Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
My Stab at Rubiyat-Style Poetry
Warning: Poetry really isn’t my thing. But I gave it my best shot. Hope you like it.
Fiery passions from thy maiden’s heart wither cold
Of solitude and loneliness, thy patience grows old,
And now, the seasons turn, yet she remains alone
To neither friend nor foe her plight is told.
And neither note, nor song from her lips shall ring
To-morrow’s hope of dear life the rising sun may bring
Shattered by a thundercloud of reality closing in
The only remnants of him now are pictures; a ring.
But if a deathly fate shall obscure her delights of times past
Of love, memories, and the time he kissed her last,
The heav’n’s will smile upon her and relieve the sorrow
For from above, he shall lower the cloud’s gloomy mast.
Waste not your tears, nor your grief on me
For the most precious gift I have, it cannot be
With the mightiest power, broken, nor torn
For the love in thy soul ever remains a reverie.
Of solitude and loneliness, thy patience grows old,
And now, the seasons turn, yet she remains alone
To neither friend nor foe her plight is told.
And neither note, nor song from her lips shall ring
To-morrow’s hope of dear life the rising sun may bring
Shattered by a thundercloud of reality closing in
The only remnants of him now are pictures; a ring.
But if a deathly fate shall obscure her delights of times past
Of love, memories, and the time he kissed her last,
The heav’n’s will smile upon her and relieve the sorrow
For from above, he shall lower the cloud’s gloomy mast.
Waste not your tears, nor your grief on me
For the most precious gift I have, it cannot be
With the mightiest power, broken, nor torn
For the love in thy soul ever remains a reverie.
My inspiration came from a jumble of different things. First, I drew from my own experience of being engaged to a military man. Andy is stationed at Ellsworth AFB, SD, and needless to say, I don’t see him very much. Between school and work and everything else, we barely get to see each other ever couple months, which is still good considering the circumstances. He is also deploying in January of next year for a 6 month tour in Qatar, which probably is mirrored in the "being alone" part. Another thing I drew from was a song by the Dixie Chicks (though I am no big fan of country) called Travelin’ Soldier. Set in the Vietnam era, a boy falls in love with this girl and writes her as much as he can, and then one day she finds out that he was killed in the war and is devastated. There’s also a song by Yellowcard called One Year Six Months that I also love (mostly because I love the fact that they incorporate a violin into their music…big orchestra dork) that influenced me. The song basically describes a guy being gone, but he tell the girl to hold on to the memories they shared. Even though he is gone, she can smile because she knows that they share this deep connection and love for each other. I guess I am a big sap when it comes to this stuff. Either way, I hope you like it.
Monday, September 24, 2007
START of my paper
After reading the Decameron, Othello, and 1001 Nights, I have noticed that though the women in each of these stories have very similar roles, they are displayed in very contrasting lights. The function of women in the Middle East was to be possessed by men and to honor them by staying faithful no matter what the consequence. If this fidelity was broken, the value and superiority of the man was decreased, thus deeming the woman evil and untrustworthy. The women portrayed in these three tales all share the typical inferior role, though some are held in a higher regard than usual for the circumstance. Their behavior is also widely contrasting, as some are eternally faithful while some jump into the arms of another man the first change they get.
More will be here in a few days. It's lacking a lot. Had a very long long weekend. :/
More will be here in a few days. It's lacking a lot. Had a very long long weekend. :/
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
1001 Nights by Burton
First of all.....wow. I had not read nor was familiar with 1001 Nights before this class, and after reading the story of King Shahryar & His Brother, I was surprised. Everything has this erotic, sexual overtone and has to do with sex, sex, and the consequences of sex. Shahryar's brother kills his wife and the "black filthy cook" that he found in her bed without a second thought. The same ill fate comes to Shahryar's wife when Shah Zaman witnesses her and the concubines and Mamelukes getting it on in the pleasure garden. Then after that the guy kills every woman he marries because no woman is trustworthy and all are evil. I believe they said they were justified in killing her so no one else could endure her malice, and stopped her from further contaminating the earth.
Is it just me, or does this seem to set the stage for the current-day feelings that Middle Eastern men have towards their women? Is this where it started? Why haven't we gotten over the sexist and oppressive stance against Middle Eastern women in the 21st century? I might be making a big assumption here, but I don't think women today go around demanding sex and threatening death otherwise. It just seems that in this day and age, we have advanced so tremendously that it shouldn't be happening anymore. I guess, in all reality, we could ask the same questions about why 3rd world countries are so poor, and have so little healthcare and basic living functions. Here's a link I looked at that has to do with women in the Middle East and what direction the US is going with their Foreign Policy: http://www.fpif.org/briefs/vol5/v5n30women.html. I found that to be very interesting.
