Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics books VIII & IX

There are three kinds of friendship. The first is friendship based on utility, where both people derive some benefit from each other. The second is friendship based on pleasure, where both people are drawn to the other’s wit, good looks, or other pleasant qualities. The third is friendship based on goodness, where both people admire the other’s goodness and help one another strive for goodness. The first two kinds of friendship are accidental because these friends are motivated by their own utility and pleasure, not by anything essential to the nature of the friend. Both of these friendships are short-lived because one’s needs and pleasures are apt to change over time. Goodness is an enduring quality, so friendships based on goodness tend to be long lasting. This friendship encompasses the other two, as good friends are useful to one another and please one another. The song Crash and Burn by Savage Garden can be compared to the first type of friendship where both people derive some benefit from each other. It talks about two people who are lonely and use each other for company. "Let me be the one you call/If you jump I'll break your fall/Lift you up and fly away with you into the night/If you need to fall apart/I can mend a broken heart/If you need to crash then crash and burn/You're not alone" Aristotle says "Between friends there is no need for justice, but people who are just still need the quality of friendship; and indeed friendliness is considered to be justice in the fullest sense. It is not only a necessary thing but a splendid one."

"Crash And Burn"

When you feel all alone
And the world has turned its back on you
Give me a moment please to tame your wild wild heart
I know you feel like the walls are closing in on you
It's hard to find relief and people can be so cold
When darkness is upon your door and you feel like you can't take anymore

Let me be the one you call
If you jump I'll break your fall
Lift you up and fly away with you into the night
If you need to fall apart
I can mend a broken heart
If you need to crash then crash and burn
You're not alone

When you feel all alone
And a loyal friend is hard to find
You're caught in a one way street
With the monsters in your head
When hopes and dreams are far away and
You feel like you can't face the day

Let me be the one you call
If you jump I'll break your fall
Lift you up and fly away with you into the night
If you need to fall apart
I can mend a broken heart
If you need to crash then crash and burn
You're not alone

'Cause there has always been heartache and pain
And when it's over you'll breathe again
You'll breath again

When you feel all alone
And the world has turned its back on you
Give me a moment please
To tame your wild wild heart

Let me be the one you call
If you jump I'll break your fall
Lift you up and fly away with you into the night
If you need to fall apart
I can mend a broken heart
If you need to crash then crash and burn
You're not alone

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjGSXGCi4Fc

Socrates Apology by Plato

The Apology is Plato's version of the speech given by Socrates as he unsuccessfully defended himself against the charges of "corrupting the young, and by not believing in the gods in whom the city believes". He did believe in the gods but questioned their abilities. “I am that gadfly which God has attached to the state, and all day long …arousing and persuading and reproaching…You will not easily find another like me.” A gadfly is a person who upsets the status quo by posing upsetting or novel questions, or just being an irritant. The term has been used to describe many politicians and social commentators. It describes Socrates'' relationship of uncomfortable goad to the Athenian political scene, which he compared to a slow and dimwitted horse. During his defense when on trial for his life, Socrates, according to Plato's writings, pointed out that dissent, like the gadfly, was easy to swat, but the cost to society of silencing individuals who were irritating could be very high. "If you kill a man like me, you will injure yourselves more than you will injure me."  Socrates interpreted his life's mission as proof that true wisdom belongs to the gods and that human wisdom and achievements have little or no value. Socrates states clearly that a lawful superior, whether human or divine, should be obeyed. If there is a clash between the two, however, divine authority should take precedence. "Gentlemen, I am your grateful and devoted servant, but I owe a greater obedience to God than to you; and as long as I draw breath and have my faculties I shall never stop practicing philosophy". Since Socrates has interpreted the Delphic Oracle as singling him out to spur his fellow Athenians to a greater awareness of moral goodness and truth, he will not stop questioning and arguing should the people forbid him to do so. He is not afraid of death, because he is more concerned about whether he is acting rightly or wrongly. Socrates argues that those who fear death are showing their ignorance: death may be a great blessing, but many people fear it as an evil when they cannot possibly know it to be such. He will not break down in tears, nor will he produce his three sons in the hope of swaying the judges. He does not fear death; nor will he act in a way contrary to his religious duty.

The Canterbury Tales, The Pardoner's Prologue and Tale/Chaucer's Retraction

Pardoner: 1) one who pardons. 2) (during the middle ages) an ecclesiastical official authorized to sell indulgences.
Indulgence: the act or practice of indulging; gratification of desire.
Relic: a surviving memorial of something past.


