Sunday, March 3, 2013

Theme of Edith Wharton’s Novel: Ethan Frome

Introduction

One of Edith Wharton’s greatest works is Ethan Frome. It is written in great simplicity and has long been considered as a powerful tragic novel. It is sharply etched portrait of the simple inhabitants of a nineteenth-century New England village. Unlike Wharton’s other novels like, Age of Innocence and The House of Mirth, Ethan Frome is very short, and the plot is uncomplicated. But despite of its size, Ethan Frome holds a firm place as one of American literature's great tragic love stories. Through Ethan, the protagonist of the story, the hopes, failings and torments that characterize Wharton’s greatest characters and fiction powerfully expressed (Nevius, 1953). Moreover, the events in the novel is reflected to a certain part of Wharton’s life – her marriage to Teddy Wharton. In Zeena Frome’s sickness and Ethan’s hopeless sense of entrapment, there is somehow an observation of fictional expression of the emotional and physical breakdown of Teddy Wharton and Edith Wharton’s fear that she would never escape her suffocating marriage (Lewis, 1975). Thus, the novel is truly of tragedy – a touch of fiction and fact.

Many themes can be extracted from this novel, Ethan Frome. Frustration, illness and disability are some of those themes that are veiled in the story but the theme of love stands out for it is the cause of the conflicts and other elements in the story. It is the reason why Ethan Frome’s fate is generically down, sad and frustration-filled and remains stagnant.

Body

Lack of love can twist and warp a man almost beyond recognition; this is so for Ethan Frome. From Ethan’s younger years in the farm until adult, there were no innovations in his life. His life from his younger years was full of sacrifice. Ethan has tried to escape this kind of life; he wanted to be an engineer and took a course in technology; he even went to Florida once; but this entire means failed because of his parents’ illness. It caused him to return and take care of the farm, here started his loss of potential. He was out of love and lonely. Then he married Zeena for the only reason that he is lonely but his decision is wrong because at the later part Zeena becomes the hindrance to his happiness. He is incapable of action because of his moral sense of duty to others. What results is a hopeless sense of entrapment (Salmi, 1991). Typically, it is not difficult to despise Zeena Frome and view her as a character that represents all that destroys Ethan and also Mattie: petty narrow-mindedness, a spiteful, vindictive nature; sickly repression (Rahi, 1983). Ethan is out of love again and Zeena adds to the misery he feels. Though Zeena is not a bragging wife, her coldness and irrevocable attitudes persuade Ethan to fall for Mattie, Zeena’s cousin.

Mattie Silver as one of the most extreme examples of a character type present throughout much of Wharton’s fiction: the female intruder. The female intruder in Wharton’s novels is usually braver, more vital woman, who enters the world to which she ultimately does not belong (Worsheven, 1982). Mattie enters the lives of Ethan and Zeena and eventually, Ethan falls in love with Mattie due to her vibrant attitude and emotions. This scenario leads to the betrayal of Ethan from Zeena and this also gives a chance for Ethan to have the life he desires. Love between Mattie and Ethan did not prosper and at the same time Ethan failed again to escape his fate. Because of the love they feel for each other they decided to die than to live without the other one. In the end, the suicide failed. It seems that Ethan’s decisions are not allowed by his fate. Hence, Mattie and Ethan were both crippled. Mattie was being taken care of Zeena. Ethan, Mattie and Zeena all reside to the same house at Frome’s farm – this is the emotionally powerful ending of the story. The love that was needed by Ethan, in the story, has not been given to him until the end. The readers did not recognize or expect Ethan could do such thing but because of his love and desperation it was materialized.

Conclusion

Finally, Ethan Frome demonstrated a love that conquers all but still fails. Due to the lack of love that Ethan Frome felt from his youth to adulthood, the entire incident in the story fall into an unfortunate ending. The love from his parents and wife is absent in his life and at the end, Ethan will live in a house with the woman he hates and the woman he had a chance to have a happy life. The theme of love has a big part in this novel. Lack of love can twist and warp a man beyond recognition. In the story, the readers did not expect that Ethan will be really miserable at the end. Thus, man cannot foretell and foresee what other man can do because of love. Life is complete when there is someone who loves you dearly.

