For class this week we read St. Augustine’s Confessions. I really have mixed feelings about this reading because at times, I felt like it was too repetitive, as he analyzed and reanalyzed every little sin he had ever committed from childhood to adulthood. I believe most of this was due to his state of being in a prison. By being stuck in a prison cell day in day out for years caused him to rethink every part of his life in order to find what may have led to his current state in life and why he would be punished the way he was. It would also give him the opportunity to seek forgiveness and absolution for all of these sins that he realizes. From a theological viewpoint, I think that St. Augustine’s Confessions do a great job of portraying the role of God in ones life and how one’s conversion of faith can change their viewpoint of life and their acts so much. St. Augustine’s writing style seemed very convincing and genuine in nature for the situation that he was in, and seem to explain his thought process quite well as he sat in prison and thought over his entire life. Another thing I found interesting about his story was how long it took before he finally converts to Christianity. For 32 years of his life he attempted to find some sort of answers and reason in various religious, but none affect his viewpoint of life as much as Christianity finally does. The Confessions provide a journey through St. Augustine’s life as he is lost for 32 years, and finally is straighten out by God through his conversion to Christianity. I think of the Confession not only as a portrayal of the power of God, but also as a direct prayer to god fromSt. Augustine as he sat in the prison cell.
9/13
This week we began reading Dante’s Inferno. I had always wanted to read the Inferno on my own but never got around to it and didn’t know what to expect of the real story after playing the video game. So far, the Inferno has been one of the most interesting books I have ever read in a history class. I really like the way that Dante is able to explain his view of hell so easily and clearly by using famous people and stories throughout history and mythology to explain each layer. I find it very interesting that he even includes various mythological creatures and characters throughout his layers even though he is writing the story from a Christian viewpoint of hell. This seems a bit contradictory to include them if through Christianity they would not exist, but also provides him with relatable characters that most members of society will recognize and be familiar with. I also like the way in which Dante has ordered his layers of hell so far, providing a clear hierarchy of sins in the eyes of god. One thing that I thought was a bit odd was how he his lower layers of hell included people in history who were responsible for crime against Rome, and brought on the downfall of Rome. To people reading the Inferno, we do not find the crimes to be committed to be that bad or even influential to the modern world, but to Dante, and the people on society at the time in Italy, those people were viewed as the most terrible people in history. What I find interesting is that this showed how Dante was catering his book towards the common people in Italy, using vernacular Italian instead of Latin, as well as writing from a very strong nationalistic Italian view of world history.
12/ 6
This week was one of my favorites in class because I had the opportunity to take my strong background in music and apply it to history and the enlightenment. In the past, I had only focused on music history from a musical standpoint and never looked outside of this to see how the social changes affected what was occurring in music. Even with Mozart, who I did my presentation on this week, I had only focused on his individual pieces and his progression from early classical to late classical styled music. Through my research, I began to notice just how much the ideal of the enlightenment influenced Mozart's operas and writing style. For Mozart, the Enlightenment provided him with the opportunity to pursue music as a freelance composer, allowing his to musical abilities to be free of the restraints of noble patrons. Mozart also took these ideas brought up through the Enlightenment and included them in his operas showing his support for causes such as equality, individualism, education, and anti-slavery. With the changes in concert setting in the Enlightenment, he was able to convey these ideas to the middle class and portray “utopian” societies and how they would work to an audience. Another interesting aspect of classical music during the Enlightenment was its use of order and reason in form. An example of this is with sonata allegro form in which the entire form is balanced as a whole, and individually each section is able to broken down into sections that maintain this same balance. Even within a period, a form of phrase writing commonly used by composers at the time is very mathematical in nature. The phrase begins with a segment that is 4 measures long, then that phrase is broken into a fragment containing two of the measures. The final two measures are half of the previous fragment repeated twice. The breakdown of 8 measures therefore becomes 4-2-1-1. This past week has really given me a new viewpoint on how society affects music and in turn music affects society, which I would enjoy learning much more about in higher music history classes to come.
