Revision #3

1996. The British novelist Fay Weldon offers this observation about happy endings. "The writers, I do believe, who get the best and most lasting response from their readers are the writers who offer a happy ending through moral development. By a happy ending, I do not mean mere fortunate events -- a marriage or a last minute rescue from death -- but some kind of spiritual reassessment or moral reconciliation, even with the self, even at death." Choose a novel or play that has the kind of ending Weldon describes. In a well-written essay, identify the "spiritual reassessment or moral reconciliation" evident in the ending and explain its significance in the work as a whole.

Most people would think of a man marrying a woman he does not love, and allowing the love of his life to leave, as a very sad ending. This is what occurs in Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence, a story that centers on a man named Newland Archer living in upper class New York society during the 1870s. While this might not be a classic fairytale ending, it can nonetheless be deemed happy. This is due to the moral growth that Newland goes through, and due to the fact that the event highlights the brighter aspects of New York society.

 During the story, Newland is not the most honest person. He has a conflict of interests—he’s married to a proper woman named Mary, yet he is not in love with her. On the other hand, he is extremely attracted to her cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska (who  also happens to be married). At one point he lies to Mary about having to go on a business trip, and instead goes to Boston to see Ellen. After a while, she agrees to begin an affair with Newland. However, she then decides that New York isn’t for her and makes plans to return to Europe. By this point, Newland has lost all interest in maintaining any form of a relationship with Mary, and informs Ellen that he too is leaving New York to come with her to Europe.

                  

Despite this intention, Newland ultimately decides to stay in New York and remain married to Mary. A huge factor in his decision is his discovery that Mary is pregnant. Obviously, him remaining in New York is not the desired ending. He does not love Mary, even hates her at times. Plus, he forces himself to let go of Ellen, the love of his life, for good. However, it shows a great amount of maturity and moral development. By remaining with Mary, Newland is finally acknowledging that his actions have consequences, and that he has a duty to support his wife and unborn child. After all, nobody forced him to marry Mary. In other words, he goes from a boy who blames the world for his circumstances, to a man who recognizes and takes responsibility for his own actions. It takes until the end of the book, but he finally achieves this moral reconciliation of what is right, and what is wrong.

                  

This moral reconciliation is significant because it finally shows the better aspects of the New York society. Throughout The Age of Innocence, the reader becomes disillusioned with the society just as Newland does. It's boring, strict, and outdated. There are too many unnecessary rules, and it is this society that pressures Newland to marry Mary. However, this same society helps lead Newland to the right choice at the end of the book. In fact, it was Mary (the epitome of upper-class New York society) who got Ellen to return to Europe to remove the temptation. Most of the women in this society knew about these actions, and approved of them. Manipulative, yes, but Newland was manipulative too when he was trying to have an affair with Ellen. Removing this temptation helped lead Newland to his decision to end the affair once and for all. New York society helped lead him to this decision. While the values might be old and the crowd stuffy, the book finally revealed that not all their values need change.

                  

Over all, Newland is a dishonest man, unwilling to take responsibility for most of Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence. While he chooses to let go of the woman he truly loves in the end, the moral growth and reconciliation he finally achieves makes the ending happier. This conclusion is significant to the work as a whole because it highlights the better side of New York Society, after the author has disillusioned readers from it from the very first page. So, the ending might not be a storybook, idealistic ending, but it is happy nonetheless.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Analysis

Author Tom Stoppard
Setting Some unknown wilderness, Elsinore, the pirate ship mentioned in Hamlet
(Main) Characters
-Rosencrantz: the stupid one of the friendship duo, easily confused but overall happier than Guil
-Guildenstern: the smarter one, worries about their situation, obsessed with fate versus free will
-The Player: witty, oversees a group of actors/prostitutes, seems to know all
Plot
At the beginning of the play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are in some unknown location. Rosencrantz begins tossing a coin, and every time it lands on heads. Rosencrantz is content with this monotonous action, but Guildenstern is not. He struggles with the idea of chance and probability, with why those rules don't seem to work here. He then tries to figure out why him and Guil are travelling, but the only thing he can remember is that they were sent for by a messenger. This is around when the Tragedians appear. They offer sexual performances and sex. The Player and Guil start flipping a coin, and Guil wins the bet. Eventually the Tragedians begin to leave, and Ros reveals that the most recently-flipped one was actually tails (the first and only time!).