Works Cited

Lewis, R. (1975). Edith Wharton: A Biography. New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, Inc.

Nevius, B. (1953). Edith Wharton: A Study of Her Fiction. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.

Rahi, G. (1983). Edith Wharton: A Study of Her Ethos and Her Art. Amritsar, India: Guru Nanak Dev University Press.

Salmi, A. (1991). Andromeda and Pegasus: Treatment of the Themes of Entrapment and Escape in Edith Wharton's Novels. Helsinki, Finland: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia.

Wharton, Edith (2000). Ethan Frome. USA: Signet Classic

Worsheven, C. (1982). The Female Intruder in the Novels of Edith Wharton. Cranbury, NJ: Associated University Presses.

Recurring Theme of Christina Rossetti’s Poems: Who Shall Deliver Me?, De Profundis and Beneath Thy Cross

Who Shall Deliver Me?

(a) God strengthen me to bear myself; ................ iambic tetrameter

(b) That heaviest weight of all to bear, …………………. iambic tetrameter

(b) Inalienable weight of care. ………………………………… iambic tetrameter

(d) I lock my door and bar them out …………………….. iambic tetrameter

(d) The turmoil, tedium, gad-about. ………………………. iambic tetrameter

(e) I lock my door upon myself, …………………………….. iambic tetrameter

(f) And bar them out; but who shall wall ………………. iambic tetrameter

(f) Self from myself, most loathed of all? ……………… iambic tetrameter

(g) If I could once lay down myself, ………………………. iambic tetrameter

(h) And start self-purged upon the race ………………… iambic tetrameter

(h) That all must run! Death runs apace. ………………. iambic tetrameter

(i) If I could set aside myself, ………………………………… iambic tetrameter

(j) And start with lightened heart upon …………………. iambic tetrameter

(j) The road by all men overgone! …………………………. iambic tetrameter

(k) God harden me against myself, ………………………… iambic tetrameter

(l) This coward with pathetic voice ………………………… iambic tetrameter

(l) Who craves for ease and rest and joys ……………. iambic tetrameter

(m) Myself, arch-traitor to myself; ………………………….. iambic tetrameter

(n) My hollowest friend, my deadliest foe, …………….. iambic pentameter

(n) My clog whatever road I go. ………………………………. iambic tetrameter

(o) Yet One there is can curb myself, ……………………… iambic tetrameter

(p) Can roll the strangling load from me …………………. iambic tetrameter

(p) Break off the yoke and set me free …………………… iambic tetrameter

Form : Stanzaic

8 tercets

De Profundis

(a) Oh why is heaven built so far, ……………………………. iambic tetrameter

(b) Oh why is earth set so remote? …………………………. iambic tetrameter

(a) I cannot reach the nearest star ……………..…………. iambic tetrameter

(b) That hangs afloat. ………………………………………………. iambic dimeter

(d) One round monotonous of change; ……………………. iambic tetrameter

(d) Beyond my range. ……………………………………………….. iambic dimeter

(e) I never watch the scatter'd fire ………………………….. iambic tetrameter

(f) Of stars, or sun's far-trailing train, ……………………… iambic tetrameter

(e) But all my heart is one desire, …………………………….. iambic tetrameter

(f) And all in vain: ……………………………………………………… iambic dimeter

(g) For I am bound with fleshly bands, …………………….. iambic tetrameter

(h) Joy, beauty, lie beyond my scope; ………………………. iambic tetrameter

(g) I strain my heart, I stretch my hands, ……………….. iambic tetrameter

Form: Stanzaic

4 Quatrains

(h) And catch at hope. ……………………………………………….. iambic dimeter

Beneath Thy Cross

(a) Am I a stone, and not a sheep, ………………………..…. iambic tetrameter

(b) That I can stand, O Christ, beneath thy cross, ……. iambic pentameter

(b) To number drop by drop Thy Blood's slow loss, …… iambic pentameter

(a) And yet not weep? …………………………………………………. iambic dimeter

(d) Who with exceeding grief lamented Thee; ………….. iambic pentameter

(d) Not so fallen Peter weeping bitterly; ……………………. catalectic line

(e) Not so the Sun and Moon ……………………………………… iambic trimeter

(f) Which hid their faces in a starless sky, ………………… iambic pentameter

(e) A horror of great darkness at broad noon-- …………. iambic pentameter

