Tempest Blog #5

Ross Schonberg

Ms. Gubanich

English

December 16, 2015

Power and control

In the Tempest, there are so many characters on the island, that all the characters are on, with different levels of social class, on and off of the island. These characters are not just peasants stranded on an island (well two of them are), but rather people of importance and high society back in their homeland. They either have power or control, while other characters have both power and control. Some examples would be Prospero, Ariel, and Even King Alonso.

In the beginning of the story, we see that there is a big storm and everyone on the ship is being tossed around, thinking that they are going to die out at sea. As the ship is being hit by “the storm” it turns out that Prospero, the smart wizard, who was forced to be sent out of Milan by the people who are on the boat, is the person behind the storm. So Prospero sees this as the perfect opportunity to get back at his former colleagues. So Prospero, over the years, has become a powerful wizard and was able to create the storm and controlled it so that everyone would land on the island safely. Prospero has basically taken control of the island, ever since he killed Caliban’s mother. With his magical powers, he is also able to hold to other characters as his servant/slave, like Ariel and Caliban, and has control over what they do and. Another character that has some power and control is Ariel, Prospero's servant. Ariel is a spirit who was cast into a tree, by Caliban’s evil mother, then saved by Prospero, so Ariel was thankful for saving him, and became his servant, hoping that if he does enough work for Prospero he will get his freedom. But Ariel isn’t just some little fairy, he is the one that Prospero sent out to create the storm, there is also a scene in which King Alonso and his men are wandering the island and all of the sudden Ariel comes towards them and puts Alonso and Gonzalo under a sleep spell, then when he needs to wake them he says “My master through his art foresees the danger that you, his friend, are in, and sends me forth for else his project dies--to keep them living.”(2.1.341-343). Another example is when King Alonso and his men are still wandering and they see this big table of great food, as they are about to eat it Ariel pops up and looks like a harpy. So in the grand scheme of things Ariel has a significant amount of power, but with all that power he really doesn't have that much control, other than will his spells.

Opposite to the previous characters with some great power is that of King Alonso. Even though he is a king and probably has a good amount of power back in Milan, on the island he is almost powerless. He is stranded on an island with his me, and even the men that he walks around with, Sebastian and Antonio, want to kill him because they want the power that he has as king. He is also powerless because this island is almost all controlled by Prospero, who messes with Alonso, scaring him when Prospero sends Ariel as the harpy. He is also giving away his daughter Claribel (who we don’t see in the play) to another king in some other country, which then leads to the tempest story. So it is fair to say that King Alonso has practically no power on the island whatsoever, other than letting his son marry Miranda at the end of the story.

In conclusion, there are a decent amount of characters with certain levels of power. It is intriguing to see how the characters with power use them, and how much of their power they use in the play. Also, it’s interesting to see who uses power on who and why are they using these powers on other people, and sometimes these powers mean that they now have control over another character, like with Prospero and Caliban. So in this story there are many different themes and power and control are certainly two of them.

Tempest Blog #4

Ross Schonberg

Ms. Gubanich

English

December 11, 2015

Betrayal and Revenge

In the Tempest, there are many different themes that are represented throughout the play. There are also many different characters that display these themes. A very important theme throughout the story is Betrayal, characters going against other characters, like Sebastian going against King Alonso. Another important theme is revenge, which getting back at someone for something they did. There is a good amount of revenge shown in this story. These traits are seen throughout the story, and it’s intriguing to see how the work within the story.

First, one of the many relationships in the story is between two brothers, King Alonso and Sebastian. Throughout the story we learn that Sebastian doesn’t really have a position back in Milan, like his treacherous friend Antonio, who became the Duke of Milan also by betraying his brother, the smart, and powerful wizard Prospero, Sebastian is a mean and conniving schemer. As the story progresses you can start to tell that he is aggressive but also cowardly. An example of this is when Alonso and Gonzalo are put to sleep by Ariel, so when they are asleep Sebastian is tricked (but really persuaded) by Antonio into killing his brother Alonso and, therefore, he would become the next king. As he is about to kill Alonso Sebastian says, “Thy case, dear friend, Shall be my precedent. As thou got’st Milan, I’ll come by Naples. Draw thy sword. One stroke Shall free thee from the tribute which thou payest. And I the king shall love thee.” (2.1.332-336). fortunately though Alonso and Gonzalo awake and Since Sebastian and Antonio have their swords out, they just make up a lie saying that they were protecting them from lions. Throughout this whole scene, we learn that Sebastian has betrayed Alonso because this shows us that he doesn’t care for Alonso and doesn’t have any loyalty towards his own brother. Also, Antonio has betrayed his brother as well, because he stole the position of duke from his brother. This shows that these two characters have no care for anyone other than themselves and will betray anyone to get what they want.

