girl with A Pearl Earring was created by Johannes Vermeer in 1664. Looking at the painting, my eyes are quickly drawn to her face. Her eyes are what keeps me deeply interested. “What is she looking at or what is she thinking about?” are questions that I ask myself as I observe. With the backgrounded being completely black, the girl stands out more making her the center of attention. His use of color is very intense and they complement one another. His main color schemes are blue, gold and white. The girl’s turban is a deep royal blue with hints of gold. As the bottom of the turban touches her shirt the hint of blue still complements her top nicely. For her face he used a nice blush shade on her lips that suits her complexion nicely. Her eyebrows aren't well defined but it does not take away from the beauty that she already displays. There is also a drastic change in light and dark as it is apparent in her face. Towards the left side of her face darkness is shown and it is drawn all the way down to the middle of her back. In the midst of the darkness a shiny pearl earring hangs from her ear. You can see light reflecting off of it at the very top of the pearl.

Overall I think the picture is well done because it keeps you wondering. When I look  at it I see a young lady who just looks unsure. She doesn't seem happy nor sad. She just looks like someone who is looking over their shoulder giving off a simple facial expression. I also wonder, since she doesn't have a lot of money, who gifted her with the pearl earrings. Was it a gift from a boyfriend, her father or a family member? Or did she save up money to buy it for herself? 

Susan Cain: The Power of Introverts

Being an introvert herself, Susan Cain spoke about growing up being an introvert and the power of introverts. An introvert is a shy person. A person mainly concerned with their own thoughts and feelings rather than with external things. Although the definition says “shy”, Cain said it is different from being shy. She went on to say that “shyness is about fear of social judgment. Introversion is more about, how do you respond to stimulation, including social stimulation.” She discussed events in her life. An example being the time she went away for camp. It was different from what she was accustomed too. She and her family were use to reading books and being in silence, but being away at camp grants you the opportunity to be more involved and engage into group activities. She also said that introverts prefers working by themselves and that’s just how they are. According to research introverts tends to be smarter and receives better grades compared to extroverts. 

While watching this video I was thinking to myself “am I an introvert or an extrovert ?” Right away I knew that I was not an introvert nor an extrovert. I find that I share similar qualities in both. I know that there are times when I do not feel like being bothered and I just want to be left alone but there are other occasions when I love being social, loud and just being involved with any and everything. When I show different mood swings to my sister she claims that I am bipolar but now I know why. So when Cain said ambiverts have the best of both worlds I strongly agreed. I was so interested in finding out what I was that I did my research and even took an online test and I also found “10 Things to Indicate That You Are An Ambivert.” I found it to be interesting because this was my first time learning about introverts, ambiverts and extroverts. Regardless of how you are categorized we should all be able to be free to be who we are without being frowned upon or forced to be someone or something that we are not just to please society and the people around us. 

The Republic (Blog Post 2)

The Republic

By Plato

Written 360 B.C.E

“And now, let me show in a figure how far our nature is enlightened or unenlightened.” Through the allegory of the cave, Socrates explains how all human beings are educated. Describing a dark scene and envisioning all of mankind in a deep, enormous cave with one extensive tunnel that leads out towards the light is how the story takes place. Never seeing the light of day, in that cave is a group of individuals that have lived deep within the cave since birth. Chained so that they cannot look to either side or behind them but only straight ahead is how they have been from their childhood. Located above and behind them is a blazing fire, and between the fire and the prisoners rest a raised way. Various statues are located on top of the wall, which are operated by another group of people, lying out of sight behind the wall. Shadows are casted across the wall the the prisoners are facing as a result of the blazing fire. “ And they see only their own shadows or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the opposite wall of the cave?” meaning that they know nothing about how they look or anyone around them, all they can see is what it is that is directly in front of them. The prisoners watched the stories that these shadows performed. Being restricted from looking around and only in from of them, the shadow-puppet show was performed in front of them. The show consisted of all kinds of different objects and shapes. Since these shadows were all they ever got to see, they believe them to be the most real things in the world and that the truth consisted of what the shadows projected on the wall.

Later on a prisoner was freed. He was able to look around for the first time. Because he was surrounded by darkness for the majority of his life, he was slightly blinded by all the foreign light he was introduced to. He also wouldn't know what to make of the truth that surrounds him all over. Being in the den for a period of time, he has accepted what his reality is made out of  and for him to see this whole new reality outside of the den it’s hard for him to accept it for what it is. In my opinion I feel that it would be hard for anyone to accept something new into their life after being brought up in a whole new surrounding. Being told one thing and accepting it is one story but to be taken out of your comfort zone to experience a whole another light is where it gets complicated. On top of that seeing something as major as the prisoner saw, he would have a hard time trying to tell his other roommates otherwise because this is a situation where you would have to see in order to believe.  

Blog Posting 1: The Iliad XVI

The Iliad XVI

“Helen of Troy, the face that launched 1000 ships” was a quote that I always found interest in once I heard it on a popular television series, Scandal. Although I never read about it up until now, based on the story line in Scandal, it was kind of obvious what the famous quote symbolized. 

The Iliad XVI begins with Patroclus crying and Achilles making fun of him as a result of how he is feeling. Patroclus explains to Achilles that he is crying because “ All those who have been their champions so far are lying at the ships, wounded by sword or spear.” He goes into depth defending himself and proposes an idea, “Let me moreover wear your armor; the Trojans may thus mistake me for you and quit the field, so that the hard-pressed sons of the Achaeans may have breathing time- which while they are fighting may hardly be.” Achilles agreed with Patroclus but on one condition and that was for Patroclus to only drive the Trojans off the ship. Achilles did not want Patroclus to go any further because he feared that Patroclus would make a fool out of him. In the midst of their conversation, they are watching Ajax slowly being overpowered by the Trojans. He had no more energy left inside of him to defend the ship and as he recanted, the Trojans burned the ship down. As the fire was burning down the ships, Achilles urged Patroclus to get moving. Patroclus then got armed , putting on everything except for the spear of noble Achilles because “ for non other of the Achaeans could wield it, though Achilles could do so easily. While Patroclus was getting ready, Achilles went about everywhere amongst the tents getting the Myrmidons in order for war. “Even as fierce ravening wolves that are feasting upon homed stag upon a homed stag which they have killed upon the mountains…”, this quotes explains how the Myrmidons were behaving as they were ready to embark this journey to war. Without getting too in-depth, I’ll stop here.

For me to truly understand what was happening in this story, I had to take my time and process what was happing through out the entire reading. However I found it interesting how Patroclus wanted to lead the men to war and not Achilles. I also respected Ajax for surrendering and knowing when to stop when he did.