(f) I, only I. ………………………………………………………………….. iambic dimeter

(g) Yet give not o'er, ……………………………………………………. iambic dimeter

(h) But seek Thy sheep, true Shepherd of the flock; …. iambic pentameter

(g) Greater than Moses, turn and look once more ……… iambic pentameter

Form: Stanzaic

4 Quatrains

(h) And smite a rock. ……………………………………………………. iambic dimeter

Christina Georgina Rossetti’s themes were faith and the peace of the eternal spiritual life. Her religion was not theological or doctrinal, however, in the manner of Victorians, for she concentrated on simple faith and pure lyrics to celebration of that faith. In this simple faith, Jesus being the object of much of her devotion: she wrote a number of poems on the incidents in His life and used Good Friday and the Resurrection as a subject for several of her best poems (Magill, 1960). Faith, an attitude of the entire self, including both will and intellect, directed toward a person, an idea, or—as in the case of religious faith—a divine being (Macquarrie, 2008). Here are three poems that conveys faith as its theme: Who Shall Deliver Me?, De Profundis and Beneath Thy Cross.

The poems express the theme of hope and faith that is found in the hands of God. Each persona of the poems is searching for hope as he is humbled of her life. For the persona, there is nothing about him for he is a sinner, but all about God that He is the only one who could help him in his miseries and problems in this world. He offers his problems to God and let Him decide for his life. He seeks for the hope that is found only in God.

In the poem, Who Shall Deliver Me? the persona let its readers perceive how heavy the burden he carries and prays to God to lighten it. It is found on the first lines of the poem,

God strengthen me to bear myself;

That heaviest weight of all to bear,

Inalienable weight of care.

And the cause of this weight is her isolation from the others due to her faith. For deeper understanding, Christina Rossetti isolated herself from her suitors because of faith. Her suitors believe in other religion than hers or have no religion. This causes her to break free from them as seen on these lines,

All others are outside myself;

I lock my door and bar them out

The turmoil, tedium, gad-about.

I lock my door upon myself,

And bar them out; but who shall wall

Self from myself, most loathed of all?

The persona thinks of a solution that is undesirable for she is to give up and to end her life. Hence, the solution is death to lighten her burden as she thinks that in life death comes. She will only quicken it by killing herself as seen in these citations,

If I could once lay down myself,

And start self-purged upon the race

That all must run! Death runs apace.

If I could set aside myself,

And start with lightened heart upon

The road by all men overgone!

Now, the persona of the poem begs for God’s guidance as she is thinking of ridiculous things as the previous citations say. In life, men are sometimes quitter from the game of life and thus, end life. Man must think of the reason why they live and not by the mistakes they did or the burdens they carry.

God harden me against myself,

This coward with pathetic voice

Who craves for ease and rest and joys.

Here, the persona says that her greatest traitor, foe and clog is his own self and this is right. In reality, the most dangerous person is not the other persons but the person himself because a man can betray himself by not perceiving it. Thus, man should think of the ways that prohibit this to happen. Think of the beautiful things that God has given you and live in His accordance for there you can find freedom. Yoke here symbolizes the persona, like a person still on his “shell” or comfort zone who needs to be appreciated, elevated and motivated to have confidence and find happiness in the outside world of his shell. The One represents God as the letter “O” is in the uppercase. The word curb is parallel to discipline. The persona states that God can help in disciplining himself.

