Blood Wedding Journal 3 (Discussion)

Blood Wedding Journal 1 (Discussion)

One thing I've noticed already, just in the first act is a sense of a male dominated society. In the first two groups we see, the Bridegroom and Leonardo somewhat dominate the conversations, Leonardo especially. One example of this is when he says "(harshly) We don't care!" (24) This causes the little girl to run away crying. That's not cool at all. Leonardo also does this same thing to his wife when he says things like "Get away!" and "Leave me alone." (25).

I'm sure this motif will show up throughout the tragedy, as it is very predominant just in the first act. I'm also assuming that it will come into play later, and the males taking advantage of the females or not treating them respectfully will cause one of the central conflicts of the story.

IOP Journal 5

Well.. the powerpoint is done, the speech has been gone over, I should be ready for my IOP tomorrow, although I still feel like i'm not. Think the various analyses (sp?) of the different titles will help make my thesis make sense, I'm confident in the title I picked, why, etc. Nothin left to do but go over it some more and then present tomorrow. Oh joy.

Wild Duck Journal 4 (Discussion)

An interesting concept I have noticed throughout the Wild Duck is the idea of flawed relationships. Although many characters in this story are close to one another, they seem to all have some issues with one another in some way. Right off the bat, we learn about Gregers' and Hjalmers' issues with one another. Hjalmers thinks Gregers hates him, and Gregers just kind of thought they were still friends. "And that's why I had it in for you? Whoever gave you that idea?" (Ibsen 123) This quote just shows Gregers' ignorance towards his actions, or possibly his father and Hjalmers are simply blowing his actions out of proportion.

Another example is the imperfect relationship between Hedvig and her family. She is highly influenced by her parents, whether it be negative or positive, like most children. "No, no- you must set the book down. Your father doesn't like it; he never reads in the evening." (Ibsen 137) She, however, is so upset with her life that she ends up killing herself, which thankfully is not like most children. It is interesting to find the relationship between Hedvig and her parents so flawed that Hedvig decides she no longer cares to live with it.

These are just two examples of this idea of imperfect relationships in tragedies. Although in real life there are no perfect relationships, many of their flaws are highlighted in tragedies, such as the Wild Duck. These are just a few examples from the beginning portion of the book, to show how the author is able to introduce this idea and develop it throughout.

IOP 4

It seems everytime I write one of these my IOP gets closer and closer.. Maybe I'll just stop writing them?

Tonight I worked on how to kind of make my powerpoint/speech more interesting and not just boring talking for 15 minutes. Tried to incorporate my "choice of title" (you'll see what that means) into Camus' absurdist views, explain why it is best choice for the title of the book, etc. Got some pretty good progress done. Just need to practice tomorrow and finish up everything on the powerpoint and I will be good to go on Tuesday

Wild Duck Journal 3 (comparison)

Along with the further developing motif in Wild Duck, and the very dominant one in Oedipus, a sense of human innadequacy presents itself in both. Some outside force in overpowering both stories, and the characters in them cannot escape this force on their own. One example is Jocasta, she sends her child away to try and avoid this curse but low and behold he ends up alive, and she married him. In this sense the will of the Gods completely overpowered Jocasta. In the Wild Duck for example, when Hjalmers thinks it will be best for everyone if he leaves, his daughter ends up killing herself, so that obviously wasn't the best choice either. Neither character was able to avoid their fate.

IOP Journal 3

Tonight I did some more little things with the powerpoint, starting to organize my speech and such, working on my thesis, searching for quotes to relate to my thesis, many IOP like things. Super fun. Getting a decent start, hopefully will pan out so I'm not up all night Monday. Woohoo.

IOP Journal #2 (From work done on Wed 5/12)

Tonight I went a little more in depth with my new topic (the title) I was messing around with some definitions and seeing how i could format a power point to help me out with the presentation. Think I'm going to start with different titles of the books in different translations and define them, compare them, etc.