Is it just me, or does this seem to set the stage for the current-day feelings that Middle Eastern men have towards their women? Is this where it started? Why haven't we gotten over the sexist and oppressive stance against Middle Eastern women in the 21st century? I might be making a big assumption here, but I don't think women today go around demanding sex and threatening death otherwise. It just seems that in this day and age, we have advanced so tremendously that it shouldn't be happening anymore. I guess, in all reality, we could ask the same questions about why 3rd world countries are so poor, and have so little healthcare and basic living functions. Here's a link I looked at that has to do with women in the Middle East and what direction the US is going with their Foreign Policy: http://www.fpif.org/briefs/vol5/v5n30women.html. I found that to be very interesting.
The picture is of Shahrazad and her younger sister in the bedchamber of the King, as she tells him stories.
The daughter of the Minister, Shahrazad makes a plan to try and convince the King to stop killing the women. So she is determined to marry him, against her father's will, and help him to see what he is doing is not right.
I still have to read three stories in 1001 Nights, but so far, the loud sexual overtone mixed with the dominance of religion and the infereriority of women is proving to be very, very interesting.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Turning Turk in Othello: The Conversion and Damnation of the Moor
Shakespeare’s Othello, as we all know, is a tragedy involving the "Noble Moor" who turns Turk and is cursed with eternal damnation after killing his wife and himself. In this article by Vitkus, he explains what the term "turking Turk" means and how it affected European culture between the medieval and post modern period.
During this time, the fears of religious conversion were paramount in post-Reformation England. Not only did they dread their Roman Catholic enemies and their threats of forceful conversion, but the growing imperial power of the Ottoman Turks and their colonization of Christian territories across Europe. Their fears of being captured, conquered, and converted were born from the sense of immediacy that early modern English authors created in their works about the Turks. After the Turkish siege of Malta in 1565, one English diocese established a common prayer asking God to protect England and Christendom from the Infidels.
When Othello was first performed in 1604, there had already been many run-ins with Muslim pirates along the Mediterranean. Throughout the 17th century, many Christians were captured during these raids, and were either enslaved, held for ransom, or they converted their religion. The English authorities were deeply upset and set up sermons to condemn the practice and promote martyrdom. As said by Kellett and Byam, "it is better to die than to turn Turk." However, most people who were converting to Islam were doing so due to economic reasons, and to avoid martyrdom and persecution, not because a sudden change in heart.
The thing that I personally found most interesting was how religious conversion was described in such erotic and sexual terms. Many English writers compared the Ottoman sultan with the Antichrist, and to convert to Islam was to engage in "spiritual whoredom" and "fornicate with the Devil’s minions" (pp. 153). John Donne, an English poet, also established a sexual relationship between the Christian worshipers and various other branches of Christianity. Personifying the worshipers as men and the various branches as women, he eroticizes the pursuit of "true religion" as the search for a pure female body in a world "full of whores."
Desdemona’s alleged infidelity is seen by Othello as a "turning" in his mind. He imagines her and Cassio in bed together and allows his heart to be turned to stone, filling him with a vengeful passion. Again, the sexual connotations associated with "turning Turk" are exemplified.
This erotic viewpoint of religious conversion is related, in part, to the way Islam was defined during this time period. "A licentious religion of sensuality and sexuality, Mohamet’s Islam was denounced as a system based on fraud, lust, and violence" (pp. 156). This is demonstrated in Othello when Iago plants the false sexual fantasy in Othello’s mind of Desdemona and Cassio in bed. As Vitkus states, "Iago is the evil angel who communicates a false message to Othello urging and justifying acts of cruelty and violence" (pp. 156). Othello is persuaded by Iago and he kills his wife; something he thinks is warranted. And as such, Othello was so lust driven by Desdemona that he allowed himself to convert to the cruel ways of the Turks.
As we have already discussed in class, the term "Moor" was widely used for peoples in Africa and other parts of the Middle East. Othello is Christian Moor, who is allegedly not "treacherous, aggressive and unstable" as early modern European texts have characterized them. However, in the end, as proven by the ancient proverb, "the Moor shows his true color-demonic black, burnt by hellfire and cursed by God" (pp. 161).
