Daily Doses (Dramatic Legends): Oedipus the King (Theme of Fate)

“Why should man fear since chance is all in all for him, and he can clearly foreknow nothing? Best to live lightly, as one can, unthinkingly…”- Jocasta, 217. Sophocles was a genius in using thought, the indications and conversations given by characters, to illustrate the wonderment of fate. He took into consideration the mythological/religious views at the time and the essence of everyday human interacting to create a story that questioned the purpose of fate, and if it was used as a means to test humans. In Oedipus the King, Oedipus was a victim of a fate that was crafted before his birth, but was set in motion through personal choices. By trying to avoid his foretold calamity, he unwittingly fulfilled it. Apart from dramatic irony, this is a common theme in Greek stories and mythology in which a person, overly concerned with their foretold fate, fulfills that fate by trying to escape it through unhelpful and even destructive means.

 “Truly Zeus and Apollo are wise and in human things all knowing; but amongst men there is no distinct judgment, between prophet and me-which of us is right…” –Antistrophe of Chorus, page 209. According to historian Edith Hamilton, fate was of great concern to the Greeks, and its workings resonate through many of their myths and texts because it was a means to be divinely tested, especially if it concerned a powerful or influential person. As the quote suggests, it was the Gods who were closely watching events unfold and judged accordingly in contrast to the humans living out their lives with no self-judgment or scrutiny. In these myths, the characters always seem to make choices that indicate they were in control of how their lives were handled; bad choices leading to a fulfillment of a bad fate. In the case of Oedipus the King, Oedipus and his biological father Laius seem to make bad choices that lead to negative consequences. It is Laius’ act of attempted self-preservation at the expense of his newborn son’s life that sets the chain in motion, and it is Oedipus’ pride and wrathfulness that leads him to kill his father. Sophocles uses the Oracle of the God Apollo to reveal the fates of both King Laius and Oedipus (From Jocasta’s verse, page 213). Upon hearing of this prophesy, King Laius attempted to kill his son three days after his birth by piercing his ankles and leaving him on a hill side.  We could speculate that if Oedipus was spared and grew up in Laius’ household, he would not have killed him in the way that he did or married Queen Jocasta. Oedipus learned of this prophesy from a drunken man and thought it applied to King Polybus and Merope, his adoptive parents, which prompts him to flee (Oedipus’ verse, page 214). He then lets his hurt pride provoke his rage and makes the mistake of killing the entire entourage on the road, when in fact he could have contained it and spared them, which may or may not have halted the prophesy.

            Throughout the play, characters give dialogue that hint to the purpose of fate and how humans tend to react to it. Near the beginning, after Oedipus and Creon speak, ironically with ending with “God will decide whether we prosper or remain in sorrow” (204) the chorus immediately insinuate, through a string of riddles, the feeling of anxiety and even fear one gets through wanting to know the unknown. “I am stretched on the rack of doubt, and terror and trembling holds my heart… Speak to me, immortal voice, child of golden Hope…” Later, Teiresias the blind prophet hints to Oedipus that destiny is easier to bear if it is not sought out (206).  After Oedipus and Jocasta speak about Oedipus’ past before arriving in Thebes, in which he unknowingly killed his father and his entourage in a fit of rage, the chorus immediately opens with “May destiny ever find me pious in word and deed, prescribed by the laws that live on high…” – Strophe 215. From this alone we can see a glimpse of the divine plan to use fate to test human nature. 

           

            Near the play’s conclusion, Oedipus blames the Gods for setting up the plan, but realizes it was his own personal actions that brought about the fulfillment. “It was Apollo, friends, Apollo that brought this bitter bitterness, my sorrows to completion. But the hand that struck me was none but my own…” – Oedipus, 223.

           

            The play ends with Oedipus going out into the world as a blind man, this time without knowledge of any divine plan or fate bestowed upon him. In conclusion, Sophocles used these characters to pose the question of why the Gods reveal to humans their fate, and what do they expect by giving it. We can conclude that it was for more than mere amusement, but to test humans for their upholding of moral justice, even if they think they are doomed.   

