Ignorance in The Tempest and Sonnet 93
Ignorance has been said to be bliss. To equate appearance with reality is a facet of ignorance, and leads to a part of the bliss. Many of Shakespeare's characters find the bliss of ignorance and revel in it, and some end up coming to terms with their gullibility. Some few are unwilling to abandon their ignorance even when they can see real truth. All are experiencing different stages of the human cycle. Coming into the world, we are equipped with nothing more than recognition of appearance. We must learn to the distinguish what is real from what is seen. Those who have the opportunity to learn this difference will often deny the truth to live in bliss a moment longer, those who are no longer ignorant can occasionally re-enter the cycle in a moment of absolute trust and wonder, and finally there are those who have spilled off one end of the cycle or the other, and are trapped in a particular stage for their life. In all cases, real truth is irrelevant to the human goal of happiness.
The speaker of sonnet 93 is fighting his own intelligence to stay ignorant. In order to avoid living a cycle of clear reason, he uses the fogging image of the ideal. He tells himself he cannot see any trace of falseness in his lover because she is so beautiful: 'Whatever thy thoughts or thy heart's workings be,/ Thy looks should nothing but sweetness tell'. Essentially he has doubled back on his own mind: convinced himself he has not seen the change he has seen. He is willing to sacrifice the truth he sees to prolong his happiness.
Miranda in The Tempest is shown slowly bridging the gap between her untouched childlike ignorance and the clarity ...
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...e too close to the truth, seek truth when wonder is empty or exhausted. The only way to tie oneself to the truth is to wind one's happiness around the truth until they are inseparable, while exhausting the capacity for wonder.
Works Cited and Consulted:
Bloom, Harold. Modern Critical Interpretations: William Shakespeare's Sonnets. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987. pg. 12-13
Davidson, Frank. "The Tempest: An Interpretation." In The Tempest: A Casebook. Ed. D.J. Palmer. London: Macmillan & Co. Ltd., 1968. 225.
Ingram, W. G. and Theodore Redpath, Ed. "Sonnet 93," Shakespeare's Sonnets.New York: Barnes & Noble, Inc., 1968. pg. 168-169.
Shakespeare, William, 1998. The Tempest. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1998
Webster, Margaret. Shakespeare Without Tears. Greenwich: Fawcett Publications, Inc., 1996.
According to Jim Meyers, in "Righting the Wrongs of Slavery," reparations for slavery wouldn't solve anything. He claims that it would just put an even bigger rift between white and black Americans. He argues that "white bitterness would be inescapable" and that white Americans would feel as though they owned everything that black Americans obtain with the reparations. He also poses the questions that many of the articles for and against reparations pose: Who will receive these reparations and who will have to pay them? Is it just based on skin color? Will all black Americans receive reparations even if they aren't descents of slaves or will they look at every Americans genealogy to discover who is and who isn't? What about white Americans who aren't descents of slave holders? Will Irish immigrants who came to this country in the 1920's have to pay these reparations? It's really hard to draw the line. The battle seems like a hard one to win when there are so many variables that can't be ignored.
In this day and time the world is heavily concerned with political and social corrective ness, thus everyone is catered too and no money changes hands. The idea and arguments of paying reparations to the descendants of slaves has been in the American media and courthouses since the English barrister James Grahame published a groundbreaking book in 1850 setting the first claim for reparations in the United States. It is no surprise that these allegations arose so soon after the abolishing of slavery at the culmination of the Civil War. Free blacks and enslaved blacks are accredited with building a nation on their backs, that is not so; America was built on the backs of the heroic men who served in the American Revolution and the victorious soldiers who reconciled a broken country after the Civil War. Reparations cannot be paid to those whom it is not owed.
The Framers chose a bicameral system for the legislative branch of government. When still deciding what kind of system to input, the Framers looked to other countries. They observed that Great Britain had a bicameral parliament, and the system seemed to be very successful. They also weighed common sense. They knew that if they had two different chambers, each chamber would be able to “check up” on the other, preventing any abuse of power from taking place. The bicameral Congress was also a result of the Connecticut Compromise, a compromise between The New Jersey and Virginia Plans. The disagreement on those plans had led to many issues within The Articles or Confederation, a document that had been written before the Constitution. Once the compromise was established, the Constitution was much closer to being written. The Framers chose a bicameral...