Wild Duck Journal #1 (Comparison)

I've already started noticing some connections between the two tragedies. One of the largest similarities is the concept of deception. In this case, it's not necessarily attempting to deceiev someone, but it is witholding informaton from them or lying to them. LIke Hjalmers in Wild Duck, seeing his father at the party in the first Act and then in this one, trying to lie to his father about him being unaware his father was there. This is similar to Oedipus in the shepard, trying to withold information from Oedipus, Creon, Jocasta, etc.

In constrast however, so far I had noticed many motifs that differ from the other tragedies. LIke Oedipus, the motif of blindness was shown throughout the entire story, but in Wild Duck, we haven't yet seen anything hinting at blindness. Also, my tracking topic had to do with "The Word of the Gods", and I haven't seen any relation to this in Wild Duck, most likely due to to the authors' differentiating views on religion and gods.

Bloom's Taxonomy Question 2

In your personal opinion, who is the worse person in this story: Oedipus, or Jocasta? Who was more wrong in their actions throughout the story/their lives previous to this story?

Bloom's Taxonomy Question 1

In the story, the prophecy is created by the Greek God, Apollo. Apollo was the ancient God of War, and son of Zeus. Is this position simply coincidence? Or did Sophecles choose Apollo for a reason?

IOP Journal 1

So this is my first IOP journal.. Umm.. I think I made some pretty decent headway tonight. I started reviewing our in class papers on absurdism/existentialism and Camus' standpoints on these philosophies. I think I am going to study these subjects more, and rather than focusing on Meursault's characterization, focus on the title of the book and how this relates to Camus' views, strangers in our lives, etc. My IOP is in a week so I need to get going, but I think I made a pretty good start tonight and now I think that I've created a pretty strong foundation to form the rest of the presentation around.

Oedipus Journal #4

Due to the sucess of my last poem, I decided to write another about the entire story of Oedipus.

King Oedipus, a Tribute

Just a man to the Gods,
but nearly a God to men.
The Sphinx couldn't best him,
He is the King.

Apollo's word reaches his ear:
Banish the murderer, and this
plague won't last another year.
The King looks, the King searches,
he recruits help for the cause.
A blind man speaks openly to him,
saying you are the one who must be
banished from your own land.

How could this be? He is the King.
The blind King, enraged, dismisses
the Prophet for his lack of respect.
The King however will find out,
that he is less all-seeing than he knows.

His people stand behind him.
Being the accused, he must find the
real murderer of the old King.
He will soon find out that the murderer
shares his clothes and his home,
his sword and his bed, and his eyes,
still clouded.

A realization bursts open the door:
King Oedipus is the murderer.
His father the victim, and both
victim and murderer share a wife.
the father is dead, the wife has
hanged her self. And the son, the
Great King, has blinded his eyes
permanentley, so that they may
no longer see the pain he has brought
onto himself.

Oedipus Journal #2 (Prompt)

One of the largest congrencies between background information and the material in Oedipus is the importance of Gods. Gods and religion were everywhere, just as they are in Sophecles' story. The Gods played a huge role in everyday human life, and in this story already, the Prophet of Apollo has impacted the story greatly. Another example of this is when the plague ravages Thebes, people immediately pray to the Gods to save them.

Another thing I noticed that does not necessarily relate to just Greek background but many ancient civilizations is their almost worship of their leader. In this play so far, Oedipus is the figure looked upon by all of his people. He has absolute command, to do whatever he wants to do in Thebes. This is somewhat similar to a current day dictatorship, but even the figure in charge is not worshipped and glorified as much as the ancient Kings of the world. This is an interesting system of government to look at for me, because our government is nothing like it. Our president is not worshipped by the people, and has sole responsibility for everything that goes on in America. People like him, and he has power to an extent, but many people do not like the President, and he does not have unlimited power.

Oedipus Journal #1 (Creative)

This is a poem written by King Oedipus himself.

The Accused

I am Oedipus,
King of Thebes.
My rule is great,
I will see this plague eliminated.

I defeated the Sphinx

I rule honestly.
My kinsmen is a traitor.
I am the most intelligent
In all of Thebes. After all,

I defeated the Sphinx

I am the accused.
Am I the guilty?
A King, brought to
the throng by injustice?

I defeated the Sphinx
and the Prophet has defeated me.