ROMEO AND JULIET

Interesting Romeo and Juliet Facts:

ü  The original title that William Shakespeare chose for Romeo and Juliet was actually The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet.

ü  When the play was written by William Shakespeare women were not allowed to act on stage. It is believed that her character was played by a man in those days.

ü  Shakespeare is quoted more in the English language than any other writer, if the Bible is not included. Only the texts of the various writers of the Bible are quoted more than Shakespeare (in English).

ü  The play Romeo and Juliet was first published in 1597 in the First Quarto. It is believed this was an unauthorized and incomplete version of the play. The first authorized publication of Romeo and Juliet was published in the Second Quarto, in 1599.

ü  The main characters in Romeo and Juliet include Prince Escalus, Count Paris, Mercutio, Capulet, Lady Capulet, Juliet, ybalt, Montague, Lady Montague, Romeo, Benvolio, and Friar Laurence.

ü  In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo and Juliet are the protagonists. The antagonists (the characters working against the goal of Romeo and Juliet to be together) are The Montague and Capulet families, Tybalt, Verona's Price and citizens, and fate is also an antagonist.

ü  Romeo's love interest at the beginning of the play is not Juliet. He is in love with Rosaline. When Romeo meets Juliet at the ball, he falls in love with her instead.

ü  In Romeo and Juliet, the tragedy begins when Romeo is exiled from Verona for killing a man. Juliet asks Friar Laurence to help her. The friar gives Juliet a potion that will make her appear dead. She takes the potion and is laid in the family crypt. But Romeo does not get the message that her death is fake. He kills himself. When Juliet awakens she sees that Romeo is dead and kills herself too.

ü  The balcony scene has become the most famous scene in the play, when Romeo and Juliet declare their love for each other - her from her balcony and him from the ground below.

ü  Romeo and Juliet is so popular that there have been more than 27 operas written that were based on the play. There have also been ballets, jazz music, musicals, movies, modern music, adaptations, a Twitter series, and paintings and other art works created that were based on Romeo and Juliet.

ü  Romeo has become a name often used to refer to male lovers in the English language.

DOCTOR FAUSTUS

DOCTOR FAUSTUS (1967)

 

WRITER: CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE

   Doctor Faustus, a well-respected German scholar, grows dissatisfied with the limits of traditional forms of knowledge—logic, medicine, law, and religion—and decides that he wants to learn to practice magic. His friends Valdes and Cornelius instruct him in the black arts, and he begins his new career as a magician by summoning up Mephastophilis, a devil. Despite Mephastophilis’s warnings about the horrors of hell, Faustus tells the devil to return to his master, Lucifer, with an offer of Faustus’s soul in exchange for twenty-four years of service from Mephastophilis.

  Before signing the contract, God warns him but he listens the Lucifer and exhanges his soul. Armed with his new powers and attended by Mephastophilis, Faustus begins to travel. He goes to the pope’s court in Rome, makes himself invisible, and plays a series of tricks. He disrupts the pope’s banquet by stealing food and boxing the pope’s ears. Following this incident, he travels through the courts of Europe, with his fame spreading as he goes. Eventually, he is invited to the court of the German emperor, Charles V (the enemy of the pope), who asks Faustus to allow him to see Alexander the Great, the famed fourth-century B.C. Macedonian king and conqueror. Faustus conjures up an image of Alexander, and Charles is suitably impressed. A knight scoffs at Faustus’s powers, and Faustus chastises him by making antlers sprout from his head. Furious, the knight vows revenge.

   As the twenty-four years of his deal with Lucifer come to a close, Faustus begins to dread his impending death. On the final night before the expiration of the twenty-four years, Faustus is overcome by fear and remorse. He begs for mercy, but it is too late. At midnight, a host of devils appears and carries his soul off to hell.

Buket SINMAZ

THE WIFE OF BATH'S TALE

INNER BEAUTY

      In The Wife of Bath’s Tale knight raped a young girl because she was beautiful. In the following parts he kept saying “ugly, wretch, old, disgusting, poor, low class” to his wife. But she kept insisting to love him.

   He abhorred because of her appearance. After marriage, she offered him a choice: either he can have her old and ugly, but a good and faithful wife, or he can have her young and beautiful, but with no guarantee of these other good qualities like cheating him with every men who’ll try to seduce her. The knight turns the decision over to his wife, asking her to make the choice the for sake of both.

