Chris
Lane
Understanding
Literature
Dr.
Juniper Ellis
Identity
In
william Shakespeare’s play twelfth night, he paints us a narrative
of a hectic love triangle between a Duke, a woman dressed as a man,
and the beautiful Olivia. In the first half of the play, Shakespeare
describes how the Duke is in love with Olivia so he sends his squire
to tell her the affection he feels for her. Unknown to the Duke, the
squire he sends is really Viola, a woman who has lost everything and
is is truly in love with the Duke. Because Olivia is in love with
the Duke, she puts all of her emotion into convincing Olivia to be
with the him, and accidentally makes Olivia fall for her. After a
crazy turn of events and a few duels here and there, the truth comes
out and Viola explains to the Duke why she did what she did. The
Duke understands and admits that he loves her as well, allowing the
story to come to a somewhat happy ending.
The
theme of identity is one that we talked about in Zen meditation
earlier in the semester, and it relates very well with Shakespeare’s
story. In meditation we explored who we truly are and that some
people don’t know how to express themselves so they act like
someone they are not. Although the characters in Twelfth night know
who they really are, they cant truly see what they are feeling and it
takes a dramatic turn of events to make it clear to them.
My
favorite part about class this year has been going to the zen
meditation sessions, and learning how to relax my mind. I plan on
going to the sessions for the rest of the year because I don’t know
how I will feel not having my hour of relaxation every monday!
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