The Miller’s Prologue and Tale

“The Miller’s Prologue and Tale,” plays on the age old debate over the “trophy wife” or a woman much younger than a man. The carpenter is much older than his eighteen year old wife, Alison, and despite that she tries to be a good wife to him. Their large age gap leads John to a strong state of paranoia about his wife cheating on him. They have an astrology student, Nicholas, living with them, and when he forcefully advances upon Alison she immediately denies his requests in respect for her husband. Only when Nicholas professes his undying love for her does she give in, but in a feeble attempt to appease her husband instructs Nicholas that John can never find out.  

Nicholas is not the only man besides John who desires Alison’s love. The parish clerk, Absolon desires her love as well. By this time Alison is married to John, but loves Nicholas, and Absolon’s advances are denied and even ridiculed (She tricks Absolon kissing her ass rather than her face). By the end of the tale, John is viewed as a crazy old man, due to Nicholas’s trickery. The whole incident could have been avoided had John not been so vain as to court a woman much younger than he, who true to her age group gave in to immature desires and pleasures, and in effect thwarted all that John had ever worked for.

The Broom Tree

            I have found it a common theme in the old world literature of arranged marriages that occur while the spouses are still children, yet there is generally a large range between their ages. In The Broom Tree Genji marries his wife when he is twelve and she is sixteen. Four years between married people is not all that unusual, but when one is twelve and the other is sixteen that is the difference between a child and a young adult. Girls mature faster, and in turn most sixteen year old girls are almost done with puberty. When comparing that with Genji, at twelve most boys have not started puberty or are just beginning.

            The arranged marriages thorough history led to a breach between love and marriage in the olden days. Marriage was for advancement in the world, and was sacred as an institution. However, a man’s love was also sacred in another way, which usually led him to have a mistress (possibly from a lower class). The continuation of this practice has had a carryover of culture into today, where many men hold mistresses even though they are not required to marry a certain girl, and in this day and age marriage is supposed to be based on love.

Wine In Chinese Poetry

In the Chinese poetry we have read there is a recurrent appearance of wine as a drink that represents prosperity and happiness. In “The Return” T’ao Ch’ien writes, “Where there is a bottle filled with wine./I draw the bottle to me and pour myself a cup.” T’ao Ch’ien is alluding to the fact that wine represents peace and tranquility and in turn happiness can be found in his work in the field rather than conforming to the bustling unfulfilling life of a magistrate.

            Wine loosens the tongue, and T’ao Ch’ien felt that wine frees the mind from the earth. His poetry benefits from this and in “Twenty Poems After Drinking Wine” he writes, And once I am drunk I write a few verses for my own amusement.” He writes for pleasure and to please himself, and the wine helps him in his struggle. It is always wine throughout his poems that he drinks, rather than any other alcohol. I think that this common recurrence of wine shows that wine was thought of as an artists drink, whereas other types of alcohol might pertain to different classes of society. The making of wine itself is seen as an art, and it only makes sense that artists and writers would see something such that must be artfully created as a type of food or drink that would be most relatable to their own struggles. 

Sohrab and Rostam

Sohrab and Rostam tells the reader a good deal about the history or Iranian culture. When Tahmine meets Rostam she immediately informs him that she would like him to be the father of her baby. Rostam obliges and they purposefully conceive their baby (Sohrab) on the night they meet. All that Rostam knows of Tahmine is the initial beauty that he sees in her, and that she claims she is the Shah’s daughter. In another culture Rostam might reject her advances and accuse her of being a temptress, but through his Iranian heritage Rostam tells her that their child will be great and gives her a jewel for the child complete with instructions, be it a boy or a girl.

In the culture of Iran, Turan, and Semengan it seems that they are taught to seize what they want. Tahmine wants to give birth to Rostam’s baby, so she goes to him and seizes the opportunity. Later in the story when Sohrab has grown, he wants to be with his father and decides that he will seize the crown of Iran and instill his father in the position. He amasses an entire army from Turan, and is willing to move great forces in order to do so. He gives no thought to what the current Shah of Iran will think, or of what the people of either Iran or Turan will think. 

