Confession: I find the concept of slavery fascinating

I have a slightly embarasing confession: ever since I was a small child I have been fascinated with slavery. I had books about Harriett Tubman, possessed a number of African American dolls, and secretly wished I had been alive during the civil war so I could work with the underground railroad (this confession is probably completely un p.c). My fascination matured and grew less ovbious as I got older. Still, there is something about the whole business that still gets me.

I feel like Oroonoko manages to hit on a key issue slavery brings up. What is most important in life. Clearly, Oroonoko decides that slavery is so contrary to his concept of what it means to live it is better for him to die. This guy is no weakling, he has suffered a number of hardships throughout his life, physical and emotional. And yet, of all human crosses that are reasonable to bear in this life he draws the line at slavery. He concludes without freedom he has nothing. Why? In many ways Oroonoko has the good life even in slavery, hunting, fishing, the love of his life, a family...and yet, all this means little to Oroonoko without freedom. I don't know exactly why the issue of freedom is central to human existence but I think it has something to do with not belonging to yourself. I think the dismemberment of Oroonoko was symbolic, he no longer had control over his own life, his own body, his own choices. What then did he have control over? What significance did his life take as a result of losing his liberty? To Oroonoko, it seems nothing else ultimately matters if he doesn't have freedom. The only act of control he is able to perform is killing himself...or at least that was the plan until catatonic depression set in...

I guesse the issue of slavery fascinates me because I wonder whether or not I would be able to live in such extreme bondage and whether or not I would find that risking death ( whether it be by the underground railroad or quartering) worth the possibility of freedom. I think Behn proves that Oroonoko IS completely human by the fact that he cannot live in slavery because reasonably no human being should.

The Twisted Web of Reality

I thought the article we read for today's class was interesting. A good portion was full of thought provoking and potentially enlightening thoughts and ideas. There is something to be said through "Othello" about England's relationship with the Ottoman and Islamic cultures in their time period. At first, I did not see much significance in this aspect of the play but now I see how it could have been central for the time period. However, then I realized that this article analyzes almost the entirety of the play in relationship to its own thesis- EVERYTHING. And I suddenly became very uncomfortable (well as uncomfortable as you can get with an assigned reading about Shakespeare). I thought back upon previous experiences involving Othello in my education- 9th grade Humane Letters and 14th grade (just kidding) I mean sophomore year of College. In both instances I could remember different thoughts regarding almost the entire range of subjects and events covered by the article. Which leads me to two other thoughts: 1) Shakespeare is incredibly complex and there is no way this author, or anyone else for that matter, can try to paint the meaning of his plays with one simple theme or central point. Bottom line is you can't try to simplify him, this dude is complex and so are his plays and characters. 2) We have no way of knowing what Shakespeare was really thinking and intending with his plays. Add to that the the complexity and depth of his writing abilities, we have a recipe for relative ignorance regarding the true significance of his plays. I felt plunged into a dark depth regarding Shakespeare with an inability to climb my way out through truth. ALAS! I WILL NEVER KNOW WHY IAGO DID IT! I WILL NEVER THE TRUE MEANING BEHIND OTHELLO'S METHOD OF SUICIDE! I WILL NEVER KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ANYONE OR ANYTHING IN ANY OF SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS FOR CERTAIN!

and then... I realized I simply needed to make peace with my ignorance and grow in knowledge from all possible theses and themes, hidden meanings and cultural contexts. After all, if we really knew what Shakespeare was intending to tell us we would be missing out on about a million possible different plays, and that would be much much worse than not knowing one for certain.

Why so crazy Othello?

What strikes me above all else in the Othello readings is the ability of Othello to lose himself so easily. We literally see the man fall apart in a matter of days. What is even stranger, is that he managed to keep it together quite well for the entirety of his existence before these few acts which allow us to only a see a small portion of his life. And yet, that is ultimately what defines Othello, the state in which his fate is sealed. I think it is a little unfair to try to judge Othello, after all we see everything from the outside, the twisted Iago, the elaborate plots, Othello sees none of it. It is far more challenging to see things through Othello's eyes and perceive how he could have fallen for the illusion that everything had fallen apart when everything he loved was standing right in front of him and as it should have been. I think we can learn a very wise lesson from our tragic friend Othello. When things look to have fallen to pieces, they really have not. In fact, once we look past our doubts and fears we will probably find everything we need and maybe even want. In essence, our fears and doubts are nothing but the enemies to our realities. Lets not exchange a handkerchief for our sanity!

The Noble Moor

I really appreciate the fact that Shakespeare painted such a non steriotypical picture of religious and ethnic outsider Othello. In other works of Shakespeare, he has chosen to go along with steriotypes ( for what purpose I don't remember enough of my gen ed english class to tell you), such as the greedy Jewish merchant in "The Merchant of Venice". He creates a very simple and virtuous picture of Othello which seems to stand out as exceptional when compared to his counterparts in the play. His simple and virtouos nature also seems to stand in direct contrast with Iago, a complex and maliciously charactered man. Othello even seems to have a certain sense of elegance about him paired with a model citizen award. I cannot help but fall in love with Othello's character, though I know this will only bring me greater pain in the end!

In Summary: I WOULD ELOPE WITH OTHELLO TOO DESDEMONA!

I DO NOT think we can be friends my dear Montaigne

I enjoyed reading Montaigne's and Bacon's thoughts on friendship very much, when reading and thinking on such things one cannot help but get a warm fuzzy feeling regarding the matter. We also get warm fuzzy feelings watching "The Notebook" and "The Little Mermaid" because we are watching an idealized and oversimplified version of romantic relationships. I think the same holds true with Bacon and Montaigne, except in their cases they are idealizing and oversimplifying friendships to unrealistic standards and somewhat unnaplicable formulas. How am I supposed to relate to a friendship Montaigne describes as being of such a character it only occurs once every 300 hundred years. If I am honest with myself, I have to accept I will probably never experience friendship on such an epic proportion. It is about as bogus as claiming my romantic relationships are on par with Romeo and Juliette's intensity. Which leads me to wonder whether or not such idealized relationships are even worth pondering or applicable to my life because they are so far removed from reality. Ideals are good...but sometimes I feel that they may stop us from living the beauty of our own reality and being aware of the truths that our own experiences convey with even more profundity by the very fact that they are REAL.