Daily Doses (Dramatic Legends): Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (Theme of Revenge)

If you are a classic reader, what comes to your mind when you think of Hamlet? Perhaps the words betrayal and tragedy come to your mind. Or, you might consider it a tale of revenge. Several themes intermingle throughout the story, but revenge is the most interesting to me, for it connects several characters directly. In the play Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, I am honing in on three specific characters: Prince Hamlet, Laertes, and Claudius, who all had different personalities and displayed three different aspects of revenge. To me, Both Hamlet and Laertes were anti-heroes in their own right, while Claudius was strictly a villain. Hamlet and Laertes sought retribution for their father’s deaths and broken families, while Claudius sought revenge for his own selfish purposes and perceived threats.

“Revenge his (Claudius’) foul and most unnatural murder.” – Ghost, page 36, line 45. Throughout the play, Hamlet is guided by his father’s ghost to revenge his death. Before the actual appearance of his father’s ghost, it is unclear if he would have sought vengeance on his own. Hamlet was a young man who was attending school in Wittenberg and took leave to go home for his father’s funeral. It seems he would have returned there if not for the ghost’s appearance. "For your intent in going back to school in Wittenberg it is most retrograde to our desire and we beseech you, bend you to remain here… “–Claudius, page 29, lines 135-138.  The revenge Hamlet intended to perform was an act of upholding personal honor and well as compassion in wanting to aid his father’s ghost to move on.  The character of Hamlet is mixed in emotions of uncertainty as he constantly questions himself if he is doing the right thing (Act II-III). Hamlet’s character is also religious and his revenge is religiously founded as he tries to find justification (Act III).  The Ghost’s request for revenge can be compared to a mosaic law found in the Christian Bible (Leviticus and Deuteronomy) that states that a family member had the right to avenge themselves of the wrongful death of another family member and this was lawful (blood for blood), and it was their own personal choice. But revenge for Hamlet is not simply about killing Claudius; it’s about making sure he’d suffer in Hell. “Now might I do it pat, now he is praying; And now I'll do't. And so he goes to heaven; And so am I revenged. That would be scann'd : A villain kills my father; and for that, I, his sole son, do this same villain send To heaven.” - Hamlet (3.3.1) Hamlet acts out the full extent of this blood for blood agenda to where he spared Claudius in church so that he would not go to heaven but later find him in a sinful manner to condemn him, all because his father was not able to go to heaven and still remains in purgatory.

When Hamlet makes the mistake of killing Polonius (Act III), Laertes adopts his pattern of revenge, but at a much quicker pace than Hamlet did. Laertes wishes to avenge his father’s death and, like Hamlet, he is guided by a superior figure who happens to be the evil intentioned Claudius (Act IV). Laertes does not plan too deeply and unlike Hamlet he seeks immediate fulfillment, him invading the palace with a crowd of his followers (Act V). The character of Laertes is young, like Hamlet, but he has a sister to look after and a loving but meddlesome father (Act II). He liked to have a good time as young men do, and his character is outgoing, even when avenging his father’s death, much unlike Hamlet. Though he seems a bit impatient, Laertes, like Hamlet, is cable of much grief, as revealed at Ophelia’s funeral procession.

Claudius was the younger brother of the former King Hamlet and he obviously desired what his brother had owned. His character is sly and deceitful. Throughout the play, Claudius actions were all together self-centered, as he tried to cover himself. He displayed a constant uneasiness and even fear of Hamlet because of his guilty conscious, which is why he is constantly questioning Hamlet’s strange behavior. “His liberty is full of threats to all… Should have kept short, restrained, and out of haunt this mad young man.” – Claudius to the Queen, page 66, lines 23-25.  It is unclear if he was truly remorseful but he recognized the seriousness of the crime committed, liking it to Cain killing his brother Able, who was motivated by jealousy of what his brother had. (Genesis). “O, my offence is rank it smells to heaven; It hath the primal eldest curse upon't, A brother's murder… What form of prayer can serve my turn? – I am still possessed of those effects for which I did the murder, my crown, mine own ambition, and my Queen." –Claudius, page 61, lines 64-67. Claudius has committed murder for the things he owns and will not easily give them up. For that, he plotted to kill Hamlet in England out of fear that he knew too much (Act V). When the opportunity comes, he uses Laertes grief and revengeful spirit against Hamlet as a backup plan.  After Hamlet visited his mother, the Queen went to tell Claudius that Hamlet thinks he killed the former King, not believing it herself. (Act IV) Claudius in a sense took revenge out on Hamlet who threatened to expose his treachery.