Myself, arch-traitor to myself ;

My hollowest friend, my deadliest foe,

My clog whatever road I go.

Yet One there is can curb myself,

Can roll the strangling load from me

Break off the yoke and set me free

In the poem, De Profundis, faith in God is also conveyed like in the previous poem, Who Shall Deliver Me?. But, faith in God is rendered here in different manner because its persona is questioning same as the man in reality. Man asks why this is so or why is that so. Man cannot be refrained for questioning unless he trusts God intensely. These citations render the sample questions man may ask.

Oh why is heaven built so far,

Oh why is earth set so remote?

Man is said humanly not contented of what he has. Thus, he craves for more and sometimes he wants are those to the extremities. Like in the following citations, man is not contented but still man cannot do everything. The nearest star represents the nearest goal man can achieved.

I cannot reach the nearest star

That hangs afloat.

I would not care to reach the moon,

One round monotonous of change;

Yet even she repeats her tune

Beyond my range.

I never watch the scatter'd fire

Of stars, or sun's far-trailing train,

Man might desire all things but one withstand and it is the most important. It is what the heart needs. Man is not a god to acquire all he wants and because he is human, he is bound to reach or have faith to the greatest power owned by God himself. In the last two lines, he executed a movement that shows faith to God.

But all my heart is one desire,

And all in vain:

For I am bound with fleshly bands,

Joy, beauty, lie beyond my scope;

I strain my heart, I stretch my hands,

And catch at hope.

The last poem is, “Beneath Thy Cross”. Like the first two poems this is about the faith in God and the hope that He brings to man. The setting of the poem is in the land of Gethsemane where Jesus Christ was crucified. In the two stanzas, the persona humbled himself upon Christ. He expresses how sinner he is that he did not weep or was not moved unlike the other characters, those women, Peter and the thief, who expressed their love for Jesus Christ. On the first stanza, the persona compared himself to a stone and not in a sheep. Sheep is the symbol for the followers of Christ. The stone o symbolizes a worthless and numb being.

Am I a stone, and not a sheep,

That I can stand, O Christ, beneath thy cross,

To number drop by drop Thy Blood's slow loss,

And yet not weep?

Not so those women loved

Who with exceeding grief lamented Thee;

Not so fallen Peter weeping bitterly;

Not so the thief was moved;

The persona, here in the third stanza, compared himself to the sun and moon which also sympathized with Christ on the cross. It was a cloudy day that created the atmosphere of gloomy and serious while it is noon time. As one of the sinner, the persona regrets what he did to Christ. The starless sky suggests a bad day as Jesus is crucified.

Not so the Sun and Moon

Which hid their faces in a starless sky,

A horror of great darkness at broad noon--

I, only I.

In the fourth stanza, the persona shows hope and faith to Christ. The shepherd symbolizes Jesus Christ as He herds his sheep to the right path to God. The persona does not give up to what he regrets but he prays that Jesus will still herd him as one of His sheeps. He hopes for Jesus Christ to look at him once more, as a stone or rock, he still have a chance to be a sheep. The persona is full of regret but still he has a great hope and faith in Christ as he wants Him to herd him.

Yet give not o'er,

But seek Thy sheep, true Shepherd of the flock;

Greater than Moses, turn and look once more

And smite a rock.

Faith in God is the best weapon man can have in facing the challenges in life. It is the only thing a man can lean on if there is really no solution to a certain hardship in life. Even if man is diverse in religion, whoever his god might be, man must have faith in Him. It’s the key to happiness and contentment in life.

Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830-1894)

Christina was the sister of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and like him she showed promise as a poet while still very young. She was educated at home and encouraged to write by her family; her teenage poems were printed by her grandfather on his own press.

