My favorite Character So Far

         There are several very interesting characters that we are introduced to in Act 1 of The Merchant of Venice by Shakespeare. Some of them include Antonio, Bassanio, Portia, Nerissa, Shylock, and several others. So far, the most interesting character to me, it Portia. One of the main things that interests me about her, is how outspoken she is. Even if it is just to her maid, the amount of scornful remarks she makes surprises me, because I would not have expected women to be that outspoken in Shakespeare's time. So far, she is also, in my opinion, the most clever and witty character so far, which makes her more interesting to me. I like how Shakespeare has written her, not just as the prize of her father's contest, but as a adept young women who has her own ideas about who to marry, and will do whatever she can to keep herself from having to marry any of the "vilely" suitors she talks about.

How Blind Were the Suitors?

          In the Odyssey, there was much foreshadowing about the suitors death, which of course they couldn't see, but there were several signs they could see, but did not seem to recognize. Were they really that blind, or did the Gods put some spell on them so they wouldn't notice all the signs pointing to their deaths?
          The first big thing that pointed to their deaths was the Hospitality rules they were breaking. I'm sure that they knew these rules, and knew that breaking them would lead to terrible things, so did they not care, or was some God clouding their judgement, and keeping them from noticing all the prophecies leading to their deaths?
          The second thing was the anger Telemachus had toward them, and their ignorance to the fact that he might be planning to kill them just like they were planning to kill him. It makes sense that they might not see him as much of a threat because he was just one young man, but he was in the line of Zeus, and his father was Odysseus who had done many amazing things, so it seems like they might have taken more precautions.
          The third, and most obvious thing that they did not notice was the trap that Telemachus and Odysseus were laying for them. It seems like they should have noticed that all their weapons had gone missing, and also after Odysseus won the contest, they should have noticed that he did not put his bow down, and he was not planning to let them get away with all they had done.
          These were the three big things I found in the Odyssey leading to the death of the suitors, that seemed like they should have noticed. I know that several of them were cunning, but they were young and immature which could have affected their judgement and awareness. I also think that there definitely must have been some God clouding their minds and keeping them from noticing the most obvious things.

Strong Foreshadowing About the Suitors' fate in The Odyssey

          In The Odyssey, the tale of the hero Odysseus and his many struggles, Odysseus is gone for 20 years, first for the Trojan war, and then lost at sea on his way home. Everyone thinks he is dead, and many suitors from all over have come to try to win the hand of his wife Penelope, who they believe to be a widow. The suitors come, and end up staying for many, many years, outstaying their welcome and breaking the rules of hospitality. This was a very high offense back then, and it was often punished by the gods with the loss of the person's life. Throughout the book, but especially in the later chapters, there are many things spoken that strongly foreshadow a bad end for the suitors. The first one is on page 260, when Telemachus says "That's the Odysseus I want the suitors to meet! They'd get married all right––to bitter death." I think that this is saying that if Odysseus ever gets home, and is still the man he was when he left, the suitors will meet a bitter end. The second bit of foreshadowing is on page 271 when Odysseus, disguised as a beggar says "If there are gods for beggars, or avenging spirits, may death come to Antinous before marriage does." I think that this is showing that the punishment for offenses such as the breaking of hospitality rules should be put in the hands of the gods to do with as they please, and mortals can only hope that the offender gets the end they deserve. The third example of predictions of a horrible death for the suitors is when Penelope says "That means death will surely come to the suitors, one and all. Not a single man will escape." In this example, Penelope has just read her son's sneeze as a sign from the gods that the suitors will meet their end, and none will escape.

Formulaic Language in The Odyssey

          When the Odyssey was first written and performed, it was all oral. It was mostly sung or spoken. There are a ton of characters in this story, and people back then did not have the handy "Glossary of Names" like we do when we read it in modern times. That is why the formulaic language in the Odyssey is super important when it comes to remembering which character is which, because when the important characters have an easy to remember phrase directly in front of or behind their name every time it is spoken, it makes it much easier to remember who is who. Plus the formulaic language often describes the character, for example Menelaus, the red-haired king is used whenever he is spoken about, and serves as a description as well as a helpful reminder of who he is. Other examples of formulaic language in this book include: godlike Odysseus, golden Aphrodite, and Pallas Athena or the Grey-eyed One. Formulaic language is very helpful for describing characters in the Odyssey, but it sometimes describes things too. One example of this is the wine-dark sea.

A Brief Overview of the Odyssey in One Short Poem

Speak Memory–
Of the cunning hero,
The wanderer, blown off course time and again
After he plundered Troy's sacred heights.
Speak
Of all the cities he saw, the minds he grasped,
The suffering deep in his heart at sea
As he struggled to survive and bring his men home
But could not save them, hard as he tried–
The fools–destroyed by their own recklessness
When they ate the oxen of Hyperion the Sun,
And that god snuffed out their day of return.
Of these things,
Speak Immortal One,
And tell the tale one more in our time.

          This poem is the start of the book the "Odyssey" by Homer. I think it is very important because it sets the mood of the book, and it gives the book a great introduction, by giving a brief overview of Odysseus (the character about which the book is written) and his adventures and troubles. I think the most important line in the poem, and the line that sums up the book the most, is the third line "The wanderer, blown off course time and again." This gives a great overview of Odysseus's troubles before he is introduced as the main character in book five. This line, and the rest of the first paragraph of the poem talk about what physically happened to him, and the second big paragraph talks about his emotional pain and suffering of his many years before he came home. It gives the specific example of losing all his men after they ate the oxen of Hyperion. Overall, I think this poem is a very good summary for Odysseus's journeys, and it is structured well with generally what happened at the beginning, and more specific examples at the end.

Slavery: Past vs Present

     The book "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas," by Frederick Douglas, is about Frederick Douglas's journey from slavery to freedom. It talks about the hard life of slaves, with horrible punishments, and very little to eat, etc. It then talks about his journey towards reading, writing, and eventually freedom. At the end of the book, it talks about the abolitionist movement and Frederick Douglas's role in it. I know that slavery was eventually abolished in the US and most of the rest of the   World, but in modern times there are more slaves in the world than there were during this time before the emancipation of slaves. My question about this is: after all are the hard work it took to abolish slavery, why and how are there so many slaves now? People have always been the same, they are greedy, and easily corrupted by power. Most people know this, so why did they let it get so bad before they started stepping in to help?
     I think this would have been a very interesting discussion, if we had a seminar on it, and I would be very interested in what people have to say about slavery now vs. slavery then.

Education = Human Freedom

     In the "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas," the slaves did not have any freedom, and they were not allowed to get an education. They had no freedom whatsoever, even their minds and spirits did not always belong to them. I think that the lack of education and human freedom relate to each other in many ways.

     Most humans have a very strong drive to live, which is partly due to their education. They have learned so much about the world, and they can read and write and more. Slaves did not have this. They did not have that drive to live and escape, except for the slaves who, like Frederick Douglas, had somehow recieved an education. Education gave slaves the will to live, and the drive to escape.

     The skills of reading and writing are unique to humans, and most people are taught to read and write at some point in their life. But slaves were not humans in the eyes of the slaveholders, and they were not allowed to acquire that skill, because it would separate them from cattle and land, and make them more "human;" more like the people who were taking their freedoms.