            Hamlet's desire for revenge is tempered by his desire to take revenge on the right person, in the right way.  However, Laertes and Claudius sought immediate revenge and did not consider what was morally right. But through these characters one can see that Shakespeare saw revenge as a natural human emotion or a natural response, whether for good or bad. But in the end, these characters paid for their vengeance with their lives.  

Daily Doses: Artist Choice

The next series of posts will we dedicated to famous artists in the world of art and drama that have touched me in my academia... Enjoy.

Daily Doses: Snacks

            Have you ever walked down an aisle of your favorite grocery store when something caught your eye? Perhaps it was a nice display of your favorite snacks, White Cheddar Cheez-Its in my case. The yummy, cheesy crunchy taste always gets to me. So you see your favorite snack beings advertised. Luckily the box is on sale for $2.50. So you buy it. When you buy it what do you expect you are getting? In my case it’s a box of delicious, white cheddar cheese crackers. But in reality, what are you really getting?

            I had to do some thorough research on this snack before I got all my facts straight. Cheez-Its are one of my favorite snacks. I could eat on a box all day long. I love them that much. When I think of Cheez-It cracks, I think of some type of wheat product, cooked with dairy products and other fresh ingredients to make the cracker. And then I think of the fresh cheese that must be freeze dried and ground to make the cheesy powder on the cracker. That was my initial idea of a Cheez-It cracker. Honestly, I never took the time to read the ingredients at the back of the box. I didn’t feel like I needed too. I didn’t even look at the calorie count. I just ate what I felt was the right amount, depending on how hungry I was…

            In reality, Cheez-It crackers have 21+ ingredients. When I read the serving size, it listed 27 crackers as the limit. I well went over that… Each serving has 8g of fat and 2g of saturated fat. It also contains 250mg of sodium. I’m not saying this is bad, considering a bag of Doritos has way more danger than this. All I am saying is that this snack should not replace my meals, which they can easily do. Snacks are often abused by overeating them, due to lack of proper knowledge on portion size and content. Snacks are often low nutritional and are intended to be eaten sparingly and in moderation. That is what most health doctors would tell you, but not the companies who make our favorite snacks… Mega companies such as Kelloggs and Frito-Lay will advertise their products in such a way to get you interested in buying them on a regular basis. The commercials often feature pretty looking people with nice figures eating a handful of the given snack. It’s made to looks so natural and delicious. Today, many of our food products are marketed this way.

            What do we really know about our food? And why does money play such a big role in production? Average hard working people usually tend to buy food they can afford. As the trend goes, people who are poor spend less money on food. This means they tend to buy cheaper products. Cheaper products mean foods that are low in nutritional value. Fresh meat, fruits and vegetables are considerably higher priced than what we consider junk food.  Mega companies tend to use cheap products when they market cheap products. Only makes sense right? The cheapest food stock in the USA is corn. Corn is used in almost every snack food, including soda and juices. Most sweetened products in the USA have high fructose corn syrup. Over time, the production of corn grew out of proportion. Major corporations realized they could take a great deal of advantage from this overstocked crop. They decided to use corn as oil, sweetener, grain, and even food stock for animals such as beef and chicken.

            The addition of corn wasn’t the only change in the way food is produced and presented. Our perception of food has also changed. Compare a generic hamburger from 1950 to a generic hamburger from 2010. Is there a difference? Yes there is. The difference is portion size. As time went on, people’s average portion size for food grew bigger. The correct standard portion of something in a meal is the size of your palm. Let’s use pasta for example. The way I eat pasta, I usually fill the whole plate up with it when I serve myself. In reality that’s about 5 times more pasta than a standard portion. Not to mention it’s lacking in nutritional value. Pasta alone is a carbohydrate; it has no vegetable value except for maybe some fiber. The meat sauce is only good for protein, and maybe some tomato value. A full nutritional meal contains foods from all groups correctly proportioned. Average people don’t always consider this.