11/15
For my final paper, I plan to do a traditional essay comparing Voltaire's Candide and Pope's Essay on Man. Through the essay I will compare both author's views on man and life. After discussing this somewhat in class, I have a good understanding of each author's view of society and life and will expand on topics brought up through our class discussions.
11/8
This week, I was excited to return to Candide after reading and discussing it in a previous class. Similar to what we are going to do on Monday, we had to each choose a character in the book, and take on their persona and view of the world and life. We then came to class and had a tea party/debate in which we discussed various topics brought up throughout the book as if we were the characters themselves from the book. I found this to be extremely helpful in understanding each of the views Voltaire places in the book to express those of society at the time. It is one thing just to write down a list of what each character’s view is, but when you are forced to take on the mindset of the character, and communicate with others doing the same, you really have to master what that person thinks on each subject in order to respond accordingly to each situation. This is all possible through Voltaire’s writing in Candide. Throughout the story, we get quick, to the point encounters with several characters which comment on one some particular aspect of society. By not drawing out each scenario and filling them with fluff, Voltaire is able clearly convey his thoughts or satire of society’s perception of a subject, and move on to the next. This can be seen quite easily throughout Candide’s dialogue with Pangloss, as each conversation strikes a new topic, whether it be STDs, the new world, religion, or another institution. By the end of the paragraph or page, we are fully aware of each party’s view on the subject, and what Voltaire is really trying to say through the conversation. One critique that some people had in my previous class was how often the book seemed to jump around and be rushed. I feel that Voltaire did this purposefully in order to convey as much information in the shortest amount of writing so that the reader did not lose interest, or become lost in the excess dialogue.
11/1 Earlier today, I found an article posted on Facebook of a new church being designed in New York City, after the former church had been destroyed during 9/11. The new design for the church is going to be in the byzantine style of the Hagia Sophia which we just had a presentation on earlier this week. What is interesting is that because the Hagia Sophia became a Muslim mosque for a period of time in history, and many mosques were designed afterwards in this style, some people are calling into question whether the building should be allowed to be built so close to the sight of the 9/11 memorial. They believe that the design concept is too similar to that of mosques and bring religion, especially the Muslim religion, too close to the sight of the towers. I find this to view to be an overreaction to the situation, and ignorance towards the fact that the design is modeled of early Christian churches, therefore having more of a connection to Christianity than Islam. Because the church had already previously been there before the events, I feel that the church has the right to rebuild the building in any way that the see fits. The country should look at this as overcoming the tragic events of 9/11 by restoring the surrounding areas to their state before the events, rather than making a big deal about how a particular group decides to portray their religion.
Back to topics discussed in class, I found it interesting on Wednesday how the class could be so divided on whether Orgon or Tartuffe was the villain of the comedy. To me, it seemed too clear to be thought of any other way besides Tartuffe being the true villain. In my eyes, Orgon simply acts as a pawn to all the characters of the story, and it is Tartuffe who exploits this characteristic in order to gain power. Orgon’s manipulation can be seen when Elmire convinces him to hide under the table, and again at the end when he attempts to please the family by announcing the wedding of Valere and Mariane. Without Tartuffe, the story would simply be one of Orgon attempting to please everyone as he is manipulated by the family, but with the addition of Tartuffe, Orgon’s trait is exploited as he is used as a pawn by Tartuffe to carry out his plan.
