The Canterbury Tales. The Miller's Prologue

The story "Miller's Prologue and Tale" and "The Broom Tree" can relate to one another because they both  share similarities and differences of one another. The similarities that they share in common are; that women in both stories cheat on their spouse and men want the women's attention.   Both stories consist of different situation on how men want the women's attention but yet they can be relatable.

The difference is that the men in "The Broom Tree" don't pay much attention to beauty; " "No, let us not worry too much about the rank and beauty. Let us be satisfied if a woman is not too demanding and eccentric, Its best to settle on a quiet, steady girl". Also  the men aren't helpful when it comes to someone being sick; "If I would settle down she would be very happy to keep company with me, sure that we would not part, I thought I would give her another lesson or two. I told her I had no intention of reforming, and made a great show of independence, she was sad and without warning she died". While in "Miller's Prologue and Tale" based on the beauty of the women, the men chase and will do anything to have the woman they like; Absolom come under Alisoun's window and sang"Dear lady, by your will, be kind to me" she told him that she shows no interest in him " I love another more then you, Get on" but yet he stays committed to get a kiss from Alisoun, and he isn't letting anything stop him from getting her. Also unlike the men in "The Broom Tree" the people are helpful when it comes to serious illness of a person; "The carpenter began to wonder greatly where Nicholas was and what might ail him lately, Go up he told his chore-boy, call and shout, knock with a stone, find what it's all about and let me know".

As you can see each story consists of a positive action or a negative but surely enough can they both be compared based on their similarities and differences.

Chapter 2 "The Broom Tree"

The women in  the stories: Broom Tree and The Tragedy of Sohrab and Rostam play similar roles in the society. In both stories the relationships happen secretly, and since the men posses majority of the power over the relationship they believe that its only necessarily to visit their wife when something important happens, or when they are in desperate need of help.  

For instance, In the story "The Tragedy of Sohrab and Rostam" the mother Tahmine was left home alone taking care of her child Sohrab while her husband was off to fighting wars. In the story "The Tragedy of Sohrab and Rostam" Tahmine lets Rostam know that she has a son but never gives out details about him that's because If Rostam find out what kind of brave and noble warrior Sohrab is he would take him away from her mother. This shows that Rostam would show interest only if it relates to him somehow.

While In Chapter 2, page 2193 of "The Broom Tree"  the men were hard to please and would wonder away for a really long time not seeing their admirer, and in the meantime the woman  would give birth to her child alone. The men would only come to visit their admirer when they feel like it and think it's necessary, if the woman seems untroubled then "I stayed away for rather a long time", but if they think that "The woman was desperately lonely and worried for the child she had borne" then "I went to see her again".

As mentioned before it either has to benefit the male somehow or make him feel that he is needed in a situation for him actually to take action to the situation. Both stories relate to each other while in " The Tragedy of Sohrab and Rostam" Tahmine keeps a secret about her sons powers, and in "The Broom Tree" the visit of the man depends on the woman if she is troubled or untroubled.

T'AO CH'IEN

The poetry by T'ao Ch'ien  is really sad. It's about a  fisherman who is on a journey to find happiness in life. I believe that not being able  to find happiness in life made the fisherman age faster, and once he notices that he is really helpless he then speaks of death. The struggle to find food and wine to fulfill his belly makes him think how life would be if he once died of hunger:"He is present here in the world today, then leaves abruptly, to return no more. No one marks there's one man less, not even friends and family think of him". He speaks of such things because he became separated from his relatives, and believes that because of that no one will remember him once he passes away.

He is dedicated to find happiness but all the government jobs make him feel unhappy, even though they provide him with food and wine. The more he looks for happiness, the faster he starts aging because his devotion is getting lower and lower after every day that goes by. Many people fear death and decide to work at places that don't make them happy, but  will keep them alive and provide food for the family, but the fisherman is different, he is an good example of an hero: he has strong dedication, faces consequences ,overcomes fear and death.

The Tragedy of Sohrab and Rostam

The two stories that can relate to one another by tragedy taking over at the end of the story are: "The tragedy of Sohrab and Rostam" and the "Gilgamesh". Most of the time when there is a hero in a play, it would end with some sort of tragic loss. While a hero can posses special powers, he will use them despite the consequences that he will face afterwards.    