The other theme shown in the story, which is similar to betrayal is revenge. There are many different times that this is shown, an important one is when Caliban meet Stephano and Trinculo. As the two drunkards listen to Caliban, who is telling them about this plan to get revenge on Prospero for killing his mother and then enslaving him, they start to agree. It makes sense as to why Caliban would make this crazy revenge plot, he did have almost everything taken from him, his mother and his freedom. So Caliban, Stephano, and Trinculo go and try to kill Prospero, but that doesn’t work out well for them, as they are chased out by spirit dogs. Another important revenge plot in the story and perhaps the most important one is Prospero’s. This plot is basically the whole story, he creates this storm, which causes his past enemies, like Antonio, Alonso, and Sebastian to come to the island, Gonzalo's there as well, but Prospero likes him because he helped them escape years ago. Then as they are walking around Prospero sends Airel to become a Harpy and scare them, but also giving them hints that Prospero is on the island as well. So this whole plan was played out to perfection, just so that he can get revenge on the people, who sort of ruined his life by making have to leave Milan and go to a lonely island, so this revenge plot does have some reasoning to it, Prospero also never thinks to kill any of them, he just wants to get back at them.

So it is quite obvious that these themes have a big impact on the story and that the story sometimes circles around revenge and betrayal. These themes are some of the motives for the characters in this story and it was interesting to see what they will do when they are either going to betray someone or create a revenge plan against another character.

Tempest Blog #3

Ross Schonberg

Ms. Gubanich

English

December 3, 2015

Tempest Blog 3: Love

In the play The Tempest there is so much happening throughout the story. There is action, magic, revenge, betrayal, and especially love. Love is probably the most prominent theme within the story, it changes people’s feelings. There are a few examples of love in the play. Prospero towards Miranda, Ferdinand and Miranda, even the (family) relationship between the brothers Alonso and Sebastian. The way people interact in the play based on their relationships plays out interestingly.

First, One of the most important relationships is between two family members, Prospero and Miranda. Prospero is the father of Miranda, and many years ago Prospero, and when Miranda was a little girl, were kicked out of Milan, fortunately they made to an island. So ever since they were kicked out of Milan Prospero has been very protective of his daughter. A good example of this is when Prospero and Miranda go to meet with Caliban, their slave, who wanted to have sex with Miranda, because he said to Prospero “O ho, O ho!Wouldn’t had been done! Thou didst prevent me. I had peopled else this isle with Calibans.”(1.2.419-421). Prospero is totally against what caliban wants to do, also the relationship between Caliban and Prospero is basically hatred towards one another. Even later on in the story Caliban makes a plan to try and kill Prospero.

So later on, after the shipwreck and everyone has made to the island, Ferdinand, King Alonso's son, is seen by Prospero and Miranda just walking around the island. When ferdinand and miranda first meet it is easy to see that they are beginning to fall for one another. As they get closer with each other Prospero is somewhat protective of Miranda, since Miranda has never really met a man, also that Ferdinand is the son of the king who betrayed him years ago, so it can be somewhat justified as to why Prospero is trying to protect his daughter. As mentioned earlier, in the beginning of the play we see the another one of the most important relationships, which is Ferdinand and Miranda. This is a love story very similar to another shakespeare play, Romeo and Juliet, because Ferdinand and Miranda come from two separate families, who have a bad connection, but Ferdinand and Miranda still love each other. Their love story is really not that complex, so it is really just the two of them falling in love, with Prospero looking over them.

Another key relationship in the story is between two brothers, King Alonso and his brother Sebastian. On the outside Sebastian seems as if nothing is wrong and that him and his brother are on good terms, but really Sebastian does not like the his brother and feels that he should be king. Alonso is unaware of this hatred from Sebastian, and always acts kindly to him. Sebastian is not the smartest as well, because in the play while Gonzalo and Alonso are asleep Sebastian gets tricked into killing them by his friend Antonio, who also wants to take power from the king, but fortunately right before they're about to kill them they both wake up.

In conclusion, the way people act in the play based on their relationship is very interesting. I find the most interesting relationship in the play is the one between the two brothers, since we know that this is a comedy and that no one dies in a shakespeare comedy, I am curios as to what will happen to Sebastian. This is one of the key aspects of the play and it is presented in a very nice way, showing how they are all connected to each other.