10/26
After these past two weeks of class, I found myself looking back on a holiday which past a few weeks ago- Columbus Day. Particularly after reading Montaigne’s On Cannibals, I began to question how even today, we as a society still view cultures and traditions which oppose our own as “wild” and “barbarous”. I’ve come to the conclusion that it is something built into the traits of being human, as no matter which side you fall on, being the “natives” or the “conquerors”, you cannot help but find that which others do to be inhuman and beastly. No matter if it is something as irrelevant as the amount of clothes worn, or as large as the religion believed, we as humans, whether we want to or not, use these differences to classify people as either being civilized or wild depending on how similar they are to ourselves. Even within the film about Aguirre, this can be seen not only with the natives, but also with the African slave. Simply because the color of his skin, the Spanish believed that he was subhuman and beastly, and would instill fear in the natives simply at the sight of his skin. At this age of discovery, Europeans constantly were faced with extreme differences from their own society and had no other explanation to describe these cultures besides beastly and wild, because before this time, all other cultures encountered throughout Europe were so similar to their own that they accepted their own as the definition of a civilization and humanity. I find it interesting how from the native’s view, Europeans could just as easily be classified as barbaric and animal-like, slaughtering full villages and cultures in their pursuit of bringing Christianity to the new world, and their insatiable desire with gold. To the natives this obsession over gold and the spreading of their religion to the extent of murdering those who didn’t understand what they spoke of could only be seen as inhuman and beastly.
10/13 Lucas, this sounds good. Are you going to use modern people to illustrate Dante's ideas and values? Or do you plan on revising his ideas about hell with your own? - MH
For my paper, I am planning on applying Dante's journey in the Inferno to modern times. Throughout his journey, Dante used famous people of his time and placed them in particular layers of hell to better portray the types of sins which people in that layer have committed. By using people known by society, Dante was able to create a hell which they would understand and connect to. In my paper I plan to use the same method as Dante did by using people relevant to society who have committed crimes relevant to each layer of hell. I obviously cannot completely rewrite the entire Inferno, but I will probably work through to have each layer represented by a different person. As far as form, I will probably create short scenes of dialogue between the characters as a movie script.
10/4
After discussing Thomas More’s Utopia this week in class, an interesting aspect of the work I found through our discussions was how it challenged the status quo of the time. Although it is not always easy to tell which side More takes on each of the topics he brings up, by simply bringing them up the reader begins to question each side of the argument and is able to make their own decisions on the topic. This can be seen through the description of divorce in Utopia. More describes how in Utopia, divorce is only allowed in cases of adultery and abuse, and even so the adulterer is sent to become a slave. During the time which it was written, King Henry VIII had created his own national church in order to support his decision to divorce his wife. With this contrast, we can see how England, according to More, is no where near a “utopia” as their King would have to be enslaved for committing adultery and divorcing his wife. But with the double meaning of the title, More could have also been pointing out that this is impossible, therefore justifying the King’s actions. Another example of this comes with More’s description of slavery in Utopia. Although slavery is used as a form of punishment in Utopia for those who have committed crimes, the idea that slavery still exists in a perfect society can be taken as a justification for the use of slaves in England, but can also be taken as a criticism as in Utopia, only those who deserve to be punished become slaves, not simply because of their race. The challenging of the status quo can also be seen through More’s description of how material objects hold no value in society. At the time, wealth was signified by how much gold you had and how many material objects you had. In Utopia gold is only used for weighing down criminals and for toilets. Similarly, jewelry is only worn by children and taken of when they become adults. More uses this reversal of value to take all the objects which were cherished at the time by society and shows that in perfect society, material objects hold absolutely no value. By taking it to such an extreme, More makes it seem absurd and impossible to use objects like this therefore showing how utopia is unobtainable.
9/27
When beginning the Canterbury Tales this week, I was enthusiastic to revisit the stories after studying them in high school. Similarly to what we are doing in class, we read through many of the most famous tales and then discussed each of them and their relevance to society at the time and today. An interesting assignment that we had was to each take on one of the characters on the pilgrimage, research them, and present a speech in character to the class. I found this very helpful as we began reading this week as it provided me with a strong background knowledge of each character who spoke in the stories. By knowing what each character represents in society, and their views on topics, I was able to understand their role in the stories much better while rereading the stories because I did not have to focus on figuring out who the characters were.