I also found the sense of urgency for Othello to go to Cyprus and defeat the Turks interesting, because what this article tells us about the timeline of events, Cyprus was formally ceded by Venice to the Turks almost thirty years prior to the first performance of Othello in London. I also agree that the first scenes of the play set up the stage for a grandeur battle between the Turks and the Venetians. This is anti-climactic for the audience, and the frustration and violence once aimed at the Islamic Other is now turned onto the feminine Other. This also forges a link between military aggression and sexual transgression, between the Turkish threat to Christian power and the contamination of female sexual purity (Vitkus, pp. 169).
Overall, I found this article very informational. We covered several aspects of Othello and its characters in class, but this article really took apart the play piece by piece and provided a very extensive background to the issues and controversies during the period.
During this time, the fears of religious conversion were paramount in post-Reformation England. Not only did they dread their Roman Catholic enemies and their threats of forceful conversion, but the growing imperial power of the Ottoman Turks and their colonization of Christian territories across Europe. Their fears of being captured, conquered, and converted were born from the sense of immediacy that early modern English authors created in their works about the Turks. After the Turkish siege of Malta in 1565, one English diocese established a common prayer asking God to protect England and Christendom from the Infidels.
When Othello was first performed in 1604, there had already been many run-ins with Muslim pirates along the Mediterranean. Throughout the 17th century, many Christians were captured during these raids, and were either enslaved, held for ransom, or they converted their religion. The English authorities were deeply upset and set up sermons to condemn the practice and promote martyrdom. As said by Kellett and Byam, "it is better to die than to turn Turk." However, most people who were converting to Islam were doing so due to economic reasons, and to avoid martyrdom and persecution, not because a sudden change in heart.
The thing that I personally found most interesting was how religious conversion was described in such erotic and sexual terms. Many English writers compared the Ottoman sultan with the Antichrist, and to convert to Islam was to engage in "spiritual whoredom" and "fornicate with the Devil’s minions" (pp. 153). John Donne, an English poet, also established a sexual relationship between the Christian worshipers and various other branches of Christianity. Personifying the worshipers as men and the various branches as women, he eroticizes the pursuit of "true religion" as the search for a pure female body in a world "full of whores."
Desdemona’s alleged infidelity is seen by Othello as a "turning" in his mind. He imagines her and Cassio in bed together and allows his heart to be turned to stone, filling him with a vengeful passion. Again, the sexual connotations associated with "turning Turk" are exemplified.
This erotic viewpoint of religious conversion is related, in part, to the way Islam was defined during this time period. "A licentious religion of sensuality and sexuality, Mohamet’s Islam was denounced as a system based on fraud, lust, and violence" (pp. 156). This is demonstrated in Othello when Iago plants the false sexual fantasy in Othello’s mind of Desdemona and Cassio in bed. As Vitkus states, "Iago is the evil angel who communicates a false message to Othello urging and justifying acts of cruelty and violence" (pp. 156). Othello is persuaded by Iago and he kills his wife; something he thinks is warranted. And as such, Othello was so lust driven by Desdemona that he allowed himself to convert to the cruel ways of the Turks.
As we have already discussed in class, the term "Moor" was widely used for peoples in Africa and other parts of the Middle East. Othello is Christian Moor, who is allegedly not "treacherous, aggressive and unstable" as early modern European texts have characterized them. However, in the end, as proven by the ancient proverb, "the Moor shows his true color-demonic black, burnt by hellfire and cursed by God" (pp. 161).
I also found the sense of urgency for Othello to go to Cyprus and defeat the Turks interesting, because what this article tells us about the timeline of events, Cyprus was formally ceded by Venice to the Turks almost thirty years prior to the first performance of Othello in London. I also agree that the first scenes of the play set up the stage for a grandeur battle between the Turks and the Venetians. This is anti-climactic for the audience, and the frustration and violence once aimed at the Islamic Other is now turned onto the feminine Other. This also forges a link between military aggression and sexual transgression, between the Turkish threat to Christian power and the contamination of female sexual purity (Vitkus, pp. 169).