She had a sad life, though not so tragic as that of her brother. Twice her deep religious convictions prevented her from accepting an offer of marriage that otherwise appealed to her (John W. Cuncliliffe, 1940). She was a devout Anglican, and refused two suitors on religious grounds: the painter James Collinson because he became a Roman Catholic; and Charles Bagot Cayley, because he was an atheist. Perhaps as a result of this self-denial, a recurrent theme in her poetry is the rejection of earthly passion in favour of spiritual devotion. Even those poems with a strong element of fantasy in them, such as 'Goblin Market' or 'The Prince's Progress' are often written with a clear moral purpose in mind.

Rossetti's health was always poor, and illness had rendered her an invalid by the time she was fifty. She continued to write however, producing Time Flies: A Reading Diary (1885), which contained poems and thoughts for each day, and The Face of the Deep: A Devotional Commentary on the Apocalypse (1892). After her death her brother W.M. Rossetti brought out an edition of her later poetry, New Poems, in 1896, and edited her Collected Poems (1904).

Christina Rossetti is widely regarded as the greatest female poet in English up to her own time. She was considered for the position of Poet Laureate, before her final illness made the appointment impossible (Marsh, 1994).

The Mystery of the Balite Tree by Regine del Carmen, Jesthony Achivar, Shernan Eustaquio, Hera Joy Cahoy, Charlene Capillo and Angelie Salut

Once upon a time, a fair lady named Bella lived in a secluded barrio. She has a beautiful garden envied by everyone. Yet, she scorned all those appreciations. Whenever people praised her colourful flowers, her veins bulged and seen protruding on her white skin. This trait erased all her positive features which rendered very disagreeable to her barrio constituents.

However, a man came into the barrio unexpectedly. He called himself Edward, a handsome and most perfect creature your eyes could set upon. His past was unknown as well as his origin was a question. What added more into the mystified crowd was his love for Bella. Edward as often, visited Bella on her hut in the garden’s heart.

As always, Bella rejected people who appreciated her. She always shooed Edward away. In as much as she drove him out, it also equalled to Edward’s return. Meanwhile, it was Bella’s habit to stroll around her garden every afternoon. She was surprised in an instance when she saw a white-robed figure standing in the midst. She was deeply enraged that someone intruded her solitude. Vein started protruding and her fair face was a picture of a greenish vessels. But the figure just disappeared when she took her next step to approach it. It happened several times and the usual scenario repeated – the figure quickly disappeared as it came.

Then one gloomy afternoon, the white-robed figure didn’t nudge when she drew closer. And so, Bella had the opportunity to speak the words she longed to say. Every foul word came out. Every profanity you could ever hear spilled out as she reprimanded the trespasser. While she spitted out the words, her veins protruded as usual. But, the figure only stared at her with glowing eyes and disappeared. Bella’s veins didn’t return to its original form and even grew longer and sturdier. Bella’s eyes popped-out as she recognized what was happening to her. It grew longer as her feet were rooted on the ground. Then she was stocked and turned into a tree.

Many days passed and the people begun to notice her absence. One of the folks dared to trespass to check on her. He searched every nook of the garden and came across a strange tree. Without Bella anywhere, they immediately deduced that the tree was her. It had her very prominent feature, the veins protruding - every time her rage ruptured and on the tree’s branches vein-like roots fell from its limbs. They even speculated that the strange man, Edward, cursed her into a hideous tree.

Several days again passed, Edward unknowingly visited the garden. Tears ran down his cold, pale face as Edward beheld the transformed figure of Bella. At this point, the truth was then revealed. The one who really cursed Bella, the white-robed figure was in fact a fairy sent by the gods to investigate about her disposition. On the other hand, Edward belonged to the dark forces that were tamed by the beauty of untamed Bella. He tried to break the curse but in vain he failed. Out of love and deep grief, he often visited her and afterward decided to reside within her, to be a part of her eternally.

The people named it as “Bella Tree”. Whenever they passed by the tree, they felt a force lingering around. Since then, people had begun to fear it even hesitant to pass by her place.

Generations passed that “Bella Tree” undergone derivation. It was then called “Balite Tree”. It then explains why it has many veins and always associated with the “Engkantos”.

