O Romeo, Romeo wherefore art thou....Orlando?

I have a really, really bad feeling about this story. I feel like I am stuck in some sort of Shakespearean tragedy and that is not a wonderful feeling. I am getting the idea that this story does not have a happy ending. If the introduction is anything to go by, “she lacks the power to save Oroonoko and might even be implicated in his downfall”, and the fact that the poem that comes before the actual story does not end in the favor of the guy at all, this story is not going to end well (Behn 2179). On that note, I am, weirdly, enjoying the story. I think it is really engaging and hard to put down.

Oroonoko reminds me of two characters from Shakespeare, hence the title. The fact that people are trying to keep him and his love from one another reminds me a lot of Romeo. That being said, the way he reacts to being separated and the way he acts when he falls in love reminds me a lot of Orlando. He seems to be the perfect combination of these two characters. Unfortunately, I am thinking he is more Romeo than Orlando. This may be why I have such a bad feeling about the end of story, but I am hoping that I am wrong.

In regards to the poem at the beginning of the story, was I the only one who was initially confused why the story started off with that? The entire introduction focused on the author and this awesome character named Oroonoko, but then we get this poem and I couldn’t help but think “Okay, well, all this guy wants is to get into her pants. What is so novel about that?” I mean, it made more sense as I got into the story, but it set a really weird tone for the story. I was pleased to see the actual tale was a lot more romantic than that, but I was really questioning Virginia Woolf’s assessment that is noted in the introduction.

As I was reading, I was excited to come across a quote by Virginia Woolf. I am pretty ashamed to admit, but before this semester I had no clue who this woman was. Yeah, I had heard of her, but I did not realize how popular her books were. I am taking a class on her and Forster. The fact that she complimented this author’s work at the beginning made me really excited to read this story. Woolf’s novels focus a lot on how voiceless women were in her time period. For her to say this author “earned them the right to speak their minds” gave me a really good impression of this story right at the start (Behn 2178). While I am impressed with the story, don't get me wrong, I was actually expecting a stronger female character. Having Woolf at the beginning gave me that impression, but the female character in this story seems kind of weak. At least, so far she does. That being said, I do not think Woolf is wrong, it is a very interesting story.  

Prologue vs. Tale

Reading the Wife of Bath's Prologue was a rather arduous task. I was not expecting it to be so long! I opened up the book thinking "Oh, it is a prologue, 3-4 pages max, no big deal". Then I actually started reading. By the fifth page I was like "huh, a little longer than expected, but hopefully not too much longer". Then, by the eighth page, I was flipping through the book to figure out when exactly the actual tale began. About twenty pages later, I found the headline indicating that the prologue was finished and the tale was starting. I was kind of like:

It was not that the prologue was bad. On the contrary, I actually really enjoyed reading it, but reading Middle English can be incredibly time consuming and it took awhile. Naturally, when it came time to read the actual tale, I was expecting something way longer than the prologue. I was actually quite confused when I discovered that it was much shorter. Cue another cute cat meme:

I do not know, I guess it is because I am used to the prologue being a lot shorter than the actual story, but Chaucer kind of threw me for a loop there. Looking back on it now, I am actually quite glad that he did it. I really enjoy the Wife of Bath. I think she is a very unique character and has a lot of interesting things to say. By listening to her prologue, which was completely about her life, I feel like I got to know her a lot better. I really wish my high school let us read her tale. I always knew, even then, that I liked her, but I enjoy her even more now after hearing more about her life.

I know there is some debate over Chaucer's opinion of the Wife of Bath. I think, given that he dedicated so much time to telling her story, that he almost would of had to. I do not really write creatively, but when I had to for school I could never write about a character I did not like. Chaucer spent so much time making sure the audience really knows this character. Granted, it could have been because he enjoyed poking fun at her, but why put so much effort into a character that people could not learn anything from? Furthermore, given that he made her prologue (the portion that was about her life) so much longer than her tale, I think it puts a lot more emphasis on her personal story. I think Chaucer really wanted people to pay attention to her personal story. While the tale was nice, I really did enjoy the prologue so much more. Given how much shorter it is, the tale seems almost like a side note, not the actually point. I don't know, this is just my opinion.

Heroes or Zeros?

I was never really into superheroes as a child. Yeah, I saw "Hercules" a few times growing up, but it was not a movie that was I obsessed with or anything. In fact, it was one of my least favorite Disney movies. As a kid, I could not really pinpoint why I did not like Hercules very much. Now that I am older, and especially since I just read "Beowulf", I am kind of starting to see why I had a problem with it. These two guys, Hercules and Beowulf, their characters are so....unattainable.
Hercules made it look so easy to go from the scrawny little guy to this buff Greek demigod. Beowulf swam for seven days in armor without taking a breathe. That is crazy! I can understand why people like the larger-than-life figures. Beowulf was loved by his people and his story has lasted hundreds of years. Hercules, well, this song can explain how famous he got better than I can!

I think one of the biggest issues that I have with these two characters is their arrogance. Hercules thinks that just because he has beaten off all of these villains and he has his own action figure that he deserves a place on Mount Olympus. Beowulf, while he does not think he is a god, he is very proud. He tries to slay a dragon by himself in his very old age. Now what about that sounds like a good idea?
I think the one time I was really able to sympathize with Beowulf was when he was losing and Wiglaf had to come to his aide. That had to be a really big reality check for him because he was able to get by on his own for most of his life. It was such a human moment for Beowulf. Granted, it came really late in the story, but it was still a very interesting moment. For me, Beowulf was one of those stories that I enjoyed reading, but I have a hard time pinpointing a character that I actually like. It is kind of conflicting to feel this way!
Now, I am not completely a cynic when it comes to superheroes. While I do think that many of them tend to have overinflated egos, I think there is a lot of good that comes out of them. Not the good deeds that they go around doing in the comic books, I'm talking about the good things that happen as a result of them in everyday life. Stories like "Beowulf" and "Hercules" can provide people with an escape, all stories like this can. There are a lot of crappy things that happen in the world, the news makes a point to remind us every day. Superheroes serve as a reminder that there are good people and it can be very comforting. Look at that guy who went around to hospitals dressed as Batman in order to cheer up sick children. Stuff like that makes me really happy that we have superheroes in the world. Like Phil says to Hercules "To be a true hero, kid, is a dying art/ Like painting a masterpiece, it's a work of heart". Anyway, these are just my thoughts.