Passang Lhamo

To be honest I read Macbeth before but however I forgot little bit. When I first read through Macbeth, I was impressed by William Shakspeare writing the way he catch reader attention when he introduce thunder and lightning . It made me feel that the story gonna be some tragedy and plus witches put more spice in story. Like the way they deliver there dialogue in act one ” All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter! Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none. ” Through out the Macbeth I believe he is confuse between himself and his near ones. I was so shocked when witches said Macbeth will become king . In Macbeth what I don’t like is his wife who plays major role in killing king Duncan. Although I believe Macbeth was the the one who killed king but I believe through his wife force he have to kill the king. Through out the book Shakespeare shows how Macbeth face conflict between man vs society. After Macbeth killed king  in Act 2 scene2 I was shocked how he had fear of attempting murder. “will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood ” I like how Shakespeare symbolize neptune ocean as symbol of pure and clean and he compare with Macbeth sin.

Passang Lhamo

Through out the Sophocles free will and fate were shown however I agree that Oedipus was not composed by his fate but he was responsible for his own conduct.  I believe From his very birth Oedipus was predetermined to marry his mother and murder his father although God Apollo played Oedipus destiny but at the end his fate was in his hand . There were a series of events that I witness in theses book  when Oedipus did chose his freewill against fate Oedipus had too much emphasis on his self but what he can not control is his wrong deeds like Distrusting, disobeying, and disbelieving the Gods all played a role in his misfortune. This made me realize that Oedipus action against god is his free will. But what he cannot avoid is later I saw God Apollo coming after Oedipus destroying his happiness when he  calls the old oracle a liar after he was told he was responsible for Laius?s murder. He left his home, Corinth,  assuming that  he could deceive the gods from his fate. Unfortunately, Apollo?s oracle would be awaiting Oedipus? s arrival no matter where he went or what he did. Later that I found  view of Oedipus’s self-love, and disrespect for the gods was frail. “If a man walks with haughtiness of hand or word and gives no heed to Justice and the shrines of Gods despises- may an evil doom smite him for his ill-starred pride of heart!- if he reaps gains without justice and will not hold from impiety and his fingers itch for untouchable things. This made me realize that Oedipus action of killing his father and disrespecting towards god was his free will but what lead after his deed is his fate that he cannot escape and have to face the consequences.

Passang Lhamo

When I read through Sophocles ,it was different from what I read before.  From  the first part of Sophocles,  I somehow felt the story gonna be some kind of tragic and mystery.  The first form of light and darkness is knowledge is present in the play by Sophocles, The very first example of this is spoken by Oedipus at the beginning of the play when he says, “I must bring what is dark to light” in reference to the mystery of Laius’ death. I think his is the first and most obvious example, and it sets the stage for the use of light and darkness to represent knowledge throughout the the play.  I immediately realize that the story is going to be darkness vs light. Thank God I was right when read carefully. Because throughout the play I found the writer use irony in his play. Even though people who have sight to see the real but failed to see what the depth of reality however ones who are blind seems to be smarter than normal people. For example I believe Teiresias, the only physically blind character, is the only person that throughout the play can actually see what has, is and will happen. Teiresias charges Oedipus, “but I say that you, with both your eyes, are blind!” he makes the reference not to his physical state but to his mental state. Teiresias also says: “you do not even know the blind wrongs you have done” referring to Oedipus’s unknown incestuous relationship and the murder of his father.  I found it kind of irony because although Oedipus is not blind but he was blind with his mother and wife. Light and darkness (sight and blindness) takes on three different forms throughout the play, the first form refers to knowledge, the second to physical light and the third to truth of king laius death. This made me realize that we should not judge people from outside sometimes people who are blind may be smarter than us.

At the beginning of Sophocles’ play, Oedipus is faced with all the problems of Thebes, the city he is to rule.  Throughout book I realize God plays important role in Odiphus because at first with Oedipus, the gods decided to destroy him and his family for no reason. It might be hard to believe that gods can have humanistic traits, but in fact they do. The gods, especially Apollo, are considered evil in my because they destroyed an innocent man’s life and his family. I Can relate Sophocles and Odyssey because throughout the Oedipus and Odysseus journey God are represent fate and shown as evil because they didn’t help them but instead they harm them. The role of God in these stories taught me In life sometimes you should follow your heart  that not all god are god like not not all people are kind.

Week 9

Throughout the Odyssey, I was surprised by the culture of Greek during that time. I realized that there are huge different role of women and men are shown during that time, I believe that women were considered inferior and men are consider superior. In Odyssey women job is to looker after family like Penelope,  while her husband Odysseus duty is to going for war.Besides Penelope , homer also shown women appear in the form of temptresses and  either seduce Odysseus into staying with them such as Goddess Athena, Calypso and Circe. I was shocked to see how goddess Calypso and circe tried to seduce Odysseus, I wonder these Goddess fits in characters of Gods.

While reading  Odyssey freewill and fate will are illustrated,  I found that Odysseus represent free will and God represent fate .However I believe Odysseus is characterized as strong and ambitious man who decide his own fate by going against these Gods. During Odysseus journey after war many God tried to fool Odysseus to reach his destination like Sea God, wind God, circe who tried to stop Odysseus journey . Example Through the sea god Odysseus crew were killed by flood and unable to reach his direction. When Odysseus was about to reach home Calypso try to seduce him and kept him for years , Polyphemus about to eat his friends alive but however I realized  how These god represent Fate in odysseus journey but I was Glad that Odysseus go against his  fate and chose his free will by showing his heroic act by fighting against and not giving up. Through Odysseus journey homer taught me that if you have a will there is way even though fate tried to not achieve your goal. But at the end your action will decide your own destination.