Blog Meditation

I believe reviewing the topics of my blogs has been useful for generating insight into my approach to reading. Particularly, examining my three posts has disclosed the critical lenses I commonly read literature through. Generally, my blog posts are concerned with the depiction of human nature the author presents, which I most often digest through a feminist or Marxist framework. I suppose I have a tendency to approach literature with the mindset of a sociologist. This elucidates my feeling that literature is so valuable to humanity because it reflects and exposes the characters of the societies from which it was born. I also have a particular interest in the role of religion in a literary text, which I frequently interpret as being deleterious to people and society. Considering that Shakespeare seems to have a voracious appetite for presenting and exploring society, people, classes, religion, human nature and interactions in his plays, it has been especially gratifying “blogging for Shakespeare”.

My first post essentially explored how subcultures in Shakespeare’s Venice interact, as well as examining religion’s influence on those interactions. In addition, I investigated some of the religious hypocrisy in the Text. The post also attempts to probe into the mind of Shakespeare, and decipher the author’s intentions. I think it’s important to challenge the status of demigod that revered artists often receive, because it can make them dangerously immune from personal criticism. When I wrote the post, I thought it was imperative to forcibly suggest that Shakespeare may have very well been a racist, especially with the ambiguous depiction of Jews he creates in The Merchant of Venice, because I wanted to challenge his demigod status in the literary community. I feel like every artist (and other powerful people such as politicians) warrants this kind of scrutiny, especially established ones such as Shakespeare, who have been, and still are so influential on the world.

My second blog post reflects my interest in exploring and understanding human nature. In particular this post focuses on how people tend to act self-interestedly and make decisions unavoidably colored by their own personal biases. I think this concept particularly interested me because when we examine the presence of these human characteristics in rulers, we can see how dangerous they may become to the welfare of society in general.

My last post combines elements from my two previous posts. On one hand, I explore a religious topic once again, divine retribution, and wonder what Shakespeare might be saying about what he believed the nature of it to be, or if he even thought it existed at all. My post also investigates what character traits make a good ruler, and I argue that Harry, having a social education which spans across classes, is better suited for dealing with the challenges of international diplomacy. Last, this post is interested in familial relationships, particularly as it pertains to parental expectations of children and how this affects the relationship between parent and child. I think the post quietly argues that although parents often want their children to imitate their own character, such as King Henry desires of Harry, allowing the child to create his or her own identity may result in child who surpasses the character and abilities of his mother and/or father.
In general, my last and first posts were my favorites. I feel like the quality of my blog directly reflects how passionate I am about the topic I am exploring in the text.