Macbeth has boarded the crazy train

Macbeth sure has changed a lot from the beginning...

"Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair"

We are first introduced to him indirectly through praise from the captain: "For brave Macbeth (well he deserves that name), / Disdaining Fortune, with his brandished steel, / Which smoked with bloody execution, / like Valor's minion" (A1.S2.L18-21). He seems like a Beowulf-esque kind of dude; he's obviously fearless if he's just hacking his way through battle without any worries, and probably for a good cause (the defense of Scotland). And when faced with his first struggle of the play (realizing that the witches speak the truth), he appears distraught and seems confused why something seemingly good would make him nervous.

As we dive further into the play, we see Macbeth transformed into a different person, moved by the guilt of his actions. Murdering Duncan really pushed Macbeth into a darker version of himself that he doesn't appear to have control of...

Beginning when Macbeth is resolved to kill the king (and is on his way to do the deed), he starts to go a little wonky and loses his senses. He starts to see things: "Is this a dagger which I see before me, / The handle toward my hand?" (A2.S1.L44-45). And then he starts to hear voices: "Methought I heard a voice cry "Sleep no more! / Macbeth does murder sleep." And even further into the play (after the murder of Banquo), Macbeth begins to see the ghost of his friend who he just had killed. However, even though his mind has betrayed him with false images to inspire his guilty feelings, he remains on his path of destruction and slaughters everyone threatening his power.

P.S. I also want to point out that Macbeth begins as a warrior who kills and kills without really caring if he's the one doing the actual stabbing. But, after he kills Duncan (with his own hand), he doesn't kill any of his other victims himself (Banquo and Macduff's family alike are killed by hired murderers). weird.

Utopians and their crazy work ethic

At first glance, (or I guess at first read) Utopia just seems so darn perfect! There are 54 cities, which isn't so many that maintenance of order would be difficult, but also not too few to make the whole land a "small world." And they're all evenly spaced out with equal land on all sides and the whole thing is a freaking island so they don't have to worry about disputes over land borders! (Shout out to Utopus and his ridiculous idea to separate Utopia from the mainland by excavating 15 miles of land all around it.....) Sounds like a great place to live, and I'm sure that it is in theory, especially for the younger generations who didn't have to live through the founding of the rules of the land. Because I can only imagine how much work it took to create such a meticulous society.

Utopia is the mother of all neat freaks! Every part of this society is planned, and every possible problem is already covered with a preplanned solution and every person knows and does their job well. They are so organized in their laboring that they only have to work six hours per day (with a 2 hour nap in between) and they still have an abundance of products.

I think that the near perfection of almost every aspect of this Utopia makes it out to be more of a "no place" than of a "good place". And while I do approve of their form of government in which all officials are elected and all precautions are taken to ensure every decision is just, I don't think that this Utopia is somewhere worth living, except maybe to visit. They lack qualities that make a society lively, like unpredictability. All decisions made by utopians have a predictable outcome and a definite path and the decisions they make are for functionality. Although I do find it kind of comical when that two people who are going to get married see each other naked first so that they definitely know if they're going to be attracted to their spouse, and that they compare this to buying a horse.. there is no end to the practicality.

Utopia seems like a great place in Raphael's eyes, but I'm still not totally sure how I feel about it.

Pardoner or Hypocrite??

I just want to start by pointing our that the Pardoner is so gross and crude that people tell him that they'll only listen to his story if it's one with moral...
     
        But right anon thise gentils gonne to crye,
        "Nay! lat him telle us of no ribaudye;
        Tel us som moral thing, that we may lere
        Som wit, and thanne wol we gladly here."

And then, on top of his grossness, hypocrisy seems to be his way of life! "My thee is alwey oon, and evere was- / Radix malorum est Cupiditas" (333). Which means that the love of money is the root to all evil, and yet...he's a pardoner!! He literally forgives the sins of others in exchange for money! And call me crazy, but if he was truly a God-fearing man, he would pardon people out of the kindness of his heart, not out of a desire for a heavier purse.