Tempest Blog #2

Ross Schonberg

Ms. Gubanich

English

November 24, 2015

Servitude vs loyalty

In The Tempest, there are several characters who are either slaves, servants, or just people who are a higher class than others. In the story, they all are on the island that the wizard Prospero “brought” them to, and many of them are separated, but some of them are still together. In some scenes, this proves the loyalty of characters, whether they are truly loyal to their superior, or if they could be deceitful and are just serving their superior because they are forced to. These qualities are shown between many characters and it is interesting to see how they act.

After the shipwreck in the first act, we learn that all of the characters have survived. We are told this information, not through some narration telling us, but from a character named Ariel, who is basically a magical spirit who lives on the island. Ariel also works for Prospero sort of like an indentured servant, because Prospero saved Ariel after he was trapped in a tree earlier by an evil which, so Ariel has to work for Prospero until it gains its freedom back. Ariel is very grateful for Prospero saving it, so Ariel has become very loyal towards Prospero, as he says in the quote “All hail, great master! Grave sir, hail! I come To answer thy best pleasure, be ’t to fly,To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride On the curled clouds. To thy strong bidding, task Ariel and all his quality”(1.2.224-228). It is clear that Ariel is a trusted servant to Prospero. There are two other characters that are not servants, in fact, they have very high positions, but are still below a superior. They are Sebastian, who is the King Alonso’s brother, and Antonio, who is Prospero’s brother and also had Prospero taken out of being the duke. Both of these characters work right below King Alonso. Antonio is hungry for power, so he basically just servers underneath Alonso because he has to. But really Antonio and Sebastian both want more power, so they try to kill King Alonso, but that doesn’t work out. Basically, Antonio and Sebastian are really just doing things when King Alonso tells them to, rather than them actually showing some loyalty towards the king. 
Lastly, one of the most prominent characters that demonstrates these characteristics is Caliban. Caliban is a native of the island, and is actually the son of the evil which that trapped Ariel, so when Prospero defeated the which, he took Caliban in as his slave. Prospero doesn’t mistreat Caliban horribly, but Caliban hates being his slave because, unlike Ariel, Caliban is not able to get freedom. Even though Prospero has provided Caliban with fresh food and water, Caliban only serves Prospero because he has to, rather than out of loyalty, since he always says how much he hates Caliban. Caliban does become loyal to Stephano though, but only because he thinks that he has been freed from Prospero’s tyranny.

In conclusion, there are many characters in this story that can and cannot be trusted, depending on their loyalty. I think that it is very intriguing to see what these characters will do since some of them don’t care about the others, and also see how characters act that do care about the others. The difference between servitude and loyalty is really defined in the story, which makes for some interesting character choices.

Tempest Blog #1

Ross Schonberg
Ms. Gubanich
English
November 18, 2015

              Appearance vs. Reality

               In The Tempest, by William Shakespeare, the opening scene takes place with a ship, holding some regular crew on a ship, but also some very high and important people of Naples. As the play opens the ship seems to be under attack by a bad thunderstorm. Although the people on the crew see this as a bad storm, what is really happening is that there is a wizard named Prospero, who is using his magic to make a storm on that ship, for unknown reasons so far. This can bring up a topic that makes the characters think differently and the reader has a may or may not have a clear understanding of what is happening. In this act, there is a difference between what things appear to be and what the reality is.

               First, the main difference between appearances and reality is that appearance is when something appears to be there, that might not be what it actually is. While reality is exactly what really took place. Within the first act as the people on the boat are struggling on the water, they think that they are fighting through a storm, which they are, but they think it is a storm caused by the weather, rather than magic. An example of when they are in the storm is when the Master says "Good speak to the mariners. fall to 't yarely, or we run ourselves aground. Bestir, bestir!" (1.7, 3-4) .When in fact the reality of the situation is that the wizard Prospero, who has been trapped on a magical island, is creating the storm above the boat. In a way we, as the reader, get to see both the first appearance and the reality, because at first you only think of the storm is just a regular storm, added to the plot simply because that is how they would probably drift to the island. Then we are told that the storm is on purpose, so that means that the storm wasn’t really a boring plot point when it was really a “catalyst” created by Prospero. There is also a small example from act one (since there aren't many because it is a very short act), which is when we are introduced to Prospero he appears like a reclusive wizard, but then in reality he used to be a duke of Milan, but eventually got bored of that position. It turns out that Prospero used to work with the people who are on the boat. So the reality is that all of these characters are connected.


          In The Tempest, there are a lot of different perspectives, and many things seem to be shown in different ways. After doing some classwork with the play, it seems like appearance and reality will play a very important theme throughout the book. Personally I find it interesting that the story makes us think that the storm is a regular storm when really it’s a wizard making the storm. That type of story is a way for people to see things one way at first and a different way later. So that can be some of the ways that the Tempest is going to act with how readers and the characters see things as the story progresses.

