The Underground Man chapter 5-6

In the second half of the book we start to see the Undergound Man interact in the real world and accept an invitation to go out to dinner with some old friends. The whole time while he is out to dinner he is being negative and doing what he wants. He doesn’t go along with everything that the people at the dinner said. When they made fun of him, you just didn’t care and took it and did what he wanted. He walked around when he wanted and spited them almost. He always went against what they said and did his own thing throughout the whole dinner. He always went against the grain and that has a lot to do with what he talked about in the first part of the book. He talked a lot about being able to do what you want instead of just going with what everyone else did. Being your own person instead of following the pack and doing just what everyone did because it was what everyone did. He talked about how you should just be your own person and people who just keep following the same path are silly. He shows all of this with interacting, or not interacting with his old friends and defying everything that they wanted to do.

Notes from Underground 1-5

The underground man is a man who lives on his own in St. Petersburg and has a liver condition. He doesn’t want to go to the doctors and so just lives with the liver disease. The underground man has a lot of opinions on everything. He seems to think negatively towards a lot of things and seems very cynical and pessimistic. He lives on his own and is retired because he doesn’t want to be around people anymore. He isn’t very old either and is about 40 years old. The underground man doesn’t like himself and puts himself down a lot too. He seems to not think highly of very many things. I have mixed feelings on the underground man because I don’t exactly like how negative he is and how it just seems for at least the first five chapters he is complaining about everything he can think of to complain. He kind of makes me frustrated and very annoyed with everything because of how he just rambles on. I do think though that his points are very good and he seems to be a very smart man who has put a lot of thought into what he has to say. He is a very complicated man it seems that has a lot to say about a lot of many different topics that seem important to him. I also feel a little sympathy for him because it seems that he has some problems since he doesn’t feel good about himself or well anything else.

Othello Act V

After reading the end of the play I do not feel 100% sorry for Othello because he let himself be manipulated. I feel pity towards him though because he was manipulated and it led to him distrusting his wife but don’t completely because he should have known better and should have known that his wife loved him too much to cheat on him. I do hate Iago because of everything he did. He caused the death of Desdemona and many others just because he was jealous that he did not get the job he wanted. It was stupid for him to go to the extremes that he did just because Othello did not choose him as lieutenant. It was a cruel thing for him to do, but I do acknowledge how good he was at manipulating people and for the most part he succeeded in everything he wanted to get done. I feel the most sorry for Desdemona because she was the most honest and true character throughout the whole book and she ended up being a victim in the end. She died because of another’s jealousy of her husband. It was cruel and unfair of what happened to her. She was just the innocent bystander who was used to get back at Othello and even in the end she lied and said she tried to kill herself so that she could protect Othello. Even though he killed her she still cared deeply for him and didn’t want anything to go wrong for him. I do feel sorry for Cassio too but not as much because it wasn’t his fault that Othello chose him over Iago and Iago took his anger out on Cassio. Iago was just a stupid, jealous man who took things way too far. I think that this could relate to real life because there are people always trying to manipulate you. You could have a friend telling you stuff about another person so that you aren’t friends with that person. These things happen all the time. There is always an Iago somewhere telling someone something and manipulating them into believing something.

Othello Act II Scene III

At the end of Act I, Iago’s plan was to destroy Cassio’s honor and get Roderigo with Desdemona. He knew he needed to use Roderigo to break Desdemona and Othello up because he hates Othello. Iago also hates the fact that Cassio got the job that he wanted and so he wants to get Cassio in trouble so that Iago could get the job from Cassio. Iago felt that he should have gotten the job but did not get it at all. He plans to somehow get Cassio to sleep with Desdemona because the that would make Othello mad at Cassio and Desdemona because they both would be betraying Othello. He plants the idea in Roderigo’s head at the end of Act I that he thinks Cassio has a thing for Desdemona because he touched her hand and they were riding on the same ship together. Iago knew he needed to get Roderigo involved to complete the plan and make money from Roderigo. In Act II you see the plan come into action and Iago got Cassio drunk. He knew he needed to do this to get Cassio to not remember to do what he was doing and try to get him in the same room as Desdemona. He also got Cassio drunk to show Othello that he is not a good man and when he is on duty all he is doing is drinking and getting in fights with other men. The plan worked out really well because Cassio got drunk and got in a fight with Montana and stabbed him. Othello saw this and saw that Cassio is not a good man. So far the plan is working and I think that it will continue to work and that Iago can manipulate them all to get what he wants.

