Blood Wedding Journal #3

I am not certain weather this play constitutes tragedy or not. As opposed to tragic, it seemed chaotic. It was not things happening outside of a persons control, but seemingly random acts that were preformed well within peoples control. Why did the bride marry the bridegroom? She should have ran away with Leonardo beforehand. Called off the wedding. If she didn't want to get married, it seems like the mother also didn't want her to get married, and she should have then called the wedding off. This is not tragic but stupidity and lack of foresight that created an unhappy situation.

To me this play raises the question of who is to blame. The bride? The bridegroom? Leonardo? I think that Lorca leaves this unclear intentionally. Possibly, who is to blame that brings about these unhappy situations doesn't matter. Perhaps they are inevitable. If the rise of these situations in bound to happen, then it doesn't matter who gave rise to them. Or possibly it is a combination of people, one act by one person and one act by another person combine to make a third person act a certain way. This however, doesn't matter if one way or another the unhappiness will come.

IOP Journal # 5

With the process of creating my IOP winding down, I am well pleased. Now what I have left is to add transitions and smooth over the edges and I will be ready to present. My project has evolved from my original idea, but I am pleased with the result. I think that I am accurately reflecting Camus philosophy, and I would like to think that he would approve of my presentation. I think I am presenting a different look on The Stranger than other presenters have and I think my presentation also digs deeper into the philosophy behind the book. With my own analysis I synthesized what I thought about the book and what I have read on absurdism and I think the product is insightful and that it will be a meaningful presentation.

I am definitely nervous, but if I say every thing I have come up with in an organized manner I will be happy with my presentation. It has form and substance, and I hope that I leave the class with a better understanding of what the absurd is all about.

Blood Wedding Journal #2

Is style more important than plot?

For the play Oedipus, I answered that plot was more important than style. I stand by this answer, I think that plot was more important that the details of the way the plot was written. However, I do not think the same for blood wedding. I think style is extremely important in this play. Lorca uses a lot of symbolism and the play switches between prose and poetry. The poetry is more difficult to read and makes you pay more attention to the words being used. Blood Wedding is written in a more stylistic way than Oedipus or Wild Duck. Because of this it is more important to pay attention to the style used, and the style will be a contribution to the them of the play.

Blood Wedding Journal #1

This play seems deceitful. I think it is one that requires exceptionally close reading. Things seem okay and possible rather cheery on the outside, but are rather glum on the inside. The bride says she knows what she is getting herself into when the mother says "do you know what being married is, child?" However, the stage direction points out that she "gravely" says that she knows. She claims to be happy and to be voluntarily be married, but she knows the unhappiness it will bring. Possibly she does not have hope for a better situation. She call marring "my duty." She feels obliged to marry, and it is possibly societal pressure that is drawing her into this.

The idea of marriage is seen in all three texts we have been studying in class. And so far in the two we have finished, the marriages are all to some degree dysfunctional. Oedipus unknowingly marries his mother, and when he finds this out she commits suicide and he gouges his eyes out. Hjalmar finds out his wife had a relationship with a man he despises and refuses to forgive her, and this leads to his daughters suicide.

At this point, if this trend continues, I can only imagine what tragedy can come of the marriage in this play.

IOP Journal #4

The Stranger is a direct reflection of Camus developing philosophical ideas. He puts them on display directly through the charactor Mersault. However, I think that with the timing of the novel, Camus ideas were subject to misinterpritation.
The Stranger, as well as the absurd that Camus was developing, is not a reflection of the glum situation of the world. Rather, it is a call to happieness. Because the events of world war II, the holocaust, and massive otrocities that happened just before the stranger was published, they saw it as a reflection of this. However, without looking closely at the last two pages of the novel in relation the the Myth of Sysphis, his philosophy is misinterprited. Camus reflected a more positive view of the world and the human condition.

"The struggle towards the heights is enough to fill a mans heart. One must imagine Sisphys is happy"

This quote is from the Myth of Sysphis. The same can be said of Mersault.

In the end of the novel, Mersault is happy. That is the foremost detail of The Stranger.

IOP Journal #3

I think that often times absurdist philosophy is put in a negative light. It is thought as depressing and hopeless, but my goal is to show the positive aspects of it. I want to show the absurd as not a depressing and gloomy philosophy but as an invitation to happieness and contentment in life.
The key concept lies in the question of what Sysphys is feeling after he has completed his meaningless task, and is watching the boulder fall back to the ground. Is he regreting his past mistakes and dreading his current situation? Camus would beg to differ. Sysphus could not be happier and more content. He has nothing else to worry about, and has accepted his life. When there is no longer any hope, Sysphys can be happy. He only has this life, so he must live it to its full potential.
Mersault is almost a mirror image of Sysphys. He is also put into this extreme situation, and is forced to deal with being stripped of no hope. Mersault also accepts this, and finds happieness. His reasoning, when he knows his execution is imminent, is that it is the very fininiteness of live that makes it so valuble. When faced with the absurd, Mersault finds happieness and contentment as does Sysphus. It is in theses extreme examples that the philosophy can shine through, and the extreme conditions that help Camus prove his point.

