A Proving Prince

Prince Harry (not the one living today) from Henry IV Part 1 by William Shakespeare is under-appreciated by his father and the court.  He is seen as a son who is not ready to take the throne, nor does he take his responsibilities seriously.  He has to decide whether or not he wants to 'step up to the plate' or let Hotspur take his place.

The inner struggle that Prince Hal has throughout the play directly effects the relationship he has with his father.  When Hal decides he will prove his father wrong, he chooses to overcome his father's perception of him, and ultimately his character prevails.  During his soliloquy, Hal states he will "redeem time" and "throw off this loose character," revealing his plan to show his father the man he can be and the leader he can be.  He chooses to overcome his father's opinion of him, no matter how hard it is.

The conflict between Hal and his father validates the need to overcome struggles and hardship in order to become the people we are meant to be.  Hal and his father push each other to their fullest potential, ultimately leading to greatness for them both.

Forgiveness and Family

When Beck Tull leaves his family in Baltimore, Maryland, to go pursue a different life, his family is left in the lurch.  They did not choose for him to leave, but now they must decide how to overcome this struggle and move on with their lives.

In the book, Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler, the Tull family seems to be faced with adversity at every turn in their life.  First, their father and main bread winner leaves them.  Then their mother has an anger problem which she takes out on her children.  The oldest son steals his younger brother's fiance, and moves away from Baltimore.  The only daughter is married and divorced three times, and the middle son struggles to keep his restaurant afloat.  Finally, the family hardly ever sees each other, making it hard to stay a tight knit unit.  Their lives seem to revolve around struggle.

For most of the book, the struggles of the characters define who they are.  Their well being and life status orbits around how they deal with certain hardships.  When the oldest son, Cody, marries his little brother's fiance, Ruth, he realizes he must move away from his family because of his actions.  He was jealous of his brother, Ezra, and his relationship, and made it his duty to steal Ruth away from Ezra.  Ezra chose to forgive Cody though.  He didn't let it bother him, even though it did.  He let Ruth go, and moved on with his life.  Cody let his struggle define him and his life, whereas Ezra let the struggle go and chose to keep moving forward.

The dysfunctional Tull family is a fragile unit, always being ripped apart at the seams and then patched up slowly and haphazardly.  They come across many hard things in their lives, and they all deal with them differently.  In the end though, they choose one another.  Beck Tull comes back into their lives, if only for a brief moment, to offer reconciliation and calmness.  The children make it through their life with some bumps and bruises, but mostly in one piece.  They overcome their different struggles, and choose forgiveness over resentment.  They become the family they always hoped to be.

A Different Ending to Romeo and Juliet?

Throughout my reading of Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, I couldn't help but notice certain similarities between it and Romeo and Juliet.  They are both about people who are in love with each other, but can't be together due to family issues.  The main difference in Wuthering Heights though is how Catherine and Young Cathy deal with their problems opposed to Romeo and Juliet.

In Romeo and Juliet, they both end up killing themselves because they can't bear to live without the other one.  In Wuthering Heights though, Catherine chooses someone else over her love, Heathcliff, in order to protect him, even though it makes her unhappy.  She decides not to be self-centered, but instead shows her love for Heathcliff by her sacrifice.  During chapter nine, Catherine decides to marry Edgar, "'Nelly, I see now, you think me a selfish wretch; but did it never strike you that if Heathcliff and I married, we should be beggars? whereas, if I marry Linton, I can aid Heathcliff to rise, and place him out of my brother's power?'"  Catherine knows that she won't be marrying for love of Edgar Linton, but instead she will be saving Heathcliff and acting out of her love towards him.  Catherine knows if she were to marry Heathcliff, it would only bring harm to them both.  She is faced with a problem, and she chooses to overcome it; instead of thinking of what she wants, she decides to do what is best for both herself and her love.

The same is true later on in the story when Young Cathy decides to marry Linton Heathcliff in order to save both of them from the consequences they would face with Linton's father, Heathcliff.  Young Cathy doesn't necessarily love Linton, and thinks him to be a bit whiny, but she knows his father will hurt him if they do not marry.  She sacrifices herself to make him happy even though it could cause her great pain and struggle.  In chapter twenty-seven, Cathy visits Linton and he pleads with her, "'Oh! darling Catherine! you mustn't go, and leave me, after all.  You must obey my father, you must!'"  Cathy does not want to stay but she knows that Linton will be in harm's way if she leaves, and because she cares about him, she can't do that to him.  She marries him because she feels like she can't do anything else.

