MY BEST LIVE JOURNAL ENTRIES
WEEK 11: OSCAR WILDE
[16 May 2007|09:50am]
COMMENT: michelle_brandy
Oscar Wilde - "The Importsance of Being Earnest" (week 11)
Oscar Wilde “The Importance of Being Earnest” - we looked at this wonderfully funny play this week; I would love to see it being acted out. It was great to see fellow class members reading it out in the Lecture. I loved Johns character of Lady Bracknell, the very fact that a man performed this part and it was of a lady that seems to be so matter-of-fact and stuck up made it all the more hilarious!
The actual presentation of Lady Bracknell in the play is one that she looks at the material side of the world and the image that people portray rather than emotion aspects of life. She sees things in a matter-of-fact way as well. I think that she is stuck in a world of conformity, but her character also shows us the aspect of upper class life that Wilde found amusing especially the superficiality.
I like the fact that Wilde turned things like life and emotions on its head and made them funny, I think the real factor here is that we find it funny cause in a way we are glad that it was not happening to us and that these are things that happen in life… I can’t say that I have to marry someone named Earnest just because of his name!
In contrast to Wilde we have Chekhov, whose characters are more empathetic, have more depth and are more closely based on human beings than that of Wildes’ characters.
A question that comes up here and is a feature of Wilde’s play is
“Are we the society that we can’t get into?”
My Comment:
I have to agree, it was excellent seeing our peers read out the play in the lecture. I think it made it even more exciting that we had a camera crew filming at the same time. I have to say, I have never seen our class quite so enthusiastic before, everyone was so keen to voice their opinions (i'm sure it wasn't just for the camera *wink wink*)
It was actually a really productive lecture. The play was of much interest to me and i think i enjoyed it more because it was people that i knew reading it aloud.
Lady Bracknell is a very intriguing character and it was even more hilarious because John who is a male actually read it out. Not only that, but he did a superb job at it to.
Lady Bracknell I think appeals to the audience because she is so straight forward and straight to the point with many things she says. You can see they way her character should be portrayed just by reading the play. To me that is what makes this play successful and is such a good text to study in literature because it really does symbolize expression through words.
I like when you say "I like the fact that Wilde turned things like life and emotions on its head and made them funny", it's so true and he does this so well. I think its important for us to take some humor from all life events, because otherwise life would be so serious ALL of the time. It's like that saying "one day you will look back on this and laugh", when it's happening to you initially you never think it's funny,but later in life you really do look back and think "what was i stressing about"...
Oh and by the way...i would personally never date someone with the name Earnest...what were people thinking? :)
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WEEK 8: The death of Ivan Ilych
[26 Apr 2007|10:16am]
I actually really enjoyed reading this short story and it's good that we discussed it in class as well because there are so many different opinions and views that you get in discussion, especially in my tutorial class (never a dull moment!!).
The story is interesting in the way it takes the audience on a journey through the character of Ivan Ilych, who lives a life of upper class expectation and high importance in society but for many reasons comes to a realization that this is not good enough for him and feels he wants more out of life. Sadly for his sake I think he comes to this realization too late and therefore cannot change his ways.
I think the character of Gerasim plays an important part in the story as he is a character who has not been granted the privileges the upper class have gotten and therefore appreciates life in a way they will never know. Although we see no real evidence of Gerasim encouraging Ivan Ilych through words, his actions and consistent selflessness towards Ivan Ilych and to others, influences Ivan Ilych to see the errors of which have occurred throughout his life and therefore want to change.
I find it very interesting how people can be so superficial and part themselves away from the rest of society so they can feel superior and important. I personally could not imagine ever being wealthy and not putting it to a greater use than shopping. It saddens and annoys me that there are people out there who are exactly like that and that this is not just a story, it is instead an indication of an aspect of society that was existent then...and more than likely even existent now.
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WEEK7: Charles Dickens (best LJ entry)
[20 Apr 2007|11:18am]
Charles Dickens: Hard Times
When i first started to read Hard Times, it was so hard to understand, but discussing it in the lecture was really useful because i was forever reading a small chapter and then putting the book away and forgetting about it later.
The book thoroughly highlights a strong message of how society (particularly upper class) ignores and forgets about the importance of the life. I think the Gradgrind family portrays this the most, even by their name "GRADGRIND", makes me think of grinding, like the machinery of which is used at the factory. The family seems to function like machinery as well, this indicates their separation from feeling human emotion as they have high expectation to always feel superior and never to show fear.
Coketown is known as a working town as were many towns throughout this period of time, but is this the way society is still portrayed? Technology has advanced extremely since then and machinery is much more advanced to use, but are we working just as hard? are we working even harder? New challenges arise society today, hours are not necessarily a solid 9am to 5pm day, night shifts are now included as working time. I mean even university students are starting classes at 8am and not finishing until 7pm at night..and that's just study.
So now instead of just upper class society forgetting about the true essence of life, all of society seems to have forgotten about the importance of life.
It's as though as technology advances, human existence decreases....