An interesting aspect I have noticed in Chaucer’s writing through our discussions was the number of differing opinions of the same character people have when analyzing the work. Going into todays class, I believed that Chaucer was satirizing women in the wife of bath’s prologue and tale, but through our discussions from the church’s view on marriage and virginity, I found that Chaucer was also satirizing the church for their attempt to justify their believe in only one marriage. When relating these statements to the prologue, an interesting point brought up by the Wife of Bath is the amount of biblical figures with multiple wives, completely opposing what the church believed in. One of the strongest examples of this is Abraham, because not only does he have a second spouse, he also has a child with a woman who is not truly his wife, therefore opposing both the church’s message that you should only have one spouse and also that a woman should only have sex with their husband. Through the tale of the Wife of Bath, Chaucer is able to point out and satirize the flaws in the church’s message and believe as they are contradicted by their own holy scripture.
9/20
After finishing the Inferno this week, I was truly surprised by how much it differed from my expectation. I had always thought that it as an extremely long novel that I would never get myself to read. An interesting aspect that I would like to research on my own moving forward is the reaction of society at the time to Dante’s work. I found it really interesting that he placed so many historical people within the story, and portrayed his view of how they should be punished. In my opinion, I think that this was done in order for people in the time to easily understand what sorts of actions received certain types of punishments and which god viewed as being the worst. By using historical figures to represent each type of sin, even common people of the time are able to understand what each level of hell represents. This also coincides with Dante’s decision to use Italian when writing the Divine Comedy instead of Latin as it allowed him convey his ideas to the broadest audience possible at the time.
Another interesting aspect that was brought up in class these last few days was how Dante’s image and description of hell differs from most religious portrayals of hell as he combines ideas from the ancient Greeks, medieval customs, and traditional Christian ideals to create a unique version of hell that isn’t found anywhere else. One great example of this is the inclusion of Cassius and Brutus in the same realm of punishment as Judas. Globally, the betrayal of these two men against their country would never be placed on equal terms with the betrayal of Jesus by Judas, but being an Italian and “dependent of Rome”, Dante and fellow Italians would understand this comparison as it relates directly to their nation. This is also seen in Dante’s inclusion of Greek mythological creatures and beings which he constantly uses in his description of hell, because Italians at the time would be very familiar with these stories as it was common knowledge at the time.
When began classes this past week, I wasn’t quite sure how I would adapt to college courses, and was worried that with a subject such as history, I would become lost attempting to interpret every idea on my own, and never knowing when I was looking at something from the proper view. Luckily, this class is not taught in typical lecture style, and instead provides each student with an opportunity to express their ideas and comments. This type of class discussion is especially helpful when interpreting something as subjective as art. Instead of simply looking at a piece of art and forming your own single idea of its attributes, this class forces you to listen and gather useful information from other students, giving you a clearer and broader understanding of the work. In our discussion of The Lamentation of the Dead Christ, students brought up ideas of balance, line, perspective, and light source prior to us learning these topics in class, therefore progressing our discussion to more mature levels of analysis, and providing strong examples of these terms in context. After the first few discussions like this, I began noticing characteristics of the paintings that I had overlooked before, and was able to make more thoughtful and educated comments myself. As you can tell, I’m a pretty big advocate of class participation, and truly believe that everyone’s comment helps strengthen our analysis of artwork. Even if its something as simple as referencing the “hats” that some of the subjects were wearing in The Lamentation; without this comment, we would have never discussed the importance of the halos in the painting, and how they are used to signify sainthood or holiness. Furthermore, while discussing the contrasting roles of women and men in the painting, a comment was made on whether one of the subjects was male or female. By examining the subjects position in the painting and key details to her gender, we were able to establish a sort of gender role which carries true throughout the entire painting. I truly enjoy being able to discuss and critically analyze these pieces of art, and hope that everyone continues to add their comments and ideas freely throughout class.