IOP Journal #2

The goal of my IOP is to accurately reflect Camus philosophy according to The Stranger. To do this I will steer away from mentioning existentialism and focus on the absurd. Camus did not like being lumped in to being called an existentialist and I will honor this in my presentation. Camus described The Stranger as "the nakedness of man faced with the absurd" and this is where the inspiration to my presentation comes from.

The Myth of Sysphus is also a source of inspiration of my presentation. This is an essay Camus wrote on absurdism and also a Greek myth. In the Greek myth, Sysphys is condemned by the gods to an eternity of preforming a futile task--rolling a boulder up a mountain, only to see it roll back down to be rolled back up again. According to Camus, this is the embodiment of the absurd. Sysphis has no meaningful purpose, and no hope for progression. In life, Camus argues that we all have no meaningful purpose and no hope for progression. This is reflected through the character Mersault in The Stranger. Mersault is a dynamic character, and through him shines Camus philosophical ideas.

Wild Duck Journal #4

Comparison:

To what extent would you agree that plot should be valued more highly than style in the work?

In my opinion, plot should be valued higher than style. Although for an author to communicate effectively and to express themselves artistically style is important, but plot is absolutely essential in the themes they wish to communicate. Especially in the plays Wild Duck and Oedipus the King, which have been translated into many different languages. No matter how good of a job a translator does, the language barrier is impossible to fully overcome. The styles cannot be accurately emulated in another language, although they can come close to what the style would be. However, the plot translates into all languages. There are many ways to translate styles, as books and plays are translated many different ways, but the plot remains constant. In Oedipus, he still is cursed and gouges his eyes out, no matter what style it is written in. In the Wild Duck, Hedvig still has an offset relationship with her father and shoots herself in the end no matter the style it is written in. Style can aide ones interpretation of a text, but the root of what an author is conveying through a story is in the plot.

IOP Journal #1

My first idea when initially brainstorming IOP ideas was to connect Camus philosophy in the Stranger with artwork of the time. This idea was exciting to me as I thought of artists such as Jackson Pollock and other abstract expressionists. However, upon delving further into Camus philosophical ideas, I realized they really cannot be represented artistically. Art, in a way, is a contradictory to the absurd. In art things make sense, artwork has unity. Things in artwork are representative of things, and a new world is created that is logical. Absurdism is everything that this isn't. According to absurdism, nothing makes sense and it is pointless to try to make sense of it. The world has no unity so it is purposeless to try to give it unity. With this revelation, my original idea was scrapped. But that idea was not in vein. I now have a deeper understanding of the philosophy Camus is conveying through the stranger and this point, of the meaninglessness of art, can be an important one in my presentation.

Tracking

The images I have been tracking are self inflicted struggle and pain. Their are obvious examples of this in the two plays and also examples that are not as apparent. In Oedipus, an obvious example of self inflicted pain is his eye gouging out. He does this as opposed to suicide, which is the seemingly more logical option. Jocasta commits suicide which seems to be the easier way out of a life overcome with struggle. In Wild Duck, the obvious example is how Hedvig offers to sacrifice her duck to prove her love of her father. She offers the duck as a testament to her love, but ultimately comes to the conclusion it must be her own life she has to take. Hedvig is also living a life overcome by struggle, as she never seems to find a place of belonging in her family, similar to the wild duck who is unwanted. Haljmar also offers an example of self inflicted struggle. As opposed to forgiving his wife of her affairs with Werle, he dwells on the issue to the point of leaving his wife and daughter. He can no longer love his daughter anymore as she is the child of his wife, who he hates. Haljmar could have chose to forget about the past relations of his wife and forgive her, but he won't let go of the issue and lets it take over his life.

Wild Duck Journal #3

From the Diary of Hedvig:

I am torn between my Wild Duck and my father's detest of it. He hates it but I do not understand. I love my wild duck, and I pray for its safety every single night. It is always there, it keeps me company and never lets me down. My wild duck is a constant, and probably the only thing keeping stability in my life. But my father hates it. He hates it more than anything and this crushes my spirit. I wish I could some other way, but to show daddy I love him there is no other way other than for me to kill the Wild Duck that I love. Why does life have to be this way. Why is the only way I can show love killing? It is an unjust world we live in. But I must come to terms with the situation, and daddy is more important to me than anything. My only option is to bare the pain of seeing my wild duck get killed.