A Reading on Aristotle in the Work of Sophocles, the Tragedy of Ajax

Aristotle made a work that is basically concerned with poetry and its nature. According to his work, The Poetics, “Epic poetry, tragedy, and also comedy, dithyrambic poetry, and most music of the flute and the lyre all fall into the general class of imitation”. Yet, this imitation differs in a certain aspect, “for they imitate in different materials, or imitate different things, or do it in another way, not according to the same method”.

In Ajax, a tragedy written by Sophocles, are some features that Aristotle showcases in his Poetics. These features made the said tragedy as a whole. Back to the evolution of the tragedy, Aristotle says that, “Sophocles increased the number of actors to three and introduced the painting scenery.” Sophocles had put on embellishment in tragedies to make a beauty out of it.

Tragedy, as defined by Aristotle, is “an imitation of an action that is serious and complete and has a sufficient size, in language that is made sweet, and with each of the kinds of sweet language separately in the various parts of the tragedy, presented by those who act and not by narrative, exciting pity and fear, bringing about the catharsis of such emotions.”

Aristotle also said in his Poetics that “for every tragedy there is a tying of the knot, or complication, and an untying of it, or solution.” Prior to the beginning of the play, there has been a struggle between Odysseus and Ajax over who should receive the armour of the Greek warrior-hero Achilles after his death. The invulnerable armour had been made for Achilles by the god Hephaestus, and the recipient would thus receive recognition as the greatest after Achilles. The armour was eventually awarded to Odysseus (although not without the help of his protector, the goddess Athena). The enraged Ajax vowed to kill the Greek leaders Menelaus and Agamemnon who had disgraced him in this way but, before he can enact his revenge, the goddess Athena tricks him. At this moment the exposition and rising action of the play has started as cited in from the words of Athena,

Athena – (describing Odysseus) …on his [Ajax’] trail and scanning his newly made footprints, to see whether he is inside or not; moving like a Spartan hound with keen scent, you travel quickly to your goal. (5-8)

Athena, the goddess of war and wisdom, helps Odysseus and thwarts the plan of revenge of Ajax by casting a spell,

Chorus – …a godsent sickness must have come upon you; but may Zeus and Phoebus avert the evil rumour of the Argives! But if the great kings and he of the worthless line of Sisyphus are trumping up charges and spreading false stories, do not, do not, my lord, remain thus in your huts by the sea and win an evil name! (185-191)

In a frenzy caused by the spell, Ajax mistakes the sheep for his intended victims, slaughters them, and takes captives he plan to torture. As he comes back to his senses, Ajax is shocked and ashamed over his actions and pities himself over his disgrace.

Tecmessa – …at last with difficulty [Ajax] came to his senses; and when he gazed at the room filled with ruin he struck his head and uttered a loud cry, then fell among the fallen corpses of the slaughtered sheep and sat there, grasping his hair and tearing it with his nails…. And he at once lamented with dreadful cries, such as I had never before heard from him. For he always used to teach that such weeping was the mark of a cowardly and spiritless man;… (305-310 & 317-320)

Then, Ajax realizes all that had happened, humiliated to death and plans to die.

Ajax – (of Odysseus) …filthiest trickster of the army, how you must be laughing in your delight! (381-2)

Ajax – …daughter of Zeus, the mighty goddess, tortures me to death! Where can one escape to? Where can I go and remain? If my great deeds perish, friends, near to these , and I have devoted myself to the pursuit of foolishly chosen game, and the whole army may with sword grasped in both hands strike me dead! (401-9)

Ajax – I feel pity at leaving her a widow and my son an orphan near enemies. But I shall go to the meadows by the shore where I can wash myself, so that I can clean off the dirt upon me and escape the grievous anger of the goddess. I shall come to where I can find untrodden ground and conceal this sword of mine, most hated of all weapons, digging a hole in the ground where none can see it, but let the darkness of Hades guard it down below. For since I received this gift from Hector, the deadliest of my enemies, never have I had any good thing from the Argives. No, the saying of mortals is true, that the gifts of enemies are no gifts and bring no profit. (650-665)

And the climax opens, as he dies through his own hands. It is a tragic incident. According to Aristotle, a tragic incident is an action that is destructive or painful, such as deaths on the stage, tortures, wounds and the like.