For class this week we read St. Augustine’s Confessions. I really have mixed feelings about this reading because at times, I felt like it was too repetitive, as he analyzed and reanalyzed every little sin he had ever committed from childhood to adulthood. I believe most of this was due to his state of being in a prison. By being stuck in a prison cell day in day out for years caused him to rethink every part of his life in order to find what may have led to his current state in life and why he would be punished the way he was. It would also give him the opportunity to seek forgiveness and absolution for all of these sins that he realizes. From a theological viewpoint, I think that St. Augustine’s Confessions do a great job of portraying the role of God in ones life and how one’s conversion of faith can change their viewpoint of life and their acts so much. St. Augustine’s writing style seemed very convincing and genuine in nature for the situation that he was in, and seem to explain his thought process quite well as he sat in prison and thought over his entire life. Another thing I found interesting about his story was how long it took before he finally converts to Christianity. For 32 years of his life he attempted to find some sort of answers and reason in various religious, but none affect his viewpoint of life as much as Christianity finally does. The Confessions provide a journey through St. Augustine’s life as he is lost for 32 years, and finally is straighten out by God through his conversion to Christianity. I think of the Confession not only as a portrayal of the power of God, but also as a direct prayer to god fromSt. Augustine as he sat in the prison cell.
9/13
This week we began reading Dante’s Inferno. I had always wanted to read the Inferno on my own but never got around to it and didn’t know what to expect of the real story after playing the video game. So far, the Inferno has been one of the most interesting books I have ever read in a history class. I really like the way that Dante is able to explain his view of hell so easily and clearly by using famous people and stories throughout history and mythology to explain each layer. I find it very interesting that he even includes various mythological creatures and characters throughout his layers even though he is writing the story from a Christian viewpoint of hell. This seems a bit contradictory to include them if through Christianity they would not exist, but also provides him with relatable characters that most members of society will recognize and be familiar with. I also like the way in which Dante has ordered his layers of hell so far, providing a clear hierarchy of sins in the eyes of god. One thing that I thought was a bit odd was how he his lower layers of hell included people in history who were responsible for crime against Rome, and brought on the downfall of Rome. To people reading the Inferno, we do not find the crimes to be committed to be that bad or even influential to the modern world, but to Dante, and the people on society at the time in Italy, those people were viewed as the most terrible people in history. What I find interesting is that this showed how Dante was catering his book towards the common people in Italy, using vernacular Italian instead of Latin, as well as writing from a very strong nationalistic Italian view of world history.
12/ 6
This week was one of my favorites in class because I had the opportunity to take my strong background in music and apply it to history and the enlightenment. In the past, I had only focused on music history from a musical standpoint and never looked outside of this to see how the social changes affected what was occurring in music. Even with Mozart, who I did my presentation on this week, I had only focused on his individual pieces and his progression from early classical to late classical styled music. Through my research, I began to notice just how much the ideal of the enlightenment influenced Mozart's operas and writing style. For Mozart, the Enlightenment provided him with the opportunity to pursue music as a freelance composer, allowing his to musical abilities to be free of the restraints of noble patrons. Mozart also took these ideas brought up through the Enlightenment and included them in his operas showing his support for causes such as equality, individualism, education, and anti-slavery. With the changes in concert setting in the Enlightenment, he was able to convey these ideas to the middle class and portray “utopian” societies and how they would work to an audience. Another interesting aspect of classical music during the Enlightenment was its use of order and reason in form. An example of this is with sonata allegro form in which the entire form is balanced as a whole, and individually each section is able to broken down into sections that maintain this same balance. Even within a period, a form of phrase writing commonly used by composers at the time is very mathematical in nature. The phrase begins with a segment that is 4 measures long, then that phrase is broken into a fragment containing two of the measures. The final two measures are half of the previous fragment repeated twice. The breakdown of 8 measures therefore becomes 4-2-1-1. This past week has really given me a new viewpoint on how society affects music and in turn music affects society, which I would enjoy learning much more about in higher music history classes to come.