            Apart from creating cheap foods is the way the food is handled. The food these days are not of high value when it comes to mass production. That is evident in the way food is farmed and packaged. Safety measures seemed to be bypassed through secret added ingredients. What I mean is, ingredients used to kill off bacteria and preserve food are at the forefront of options rather than taking the actual safety precautions of storing and handling food properly. An example of this is the way chicken is produced and packaged. Fresh, live chickens are forced to live in horrible conditions. To combat this, they are injected with anti-bacterial agents, rather than being changed to cleaner environments. When the chickens arrive at the factories to be packaged, they are sprayed down with chemicals, such as chlorine, to kill germs, which are caused by improper handling.  Despite the attempts to keep food uncontaminated, breakouts of bacteria such as ecoli and salmonella are prevalent. If we really knew all the facts surrounding our food’s origin, we would look at it completely differently. We would question how our money is being spent on food. After seeing the film “Food Inc.”, my perception of food has changed. I realize that buying healthier foods cost more, which increases the substantial value I place on food. Does healthy food have priority?  To me it does.

Daily Doses: Obesity

               In this world, it is crucial for people who want to be successful in society to think ahead of their given situation. They must think, critically think for themselves. Critical thinking means to purposefully reflect on a given situation, taking note of all sides, and then making a reasonable judgment or opinion. A critical thinker must evaluate evidence, discern hidden values and accomplish an action, even if it’s just to come to a conclusion.  I chose to critically think about a problem that is affecting millions of people worldwide. It is a problem in which I looked at the causes and effects, and formulated solutions to combat them.

There was a time in America, and across the world, when obesity was an abnormality in human society. Matter of fact, during those times, a person who was overweight never reached the standard weight of today’s obese population. Obesity is a widely spread nutritional disorder that can affect anybody at any age across the world. It is very clear that the world’s nutritional standards and personal fitness habits have drastically changed in the last 50 years. This change in standards has affected the world for the worst. I chose this topic because it hit me close to home. I was able to critically analyze why we have the certain problems we’re suffering from and how it could be prevented.

            Writing this essay required me to research my family past.  My mother, who has turned 50, recalled what the world was like when she was growing up. She grew up in small, dusty Texas town of Amarillo, where the roads seemed to last forever. When she was my age, eighteen that is, she weighed around 120-130 pounds, and had a healthy, slender, and energetic body. Most of her peers during that time had the same healthy body type. Today, 2011, I’m eighteen years old and I weigh approximately 200 pounds. I can hardly do as much physical work as my mother did in her time. But I am no social outcast due to this variance. Many of my contemporary peers are in the same range as I am. What is responsible for this drastic change?

            During my mother’s day, food was not as heavily processed and it was fresher. Snacks such as chips and sweets were limited as vain treats. Sure, people didn’t know as much about nutritional value back then as they do now, but things were still a lot healthier. That’s on part because people like my mother practiced moderation. They could eat whatever they desired, as long as it was a proper amount. Fresh fruits and vegetables were on the table more than anything else, even meat. During that time, children and teenagers were physically active, for long periods of time. My mother recalls taking long walks to and from high school, running on the roads with friends, and being involved with a school sport (volleyball in her case). This made exercise enjoyable, fun, and most of all, unnoticeable. She lived her life carefree and unconscious about her weight, because it was never a health risk issue. She had no medical problems or aliments. Her body and heart were robust and strong.

Today, the issue of obesity is controversial and sensitive. People often don’t want to hear about the many changes they think they must make to achieve a better lifestyle. Truth is issues with obesity and overweightness is slowly killing Americans, and even the world. Health problems associated with obesity is rapidly growing at an all-time high. Diseases never before mentioned in my mother’s home have now taken over the medical market. Things such as diabetes, various types of cancer, and heart failure can be directly connected to obesity and malnutrition. These aliments are found not only in adults, but teenagers and young children.

People try to blame the fast food markets for our demise. But I have come to believe that they are only a small portion of the picture. It’s true that cheap, high calorie foods are dominating the food supply market. Fresher foods seem more and more costly and people are turning to cheaper alternatives. But still, people are fooled into making bad choices because they are ignorant of what they are really buying. Some people don’t even take the time to read the labels of what they are consuming. I know for a fact that I sometimes buy snack foods and disregard the warning signs, because it tastes so good. All of that artificial flavoring and high caloric, saturated fat makes my mouth water… It’s a shame really. The people who create these products deliberately make them a trigger food. That is, they become addictive due to suspect ingredients. People will just eat a said product until they think they think they are full, not knowing that their brain is tricking them to overeat. They have no idea when to stop! It’s only natural, since most snack foods are light weight and appear thin, when in reality a handful of your favorite goodies could come out to an astonishing 500 calories! In the end, it seems quite unfair to my body. The companies who supply such items have no intention of warning the buyer, considering they would be at a financial loss if people knew the truth…

