My Experience With The Regency Era

After experiencing the life of a 2nd class citizen of England during the Regency Era, I now understand what a tough time these people have even when they look like they are happy.  Being Lady Crowley, I had to make sure to spend time with the Duchess since she is my good friend, then I have to spend the appropriate time with my husband Sir Andrew Crowley, I also have to make sure to keep an eye on Mr. Darcy and Miss DeBergh since I suspect they are up to something and on top of all of that I have to remember my etiquette.  Yes, it seems like fun and games (mainly because we are playing cards and dancing) but it is also very hard to keep up with everything that I am supposed to do.  It also pains me to know that women are not aloud to show how smart they are since that is apparently the men’s job.  All I can say is I am glad that I was born when I was because if I lived in a time like this I guarantee I would go insane since I would be stuck cooking, cleaning and looking pretty for my husband.  I mean, is it really too much to ask for a bit of recognition of the women’s side?  We are just as strong as men and although they treat women right by protecting them whether it be from a saving a women’s dress from dragging through a puddle or protecting her honor, they still suppress the women.  Luckily now, women have almost-equal rights as men, but this suppression that went on during the Regency Era is not one to overlook.  In fact, the only woman that seemed to have even an ounce of power in her relationship was the Duchess and that was simply for the fact that she is the Duchess.  However, something that strikes me as odd is the fact that women are not really supposed to be showing how smart they are or having the upper hand in most cases, but Emma seems to defy these rules.  Emma is cunning and sly even to men, and wants to show her power to people such as Mr. Knightley.  Oh faith, she is such a rebel!  However, I would not describe Emma as having bad form since she has proved herself to many of the men and although she attempts to outsmart them, she does it in such a way that they do not even notice.  Emma can be a symbol to all of us women that although she may live in a suppressed era, that does not mean that we have to be suppressed ourselves.  We can break out of the social barrier just as Emma did.  Women will learn from Emma for years to come and maybe one day, possibly around the 21st century, we will live a lifestyle of equality where we do not have to prove ourselves to the men.  Zooks! this is our England, too!

The Motif of Eyes

I am going to be honest; I do like Emma much more now that I have a deeper understanding of the novel.  Now that I have a firmer grasp on who the characters truly are, I feel as if they are much more relatable.  However, I do not understand Emma’s pull toward Harriet.  In fact, Harriet’s eye seem to be the main focal point of her character.  The narrator says, “those soft blue eyes and all those natural graces, should not be wasted on the inferior society of Highbury, and its connections” (20).  After this mention of Harriet’s eyes, I began circling every time I saw the word “eyes.”  I noticed this word does come up many times after Harriet has entered the novel.  “‘The expression of the eye is most correct’” (41), “‘If I had set my heart on Mr. Elton’s marrying Harriet, it would have been very kind to open my eyes’” (58), “she cast her eye over it” (64), “May its approval beam in that soft eye” (64), “soft is the very word for her eye” (64), and “You soft eyes shall choose their own time for beaming” (68) are but a few examples of this word used everywhere.  It seems almost as if every time Harriet is mentioned, her eyes are described first.  The word “soft” often accompanies the eye.  Since the eyes are the windows to the soul, this could mean that Harriet’s soul is in fact soft.  Soft can also be described as moldable.  As we have seen throughout the novel so far Harriet follows everything Emma tells her and lets Emma manipulate her as a sculptor manipulates moldable clay.  She is young and impressionable so that could be the reason why her eyes, and therefore her soul, is soft.  The irony of the line, “those soft blue eyes and all those natural graces” is the fact that the softness of Harriet’s eyes are what have led her to be almost completely unnatural.  Harriet without the influence of Emma could be described as her pure and natural form, but now that Emma has changed her and manipulated her into being the person Emma wants to see, Harriet could now be described as unnatural since she is technically no longer herself.  I might be crazy for following the descriptions of eyes that seem to be everywhere, or I might still be in Hamlet-mode since we only just finished the play, but I believe there is something very significant about Harriet’s eyes that we have not found yet.  I feel as though maybe with closer analyzation I will find some deeper meaning that the softness referring to her easily-change soul and personality, but for now I have sadly found nothing other than that.  There is a possibility that Part II will continue with this motif until I finally complete this puzzle or crack this code, at least I hope so since this word is will be playing on my mind until I figure out why it is everywhere in the novel.