11/15
For my final paper, I plan to do a traditional essay comparing Voltaire's Candide and Pope's Essay on Man. Through the essay I will compare both author's views on man and life. After discussing this somewhat in class, I have a good understanding of each author's view of society and life and will expand on topics brought up through our class discussions.
11/8
This week, I was excited to return to Candide after reading and discussing it in a previous class. Similar to what we are going to do on Monday, we had to each choose a character in the book, and take on their persona and view of the world and life. We then came to class and had a tea party/debate in which we discussed various topics brought up throughout the book as if we were the characters themselves from the book. I found this to be extremely helpful in understanding each of the views Voltaire places in the book to express those of society at the time. It is one thing just to write down a list of what each character’s view is, but when you are forced to take on the mindset of the character, and communicate with others doing the same, you really have to master what that person thinks on each subject in order to respond accordingly to each situation. This is all possible through Voltaire’s writing in Candide. Throughout the story, we get quick, to the point encounters with several characters which comment on one some particular aspect of society. By not drawing out each scenario and filling them with fluff, Voltaire is able clearly convey his thoughts or satire of society’s perception of a subject, and move on to the next. This can be seen quite easily throughout Candide’s dialogue with Pangloss, as each conversation strikes a new topic, whether it be STDs, the new world, religion, or another institution. By the end of the paragraph or page, we are fully aware of each party’s view on the subject, and what Voltaire is really trying to say through the conversation. One critique that some people had in my previous class was how often the book seemed to jump around and be rushed. I feel that Voltaire did this purposefully in order to convey as much information in the shortest amount of writing so that the reader did not lose interest, or become lost in the excess dialogue.
11/1
Earlier today, I found an article posted on Facebook of a new church being designed in New York City, after the former church had been destroyed during 9/11. The new design for the church is going to be in the byzantine style of the Hagia Sophia which we just had a presentation on earlier this week. What is interesting is that because the Hagia Sophia became a Muslim mosque for a period of time in history, and many mosques were designed afterwards in this style, some people are calling into question whether the building should be allowed to be built so close to the sight of the 9/11 memorial. They believe that the design concept is too similar to that of mosques and bring religion, especially the Muslim religion, too close to the sight of the towers. I find this to view to be an overreaction to the situation, and ignorance towards the fact that the design is modeled of early Christian churches, therefore having more of a connection to Christianity than Islam. Because the church had already previously been there before the events, I feel that the church has the right to rebuild the building in any way that the see fits. The country should look at this as overcoming the tragic events of 9/11 by restoring the surrounding areas to their state before the events, rather than making a big deal about how a particular group decides to portray their religion.
Back to topics discussed in class, I found it interesting on Wednesday how the class could be so divided on whether Orgon or Tartuffe was the villain of the comedy. To me, it seemed too clear to be thought of any other way besides Tartuffe being the true villain. In my eyes, Orgon simply acts as a pawn to all the characters of the story, and it is Tartuffe who exploits this characteristic in order to gain power. Orgon’s manipulation can be seen when Elmire convinces him to hide under the table, and again at the end when he attempts to please the family by announcing the wedding of Valere and Mariane. Without Tartuffe, the story would simply be one of Orgon attempting to please everyone as he is manipulated by the family, but with the addition of Tartuffe, Orgon’s trait is exploited as he is used as a pawn by Tartuffe to carry out his plan.