Lysistrata

     Lysistrata is an incredibly self-empowered woman. She is very strong willed and manages to will the women of her society into organizing a reform movement against the male domination, she views as tearing Greece apart. She uses her powers of persuasion and her analytical view of society in order to formulate a plan to advance gender equality and end the male dominated war that is tearing Greece apart.

     Lysistrata devised her plan over many nights and took great detail in planning it, but the other women still shuddered at the thought of going   through with the steps she had devised. It was only by Lysistrata's passion and persuasion that they fully bought into the idea and followed her every command. Through her com position, she became the most powerful person in Greece. She gained control of the military and the fate of the war and peace of Greece, as a coalition of states as well as having the power to manage the entire male population. Were Lysistrata weak minded or of any less merit than the incredible amount she possesses, her entire plan would have fallen short of accomplishing her goal before it had even really begun. Her women troops would have divided and would have immediately returned to their dismal subservient status, if not an even more subservient one.  

Antigone

     Antigone and Ismene represent two different personality types in Psychology. Antigone is the rash, passionate, “go-getter” personality, where Ismene is a more reserved and timid when facing danger. Antigone wants to bury Polynices, her brother, but when she asks Ismene, Ismene declines to help, referencing the fact that they are just women in a man’s world. Antigone is the type of person that brings change in the world, one of the people who challenge society in a defiant way that is designed to bring about an abrupt change. If Antigone had the means to be militant, I feel that she would bring force against Creon. Antigone bears resemblance to a Malcolm X, in her sheer defiance and the way that she speaks to Creon after her capture. She wants to be a martyr and receive credit for her actions. Ismene is ready to let things go if they seem hard to obtain. She says that she would like to bury Polynices but it would be too dangerous. Ismene is ready to accept society the way it is and live life as it comes. Antigone controls her environment, while Ismene is controlled by the environment. The peculiar development that came out of Antigone’s burial of Polynices was Ismene trying to share credit and take the same punishment as Antigone. Ismene is too passive to live on her own. Were Antigone to die, Ismene would be the sole survivor of her siblings, and she does not want to live with the pressure and loneliness that would accompany that. True to her personality, Ismene tries to take the easy way out and end her life so that she does not have to face her troubles. 

"Plums Are Falling"

The poem, “Plums Are Falling” is short and quick, yet it contains a depth that measures more than the few words read in the poem. Plums are used in order to represent the possible paths the woman’s life can take through marriage. She wants a good fruit (man), so that she will be healthy (happy in marriage) and live a good life. The poem was written in a time period where women were viewed as having a successful life based on the success or respect of the man that they married. The time was not like today, where women have the opportunity to get a job and work on the same level or even above men. Women were subordinate to men and it is reflected in the way that the speaker of the poem so desperately wants to find a good man (plum) to marry.

                In each stanza of the poem the line “many men want me,” (p.814-815) appears as the third line. The author makes use of repetition in order to stress how desirable the woman is. She seems to be very attractive and is desired  by many men, but she is still nervous about being able to find a good man. The last line of the poem, “let me be bride of one” (p.815) makes me think that there could be some outside factor that is causing her to worry about marriage. Fixed marriage or parental pressures are possible factors that could be the cause of her worry. Fixed marriage seems very plausible, and would be a cause of great stress for her as she might not agree with her parents decision. She might want a man based on love, whereas her parents may look at marriage as a means of progress in the eyes of society. T the speaker of the poem can only hope that she will find a man that she can love and marry, who also meets the outside standards that need to be met in order for their marriage to become official.