  She tells him that she will be both: young and beautiful, and a faithful, good wife to him. The knight takes his young, beautiful wife in his arms and they live happily ever after. The wife is not only faithful and good, but also obedient to her husband for the rest of their lives together. 

  In this tale, Knight was caring about appearance so much. But when he started care about his wife, she chose to be both beautiful and faithful.

   However inner beauty is always more important than outer beauty.

   You may think it’s a chiseled face or a gorgeous physique that makes a person attractive. But more than anything else, it’s a person’s inner belief that they’re attractive that makes them more appealing to others.

  It’s true, physical appearances can be a bonus, but it’s something that’s easily overlooked when other traits are brought into the picture.

  Positive energy and self-confidence shine more than physical appearance.

  You’re beautiful if you believe you’re beautiful. You’re attractive if you feel attractive. Everyone only sees you as a projection of what you see when you look into the mirror.

                                                    Buket SINMAZ

THE CANTERBURY TALES

GENERAL PROLOGUE

   The pilgrims, like the narrator, are traveling to the shrine of the martyr Saint Thomas Becket in Canterbury. The narrator gives a descriptive account of twenty-seven of these pilgrims, including a Knight, Squire, Yeoman, Prioress, Monk, Friar, Merchant, Clerk, Man of Law, Franklin, Haberdasher, Carpenter, Weaver, Dyer, Tapestry-Weaver, Cook, Shipman, Physician, Wife, Parson, Plowman, Miller, Manciple, Reeve, Summoner, Pardoner, and Host. (He does not describe the Second Nun or the Nun’s Priest, although both characters appear later in the book.) The Host, whose name, we find out in the Prologue to the Cook’s Tale, is Harry Bailey, suggests that the group ride together and entertain one another with stories. He decides that each pilgrim will tell two stories on the way to Canterbury and two on the way back. Whomever he judges to be the best storyteller will receive a meal at Bailey’s tavern, courtesy of the other pilgrims. The pilgrims draw lots and determine that the Knight will tell the first tale.

THE KNIGHT'S TALE

      The Knight’s Tale is the story of two knights from Thebes who fall in love with the same woman, a princess of Athens named Emily. Since the two knights have apparently sworn to support each other in everything, each one's love for Emily does not go over well. 

  Summary:  Theseus, duke of Athens, imprisons Arcite and Palamon, two knights from Thebes (another city in ancient Greece). From their prison, the knights see and fall in love with Theseus’s sister-in-law, Emily. Through the intervention of a friend, Arcite is freed, but he is banished from Athens. He returns in disguise and becomes a page in Emily’s chamber. Palamon escapes from prison, and the two meet and fight over Emily. Theseus apprehends them and arranges a tournament between the two knights and their allies, with Emily as the prize. Arcite wins, but he is accidentally thrown from his horse and dies. Palamon then marries Emily.

  Analysis:  The Knight Tale is mostly concerned with two things. Chivalry And Courtly Love. The rules of chivalry included things like always keeping your promises, defending the helpless, and remaining loyal to your lord and fellow knights no matter what.  Courtly love was actually a "system" of love (the loyalty of the knight to just one person: his lady-love.), just as chivalry was a system of knightly behavior.

* Some of the information from:

-http://www.sparknotes.com

-http://www.shmoop.com

THE FEUDAL SYSTEM

THE FEUDAL SYSTEM

In Middle Age, most of European countries was managed with feudal system. The feudal system is based on hierarchy. The system works like that:

    It was all about land ownership. The King gave land to the nobles, who gave it to their knights who gave it to the peasants. The peasants did the work, payed taxes and served in the armies of the knights and nobles. The knights were loyal to their Lords and supported them in their wars. All served the king!
Place in society was determined by birth and heritage. And the church confirmed this was a God-given system!

    By time, lords and barons became so powerful and signed The Magna Carta with King in 13^th century.

    But nothing lasts forever! After so many big problems (like The Black Death, The Peasants Revolt, land based economy to money based  economy) feudalism declined.
      

  

           

                                                      BUKET SINMAZ

Nascence of Old English

    

    In this week’s class, Old English Literature kindle my interest. I wonder the nascence of Old English and the details about language. After searching I gathered some significant information. 