Overall, I found this article very informational. We covered several aspects of Othello and its characters in class, but this article really took apart the play piece by piece and provided a very extensive background to the issues and controversies during the period.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
My Take on Othello
So here is my basic interpretation of Othello so far:
Main characters:
~Othello
~Desdemona
~Roderigo
~Cassio
~Iago
~Emilia
Othello is a Moor from Venice and his wife, Desdemona, is the daughter of the Senator Brabanzio. Roderigo is a Venetian man who is in love with Desdemona and wants her. Cassio is a soldier who is appointed to be Othello's lieutenant. Iago, who also serves Othello, is angry because he wanted to be lieutenant, and Emilia is his wife.
The story starts off in Venice with Roderigo and Iago arguing about Desdemona, who has just married Othello. Roderigo was paying Iago to spy on Othello so he could be with Desdemona. So the two go to Desdemona's father, Brabanzio, and he is angry and accuses Othello of stealing her with his witchcraft. Meanwhile, Cassio shows up with news that Othello has been ordered to Cyprus to help fight the turks. They all go before the duke, and Desdemona defends Othello in that she fell in love with him. She insists on going with him to Cyprus.
Roderigo then believes he has no chance with Desdemona, but Iago tells him of his plan to sabotage Cassio and get Othello to think she is cheating on him. This proves beneficial to Iago by both getting promoted to his desired position as lieutenant and will keep him in good graces with Roderigo. After the quarrel later that night and Cassio had stabbed the Governor, he lost his post as lieutenant, and Iago is happy because his plan is working. Cassio laments to Iago about his misfortune and Iago tells him a surefire way to get back on Othello’s good side is through Desdemona…which Iago knows will only raise suspicion of her fidelity.
Cassio starts spending time with Desdemona in hopes she can persuade her husband to let him rejoin his ranks. Because of this, Othello becomes upset and moody, which Iago doesn’t help by suggesting an affair between the two. Furthermore, Iago tells him that he saw Cassio wiping his beard with the special handkerchief that he had given her. This greatly upsets Othello and he vows to get his revenge.
I also checked out a Wikipedia article about Othello and his ethnicity and how that may have affected his trust in his wife. In the article is says "The most common interpretation of Othello is that the title character is a black man." I found this very interesting because they further integrate his race into his distrust of his wife as they are "from two different worlds" and since he is a "stranger from a strange land" he is lesser and doesn't have the capability to integrate into their culture. Here's the link :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Othello
I am going to finish this and see how this turns out, and I'll probably write some more later.
Main characters:
~Othello
~Desdemona
~Roderigo
~Cassio
~Iago
~Emilia
Othello is a Moor from Venice and his wife, Desdemona, is the daughter of the Senator Brabanzio. Roderigo is a Venetian man who is in love with Desdemona and wants her. Cassio is a soldier who is appointed to be Othello's lieutenant. Iago, who also serves Othello, is angry because he wanted to be lieutenant, and Emilia is his wife.
The story starts off in Venice with Roderigo and Iago arguing about Desdemona, who has just married Othello. Roderigo was paying Iago to spy on Othello so he could be with Desdemona. So the two go to Desdemona's father, Brabanzio, and he is angry and accuses Othello of stealing her with his witchcraft. Meanwhile, Cassio shows up with news that Othello has been ordered to Cyprus to help fight the turks. They all go before the duke, and Desdemona defends Othello in that she fell in love with him. She insists on going with him to Cyprus.
Roderigo then believes he has no chance with Desdemona, but Iago tells him of his plan to sabotage Cassio and get Othello to think she is cheating on him. This proves beneficial to Iago by both getting promoted to his desired position as lieutenant and will keep him in good graces with Roderigo. After the quarrel later that night and Cassio had stabbed the Governor, he lost his post as lieutenant, and Iago is happy because his plan is working. Cassio laments to Iago about his misfortune and Iago tells him a surefire way to get back on Othello’s good side is through Desdemona…which Iago knows will only raise suspicion of her fidelity.
Cassio starts spending time with Desdemona in hopes she can persuade her husband to let him rejoin his ranks. Because of this, Othello becomes upset and moody, which Iago doesn’t help by suggesting an affair between the two. Furthermore, Iago tells him that he saw Cassio wiping his beard with the special handkerchief that he had given her. This greatly upsets Othello and he vows to get his revenge.
I also checked out a Wikipedia article about Othello and his ethnicity and how that may have affected his trust in his wife. In the article is says "The most common interpretation of Othello is that the title character is a black man." I found this very interesting because they further integrate his race into his distrust of his wife as they are "from two different worlds" and since he is a "stranger from a strange land" he is lesser and doesn't have the capability to integrate into their culture. Here's the link :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Othello
I am going to finish this and see how this turns out, and I'll probably write some more later.