Ramayana: Heroes' Compassion

   While the protagonists are vindictive and spiteful of those who harm them in the epic of Rama, they are also incredibly forgiving to those who followed the leading antagonist (most namely Ravana). It is made clear that Ravana is the king of the demons, and it was by his doing that Sita was kidnapped. Ravana is punished for his deeds, but his cohorts and those who aided him in his tasks were forgiven immediately after Sita was rescued and Ravana was killed. Immediately following Ravana’s death Ravana’s own brother, Vibhisana, spoke to Rama. Vibhisana requested that Ravana would have a burial in accordance with the scriptures for his welfare in the other world. Rama responds, “Hostility ends at death…He is your brother as he is mine, too.”  Even in the instant immediately after Ravana’s death, Rama has forgiven him, and is even delighted when Vibhisana asks for a proper burial for Ravana. Rama is so pleased that he commands and arranges for a coronary to allow for Vibhisana to become the rightful king of Lanka. In other parts of the world (most namely Europe and the Western world) the conquering of a warring society is a cause for your ownership of their land.

     Rama is not the only one who is capable of compassion after a death. Sita, who was tortured by the demonesses,  is given the opportunity to have the very same demonesses vanquished. Hanuman offers to kill the demonesses for Sita, but she stops him and says that she has forgiven them. Sita claims that they were following orders from Ravana, as they were supposed to. Sita does not mention the fact that they were intent on killing her even after Ravana had commanded them to keep her alive for another two months.  Rama and Sita developed their ability to forgive through the society they live in. The society as a whole holds great value in forgiveness after vindication, and following the path of dharma.

Ramayana: Laksmana the King

    Like Rama, Laksmana is pure of heart and only wants to do what is best for others. He is strong, calm in threatening situations, and he is as loyal as a man can be, Laksmana will follow his brother into whatever depths of evil he must descend into. Although he is great, Laksmana is not perfect, he can sometimes be rash, such as when his brother Rama told him of his step mother Kaikeyi’s request for Rama to leave for the forest and denounce his kingship to Bharata. Laksmana immediately grew hot, and instructed Rama to pay her no heed, as Rama was the rightful king. Laksmana is a worthy king, and the only thing that stands in his way is his birth order. Were Laksmana born before Rama he would have been in Rama’s place when Kaikeyi told Rama of her boons that would instill her son Bharata as king. Laksmana’s rashness would have led him to dispose of Kaikeyi and claim the throne. Everyone's lives would be different. None of the events in the forest would have occurred. Laksmana would have been a worthy and noble king, he possesses all of the kingly traits, but instead he is described as a servant to Rama (who has become a measly hermit). Laksmana would be just like Rama, except for the fact that Rama relies on the divine will of dharma, and chose the route to the forest, rather than rising up and claiming what is rightfully his.

Gilgamesh

   Gilgamesh is 2/3 god and 1/3 human and his traits reflect that. He is the strongest and the natural king of the land, his godly side. He has his flaws, insensitive treatment of his constituents, an inability to find his place in the world, and most of all he is mortal. None can challenge Gilgamesh, or at least until Enkidu arrives. Enkidu was created by Anu to challenge Gilgamesh and protect the people. Enkidu brings Gilgamesh back to reality, Enkidu becomes his servant, friend, companion, and brother. He leads Gilgamesh along his path in life, so that he will be able to become as good of a king as possible. All is well until Ishtar, Goddess of Sex, steps into the picture. She is jealous that Gilgamesh resists her temptations and insults her by speaking of her previous mishaps with all of her lovers. She feels Gilgamesh is overstepping his bounds as a mortal, although he is 2/3 God. After his triumphs Gilgamesh becomes headstrong and Enkidu is the one that pays for it. Ishtar sends the bull of heaven to kill Gilgamesh, but Enkidu faithfully and bravely steps in and saves Gilgamesh. Enkidu then spites Ishtar by throwing a muscle of the bull at Ishtar. Ishtar is even angrier and talks to her fellow Gods, who determine that one of the two companions must die. Enkidu is that one that must die, as Gilgamesh is the king. Enkidu is the tragic hero is this occasion, he is killed by the Gods for simply being loyal to his king, his master.