10/26
After these past two weeks of class, I found myself looking back on a holiday which past a few weeks ago- Columbus Day. Particularly after reading Montaigne’s On Cannibals, I began to question how even today, we as a society still view cultures and traditions which oppose our own as “wild” and “barbarous”. I’ve come to the conclusion that it is something built into the traits of being human, as no matter which side you fall on, being the “natives” or the “conquerors”, you cannot help but find that which others do to be inhuman and beastly. No matter if it is something as irrelevant as the amount of clothes worn, or as large as the religion believed, we as humans, whether we want to or not, use these differences to classify people as either being civilized or wild depending on how similar they are to ourselves. Even within the film about Aguirre, this can be seen not only with the natives, but also with the African slave. Simply because the color of his skin, the Spanish believed that he was subhuman and beastly, and would instill fear in the natives simply at the sight of his skin. At this age of discovery, Europeans constantly were faced with extreme differences from their own society and had no other explanation to describe these cultures besides beastly and wild, because before this time, all other cultures encountered throughout Europe were so similar to their own that they accepted their own as the definition of a civilization and humanity. I find it interesting how from the native’s view, Europeans could just as easily be classified as barbaric and animal-like, slaughtering full villages and cultures in their pursuit of bringing Christianity to the new world, and their insatiable desire with gold. To the natives this obsession over gold and the spreading of their religion to the extent of murdering those who didn’t understand what they spoke of could only be seen as inhuman and beastly.
10/13
Lucas, this sounds good. Are you going to use modern people to illustrate Dante's ideas and values? Or do you plan on revising his ideas about hell with your own? - MH
For my paper, I am planning on applying Dante's journey in the Inferno to modern times. Throughout his journey, Dante used famous people of his time and placed them in particular layers of hell to better portray the types of sins which people in that layer have committed. By using people known by society, Dante was able to create a hell which they would understand and connect to. In my paper I plan to use the same method as Dante did by using people relevant to society who have committed crimes relevant to each layer of hell. I obviously cannot completely rewrite the entire Inferno, but I will probably work through to have each layer represented by a different person. As far as form, I will probably create short scenes of dialogue between the characters as a movie script.
10/4
After discussing Thomas More’s Utopia this week in class, an interesting aspect of the work I found through our discussions was how it challenged the status quo of the time. Although it is not always easy to tell which side More takes on each of the topics he brings up, by simply bringing them up the reader begins to question each side of the argument and is able to make their own decisions on the topic. This can be seen through the description of divorce in Utopia. More describes how in Utopia, divorce is only allowed in cases of adultery and abuse, and even so the adulterer is sent to become a slave. During the time which it was written, King Henry VIII had created his own national church in order to support his decision to divorce his wife. With this contrast, we can see how England, according to More, is no where near a “utopia” as their King would have to be enslaved for committing adultery and divorcing his wife. But with the double meaning of the title, More could have also been pointing out that this is impossible, therefore justifying the King’s actions. Another example of this comes with More’s description of slavery in Utopia. Although slavery is used as a form of punishment in Utopia for those who have committed crimes, the idea that slavery still exists in a perfect society can be taken as a justification for the use of slaves in England, but can also be taken as a criticism as in Utopia, only those who deserve to be punished become slaves, not simply because of their race. The challenging of the status quo can also be seen through More’s description of how material objects hold no value in society. At the time, wealth was signified by how much gold you had and how many material objects you had. In Utopia gold is only used for weighing down criminals and for toilets. Similarly, jewelry is only worn by children and taken of when they become adults. More uses this reversal of value to take all the objects which were cherished at the time by society and shows that in perfect society, material objects hold absolutely no value. By taking it to such an extreme, More makes it seem absurd and impossible to use objects like this therefore showing how utopia is unobtainable.
9/27
When beginning the Canterbury Tales this week, I was enthusiastic to revisit the stories after studying them in high school. Similarly to what we are doing in class, we read through many of the most famous tales and then discussed each of them and their relevance to society at the time and today. An interesting assignment that we had was to each take on one of the characters on the pilgrimage, research them, and present a speech in character to the class. I found this very helpful as we began reading this week as it provided me with a strong background knowledge of each character who spoke in the stories. By knowing what each character represents in society, and their views on topics, I was able to understand their role in the stories much better while rereading the stories because I did not have to focus on figuring out who the characters were.