Luke versus Beowulf

Beowulf and Luke Skywalker are not very similar heroes. Beowulf is more willing to go into battle and do the heroic thing. He is more willing and wanting to take the call to action. For example when Grendel is attacking Hrothgar’s castle, Beowulf comes willingly and wants to get rid of Grendel to save the people. Another example is when he was fighting the dragon and he did that willingly. Beowulf always was ready to take on heroic actions and did whatever he could. Whereas Luke Skywalker was not as willing an does not want to take on the challenges. When Obi wan kenobe asked him to join him on his adventure Luke was very hesitant and really didn’t think it was a good idea. He is happy staying home for the most part and doesn’t want to be the big hero of trying to save the princess. Another thing is that Beowulf is very cocky and confident and so far in the movie Luke Skywalker has not been cocky or confident in anything and he seems more reserved than Beowulf. One thing that Luke does have that Beowulf doesn’t is that Luke has a spiritual guide helping him. Obi wan Kenobe is Luke’s guide in his adventures to become a hero. He is the one who is teaching Luke all about the force and what it takes to be a hero. Beowulf didn’t really have someone like Obi-wan Kenobe in his adventures to becoming a hero but then again he was more willing and already knew he was a hero. Both of these characters are two different aspects of how heroes all are different in their own way.

Beowulf End of Book

In the end of the novel Wiglaf is the only of Beowulf’s men who stays by him through fighting the dragon. The rest of the men ran away in fear of being killed by the dragon but Wiglaf stuck by him. He fought the dragon with Beowulf and if it hadn’t been for Wiglaf, Beowulf probably would not have successfully been able to kill the dragon before he died. Wiglaf became very brave in this battle and helped Beowulf destroy the dragon. Also, as Beowulf was dying, Wiglaf stayed by his side and listened to every word he said and did whatever Beowulf wanted. Beowulf wanted Wiglaf to get some of the treasure from the dragon and bring it to him and Wiglaf did as he told. He stuck by Beowulf as he died and then when the rest of the men came around Wiglaf told them off for being cowards and how they were not strong. He yelled at them for not sticking by their king and spoke highly of Beowulf. Wiglaf also made sure Beowulf had the best funeral and that it was exactly how Beowulf wanted. All of these things show that Wiglaf was a trusty sidekick almost in helping Beowulf. It shows a different kind of hero, one who is there to help the true hero. One who doesn’t want to see their hero hurt and tries to do the best he can to aid his hero. He also was an own hero of his kind too because he fought bravely and stood up to the men and yelled at them for abandoning Beowulf. He has a good heart just like Beowulf and has maybe a nicer manner to himself than what Beowulf had. Wiglaf also overall was just more generous and more heroicly nice than Beowulf. Beowulf was very heroic and had good values but Beowulf was very cocky and very controlling.

Beowulf- l. 499-1018

Unferth tried to tarnish Beowulf’s reputation because he was jealous of Beowulf and didn’t want anyone to outshine himself. Unferth wanted to be the hero and the one to destroy the beast and didn’t want Beowulf coming in to take that spot from him. Unferth tried to make Beowulf look like a bad guy for telling the story of how he and a buddy had a swimming contest and Beowulf came out alright but lost his friend who they found later. Beowulf’s response though was that he told the truth and told how he himself had to battle sea monsters and how it was a horrible ordeal and that he and his buddy were just being friends and having a good swim contest. Then he goes on to kind of attack Unferth and say well if you are so strong and such a hero then this monster should be gone by now but no. Beowulf reinforced the fact that he wanted to be there and wanted to get rid of the beast and protect the kingdom. He was strong in his answer and didn’t cower down to Unferth but came back with a good response and showed how willing he was. It showed him as a good hero who wanted to get things done and was strong and willing to do what it took. He went back on Unferth and made him think twice of trying to question Beowulf. Beowulf talked of how strong he was and that he was better than Unferth who so far has done nothing.