Tempest Timeline - Ross

Fantasy story - James the firefighter

Ross Schonberg
Ms. Gubanich
western literature
November 4, 2015

James the Firefighter

           It was a cold and brisk day in New York City. In the heart of Winter, when everything is frozen. Everyone is heading out to go to, either taking a train, taxi, or even riding a bike, which is dangerous, but then again it is NYC. James, one of the best firefighters in New York is getting himself a nice warm cup of coffee and some toast from the local diner. As James is heading to his fire station at the intersection of Blaze st. and Friction rd. one of his friends, who also works as a firefighter, catches up and walks with him. Once they get to the station James starts his daily routine of making sure his fire gear is good in case of an emergency, and checking in with his chief. 

            As James is sitting down with his coffee, toast, and a newspaper that he reads, when all of the sudden an alarm goes off, which means that there is a fire somewhere. James gets on his gear, hops on the firetruck with the rest of the firefighters. James isn't any regular firefighter, in his type of job he has to fight people who are able to shoot fire out of their hands, regular people call them "Flamethrowers". All of the people who shoot fire have gone down the wrong path, probably due to being feared, not loved and made an outcast by society. There aren't many of "Flamethrowers" left in the world because James and his firefighting team have taken them down. James and his fire team are gooing to an old, run down building, that has cought fire by one of the Flamethrowers. When James is coming up to the building, he sees a tall man who is glowing bright orange with flames coming out from his hands. As he got closer to the "Flamethrower" he realized that this wasn't a regular Flamethrower, it was the king Flamethrower, Heatrise.

           James's fire team arrives at the old building, he sees Heatrise. Heatrise turns around from lighting up the building and looks at James at the rest of the fire fighters. All of the sudden Heatrise forms a fireball in the palms of his hands and starts throwing them at the fire fighters. James has never fought against a Flamethrower this powerful. He realized that the only way to beat him its to make him overheat and become "burnt". So james decides that the best way to get him to overheat is to get extremely angry and just use to much of his fire power. He starts to antagonize and make mean comments. Eventually Heatrise gets so enraged that his whole body turns bright red and he exploeds into a giant fire puff. So once james Defeated Heatrise, he finally got to have his coffee and toast.

Repression of Thought

Ross Schonberg

Ms. Gubanich

English

October 22, 2015

Repression of Thoughts

            In the book 1984 a totalitarian government rules the people. The government, who’s ruled by a shady figure named Big Brother, controls almost everything the people do. It is so oppressive that the party is able to control what they can say, what they can think, what they can do, and how they can feel. If you are to do anything thing that the government does not allow then you would be taken away by the Thought Police (and tortured till you love the party again). The book shows many important themes of how a society is run and how the people act when under a certain type of government. I feel that the strongest theme that is shown throughout the novel is the repression of thought.

            Since in the book the people are not allowed to have any original thought, that basically means that they have a limited vocabulary (which the party is really trying to accomplish). The logic behind this is actually very true, because when we feel a certain way we want to express how we feel, so we have thought about how we feel, and then we would attach a word to that thought and that would explain to other people how we feel about something. But since the government has ruled that it is illegal to use thoughts then no one is able to revolt against the party by using powerful words. An example of this being explained in the book is when Winston is sitting in a cafeteria and he is talking to another party member, named Syme, who works on changing the Newspeak Dictionary. Syme says to Winston “Don’t you see the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thought crime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it”(52).  Also in the beginning of the book Winston writes in a journal, which he is not allowed to have in the first place, because then he would be writing down his thoughts. As Winston is writing in the journal he starts to write DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER, because he hates that he is not able to express how he thinks. So even later on in the story, even after he has been with Julia, he gets to feel things (thoughts) that he had never felt before, which was very strange to, and he knew the risk of him being caught thinking.

            As you can tell the repression of thought is a major theme involved in 1984, as it has shaped the way people do everything. Unfortunately for Winston the government’s laws restrain him and he is sadly (spoiler alert) captured by Big Brother for having original thoughts (and having sex). This is one of the party’s main ways of instilling fear into the people, so that they obey. In conclusion, the government felt that if no one can think of anything to say, then one would say anything at all, thus giving them all of the power to make the people do or not do, say or not say anything they want.