The Pardoner's Tale is an exemplum, a moral anecdote, brief or extended, real or fictitious, used to illustrate a point. The tale is about three men, who after a night of drinking, decide to kill Death for taking their friend and all the good people away. An old man tells them that he has asked Death to take him but has failed. He then says they can find Death at the foot of an oak tree. When the men arrive at the tree, they find a large number of gold coins and forget about their quest to kill Death. They decide that they would sleep at the oak tree over night, so they can take the coins in the morning. The three men draw straws to see who among them should fetch wine and food while the other two wait under the tree. The youngest of the three men drew the shortest straw. The older two plot to stab the other one when he returns, while the one who leaves for the town plots to lace the wine with rat poison. When he returns with the food and drink, the other two kill him and drink the poisoned wine, dying painful deaths. All three have found death under the oak tree.
Radix malorum est cupiditas means covetousness is the root of evil. In the prologue, the Pardoner acknowledges that he is full of sin "My mind is fixed on what I stand to win and not at all upon correcting sin. I do not care, when they are in the grave, if souls go berry-picking that I could save. . .For by this text I can denounce, indeed, the very vice I practice, which is greed." He tells the host and the other people that he is greedy, doesn't care about the people he pardons, and sells fake relics. At the end of his tale, the Pardoner tells the host and the people to come forward with their pennies and he will pardon them. The Pardoner mentioned "a draughte of corny strong ale", which could mean he is drunk. If drunk, it explains why he tells about his faulty sin and in the end asks everyone to come be pardon; everyone already knows that the pardons would be lies and he would keep the money out of greed.
Jeweled Cross and Pigs bones, relics of the Pardoner.

Chaucer's Retraction is the final section of The Canterbury Tales. It is written as an apology, where Geoffrey Chaucer asks for forgiveness for the vulgar parts of this and other works, and seeks absolution for his sins. It is not clear whether these are sincere declarations of remorse on Chaucer's part, a continuation of the theme of penitence from the Parson's Tale, or simply a way to advertise the rest of his works. It is also unclear if the retraction was an integral part of the Canterbury Tales or if it was the equivalent of a death bed confession which became attached to this, his most popular work.

The Merchants Tale

Fabliaux is a short metrical tale, usually ribald and humorous, popular in medieval France. The Merchants Tale and Lyin' Eyes are the same. Both talk about a young woman with an older man. Both talk about a young woman who ends up having an affair with a young man. In the Merchants Tale, May tells her husband, January, that she did to get his eye sight back. This story is a didactic. It instructs older men to be aware of young brides, for they may go astray.

Imperatrix/Introduction to Geoffrey Chaucer

According to Aelfric, the three medieval estates are the laboratores (those who labor for our living), the oratores (those who plead for our peace with God), and the bellatores (those who battle to protect our towns and defend our land against an invading army).
In the Frame tale, Chaucer doesn't describe the stories but describes the people who tells their tales. The frame tale is an estates satire because it's a genre that satirizes the corruption that happens within the three medieval social estates (clergy, nobility, and peasantry). However, the general prologue provides an ideal member of each estate as a model with which the others can be compared and contrasted, giving examples of their faults and virtues.

Bisclavret/Metamorphoses

Pictures from top to bottom: Werewolf, Racer fans, The Ramones, and Billy Idol
I find it odd that a woman wrote about a treacherous woman in medieval times. Usually a woman was to look pretty and have some knowledge of the arts, other didn't write about the betrayal of their own gender. I do like Bisclavret, it is a different kind of fairytale of the time and was written by a woman.

Hubris is excessive pride. We, as Americans, take create pride in many things. I think people are more accepting of hubris today because more people are showing hubris. Hubris could be shown for basketball teams, such as the Racers. The city of Murray, Murray State University, and the surrounding areas are showing a great amount of hubris for the basketball team hy wearing t-shirts, face painting, putting up banners and flags, and copying a mainstream pop song for the Murray State Anthem. Another example of hubris is Punk and punk music. Punks take a lot of pride in their music, style, lifestyle, attitude, and every day living.

A Midsummer Night's Dream/ Act 4 and 5

Different variations of Puck (Robin Goodfellow)

The biggest gender role being overturned is by Hermia. She refuses to marry the man her father has chosen for her and plans to run away with her lover, Lysander. Helena also overturned her gender role; when she took off after Demetrius and pleaded for him to love her. The Fairy Queen, Titania, wouldn’t give up the indian boy when asked by the Fairy King, Oberon. In the end, Hippolyta, complains of the play and says to her new husband that his imagination must be bad. Puck explains the title on page 171-172, Act 5, scene 1. “. . .That you have but slumbered here Whilest these vision did appear. And this weak and idle-theme, No more yielding but a dream, Gentles, do not reprehend.”

Medelssohn's wedding March for the play

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDr8Q7lDW8o