An interesting aspect I have noticed in Chaucer’s writing through our discussions was the number of differing opinions of the same character people have when analyzing the work. Going into todays class, I believed that Chaucer was satirizing women in the wife of bath’s prologue and tale, but through our discussions from the church’s view on marriage and virginity, I found that Chaucer was also satirizing the church for their attempt to justify their believe in only one marriage. When relating these statements to the prologue, an interesting point brought up by the Wife of Bath is the amount of biblical figures with multiple wives, completely opposing what the church believed in. One of the strongest examples of this is Abraham, because not only does he have a second spouse, he also has a child with a woman who is not truly his wife, therefore opposing both the church’s message that you should only have one spouse and also that a woman should only have sex with their husband. Through the tale of the Wife of Bath, Chaucer is able to point out and satirize the flaws in the church’s message and believe as they are contradicted by their own holy scripture.
9/20
After finishing the Inferno this week, I was truly surprised by how much it differed from my expectation. I had always thought that it as an extremely long novel that I would never get myself to read. An interesting aspect that I would like to research on my own moving forward is the reaction of society at the time to Dante’s work. I found it really interesting that he placed so many historical people within the story, and portrayed his view of how they should be punished. In my opinion, I think that this was done in order for people in the time to easily understand what sorts of actions received certain types of punishments and which god viewed as being the worst. By using historical figures to represent each type of sin, even common people of the time are able to understand what each level of hell represents. This also coincides with Dante’s decision to use Italian when writing the Divine Comedy instead of Latin as it allowed him convey his ideas to the broadest audience possible at the time.
Another interesting aspect that was brought up in class these last few days was how Dante’s image and description of hell differs from most religious portrayals of hell as he combines ideas from the ancient Greeks, medieval customs, and traditional Christian ideals to create a unique version of hell that isn’t found anywhere else. One great example of this is the inclusion of Cassius and Brutus in the same realm of punishment as Judas. Globally, the betrayal of these two men against their country would never be placed on equal terms with the betrayal of Jesus by Judas, but being an Italian and “dependent of Rome”, Dante and fellow Italians would understand this comparison as it relates directly to their nation. This is also seen in Dante’s inclusion of Greek mythological creatures and beings which he constantly uses in his description of hell, because Italians at the time would be very familiar with these stories as it was common knowledge at the time.
When began classes this past week, I wasn’t quite sure how I would adapt to college courses, and was worried that with a subject such as history, I would become lost attempting to interpret every idea on my own, and never knowing when I was looking at something from the proper view. Luckily, this class is not taught in typical lecture style, and instead provides each student with an opportunity to express their ideas and comments. This type of class discussion is especially helpful when interpreting something as subjective as art. Instead of simply looking at a piece of art and forming your own single idea of its attributes, this class forces you to listen and gather useful information from other students, giving you a clearer and broader understanding of the work. In our discussion of The Lamentation of the Dead Christ, students brought up ideas of balance, line, perspective, and light source prior to us learning these topics in class, therefore progressing our discussion to more mature levels of analysis, and providing strong examples of these terms in context. After the first few discussions like this, I began noticing characteristics of the paintings that I had overlooked before, and was able to make more thoughtful and educated comments myself. As you can tell, I’m a pretty big advocate of class participation, and truly believe that everyone’s comment helps strengthen our analysis of artwork. Even if its something as simple as referencing the “hats” that some of the subjects were wearing in The Lamentation; without this comment, we would have never discussed the importance of the halos in the painting, and how they are used to signify sainthood or holiness. Furthermore, while discussing the contrasting roles of women and men in the painting, a comment was made on whether one of the subjects was male or female. By examining the subjects position in the painting and key details to her gender, we were able to establish a sort of gender role which carries true throughout the entire painting. I truly enjoy being able to discuss and critically analyze these pieces of art, and hope that everyone continues to add their comments and ideas freely throughout class.