Romeo and Juliet were star-crossed lovers who killed themselves because they would rather die than live without the other person.  Both Catherine and Young Cathy choose to overcome their problems in a different and healthier way by sacrificing themselves for their loves.  When they are faced with adversity, they choose compassion and create a different ending to one of time's oldest love stories.

Oedipus and my Big Question

My Big Question simply states: "How do people recover when faced with adversity?"  After reading Oedipus, I realized that my question does not necessarily fit with the reading, seeing as Oedipus does not necessarily recover once he is faced with difficulty, but instead I came up with a new question to apply to Oedipus Rex.  How does Oedipus respond to the challenges that he faces and what does this say about him?

Oedipus wants to avenge the king's death, but he does not know who killed the king because he did not live in the kingdom when the king was killed. Oedipus goes on this journey to find the killer, when really he is the killer the whole time, he is just unaware of the fact. When Oedipus finds out that he is the one who murdered the king, he also learns that the oracle that was told about his life did in fact come true.  Oedipus is faced with a situation where he feels uncomfortable and does not know what to do.  He wants to avenge the king's death, but he does want to take his own life.  He is faced with a trial and he does not know how to overcome and recover from it.  Instead of looking at things in a logical manner, Oedipus decides that he should not be allowed to see, because he deserves to be punished for the wrongful things he did.  Instead of choosing to overcome his hardships, Oedipus succumbs to the idea of losing his eyesight because he believes he will never be able to learn from what he has done wrong, and must therefore be reminded by it constantly.  Oedipus chooses to do the opposite of what my question and thinking imply.  He does not want to move on from what he has done wrong, but instead wants to wallow in his punishment.  Essentially, he chooses to be unhappy for the rest of his life because that is the only way he knows how to let go of his problems.  Through this difficulty and hardship, Oedipus becomes a man of little determination, who only wants to gauge out his eyes in order to pay for the crimes he has already committed, rather than to try to overcome his challenges.  He took the easy, less complicated way of getting rid of the pain, instead of pushing himself to become a better version of himself.  Oedipus chose to go against my Big Question and not to persevere when the hard things get in the way, making his life easier in the long run, but more painful down the road.

What Rory Taught Me

"Fore!"  the caddy yelled out, as Rory McIlroy teed off on the final hole of his very first Masters Tournament.  Rory had been ahead since the first round, and was in the lead by four strokes at the end of the third round the day prior.  The final day, Sunday, had been a different story, though.  He had started off well, but not as good as the days before.  He was still in the lead after the front nine holes, but the nerves had gotten to him, and soon he was behind the leader by ten strokes, with only the last hole to go.  There was no way he was going to be able to regain the lead.  He was so close to perfection, and yet he had let it slip through his hands.  That weekend, the entire world knew who Rory McIlroy was and watched his mental breakdown unfold on the golf course in Augusta.  Many believed that was the end of Rory McIlroy.  They thought he was a 'choker' and he could not finish well when the pressure was on.  But today was a different day.  It had been two months since that fateful day in Georgia, and now Rory was back in the same position.  He had the lead going into the final round at another major golf tournament, the U.S. Open.  He knew that today would have a different outcome though.  He was not going to let the pressure get to him, but instead play the game the way he knew he could.

Rory McIlroy at the 2011 Masters

Every year on my birthday my dad would talk about how he was watching Tiger Woods win his first Masters tournament while I was being born.  Growing up, I thought, hmm, that's interesting, but I don't really care.  I was never into golf, nor did I care about who won the Masters the year I was born.  It didn't seem all that important to me.  Golf was something I watched at my grandparent's house when I wanted to take a nap.  Not a competitive sport that people could get into.  On my birthday in 2011 though, my opinion on golf changed.  I watched Rory McIlroy play his final round of the Masters, and watched him fail miserably.  He caught my attention, and for some reason, I couldn't turn away.  Even after the tournament was over, I continued to follow Rory's career and how he was doing throughout the season.  When it was time for the U.S. Open, I was scared that he would lose confidence again and lose this tournament as badly as he had lost the Masters.  Rory proved me wrong that day.  He ended up blowing away his competition with a lead of eight strokes over second place.  Not only was I hooked on golf from that day forward, but I also saw how people recover when they are faced with adversity.  Rory decided that he was not going to give up that day on the golf course, even though he knew most people thought he would fail.  He chose to overcome his problem, rather than let it control him and his thoughts.  Rory was able to work through his situation, and he became a better golfer because of it.  What Rory learned is not only applicable to golf, but also to life.  It's not about the difficulties that life hands us, but instead how we choose to overcome them.  And that defines who we are as people.

Rory McIlroy at the 2011 US Open