Not to mention, he preaches about the sin of covetousness and avarice, but he practices both himself. If fact, helping and pushing people to repent these sins is the very way that he feeds into his own vices (which he admits to around lines 424-434). And it would also appear to me that he targets those who are of less intelligence than him, because he believes that they are easier to trick because of their love of tales
    
        "For lewed peple loven tales olde;
        Swich thinges can they wel reporte and holde.
        What, trowe ye, the whyles I may preche
        And winne gold and silver for I teche
        That I wol live in poverty wilfully?

And to make me dislike him even more, he tells in his tale of people that drink and gamble and make false oaths, and says that all of those things are sins and whatnot. And yet again, he showcases his hypocrisy by the very fact that while he tells the tale, he himself is drunk. LOL he's so annoying...

I dislike the Pardoner.

Ah, poetry...so melodic, but also so wordy! I can already tell that it's going to take a lot more concentration and time for me to read this oh so lovely tale. I'm diving into this world of middle English and I'm not necessarily hating it, but I don't exactly love it; I find that medieval English is actually a little bit fun to read (even if it takes me 4 times to understand what the words are actually saying), the words just flow so nicely together...plus the pronunciation of every single letter
makes it more fun (I guess)!

Anyways, to begin with, Chaucer's elaboration on the details kind of reminds me of my experience with George Orwell's 1984 rambling, except this is more pleasing. I like that the elaboration by Chaucer is used to create an image of the scene that he's setting; he talks for 18 lines about the setting before he actually introduces his own character. With these descriptions of singing birds and the sprouting plants, he successfully paints a lovely picture of spring and how it fosters opportunity.

This is an actual gif of Chaucer himself splashing in the puddles made from the "shoures sote"

Once the scene/mood is set, Chaucer now proceeds to elaborate on the people that he is introducing, starting generally with the fellow people that also want to go on a pilgrimage to Canterbury, and then zooming in on them each (beginning with a knight). And considering that Chaucer had just met the guy, he sure seemed to know a heck of a lot about his character and how he held himself. Which leads me to believe that Chaucer was a great listener if he had to sit and hear all about this special knight...although, being a poet, he probably greatly enjoyed listening to everything everyone had to say. His description of the squyer had me all over the place though, I was imaging multiple different characters from the movie Ever After (which is a totally fluffy chick flick, but so good too).

Basically, I'm entertained by middle English and its strange musical flow. Plus Chaucer seems cool too.

Beowulf: the "prince charming" of Anglo-Saxons

So, kicking things off with Beowulf didn't exactly make me excited to read... I was first introduced to this epic poem in sophomore year of high school and was not exactly thrilled by the story (difficult old English translations and such)... but as I remembered the jest of the story I figured it could possibly be more fun to read now that I have all these reading skills under my belt. And indeed it is, I actually find the poem to be entertaining to read! However, the background covered on Hrothgar is a tad confusing, considering that his father's predecessor was named Beowulf,

but doesn't appear to have any relation whatsoever to Beowulf, the "monster-slaying hero of the title" (55).

But it doesn't seem to matter in the grand scheme of this epicness.

Anyways..

I see the purpose in the long Scylding history lesson as giving the poet a chance to develop the horrible distress of the Danes. They are proud and lively people that like to celebrate their success and riches of war with giant feasts in Heorot, like Kings and Queens celebrating with all their people. But in the middle of all the happiness, Grendel has to come and crash the party!

And I know that it may seem a little far fetched, but I draw a slight parallel to the (Disney version) story of Sleeping beauty...allow me to explain: The king and queen have a lovely daughter, Aurora (aka Briar Rose) and so they celebrate the birth of their daughter. Similarly, the Danes are greatly successful and celebrate their power by building a grand mead-house. In Sleeping Beauty, a witch comes along and she's evil of course, so she curses Aurora (sleeping for 100 years when she pricks her finger at age 15). And obviously the bad guy in Beowulfs story is Grendel the "fiend from hell" (line 101)...he comes along and eats 30 guys which is kind of horrible. Both the curse on Aurora and Grendels relentless killing continue on and on until along comes the knight in shining amour!! Which is where Prince Phillip and Beowulf come along to save the distressed princess/Danes. So, basically, I'm comparing and old English epic poem to a cutesy princess tale. But either way, Beowulf is essentially prince charming.