            Apart from consuming a low nutritional diet, many people consider physical activity as a hassle. I once thought exercising would make me lose all my energy and I would be exhausted afterward, when in fact exercising increased my energy, metabolism, and mental focus. Many people are not fully aware of the benefits of having an active lifestyle. That is partially due to inactive distractions and not enough role models to show the way. Instead of playing outdoors with their friends, children would rather communicate electronically, whether by phone or internet. Adults who have hectic work schedules tend to come home to relax by sitting in front of the TV, rather than going for a refreshing walk, which would indeed increase their energy and focus. It is simple things like these that the average person does not consider. Small physical activities that could add to a healthy lifestyle are often overlooked.

            It is simple facts like these that the “industry” doesn’t want to consumer to know about. If people found out their health were being exploited, the industry would collapse. Just researching this topic has inspired me to take a closer look at myself. I am 200 pounds and reaching the borderline obesity level, and I’m still 18. If my condition remains this way, I am more likely to get heavier and unhealthier as I grow older, eventually peaking the obesity chart. I don’t want this calamity to befall me. I want to give myself a fair chance. Now that I know of the present and future danger, I can change my course of action. I believe that if every other young adult who had the same problem as me truly knew the causes of their condition, they would be inspired to change their course as I did. I realize that times are quite different than when my mother was my age. People enjoyed life with physical activity, food portions were 3 times smaller, and people ate far more nutritional foods. I realize that if I can practice this simple method of moderation and fun exercise, I wouldn’t have to spend any additional money on diet pills, surgery, or meal plans, which are so heavily advertised in the media. Obesity is indeed a growing and dangerous problem, but it can be easily prevented if more people were aware of the easy and natural options they had.

Daily Doses (Artist Choice Edition): Purvis Young

            Purvis Young was no ordinary artist. He didn’t have many luxuries in life. He didn’t have any formal training. Purvis Young was a self-taught artist. Though he lacked a formal education in art, he taught himself by reading and studying in libraries. He went to prison, yet turned his life around through art. He went to prison for three years, but while there we received a vision, a vision to become an artist. His art work has been shown nationwide; often depicting many problems in the African-American community.

He used a variety of art mediums, basically anything he could find. This was a type of artistic recycling.  They were materials such as discarded plywood and cardboard, refrigerator doors, table tops, scraps of fabric and metal trays. I think his choice of mediums gave a natural style to his work. Using raw materials from the neighborhood seemed to make his paintings closer to it. “His paintings are populated with angels which watch over turbulent cityscapes; faces reminiscent of an imagined Zulu past life, and symbols of freedom and escape – wild horses, trucks, and the flimsy craft that the boat people from Haiti use to journey to these shores, plowing through shark infested waters” (Daniel Aubry). One of the symbols Purvis uses recurrently is pregnancy. The impression of a pregnant woman can be found throughout his art. He uses the image of pregnancy because of what it represents: new life and rebirth. Purvis stated that he felt new generations being born were somewhat of a saving grace for mankind, a new beginning.   

            He painted what he saw, the “problems of the world”, much injustice and sadness. He lived in the ghetto Overtown, Miami. In Overtown, he painted vibrant and passionate murals, with much symbolism. At the Overtown library, he painted one of his most famous murals around the building. On the mural he painted horses, which represented freedom, with people at the bottom, who are freed and chainless. This is how Purvis portrayed most of his ideas and feelings, through symbolism. He painted other murals in places like the Miami metro station and in alley way.

            Though he did grandiose things with his artwork, he chose to live a most humble life. His artwork sold for thousands of dollars yet he spent most of his later years living in warehouses. He didn’t buy many things or any real luxuries. He seemed somewhat naïve in charging accurately for his artwork and was taken advantage of. He didn’t have much savings. It wasn’t until later that he realized the true value of his work. But all that didn’t really matter to him. To him, his art was a gift to the world. Near the end of his life, he had severe medical problems. He suffered from diabetes and later died from a heart attack. Though Purvis received rich rewards from his art work, he never lost the innocence that made him great. He will be remembered as someone who gave back to his community, helping individuals in need.