Oroonoko and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

           Oroonoko starts out with a disclaimer of sorts with the writer explaining that she isn't going to pretend to entertain the reader “…with the adventures of a feigned hero” and that most of what is said, she has witnessed herself. I think the writer does this to lend more credibility to her story although I’m not exactly sure why she needs it since it’s a work of fiction in the first place. Also, I’m not sure whether the narrator is Behn herself or if it’s a completely different person.

          When Oroonoko meets Imoinda, it is love at first sight. They decide to get married and are happily in love. That is until Oroonoko’s creepy King Grandpa sets his eyes on her and turns her into one of his concubines. What kind of grandpa does that to his own grandson? Then when Oroonoko sneaks in to meet Imoinda, the King finds out and sells her into slavery! Whoever said that with age comes wisdom was wrong because that clearly doesn’t apply to everyone. Instead of just being a man and telling Oroonoko what he did, the King decides to lie and say that he killed Imoinda. I feel so bad for Oroonoko, first he meets the love of his life and then his grandpa steals her away and “kills” her. He must have felt horrible that he couldn't do anything to stop the King from taking her away from him and that he couldn't protect her. It can’t get any worse for Oroonoko right? Wrong! Then he gets kidnapped into slavery after being nothing but hospitable to this English captain. Poor Oroonoko…

Locked out of Heaven

This book revolves around the Devil's fall from heaven and the aftermath that follows due to how the Devil feels. 

One part that I found particularly important was the juxtaposition of the Devil's life when he was in heaven and then how it was when he fell into hell. One line I thought really described this well saying how he once had the view of an angel but now all he sees is this dismal dungeon, where there is constant fire and he is trapped here for an eternity. This reminds me of a rags to riches story but in this case it would be riches to rags. The devil had everything he could possibly need in heaven but due to his own actions, he fell from heaven and ended up in hell. The problem here lies in that the devil didn't think it was his own fault that he ended up in hell and blames it all on God. Imagine losing everything you have and believing that it was caused by someone else's doing. You would be pretty upset too.

How did the Devil end up in hell you may ask? Well, he wanted to be just as powerful as God was and take his place. The Devil talks about how he will never bow down to God as it is better to reign in hell than it is to serve in heaven. Basically the devil would rather be his own ruler in misery than a servant in happiness. He viewed God as a tyrant over heaven who needed to be dethroned so that he could be God and rule over the universe. This reminded me of people during this time seeing their rulers as tyrants and not wanting to follow them too. I think more important than the devil viewing God as a tyrant, is the fact that the devil would not have been happy serving in heaven no matter who was in charge as he isn't happy serving anyone but himself. 

When the Devil and his followers were cast out of heaven, it enraged the Devil. It then became his sole mission to ruin any good plans that God had for the world. He talks about how doing ill towards others will be their sole delight and how they will think up things that will offend God the most. I wonder if the Devil had actually managed to dethrone God, if his plans for the world would have been good. I'm not sure if the devil was inherently evil or if being kicked out of heaven made him evil in order to spite God.

The Witches Macbeth

I know I am not alone among those who are always intrigued by the role of the witches in Macbeth. They have become such iconic figures that they are one of the easier ways to distinguish the play from the others of Shakespeare, but there is so much more to them than that.

Opening with the witches is an effective device because it sets the mood to be eerie and unnerving, similar to how the ghost functions at the beginning of Hamlet. Both of these supernatural phenomenon prophetically appeal to the titular character in order to drive the plot of the play. 

However, the witches are in some ways less mysterious than the ghost of King Hamlet, because early in the first act their prophecies are confirmed to at least hold grains of truth, revealed first to the audience and then to the characters of the play. It is significant that Macbeth's first words of the play "So foul and fair a day I have not seen" echo back to the witches' line in scene 1:"Fair is foul, and foul is fair." This immediate correlation between Macbeth and the witches indicates the power of their prophecies and anticipates the power they will have over Macbeth. Macbeth is much more stricken by the words of the witches than his friend Banquo, who begs to be included in the witches' predictions but does not feel as consumed by them as Macbeth. 

Shakespeare's use of paradox and prophecy together is a brilliant literary combination of techniques, because it entices the subjects (or perhaps victims) into obsessing over their respective futures, trying to accommodate the details of their lives to those described by the witches. Needless to say, it won't end well for anyone, because, you know, that's what happens in tragedies and also whenever witches or prophecies are involved.  

   

So These Three Witches Came up to Me...

       One day Macbeth and Banquo are just walking along when BAM, these witches appear out of nowhere and proclaim to them that they are going to be kings. Now if I were them, I would be really freaked out and probably run in the opposite direction. The news that they would be kings probably helped them not to run away though. Banquo was definitely more suspicious of the witches than Macbeth but I think this could be because Macbeth wanted to be king more than Banquo. I wonder why the witches told them this information in the first place? Banquo mentioned how they might have told them because it would lead to their demise which I think is a real possibility but maybe there could be an alternative reason.

       Once Macbeth hears the prophecy, it seems to be all he can focus on. When King Duncan tells how the Prince of Cumberland has been named heir to the throne, Macbeth realizes that he stands in his way of the prophecy coming true. I don't know what his plans were for the prince but I can't help to think that Macbeth would not consider such a plan had the witches not told him that he would be king in the first place.

       I find Lady Macbeth to be very power hungry and scary. As soon as Macbeth tells her of the prophecy, she automatically starts to plan King Duncan's murder. Why get rid of the prince when you can just go all the way and kill the king, right? It sounds really messed up when she tells Macbeth of her plan to kill him and just tells Macbeth to act natural and like a little flower when he comes over to their home.

How Macbeth is supposed to act before the murder

       Upon thinking over his wife's plan, Macbeth realizes that the act of murder doesn't just end when the person is dead but comes with lasting consequences. He realizes how messed up it would be to kill Duncan considering how much Duncan trusts him and how he has never wronged him. When Macbeth tells his wife that he changed his mind and didn't want to kill him anymore, Lady Macbeth became really mean. First, she calls him a scared little kitty. Then she says how she would bash out her own child's brain while it was breastfeeding from her looking up and smiling, if that is the promise she made to him so he shouldn't go back on his word to her. I think after being chewed out, Macbeth acquiesced to her plan because he was afraid of her and kind of still was thinking about how great it would be to be king. After what she said, I would be afraid of her too.

Lady Macbeth

Macbeth