Ajax – The sacrificial killer is in place, so it will now cut most effectively. If a man had time, he might reflect on this. It is a gift from Hector, a warrior who was a friend most hateful to me, the one I looked on as my greatest foe. Then this sword is firmly set in Trojan soil, land of my enemy, freshly whetted on the iron-eating sharpening stone. (810-819)

Ajax – And I have fixed it in the ground with care, so it will kill me quickly and be kind. (820-821)

Ajax – Just as they see me killed by my own hand, so let them perish, killed by their own kindred, the children they love most. (841-843)

Ajax – Farewell, you have nurtured me – to you Ajax now speaks his final words. The rest I’ll say to those below in Hades. (864-866)

Although Agamemnon and Menelaus decree a humiliating post-mortem punishment for Ajax – to leave him lie unburried as carrion for animals. This is the falling action that leads to the conclusion when Odysseus persuades them to relent.

Odysseus – Listen, then! I beg you not to venture to cast this man out ruthlessly, unburied. Violence must not so prevail on you that you trample justice under foot! For me too he was once my chief enemy in the army, ever since I became the owner of the arms of Achilles; but though he was such in regard to me, I would not so far fail to do him honour as to deny that he was the most valiant man among the Argives, except Achilles. (1332-1340)

A plot consists two parts, the “tying” and “untying”, as said earlier. The tying part is found on the exposition and rising action while the untying is on the climax until the conclusion. The problem was Ajax is to avenge on Menelaus and Odysseus and due to that he was tricked by Athena with a spell. As a result, Ajax was humiliated to death. The problem was resolved by him, Ajax, as he committed suicide and had a decent burial.

The beauty of the showpiece can be inferred on its form. The content of the play is properly arranged and it has greatness that did not happened by chance. According to Aristotle, “for beauty consists in magnitude and order.”

The tragedy’s plot length is within the context of the later life of Ajax until his suicidal. The clarity is evident that the story revolves on its protagonist in which the tragedy was actually entitled. As said by Aristotle, “according to its nature, the larger it is, within the limits of clarity, the better it is.”

In this case that the beauty and length of the plot are in its clarity, hence, the unity of the plot is achieved. The story is concerned with only one thing and it is how the tragedy of Ajax took place. As a tragedy, being an imitation of an action, should be concerned with one thing and that a whole, and that the parts of the action should be so put together that if one part is shifted or taken away the whole is deranged and disjoined, for what makes no perceptible difference by its presence or absence is no part of the whole according to Aristotle. This means that every part of the tragedy is important to the framework of the story.

Plots are either simple or involved. The tragedy of Ajax’s plot is classified as an involved one for the protagonist fortune was changed and is accompanied by recognition or peripety or both.

Recognition means a change from ignorance to knowledge – resulting in love or hate – by those marked out for good fortune or bad fortune. This is evident in the story when Ajax’s humiliation has already been known to him. He was in spell that is why he did not recognized what he was doing to the sheep and when he gained knowledge about it, he committed suicide.

Peripety, on the other hand, is a change to the opposite actions performed according to probability or necessity. This is also apparent in the tragedy in the character of Odysseus. He was the one in “conspiracy” with Athena in giving the spell to Ajax. In the end of the story he turned out to be on the side of Ajax, he wanted Ajax to be buried rather than to be carrion for animals.

Moreover, the plot that is applied on this tragedy is the most effective plot. According to Aristotle, “the plot must also be single rather than double, as some think it should be, and the change it presents must not be good fortune from bad fortune but the opposite one from good fortune to bad fortune, not because of wickedness but because of some great error either of such a man as has been indicated or of a better rather than worse man.” This notion is unmistakable in the tragedy.