The scene changes, and Ros and Guil are now in Elsinore. Claudius explains why they were sent for, and Ros and Guil start trying to decide how to figure out what's wrong with Hamlet. Eventually, they decide that it's probably Hamlet's situation (the whole uncle-killing-father-and-marrying-mother mess), but even then they can't decide just how crazy he is. Hamlet announces that he'll be putting on a play, and the Tragedians enter. They parallel Claudius's murder and his marriage to Gertrude. Claudius leaves, but the play continues, paralleling events to come in Hamlet and even foreshadowing Ros and Guil's own deaths. Guildenstern and the Player start arguing over whether death can be represented effectively in acting. Guildenstern thinks that it can't be.

The following day, Ros and Guil are informed that Hamlet has killed Polonius. Hamlet is eventually caught and brought before Claudius, at which point Hamlet is forced to board a boat with Ros and Guil.

On the boat, Ros and Guil try to make sense of what's going on. They're confused as to whether they're alive or dead, where they're going, and what they'll do should they ever arrive. Ros and Guil read the letter that orders Hamlet's death, and they're unsure as to what to do. Later that night, Hamlet swaps their letter with the one he wrote, ordering the death of Ros and Guil. When Ros and Guil awake, they begin hearing music and suddenly the Tragedians appear. Then the pirates appear. Yay. There's a fiasco, and when everything is said and done Hamlet and the pirates are gone. Ros and Guil tell the Player about the letter. They show it to him, only for the Player to read that Ros and Guil are now the ones to be killed (gasp!). Guildenstern, in an attempt to be master of his own fate, takes a knife and stabs the Player. The Player pretends to die, and then pops up, revealing the "knife" was fake. Ros becomes scared of his looming death, and Guil laments on their inability to act.

The play ends with the final part of Hamlet, dead bodies and all.
Style
-no narrative voice (since it's a play) but very, VERY detailed stage directions
-lots of word play
-this play is extremely intertwined with Shakespeare's Hamlet
Quotes
"Words. Words. They're all we have to go on."
I obviously couldn't write this post without including this quote. As for importance, this statement comes across as extremely ironic and almost sad in a sense. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have so many problems communicating and getting their ideas across. Words and language constantly fails them. The fact that words are all they have to go on, and even then these words aren't reliable, is kind of sad.
"Audiences know what to expect, and that is all they are prepared to believe in."
First off, this quote is an example of how Rosencrantz and Guildenstern constantly played at breaking the fourth wall. This quote was also very thought-provoking for me. I think it's almost a comment on Shakespeare's Hamlet. While reading or watching the play, everyone knows it's a tragedy. Everyone knows there's a blood bath in the end, and that Hamlet does not survive. Everything is expected.
Theme
Fate versus free-will/chance. This theme comes up again and again throughout Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. The most obvious example of this is the coin-tossing. It really bothers Guildenstern that the coin always lands on heads, because that means that the rules don't apply and that it is therefore fate determining events. The theme's also developed when the Player has his tragedians act out the events in Hamlet, and then the deaths of Ros and Guil that later occur. Since the Player clearly knows how the events will play out, this suggest that Ros and Guil's actions are not their own, and that therefore their deaths are brought on by fate.

Response to Course Material 3/10

First off, I feel like I got nowhere with R&G. I read it, I annotated it, and...I didn't figure out any of the "deeper meaning" crap that we're supposed to. Some of the word play was fun I guess, but that's about all I got out of it.

Anyway, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern is now behind us, and we are now moving on to in-class essays and Ceremony. Ceremony so far has at least been interesting. Long, but interesting. I actually like how scattered the events are. I've never read a book structured in such an extreme way. So far, I've noticed a lot of jabs at the way white people treated Native Americans. They talk about how the Native Americans liked being soldiers during the war because they felt like the white people accepted them, but now that the war is over the white people revert to treating them like crap so they develop drinking problems in an attempt to relive the good 'ole days. Wow. That casts a lot of blame on white people. The other thing that I've noticed is how much of an emphasis there is on weather (like rain and the drought). That's definitely something to keep track of.