1984 Torture Stages

Ross Schonberg

Ms. Gubanich

Western Literature

October 14, 2015

1984 Torture Stages

            In the beginning of book three of 1984 Winston and Julia are separated and taken away to the ministry of love. Once Winston is in there he is put in a holding cell, where he sees some familiar faces, some of the people that he knew Winston would never have though to have commit a thought crime, which kind of worries him. Then the other people in the cell are taken away to room 101, and that scares Winston, because he does not know what is in that room. He is also afraid of the unbearable beating s that he may or may not get (but he gets them anyways). As he is in the holding cell he sees a man coming in, but it was O’Brien. Winston is shocked and is so upset and can’t believe that he was tricked, and that really lowers his sense of power in preparing for trying to fight against the torture. As Winston is speaking to O’Brien another guard goes and smashes Winston’s elbow, as Winston is getting beaten he is realizing that it is impossible for anyone to be a hero under this kind of torture, which is making him give up more and more hope. 

           Weeks and weeks go by and the torture gets worse. He is even laid down on a board and electrocuted to unimaginable degrees. Throughout this torture O’Brien is trying to “help” Winston by not just making him go along with what the government say’s, but also actually making him believe what they say. As O’Brien says “There are five fingers there. Do you see five fingers? ‘Yes’.”(258). Winston agrees that O’Brien is holding up five fingers, even though he is really holding up four. It is this kind of hopelessness that is transforming Winston back into a slave of the party member. 

         Lastly Winston is then forced to strip down, be completely naked and is put in front of a mirror. This type of torture is truly meant to break Winston at his core. As Winston sees himself in the mirror he is realizing (as O’Brien is repeating to him) that he is nothing but, a small and weak man, O’Brien makes him feel even less than a man. As O’Brien says to Winston “You are rotting away,’ he said; ‘you are falling to pieces. What are you? A bag of filth. Now turn around and look into the mirror again. Dou you see that thing facing you? That is the last man. If you are human, that is humanity.”(272).  As O’Brien is bombarding him with insults it is this stage of torture that truly breaks Winston.

Big Brother & Brotherhood Parallel

Ross Schonberg

Ms. Gubanich

Western Literature

October 8, 2015

Big Brother & Brotherhood Parallel

            Anyone who has read (or is reading) the book 1984 knows that Winston, the main protagonist of the story, is trapped in Oceania, more specifically Air Strip One, which used to be London. The political party that keeps its people in line is known as Big Brother. As you read deeper into the book you begin to hear of this group known as the Brotherhood, which is a group of people who are against Big Brother and are run by Emmanuel Goldstein, a former party member who turned against the party. Winston believes that the Brotherhood is so different from Big Brother, but really when you look at the big picture are they really that different and is one better than another? There might be more similarities than Winston (and the readers) think.

            First one of the major similarities between the two groups is following orders. As soon as Winston meets with O’Brien he is informed about how the Brotherhood exist and the famous names that are associated with it. After being introduced to it all O’Brien ask Winston and Julia a series of questions. Some examples would “You are prepared to give your lives?” ‘Yes’. ‘You are prepared to commit murder? ‘ ‘Yes.’ ‘To commit acts of sabotage which may cause the deaths of hundreds of innocent people?’ “Yes” (172). So just like with the Thought Police they will work for Big Brother, they just answer the questions with a resounding yes, almost without hesitation, and will do all of those crazy things for some belief. With both groups having this kind of power can allow them to change people mentally or physically. The mental side of it is when Big Brother will take people away, but them bring them back into Oceania and they will seem as if they are someone else entirely. What the Brotherhood is saying they do is that they will change people’s facial features to make them become a whole new person. Both the Brotherhood and Big Brother are kind of ideas, as O'Brien says "The Brotherhood can not be wiped out because it is not an organization in the ordinary sense. Nothing holds it together except an idea which is indestructible" (176). Another one of the big parallels I noticed was in the party no one ever sees Big Brother in person. Just like with Big Brother no one who is apart of the brotherhood (that we know of) has ever seen Emmanuel Goldstein. Another parallel between the two groups is shown personally through Winston experience with the wine. As he states in the book "For some reason he had always thought of wine as having an intensely sweet taste, like that of blackberry jam, and an immediate intoxicating effect. Actually, when he came to swallow it, the stuff was distinctly disappointing" (171). The wine is the parallel with the brotherhood, as that he has been waiting for it for so long and now that he has it (or joins it) he doesn’t find it as interesting as he thought it would.

So in conclusion, I’m not entirely sure witch group I would prefer to be apart of. I’m not saying that I would like to live in this society, but I can see hardly any difference between the two. If the brotherhood were like that underground society of rebels who had fun and did illegal things against the government in a way that would be creative than that would be a good idea to join the brotherhood, but no. Living with the party seems to allow you to have at least some conditions that could be better than the brotherhood.