The debate over reparations to descendants of slaves contains a wide range of diverse viewpoints and involves many ethical, moral and legal issues (Bowman). To properly analyze this complex situation and form an educated opinion, one must understand the basic pieces forming the reparations puzzle. Understanding who was impacted by the institution of slavery, when they were impacted, how they were impacted, where slavery took place, and what exactly took place will help create a better understanding of both sides of the debate. It has been estimated that a half of a million slaves were shipped to the United States from Africa in 1807, the year the slave trade was abolished. However, the slave population grew to four million by 1860 (Bowman). When the Civil War ended and the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified in 1865, the bill to abolish slavery, ex-slaves still suffered from harsh discrimination. The topic of slavery and the reparations to the descendants of those slaves is a complicated one. The decision to support or deny slave reparations affects millions of people: those who will receive payment and those who will pay. The argument presented in this essay will display that reparations for slavery are not only complicated but impossible to accurately distribute. The lack of historical documentation and the impact on those who were uninvolved in the institution of slavery that will have to pay the price will display some of the many reasons why reparations simply should not happen.
Bradstreet, A., & Kallich, M. (1973). A Book of the Sonnet: Poems and Criticism. New York: Twayne Publishers.
Davidson, Frank. "The Tempest: An Interpretation." In The Tempest: A Casebook. Ed. D.J. Palmer. London: Macmillan & Co. Ltd., 1968. 225.
Shakespeare, William, "Sonnet 42." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Eds. M.H. Abrams and Stephen Greenblatt. 7th ed. 2 vols. New York: Norton, 2000. 1:1033.
The Legislative Branch consists of Congress, which is made up of two parts; The House of Representatives and the Senate. These two parts of Congress was a result of the 1789 Compromise between the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan. The Virginia Plan was about states wanted more representation in Congress because they were bigger states. From that plan the New Jersey Plan was brought forth. The New Jersey Plan basically said was smaller and bigger states should have equal power in Congress, so the bigger states don’t overpower the smaller states. In 1789 the solution came, with Great Compromise that took parts of both plans and used it. As part of the Virginia plan the House of Representatives was created, that gave representation in congress by state size. The New Jersey Plan helped create the Senate that gave equal representation of two members per state. These two groups help create Congress that shares the same process; of creating laws.
Presently, the federal government acts according to the public’s interest. Civil rights cases are still common within government, but will the issue of reparations of the descendants of slaves be substantial enough for government to want to give it attention. No matter what is done, African Americans will always be seen as the victims of slavery, and whites will be those always guilty of it. This guilt by association through skin color will never fade, no matter what type of reparation is made.
Throughout the play, Prospero is a figure who talks at rather than to the other characters, including his daughter Miranda, Prince Ferdinand, and Ariel, his airy servant. At the end of Act IV Prospero is caught up in the ecstasy of punishing and determining the fate of his foes. The beginning of Act V, however, marks a change in the character of Prospero, which averts a possible tragedy. Prospero is unsettled even though his plans are reaching fruition. In his talk with Ariel for the first time we see an actual conversation take place. In addition, in the line "...And mine shall." (Shakespeare V.i.20) we see a change of heart on the part of Prospero, and in the following monologue the audience is privy to introspection and contemplation even beyond that of the end of the masque in Act IV "We are such stuff as dreams are made on..."(Shakespeare).
Simmons forecasts an increase of OPEC crude production at or around 1.0 mmbl/d after the March 27 meeting, as well as another hike of 1.5 mmbl/d at their second semi-annual in 3Q00. Their supply and demand forecast for 2000 predicts an average supply shortage of 1.2 mmbl/d, estimating supply and demand at 75.3 and 76.5 mmbl/d respectively. Supply will exceed demand most widely in 1Q00 with 3.6 mmbl/d, while easing to a surplus of 0.3 mmbl/d in 2Q00. Simmons sees 3Q00 undersupply at 1.0 mmbl/d and 4Q00 at 1.2 mmbl/d. The 2001 estimates depict OPEC production remaining stable at 29 mmbl/d, factoring in an additional 0.1 mmbl/d for possible problems with compliance. 2...
Throughout the past twenty years there have been several drastic changes in oil prices. These dramatic shifts are helpful to look at because of their impact upon the economy and the oil industry. During this time period there are three major shifts in oil price that can be linked to specific events in world history (Miller, 1998). First, the Arab oil embargo of 1973 caused a widespread oil crisis and brought crude oil from three dollars a barrel to a staggering twelve dollars a barrel. Second, the 1979 Iranian revolution caused another crisis that brought crude oil prices to an all time high of thirty-six dollars per barrel. Finally, the third major shift occurred in 1991 due to the Persian Gulf War (Miller, 1998).
Knight,G.Wilson. “The Shakespearean Superman: An essay on The Tempest.” The Crown of life: Essays in Interpretation of Shakespeare’s Final Plays. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1947. 203-255
Steele, Felicia Jean. "Shakespeare's SONNET 130." Explicator 62.3 (2004): 132-137. Academic Search Complete. Web. 22 Nov. 2013.
Works Cited Shakespeare, William. The. The "Sonnet 18" The Longman Anthology of British Literature, compact edition. Ed. David Damrosch.