Monday, September 10, 2007
A Favorite Poem
ROAD LESS TRAVELED
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth
Then took the other as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet, knowing how way leads onto way
I doubted if I should ever come back
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence
Two roads diverged in a wood
And I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference
-Robert Frost
The Lawyer & Decameron
So I've made a few observations after reading The Lawyer and Decameron.
Religion played (and still does play) a key role in the Middle East. In The Laywer, Constance, a good Christian woman, is kept alive for 3 years as an inexperienced sailor by the grace and protection of God. Her faith enabled her to escape the seas after being exiled by her husband. Her husband, a Syrian sultan, had agreed to convert to Christianity in order to have her as his wife; though this plan was sabotaged by his mother, who decieved him in her willingness to change her religion. In the end, Christianity is glorified and Jesus saves Constance from being defeated and guides her to Italy where her arrival is seen as a miracle.
The Middle East is very big on hospitality. In Decameron, we follow Saladin in his journey back to Alexandria, and he encounters Messer Torello; whom he shows great courtesy. Saladin and his merchants are welcomed into Torello's home and fed, clothed, and escorted to their destination. The gesture is then returned by Saladin after he discovers that his Christian falconer is indeed the man who had showed him such honour in Pavia. Torello, who had left for the Crusades and whose wife was bid to remarry, longed to go home and rejoin her. So, Saladin arranged for him to be sent by night to Pavia, and he adorned him in fine robes and precious jewels after putting him to sleep. So Torello goes home and his wife is about to marry another, until he slips the ring she had given him before he left into her cup and she discovered it. Then, she realizes it is him and then Messer Torello is finally happy.
I also agree with John and was curious to see such a different portrayal of Islam and the Middle Eastern culture. It was very interesting to see the research on the authors and how that influenced the theme of each tale. As far as Decameron goes, the Sultan and his merchants are portrayed as good, chivalrous men, while The Lawyer gives a description of evil anti-Christs. After reading the Wikipedia article and learning of the great courtesies that the Sultan exchanged with other Christian Lords, the Lawyer seemed very stereotyped.
Much like in modern times, most people have been influenced by the Christian belief that the Middle East is evil and all Muslims and Islamic people are terrorists. Erroneous as that statement is, longstanding perceptions cloud the truth about their culture, as well as how closely tied the two religions actually are.
Religion played (and still does play) a key role in the Middle East. In The Laywer, Constance, a good Christian woman, is kept alive for 3 years as an inexperienced sailor by the grace and protection of God. Her faith enabled her to escape the seas after being exiled by her husband. Her husband, a Syrian sultan, had agreed to convert to Christianity in order to have her as his wife; though this plan was sabotaged by his mother, who decieved him in her willingness to change her religion. In the end, Christianity is glorified and Jesus saves Constance from being defeated and guides her to Italy where her arrival is seen as a miracle.
The Middle East is very big on hospitality. In Decameron, we follow Saladin in his journey back to Alexandria, and he encounters Messer Torello; whom he shows great courtesy. Saladin and his merchants are welcomed into Torello's home and fed, clothed, and escorted to their destination. The gesture is then returned by Saladin after he discovers that his Christian falconer is indeed the man who had showed him such honour in Pavia. Torello, who had left for the Crusades and whose wife was bid to remarry, longed to go home and rejoin her. So, Saladin arranged for him to be sent by night to Pavia, and he adorned him in fine robes and precious jewels after putting him to sleep. So Torello goes home and his wife is about to marry another, until he slips the ring she had given him before he left into her cup and she discovered it. Then, she realizes it is him and then Messer Torello is finally happy.
I also agree with John and was curious to see such a different portrayal of Islam and the Middle Eastern culture. It was very interesting to see the research on the authors and how that influenced the theme of each tale. As far as Decameron goes, the Sultan and his merchants are portrayed as good, chivalrous men, while The Lawyer gives a description of evil anti-Christs. After reading the Wikipedia article and learning of the great courtesies that the Sultan exchanged with other Christian Lords, the Lawyer seemed very stereotyped.
Much like in modern times, most people have been influenced by the Christian belief that the Middle East is evil and all Muslims and Islamic people are terrorists. Erroneous as that statement is, longstanding perceptions cloud the truth about their culture, as well as how closely tied the two religions actually are.
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