In the story "The tragedy of Sohrab and Rostam", Rostam is the hero of the Persian army, and Sohrab grew up becoming the best fighter of Turan army. Rostam was the father of Sohrab, but unfortunately they never met face to face until the war between Iran and Turan started. Since everyone was scared to fight Rostam, they sent Sohrab to challenge him, but they never told him the challengers name. After a brutal battle Rostam feels like he might lose, and didn't want to ruin his reputation, so he stabbed Sohrab in the heart. He remembers giving Tahmina an bracelet to give to her son, and realizes that this is his son because he is wearing the same bracelet.  From then on, regret and pain stayed with him for rest of his

While in the epic story Gilgamesh, the Gods decide that Enkidu needs to die, because he and Gilgamesh have slain Humbaba the protector of the cedar forest, and the bull of heaven. For most of the part Enkidu was innocent, because Gilgamesh will abuse his un humanlike powers wherever he would go. Once Enkidu passes away Gilgamesh agonizingly cries after Enkidu ,willing to do anything to bring him to life.  He carves a stone with Enkidu's name on it, to show respect and the importance of him being in Gilgamesh's life.

As you can see it's great to be a hero, but when you abuse your powers and let your ego take over, tragic moments will occur.

Lysistrata

The character Antigone is much alike with Lysistrata, they both have a goal set ahead of them. They both would do anything to achieve their goal even if it takes to die. Lysistrata is much stronger then rest of the women i Athena and Sparta. She knows how much she is worth, and that she isn’t just some sort of toy that the guys could abuse. Lysistrata points out how the women were back in the time: “Go in bed with a god and then get rid of the baby-that sums us up”.Her life isn’t revolved around sex while everyone else s is. She wanted to stop the war so bad that she managed to talk the women into joining “Total Abstinence from Sex” and makes them take an Oath.

This relates to Antigone because she would do anything to bury her brother, no matter of the consequences facing her. Antigone shows no fear of death:” I will bury him myself, and even if I die in the act, that death will be a glory. Burring her brother is the right thing to do;it shows respect and care, and that’s stronger for her then death. The person truly needs to posses no fear inside themselves and recognize the consequences in order to be as Antigone and Lysistrata. Whats so interesting is that both of these plays took place in a different time, but yet posses people that share “common ideas”.

Antigone

In the Greek play Antigone, the play ends with a great tragedy by the death of Antigone. The name Antigone means, “anti,” opposed to or in place of a mother, which is based from the root of “gone.” She is the daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta; and Ismene is the sister of Antigone. Throughout the play I see Antigone as a grand hero. Surely people wouldn’t agree with her actions and personality during that period of time since everyone else follows the law, therefore they cannot understand Antigones actions. My opinion is that because of Antigone's mother’s death, Antigone starts acting like her own mother. She starts taking actions which her mother would make; she starts replacing her own mother. One of the actions that Antigone takes is that she decides to cover the body of her brother with dirt, even though she knows the consequences that will follow in the future. In the beginning, the king of Thebes Creon ordered that because Polynices was a traitor, he cannot be buried, “No, he must be left unburied, his corpse carrion for the birds and dogs to tear, an obscenity for the citizens to behold!" (664).

Any mother would cover her son, even if he had committed the worst crimes in the world. Her son’s wounds are her own, therefore it's her duty to give him a proper burial because it's the right and moral thing to do. That's exactly how Antigone reacted to the situation and just followed the actions that her mother would have taken. Antigone is described as a very low tempered and angry person, but wouldn't anyone feel the same way when their own brother dies and no one dares to give him his burial but instead they let him rotten on the dirt and let the bugs finish of rest of the flesh leaving nothing but bones? Antigone is fearless, "Die I must, I've known it all my life, how could I keep from knowing? Even without your death sentence rings in my ears" (670). I define a hero as a person who tries to do the right thing in a society, even if the person fails to do so. They have their goal set and even if they don't accomplish their goal, they will still be a hero for trying.

Boat of Cypress

The specific poetry, which I read, takes place on the river with a female on a Cypress boat drifting down the river. Her life is very dark, with her heart being restless as though in torment and with her heart being troubled. Feeling lonely with herself on the boat she drinks wine to ease her mind, and roams down the stream on the Cypress boat. Her sadness makes her think more of the things she doesn’t have; “Yes, I do have brothers, but brothers will not be my stay. I went and told them of my grief and met only with their rage.” She wants her brothers back desperately by telling them how she feels every day when waking up, but her cold hearted brothers don’t take in her pain and leave her with sorrow. Most brothers would be there to help their sister in situations like this, but in this case they don't.

My guess is that she is forced into marriage; therefore they put her on the boat to drift to her next future husband. I also believe that because of her age, she was forced into getting married more quickly than what our society today views as normal. I believe that the woman was placed into the perfect marriage. Because of this, I believe that her brothers didn't help her because they didn't want to interfere with the traditional customs. Forced marriage and arranged marriage are different, because in forced they have to get married if she likes it or not, but in arranged marriage her parents choose who they want her to marry. In a way, the woman still suffers with both type of marriages, however in the arranged marriage, the parents believe that they have the best say and the best opinion of who she should marry. In the forced, her personality, her beliefs, and her attitude don’t influence her parents or anyone else. Because of this, the woman on the boat starts wishing to fly away from the forced life, but flying is not an option in reality but only in imagination.