Ajax is a proper tragic hero. He is like Oedipus, “who is not extraordinary in virtue and righteousness, and yet does not fall into bad fortune because of evil and wickedness, but because of some error of the kind found in men of high reputation and good fortune” according to Aristotle. Ajax was a powerful warrior who fought in Trojan War as leader of the Salamis forces. He has the reputation, the power and the wealth but he assumed for the armor of the dead Achilles that was not given to him. He enraged and set to avenge. His vengeance and anger was his tragic flaws.

According to Aristotle, a catharsis is a purifying of emotions that is brought about in the audience of a tragic drama through the evocation of intense fear and pity. One may experience catharsis if he hears the story of Ajax. Like Oedipus, Ajax also suffered due to his own tragic flaw. The experience he underwent is felt by the audience. Moreover, it is also entertains them.

In conclusion, the tragedy of Ajax’s whole framework justified the qualities of a tragedy according to the standard of Aristotle.

Sources:

Aristotle. (334-330 BC). The Poetics.

English translation by R. C. Trevelyan (Internet Classics Archive):

http://classics.mit.edu/Sophocles/ajax.html

Greek version with word-by-word translation (Perseus Project):

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0183

Literature + Linguistics + ME

Learning and Remembering Vocabulary

Visual. In this style I can learn and remember more vocabulary. Whenever I encounter a new word I always look or stare at it and when the time comes that I need that certain word, I remember it by recalling the time when I stare on it. I also enjoy looking to illustrations especially drawings.

Left Brain Dominance. I analyze a new vocabulary and incorporate it on what I already got. In this way I can compare its meaning and tell the difference of the two.

The best strategies that suit me are: for cognitive – contextualization, imagery, repetition and auditory.; for metacognitive – self monitoring and evaluation.

Pronouncing and Speaking Fluently

Auditory. The best way I can pronounce and speak fluently is by listening to native speakers or whoever good and reliable on it. For me, when it comes to language, it is best to learn it if I am on a crowd of people who are speaking it fluently. I enjoy listening to foreigners conversing in English. For me, they motivate me to continually learn the language.

My strategy I do is to imitate how they pronounce and use a certain word. I practice it to inculcate it on my mind and monitor and evaluate myself(metacognitive) to correct errors as well.

Learning and Remembering Grammar

Left Brain Dominance. The traits of left brain dominance help me in learning and remembering grammar. I analyze the word structure to get the proper meaning of a sentence.

On the process of learning and remembering a certain rule in grammar, I use cognitive styles like contextualization, note-taking and translation(cognitive). I also use metacognitive strategies like selective attention and self-monitoring.

Writing a Term Paper

Field Independence. I do my term papers on my own way. It is directly encoded on my laptop that’s why sometimes I can’t submit if a teacher wants a draft. I am systematic in doing my term papers. I download webpages that are completely related to my topic. I make sure that the webpage that I’ll be downloading is reliable – I check on its works cited.

Self-Monitor and self-evaluation is the metacognitive strategies I use in writing a term paper. When I’m done with my paper, I let it checked by a trusted editor. In this way, it is more convenient to me. I hate it when I recheck what I wrote.

Understanding a Short Story/Novel

Left Brain Dominance and Field Independence. I analyze every circumstance that happens in a short story/novel. I sometimes predict what will happen next basing it to the characters and the events. I also observe the style of the author to get what he really means. When I read a novel or short story, I do it on my own and I don’t wait for others to urge me on doing so.

My metacognitive strategy is self-evaluation. I evaluate myself if I’m doing right and if I’m still on the right track on understanding the piece.

Rating on Communication Competence

From one to ten, I’m on the 6^th level, I guess. I think I am still not that good in the language. I still have flaws and lapses when it comes to speaking and writing. I am aware that I need to be exposed to an environment wherein native speakers of the language exist to fully inculcate it on my mind. For the mean time, with the styles and strategies I’m using, I bet it can still guarantee my learning in communication competence. In that way, I still can cope up with the education of the language.