fairies and indians

Well, go thy way; thou shalt not from this grove,

Till I torment thee for this injury.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream. II.i. 47-8

The epigraph from chapter four is taken from A Midsummer Night’s Dream where Oberon and Titania are arguing over the Indian boy Titania is taking care of since the child’s mother died while giving birth. Oberon is jealous of the affection Titania show’s the boy and tries to insist that she hand him over to Oberon so that he can use him as one of his servants. Titania denies Oberon his requests so he vows to get even with her. Oberon is furious and instructs Puck to put a potion on Tatiana’s eyelids that will have her fall in love with some sort of hideous creature. Oberon plans to humiliate Titania and says he will not give Titania the antidote for the potion until she hands over the Indian boy. There are some underlying issues regarding jealousy between Oberon and Titania that adds to this feud.

Chapter four in The last of the Mohicans is the point where Magua pretends to be taking the group to Fort William Henry via a short cut with underlying intentions to get the group off track. He then acts as tough he has lost his way and they all believe to be lost in the woods. Hawkeye comes upon them and is suspicious of Magua, as he believes it is unnatural for an Indian to be lost in the woods. Hawkeye then learns that Magua is a Huron and all his suspicions are confirmed, as he believes that the Huron are an untrustworthy tribe. They concoct a plan to capture Magua but their plain is foiled when Magua becomes suspicious and takes off into the woods.

The rage that Oberon is feeling when saying “thou shalt not from this grove” mirrors the rage of Hawkeye when he realizes the dirty tricks that Magua is up too. I believe the use of the epigraph in this chapter is not necessarily to replicate the motives that Oberon has but instead to use this chapter to set the tone for upcoming battles in the future.

The Cave

The threat of the wilderness and what the wilderness hides plays a huge role in

Edgar Huntly or, Memoirs of a Sleep-Walker. One of the parts I found most interesting was at the beginning of chapter 17. Edgar seemed to finally feel as though luck was on his side after his terrifying experience in the cave in chapter 16.

Thus I was delivered form my prison and restored to the enjoyment of the air and the light. (164)

In any other direction, I might have involved myself in an inextricable maze, and rendered my destruction sure: but now what remained to place me in absolute security? (164)

These previous passages allow the reader to feel that Edgar has some time to get himself sorted out. He appears to have found a safe cavern where he can possibly get rest and nourishment. But in the next few sentences with little description to illuminate what has come to light we understand that all of this has changed. Edgar realizes there are Indians in the cave with him.

Had some mysterious power snatched me from the earth, and cast me, in a moment, into the heart of the wilderness? (164)

The realization that he is in a cave with the natives immediately fills Edgar with dread and fear. He now feels as though instead of narrowly escaping an inextricable maze he has ended up buried in the center of one. For Edgar the Indians represent the vast terrifying wilderness. He now feels as though he is back in a nightmare with nothing tangible to ensure his safety. He appears to be completely lost in time and space.

Was I still in the vicinity of my paternal habitation or was I thousands of miles distant? (164)

By writing with little emphasis of the description of the cave Brown is able to quickly change our and Edgars feelings of the cave within a few sentences. When Edgar originally finds this cave it is somewhat of a relief to know he has somewhere safe to hide. But as quickly as that relief came it is gone with the revealing of the Indians sleeping within it. I don’t necessarily think he does this on purpose it seems to just flow with the inconsistency of his writing.

If an author more orientated toward the picturesque wrote these passages they may have put more description in the appearance of the cave. Possibly describing the walls and perhaps some images found on the walls of the cave.  I think the quick change from security to despair would have been lost in this passage had it been written by an author more orientated toward the picturesque.

Terror and Horror. What is the dif?

Watching the movie "Copycat" was probably the single most terrifying moment of my life. I was fifteen years old at the time and it was movie night with my girlfriends. We all curled up on the single bed my mother had turned into a couch and settled in with blankets, popcorn, ect. From the moment the first serial killer corners Dr. Helen Hudson in the washroom a cold sweat covered my body. A paralyzing fear swept over me and all I could do to make it through the film was to cover myself completely in a blanket with only a small eye and nose hole. My body actually felt paralyzed and it took the only sense I had left to just remember to breath. It was that feeling you have when your dreaming and you need to move because a train or car or something is going to run over you but you cannot for some reason move any of your limbs. The intense fear the movie created for me was so real. I could not move my body at all even go to the washroom. I just sat there frozen, sweating and hardly able to speak besides the odd barely audible squeak. The fact that Dr. Helen Hudson was an agoraphobic probably did not help matters. I have never watched a scary movie since that night. The terror i feel when watching them is just not worth it for me.

 I know for some people this movie was probably comical at best. This is why the distinction between terror and horror can be subjective. Terror is the anticipation of something "bad or scary or gruesome" happening and horror is  actually witnessing or experiencing  this "bad, scary or gruesome"thing. A horror film for example which is all blood and guts is just that for some people for myself however it is absolutely terrifying. Horror to me is driving or walking around ring round and seeing the blood and guts of some poor bunny that has now become road kill. Terror is said to precede horror. That being said there is terror without horror. Which to me is probably worse in the case of a book or film because just never knowing is the worst. In real life if the horror never comes that is just fine with me. I guess you can have horror without terror but that seems more tricky.  A lack of build up to a horrific occurrence could be a case of horror minus the terror. The example of the bunny cold be horror without terror... unless there was a witness to the build up of the roadkill.

this is me

Hi my name is Noelle and this is my first ever blog. I am kind of excited about it. I actually read a lot of fashion blogs and have often thought about starting my own blog but have just never got started. So I thought I would start off by posting some things that have interested me lately but do not in any way relate to our class.