Shakespearean Literature

Life isn't exactly fair but, thankfully, in today's day and age,  most countries have established a consistent set of human rights like, take for example, the right to an education. Can you imagine living your life without any rights; you might feel powerless and insignificant. You might even feel oppressed, having to constantly live your life while abiding to a higher force of power. In other words, you might  feel very similar to how the women of the 1590s might have felt.

Now, for those of you who aren't familiar with Shakespearean literature, the mid 1590s was when Shakespeare's well known play, "Romeo and Juliet," was written. At the time, the rights of women were pretty much nonexistent and, as a result, this was reflected in Shakespeare's writing; an example of which, would be how the majority of the female cast in Romeo and Juliet are virtually powerless, in comparison to the male cast, with very little influence regarding important decisions. Now, there have been many debates regarding the sexism in Shakespeare's plays; some think that the exploitation of the issue of sexism was strictly for comedic value, while others think that the plays accurately reflect Shakespeare's mindset, in regards to the rights of women.


Now, what do you think?
Is Shakespearean literature evidence enough that Shakespeare might not have respected the rights of women or, are they simply a parody of how women were treated at the time?
Post your thoughts in a comment, below!

I hope you all enjoyed reading my second blog entry, 
and I hope you all have a good weekend!

Poem Analysis

Today was an unusually warm day, especially for a Canadian Winter. Normally, I'm the kind of person of prefers their winters to be chilly, with lots of snow, but I suppose today was a nice change of pace. Now thats, enough of the casual chit because today I will be writing my first ever blog entry so, with out further a due, let's get down to business!

Today's Topic is a poem called "Knock Knock" by Daniel Beaty. This poem is about a young, African American boy, whose father was taken away from him to work in the corn fields, as a slave. As a result, The boy is forced to learn how to grow up, and become a man, all on his own. Throughout the poem,  the key phrase "knock knock" reoccurs and changes in definition from start to end; at the beginning of the poem it referred to the game that the boy and his father used to play together and by the end of the poem, it gains a much deeper meaning, and is used as a metaphor for "knock knocking" down difficult barriers in life.

This poem can be related back to Kathryn Stockett's "The help." During the climax of the book, Aibileen, the family maid, is fired and is forced to leave the child she's been raising; Mae Mobley.
Aibileen has been a very motherly towards Mae Mobley and in response, she has grown very fond of her, and even idolizes her. This relates back to the poem because, because Mae Mobley's idolized person, Aibileen, was taken away from her, leaving her to mature and overcome obstacles in life, all on her own, much like how the boy was forced to grow up without his father.

If you want to watch Daniel Beaty perform this poem, on stage, click the link below!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eYH0AFx6yI

Good Night Everyone, and I hope you enjoyed reading my first ever blog entry!

My Computer and I

Recently I find that I'm trying to detach myself from my computer and break up my otherwise computer-driven day schedule. Now, I can Imagine that many of you might think that something as simple as turning off the computer and walking away from it, couldn't possibly be that difficult. But for a natural, web-surfing, anime-watching, gamer like myself, without my computer I become a fish out of water.

But then, why would I want to detach myself from my beloved little laptop if it clearly means so much to me? Well, gaming and other computer based activities are all good fun, but doing them all for hours on end soon becomes a strain on the eyes and, of course, it also doesn't help that a lot of my homework also involve the computer... Long story short: my eyes don't often get a break, and I don't want to make them any worse!