   Ø The Celts and the early Anglo-Saxons used an alphabet of runes, angular characters originally developed for scratching onto wood or stone. The first known written English sentence, which reads "This she-wolf is a reward to my kinsman", is an Anglo-Saxon runic inscription on a gold medallion found in Suffolk, and has been dated to about 450-480 AD. The early Christian missionaries introduced the more rounded Roman alphabet (much as we use today), which was easier to read and more suited for writing on vellum or parchment. The Anglo-Saxons quite rapidly adopted the new Roman alphabet, but with the addition of letters such as   ("wynn"), ş (“thorn”), ğ (“edh” or “eth”) and 3 (“yogh”) from the old runic alphabet for certain sounds not used in Latin.   later became "uu" and, still later, "w"; ş and ğ were used more or less interchangeably to represent the sounds now spelled with “th”; and 3 was used for "y", "j" or "g" sounds. In addition, the diphthong æ (“ash”) was also used; "v" was usually written with an "f"; and the letters "q", "x" and "z" were rarely used at all. 

   Ø Old English literature, or Anglo-Saxon literature, encompasses the surviving literature written in Old English in Anglo-Saxon England, in the period after the settlement of the Saxons and other Germanic tribes in England (Jutes and the Angles) c. 450, after the withdrawal of the Romans, and "ending soon after the Norman Conquest" in 1066. These works include genres such as epic poetry, hagiography, sermons, Bible translations, legal works, chronicles and riddles. In all there are about 400 surviving manuscripts from the period.

   Ø Oral tradition was very strong in early English culture and most literary works were written to be performed. Epic poems were very popular, and some, including Beowulf, have survived to the present day. Beowulf is the most famous work in Old English, and has achieved national epic status in England, despite being set in Scandinavia. The only surviving manuscript is the Nowell Codex, the precise date of which is debated, but most estimates place it close to the year 1000. Beowulf is the conventional title, and its composition is dated between the 8th and the early 11th century.

* I took the information from:

-http://www.thehistoryofenglish.com/history_old.html

-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_literature

60th Wedding Anniversary

        Today is a special day. An excitement surrounded me. I took a deep breath and got ready specially. I brush my hair neatly. Because you like my hair like that. Sorry for getting deepen wrinkles. They are so fast, I couldn’t stop time. Never mind me. Look, I bought your favorite wine. And I made the food that you like as usual. Even I wore the shirt that you buy. Once you said that it looks good on me so just wear on special days. You still remember, right? There isn’t a better time than today.

        Today is our 60^th wedding anniversary. Let’s drink to our precious times. When we laughed and cried together. When we leaned on each other. When we lighted our ways like a candle. Time was flowing faster when we were together but nowadays I feel like it has stopped. Sigh... I’m looking at the clock every half hour. Every passing day taking away pieces from my memory. Even if I don’t want let it go. Only I am talking. Now your turn. How are you nowadays? Do you miss me? I’m missing you so much. How about you? Are you keeping your promise? I know, I know, you do.

      Let’s cheers to us!

    

Literature

WHAT LITERATURE MEANS TO ME?

          Basically, Literature is expressing notions, events and sentiments in an esthetic way. For centuries, numerous writer grinded out their works with ornate love words, harsh critical sentences, deep vague meanings etc. Why did they do that? Why hundreds of writer write thousands of novel, poem, theater play, movie and other type of work? And it’s still resuming. But why?

          Because they want to express themselves to the world.They share emotions with us. Emotions are not only benefit of literature, we also learn how to judge, history and culture of the era.

          The words that writer grinded out, waking up some feelings inside the reader. While reading a book, I imagination all the scenes and places in my mind. Maybe after 10 pages, I don’t read the book anymore, I watch it in my mind. That’s why after finishing the book, I don’t remember the pages or writing style of the book, I just remember the events in it. In tragic parts, I cry so hard. Basically I share the main characters feeling and thoughts.

          Not today’s works, but especially historical works gives a lot of information about incidents in that time. We also have fun while learning these. We don’t need to read an extra history book for it.

         Culture is also one of the biggest benefits in my aspect. Every country, every nation has their own culture. And litterateurs one way or another add cultural pieces in their works. We can learn many things from literary works.

         Meaning Literature is not only emotions but also history and culture to me. I can’t imagine a work without these items. Also they become one in works so we can’t judge the writer or characters in that time. Every book, every poem add a lot of thing to me. I care Literature because it makes my reading time more enjoyable and meaningful. 

                                                                                                                    Buket SINMAZ