My Rant About Emma

The beginning of Jane Austen’s novel Emma honestly does not seem too gripping to me.  My honest truth is that I love Hamlet since he was such a verbal contortionist that we can analyze all of his plays in infinite ways and there are no true answers as to what the true intention of the play was originally.  However, Emma so far seems very different from any typical Shakespeare play.  Yes, they both tend to have slow parts, but this novel has more slow than interesting parts.  This may simply be due to the fact that I have never read a Jane Austen novel before and maybe I am trying to understand her writing style but have not yet fully grasped it, but to me it seems quite slow.  I may just be completely wrong since we have not yet begun to analyze or discuss Emma yet, but this form of writing does not quite seem as if Shakespeare would come close to it.  He linked so many words together to form separate meanings which then lead to completely different meanings and so on and so forth, but all Jane Austen seems to do is put me to sleep.  I understand that I must read this novel knowing that is was written in the 1800s and it will seem almost nothing like the movie “Clueless,” which is loosely based on this novel, even though I completely adore it.  I believe my major problem with this novel is that fact that we have switched gears from an action-packed, fast-paced play written by a writer that I respect completely to a slow-moving, (I hate to say it but) dull novel written by a writer that I have heard of but have never read any of her works.  Do I feel bad for bad-mouthing this book even though we have only just begun with Jane Austen?  Yes.  Do I feel as if Austen is possibly rolling over in her grave (or twisting around as dust particles; sorry, I felt the need for a Hamlet reference there) at my anger over a book she intended for people of the 1800s?  Yes.  However, do I want to read another page of this?  I can’t say I do.  I might just be acting over dramatic right now since I have never dealt with her writing style before, but this is how I honestly feel.  I do believe, however, that once we start analyzing and discussing it in class I will feel much more comfortable and happy with this novel.  I do believe I will grow to like Jane Austen, since the same thing happened with Grendel since I hated it initially but now it is one of my favorite novels that we have read not only throughout the school year, but also throughout my entire high school career.  I need to give this novel a chance of discussion in class and then, and only then, do I feel as if I will appreciate it more than I do now.

The So-Called "Ghost" In Hamlet

      Upon reading even more Hamlet, I have come to the conclusion that maybe the ghost of the dead King is not actually there.  This may sound strange since we have not discussed it all that much in class, however after reading the closet scene between Hamlet and Gertrude, it is something I believe in.

      When a son’s father dies, the son immediately wants to place the blame on someone.  This is a coping mechanism used by most people.  Often in life do people need to know who to place the blame on in order to have someone to focus their anger and aggression at.  In an effort to place the blame on someone, I believe Hamlet subconsciously knew there was no true evidence against Claudius.  However, Hamlet had to have something to prove to himself that Claudius is the perpetrator.  In an effort to convince himself, he conjured up a ghost in his mind.  Yes, this sounds like a stretch, but then again does a ghost ordering his son to murder the new king sound plausible? I did not think so either.

      Yes, Barnardo and Horatio were there to show Hamlet the ghost, but maybe they were playing along with Hamlet’s grief.  After all, they have been claimed to flatter and suck-up to the King, so why not the prince, too?  They tell Hamlet that the have “found” the “ghost” of the king in order to play on Hamlet’s heartstrings and possible even to mess with Hamlet since they are his friends, too.

      Then it comes to Gertrude and the conversation she has with Hamlet in the closet.  When Hamlet sees the ghost, he begins to talk to it, however Gertrude sees nothing there which furthers her belief that Hamlet is insane.  But Hamlet is not actually insane, he is just mourning and this is the way his brain is coping.  A mother does not need to flatter or play with her son’s mind; she is meant to be in his life to tell him the cold hard facts.  So, when Hamlet begins to speak to something that is apparently not there, she speaks up.  Barnardo and Horatio might have not done this for the sole purpose of staying on Hamlet’s good side and continuing to be flatterers.  Gertrude states that there is no one in the room and she does not know who Hamlet is speaking to, but the idea of a ghost that has come for revenge on its murderer is too far engrained in Hamlet’s mind to believe that it was all fake now.  If he realized that this whole idea of his father’s ghost was not real, then this part of his life would essentially be ruined; Hamlet would merely be the insane man that was sent of to England.  It is inconceivable to think that something fake could go this far, so Hamlet continues on subconsciously knowing that his ruined reputation, ruined love life and ruined relationship with his mother were all for nothing.