struggles and desires of revenge

The merchant of Venice, a movie in which the main characters are Shylock, a jewish; Antonio, a rich merchant, and Basanio, Antonio’s best friend who asks Antonio for a loan in order to get merry to the heir of Belmont throne, Porcia. Nevertheless, as Antonio had invested all his money on merchant navy expeditions, he doesn’t have money and he has to ask Shylock for it in order to help Basanio. Now the worst comes. Shylock accepts to lend the money to Antonio but with a condition because he had been humiliated by Antonio due to being jewish, therefore it is his chance to take revenge on him. The contract they both agreed is that if Antonio doesn’t give the money back on time, he will have to pay with a pound of meat from his body.

Days before Antonio went to Shylock’s house, he had spat on Shylock’s face by saying that jewish people had to be treated as dogs because they did not deserve to be treated as christians were treated. Therefore, Shylock decided to lend the money not as a favor to help Antonio but to take revenge on him for what he had done. Whether Antonio did not have the money on time to pay the loan, then it was Shylock’s chance to return all the pain and humiliation he had lived because of belonging to a different religion.

The struggle between religions is what called my attention , especially when jewish were humiliated by christians. It happened because christians wanted to persuade all the people to follow their beliefs and it didn’t matter if it was violently, what they really cared about was to get more people into their religion. But jews kept their faith strong even though they were embarrased in front of everybody. All this invited Shylock to have the desire of revenge, but it got stronger when he knew that his only daughter left him by running away with a man in Basanio’s navy. Thus, now Shylock’s desire of revenge changed into desire of justice because they had taken his daughter, Jessica away from him. Money was not so important now but he only wanted his daughter back and hurt Antonio. It is really reasonable that Shylock wanted Antonio to pay for all the humiliation and also because Jessica had escaped with a Basanio’s man in order to have justice, because he loved his daughter and he had the need to have someone to pay for that.

When the deadline for Antonio to give the money back came, he felt desperate because his business didn’t go well, so he didn’t have money to pay and he probably would die. Antonio is takenb to court by Shylock, where he has to be judged according to what was stipulated in the contract. Here is when Basanio arrives and with the money to the court, and he even brings twice the money that Antonio has to pay. Minutes later, Porcia, Basanio’s wife, arrives but dressed as a man and takes over of the judgement. She tries to persuade Shylock to not take the pound of meat he wants from Antonio, but Shylock just wants to take the piece of meat. Finally, the judgement resul is that first, he can not take any piece of meat from Antonio; second, half of the money is for Antonio and the other half for the State; and third which is more painful for Shylock, he has to give up his jew faith and become a christian. I think what happened in the judgement is the worst side of the movie because Shylock lost everything.

Shylock is a good character and the one I was more focused on while I was watching the movie and what I liked from him is the courage, his attitude and behavior towards christians, because he could not be nice to them after all what they did to jews.Unfortunately, he lost what he loved the most, which was his daughter and his religion. From my point of view, this movie shows how Christian religion has been taking over through time. It is totally unacceptable that some people force other to give up something really important as is religion. When Antonio said to Shylock that he had to become a christian I felt anger because I put myself in Shylock’s shoes and I thought that I could never change my Rasta faith for any religion, even though I could be killed if I deny.

Outline Film Review

I will talk abot the opposition between Shylock and Antonio.

Possible title: Desire of revenge.

- Introduction ( summary of the story).

- The contract between Shylock and Antonio.

- The struggle between two religions.

- Shylock's desire of revenge.

- How Shylock fails in his attempt of revenge.

- Conclusion.

The Fairy Queene

This letter was a difficult text to understand, at least for me. The way it was written is what makes it hard to get the meaning at the first I read it.

Now that I know what an allegory is, I think this letter was an interesting way to critique the King. This letter takes place in the Fairy land of a Fairy Queen, which makes it something unreal, helping Spencer's purpose. Spencer wrote this letter to say what he disliked from the Kingdom such as social, political and religious issues by giving a hidden message in order to not be punished. He talked about King Arthur because he was virtuous. The witer wanted protection and that’s why he decided to say everything he thought was wrong by giving a message that could just be understood between the lines and not explicitly.

Afer reading the letter and writing this post, I must say that I liked this way of writing because it makes people thought beyond of what is in the paper.

What's women desire?

Although we can not expect the same from every women because not all of them have the same point of view of what role they want in the world or have different desires, I might say that the woman from the tail was not so different from the kind of woman we see now. However she was totally different from the stereotype of women at those times. Her rebel thoughts and her desires of independence were as what many women at these times want. She wanted to feel free by showing that she had the power of decision in her relationships, be respected for what she did more than for what she was, a woman. This woman’s desire was to be understood in a narrow minded society, just as the women’s desire from the 21st century. Maybe a difference could be that many women now, look for someone who can protect them and make a life in order to feel safe, which is the contrast of what the woman from the tail did. She was so self confident that she did not have the need of a man to do something. That’s why this woman went against the world and society’s rules, shouting for her real needs as a woman.

"Truth" by Chaucer.

I think that Chacer called this poem "Truth" because the message he wants to give is that most of the people don't say the truth about their lives and if they change that characteristic, and say the truth, then they will find the way to freedom. That's why he mentions the frase "for greed entails hate and social climbing uncertainty" refering to those who show others a reality which has nothing to do with what they live. Trying to be what they are not, having many things which they even can not afford. All this just to climb in society by living a false life.

This poem is related to religious beliefs. We can find this relation when he thanks God and also asks us to let our spirit be led because the truth shall deliver us. It means that if we say the truth, as God willing, we will be free.

All what he says is related to reality, adn that's what I thought afetr reading this beautiful poem. Many people don't cherish what they have or don't feel proud of the simple things that life gives. They give importance to material things just to live like others and to fit in higher status. It is a real issue in society, people living in lies losing themselves and selling their souls.

My definition of an epic poem

I would define an epic poem as something that tells ancient stories of Kings and Wars. It is the kind of poetry that use old fashioned language in order to Express the history in a beautiful way. Maybe epic poems don`t tell real stories and go into the fiction to show the beautiful side of those ancient wars.

What Literature is for me

When I was asked to define Literature, what first came to my mind was the word “expression”. I think of Literature as a way to show different worlds in order to express what we feel, and at the same time give others the chance to understand an amount of realities. Literature also permits people to dream and be immersed in those dreams through the books’ letters. Therefore, it can not exist if there are not people who read, because a reader is who gives life to a story by living it as if it was real at the moment of being reading. As Art needs of its creator to be expressed and someone else to be interpreted, Literature needs to be interpreted by someone who is not the writer, and that interpretation is very subjective because it depends on the person’s culture.

Summarising the main idea on this reflection, Literature exists thanks to the reader, because literature is directed to someone, and the interpretation of this, varies according to each person's experiences, knowledge or culture.

Reflection made on quotations from slides 7 and 8.