The Tempest: Act 1

Throughout act one of The Tempest, Prospero manipulates those around him to get what he wants.  Not only does he sink the ship to bring its crew to his island, but he also uses his narrative of the past to sway those around him into siding with him.  When Prospero tells Miranda the story of how they arrived at their island, he says "Prospero the prime duke, being so reputed in dignity, and for the liberal arts without a parallel".  This sentence is an example of how he creates an image of himself as a dignified ruler who was loved by all.  His only mistake in the story was being too trusting of his brother.  Through his narrative, he was able to convince Miranda that his brother was evil and had betrayed him, and that he had done nothing but good.  Prospero used this same tactic on Ariel.  Although Ariel is his servant, he uses her past to convince her that she is better off being his slave.  An example of that is seen when he asks "Hast thou forgot the foul witch Sycorax, who with age and envy was grown into a hoop".  Sycorax trapped Ariel in a tree for twelve years and he constantly threatens to trap her again for being ungrateful.  Through the use of these narratives, Prospero gains control over Ariel and support from Miranda.  This is just another example of how controlling the past allows for control over the present.

Socratic Circle Reflection

The conversations in the Socratic circle and in 1984 have shown the problems with hearing a story from a single source.  Every viewpoint is bound to have some bias and there isn't really anything that can be done about it.  However, talking about completely eliminating historical figures is a different story.  1984 has shown that you can change everyone's perception of the future by altering the past.  The fact that the idea to go so far as to take people out of the history books was considered makes me wonder if what we're learning now isn't an alteration made by some previous generation.  It's possible that our whole view of the world was somebody's plan way back when, and today's history books are being used to see that plan through.  It's scary to think that someone may have chose to influence our perception in the way some people of our generation want to change the future's.  It would be nice if we could be taught history based on nothing but straight facts.  It would also be nice if we had a way to check for sure that what we are learning is exactly accurate and not an idea just thought up one day.  The sad truth is that we have to deal with bias and the feeling of "what if"  because there is no way to eliminate either when it comes to learning the past.

First Blog

This is my picture of the 49ers logo.  I'm a huge Niners fan, so i decided to put in this picture.  I think we're going to the playoffs this year, so I'm crossing my fingers.  Well, there isn't really anything more to say.