Wild Duck Journal #2

Hedvig, in my opinion, is a confused character. She always seems lost and disconnected from the scene she is in. This goes along with the analogy of the wild duck. As depressing as it may sound, she is made to seem insignificant and unwanted. Her last line is act 3 is " this is all so strange to me." This line captures her character. Nothing really seems to make sense to her, and she rarely is presented the opportunity to venture into the outside world to make sense of it. As her parents are protective of her and her eyes, she spends most of the time within the confines of her home, reading books. Her eye problem (or potential eye problem) also extenuate her character. This exposes weakness and flaw in her, and make apparent that she was born in a foul situation and foreshadow that she is destined to be in an unhappy situation in her life. The light hearted attitude she maintains hide this, but the elements of her character foreshadow a negative future for her.

Wild Duck Journal #1

With some historical context behind the play, I have noticed Ibsen puts a lot of emphasis on relationships. Ibsen had a very strained relationship with his father as he didn't talk to him for 20 years and he also had a very non-existent relationship with his own son. So far in the play an emphasis has been put on the strained relationships between Hjalmar and Gregers with their fathers. Because Ibsen never experience a good father-son relationship, he does not write about them. In his writing it also becomes apparent that this was an important part of his life and had a large influence on who he became. I think relationships, particularly the father-son relationships, will be a focal point in this play.

Oedipus Question

Why would Sophocles decide to bring the Shepard into the play and to what theme did he contribute to?

Oedipus Question

How does Oedipus blinding himself contribute to a theme of metaphorical self blindness?

Oedipus Journal #4

From the Journal of Oedipus:

Nothing in lilfe is the way it should be! Curses to the gods! I was once a fearless leader but now I live in shame. Chance is all life is. Chance and luck, and that is something I am out of. The world I once loved I can no longer bare to see. I am sick of this luck that life consists of! Nothing matters to me anymore. If things are good it is simply due to chance, if things are bad it is simply due to chance. I have no power to have an influence on the world, it is the world that contorlls me. I was once a respected, fearless, and powerful leader. This is no more. But it doesn't matter anyway. This world I am force to live in disgusts me. I can no longer bare its lack of significance to anything, I can no longer bare to see it. I shall not make myself look upon this despicable world once more.

Oedipus Journal #3

"What should a man fear? It's all chance,

chance rules our lives. Not a man on earth

can see a day ahead, groping through the dark.

Better to live at random, best we can"

This passage jumped out to me the most out of any passage in the play so far. It is a key passage in an important theme developing in the play. The fact that Oedipus is the murderer of his father that he was looking for is ironic and rather absurd. Also the fact that Oedipus unknowingly slept with his mother (if i read correctly) is also absurd. The play is full of irony.

Irony is a key technique used in the play. A good example of irony is that Oedipus insulted the blind god's blindness when at the end of the play (as has alredy been spoiled to the entire class) Oedipus will gouge his own eyes out, making himself blind. I will continue to look for examples of irony in the play as Sophocles seems to utilize this technique often. With already multiple examples of irony in the play, it must be of significance. These examples of irony can also be connected to the passage at the top of this journal entry. If chance dictates the world, irony is bound to occur.

Oedipus Journal #2

Journal: How does the background information on Greek Theater and History inform your reading of Oedipus? Use specific examples to explore the connections between context and content.

Putting the play in context is essential to deeply explore the play. Theater at the time was very different from today, and it is important to understand that and look at the play from a different perspective. This play was preformed at a festival of religious meaning, so all the references to gods do not surprise me. However, I was caught off guard when Oedipus insulted the blind god. I would predict a downfall of Oedipus because of this. Gods were extremely important in Greek culture and insulting one of them I would think would be one of the worst things a man could do, weather a prominent leader or average citizen.

The style of theater was also very different at the time this play was written and preformed. It was revolutionary in the way it utlized more than one actor and put less emphasis on the chorus. Watching the play when it was first preformed must have been an incredible experience, as the multiple actors and painted sets must have brought Sophocles plays to life in a way they never had before.

Another aspect of greek culture important to understand is their deep respect for their leaders. When Creon stands up to Oedipus, that must have been a more shocking moment for the Greeks watching the play. Weather what he said was correct or not, the way he went out of line to talk to Oedipus must have drawn a lot of attention.

Sophocles Journal #1

Setting is a key point in understanding this work, as well as key to comparing it to other works. It is set in ancient Greece, a time when people relied heavily on their god's and leaders of society were prominent. The cultural influence of theses aspects will be a critical point in the understanding of this play and in the comparison to other works. In the opening scenes of this play, it seems that peoples lives are dictated by the gods and the gods have an immense pull on the society. The leader, Oedipus, is almost elevated to a god like position but remains second in command to the gods. However, Oedipus is a strong leader and when not having utmost god powers, he is a sort of intercessor between the people and the gods. Oedipus is prominent in the play and a key point will be to follow his character as it is developed thought the play. It is my prediction that the transformation of Odipus, whatever that may be, will be a key part to a main theme of the play. As of now. Odipus is a strong, prominent and courageous leader who the people look up to.