True Love

True Love
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My blog twelfth for my English 102 class is the second from a series of blogs from the play Much Ado About Nothing. On this blog I am going to analyze the relationship between Beatrice and Benedick.

After their failed wedding, Benedick show his love for Beatrice in numerous ways. The main act of pure, gratifying and indulging love is when without hesitation Benedick gives into his lover request as if killing a man was just a way of making amends with Beatrice feelings. Benedick accepts and will challenge Claudio. Another way in which a sense of love for her is shown, is by being there when she needs him the most. He listens to her outburst of revenge and will satisfy her every need if given a chance to. This scene shows love in every aspect from tender compassion to the ability to stand by her side, even when he knows the outcome of his actions might be wrong.

By asking Benedick to kill Claudio, Beatrice risks losing her most loved one. She believes that her cousin was falsely accused. Revenge takes the form of an unsettled woman who is willing to do anything to bring justice to her cousin. She asks him to kill Claudio in order to prove his love to her. However, Beatrice believes that Benedick is not the man for the job because he is not part of the family, therefore he does not have the right to represent the family. Benedick risks his friendship with Claudio when he accepts Beatrice request. A friendship entitles trust and loyalty but when he takes on her request, he is breaking all the rules of friendship. He is also willing to kill his best friend for the love of his life. On the other hand, by killing his friend, he gains Beatrice’s love and respect. He feels that he needs to make her feel safe and loved.

It is my opinion that Benedick should not kill Claudio. The reason why Benedick would kill Claudio is to prove his love to Beatrice, but he should not make such a challenging decision based on Beatrice’s assumptions. He will also end up hurt because of this horrible action against his best friend and will lose his best friend.

I truly believe that the death of Claudio would make a difference in their relationship between Benedick and Beatrice. If Claudio dies Benedick will feel resentment against his beloved one and this feeling would make their relationship weak. Even if Beatrice feels as if Benedick proves himself to her, this will not be enough for Beatrice. Love would be the only feeling to make this relationship work and keep them together.

Women's place in Shakespeare's society

Women of Shakespeare's time
Image from listal.com

My blog eleventh is going to be the first blog pertaining to the play we are currently reading in my English 102 class. Our professor has giving us a series of questions on which we are only allowed to pick only one and write a blog from it.  The one I have choosen is really interesting because it talks about how women were place in shakespeares society.

In the early act of the play Much Ado about Nothing by William Shakespeare, we can see how women were diminished in Shakespeare society. Men were believed to be superior and dominated women in every aspect. Stereotypes were used to downgrade women’s position in society; one of them is women as whore or a wife.

Claudio, Leonato and Don Pedro think that Hero is a wife to be owned and manipulated; they also believe that she is a goddess. Hero is a quite, shy, sensible, vulnerable, and very polite woman, she would let her father and Claudio manipulates her. Later in the play, Hero has been dishonored and accused for violating her chastity; Margaret and Borachio made believe that Hero was making love with Borachio. The days of the wedding, Claudio humiliates and mistreats Hero in front of everyone. She is stereotyped as an adulterer and accused of infidelity in front of the public.

Beatrice is very independent and strong, not easy to manipulate. She refuses to get married because she is a strong person and has not yet fall in love with the right person. She wants to find partner that does not control and manipulates her; she is accustomed to be a free and independent woman. Benedick thinks that Beatrice is a scapegoat and always uses animal names when he refers to her or talks to her.

At the masked ball, Don Pedro proposes marriage to her Beatrice. Not knowing that he is really in love with her, she refuses him with good humor. I think Beatrice refuses men because she was hurt before and is afraid to be hurt again. Beatrice becomes vulnerable when she listens to Hero saying that Benedick is in love with her. It was very hard for Beatrice to admit that she is love with Benedick.

I think that Beatrice will be able to keep on resisting men’s attempts to control her actions forever. She is not like Hero that gives love and obeys her partner as if she was kid obeying her father. Beatrice has her own way of loving; she is intelligent, astute woman, capable to manipulate a man and make them do whatever she wants.

A Reflection on Kindred

Understanding is more than just an Award

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Blog tenth is one of my favorites because I was able to pick one of my previous blogs that I feel proud of doing. This is a hard question to answer due to the amount of time, thoughts and knowledge I have dedicated to all of them. However, blog eighth “Domestic Violence Equals Modern Slavery” have been stocked in my head for quite a while and the things that I have learned from that blog are amazing. In this blog, I was able to deeply analyze how domestic violence can be the same term as modern slavery and how women are treated like animals even though we are in the twenty first century.

From the in class readings and quizzes of the story Kindred, I have learned about slavery in the United States during different periods of times. I have learned how people were treated back in that time, analyzed the relationship between slaves and masters and compared it with how people are treated nowadays, especially women. Another remarkable thing I have learned is how old masters molded their young white kids to be masters. The quiz on literary terms helped me to understand better the story I was reading. It helped me to analyze the story from different perspectives; identify the different characters in the story and understand the types of narrator from this story. The setting played an important role in this story, it was a little confusing and at the same time is exciting, but it kept me hooked and focused into what was going to happen next.

My blogs comments and feedback from my classmates have been helpful. By commenting on other blogs we are able to improve what we have done wrong and shape us as better writers.  Most of my classmates have done a good job because they were able to respond what we were asked for and provide good ideas. However, other classmates were only able to respond only part of the assignments and left it unfinished.

Definition of Heroism



Torture of a female slave
Image from historycooperative.org

This is blog ninth for my English class 102. On this blog we are going to take into account the definition of Heroism that Karen Joy Fowler uses in her tribute to Octavia Butler. Also, we are going to plot in this definition on each of this three main characters, Dana, Alice and Sarah, by bringing out their endurances and sacrifices in a way that are being consider heroism.

Most slaves, especially women slaves, were forced to endure constant exploitation and degradation. The author in kindred uses three of her major character to show the different ways how women were exploited and degraded. One of these characters was Alice, who suffered tremendous amount of pain from the abuses of her master. Rufus, who was obsessively in love with her, used to treat Alice like an animal. He took advantage by raping and whipping her whenever she refused him. She was also punished many times for trying to run away from him but every time she did she was caught. Another character who had suffer tremendously was Sarah, however she had opted to live a passive live and accept that she was a slave. She saw how her master Weylin destroyed her family, took away her children and sold them to different bidders. He left her with only one child, Carrie, who was mute, so this way he could make sure that Sarah was not going to escape. Dana’s case was worst because she was from a different time of life; she was not used to the life style of the 1800’s. She had to suffer all types of punishment, from being whipped, insulted, to almost being raped. She could not talk back to the master or any other member of the Weylin family because she was a black woman; this was unacceptable behavior for the slaves. Dana was accustomed to talk back and defend herself if she felt attacked by another person; she had to sacrifice her freedom and life style. The only way Dana was able to escape from the past was by putting herself in danger situations. 

In my point of view, Dana was the most heroic person of the three. Even though she lived in a different time in life, she was able to manage all the punishments she received and still continued to save the life of Rufus every time he was in danger. She was only the black person who was well educated and knew how to read and write. She was able to teach these skills to some slaves of the plantation who she was allowed teach to. At the end, she was able to overcome her fears and killed Rufus while he was trying to rape her