Throughout history many visionaries had glimpsed a world of new human culture, yet no way to create such a world had been achieved. Communism had become a tragedy. Sir Thomas More, author of Utopia, and James Redfield, author of The Celestine Prophecy, share many of the same ideas describing a new way of life. Written in 1516, More’s Utopia speaks about visions of a humanistic way of life. Redfield’s The Celestine Prophecy, written almost five centuries later in 1993, reinforces the ideas of the Renaissance. Can this spiritual common sense become the model of the next century?
Utopia achieves great universality by evincing great understanding and sympathy with all men (Surtz, vii). It presents the hope for far better things, sustained by the view that man may shape and mold himself in any chosen form, (viii) thus creating the best earthly state possible. Redfield’s text focuses on nine insights to a spiritual transformation. When all nine insights are understood, an exciting new image of human life, and a positive vision of how we can save this planet, it’s creatures and it’s beauty will be attained (Redfield). According to Redfield, upon reaching the new millennium, human culture will shift as we move toward a completely spiritual culture on earth. In order to understand where we are today, we must take ourselves back to the year 1000 and move through the millennium as we lived through it. Imagine yourself being alive in the year 1000, the Middle Ages. The first thing you must understand is that the reality of this time is being defined by the powerful churchmen of the Christian church (22). Because of their position, these men hold great influence over t…
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…it sound as though humans are in control. It is up to us to decide whether or not this is true. The process through which accepting teachings and winning salvation is shown throughout both texts. They show the exact process of becoming more spiritual and connected. We have always characterized this connection as something abstract- something an individual must do to avoid something bad happening. Whenever we doubt our own path, or lose sight of the process, we must remember that we are evolving toward, what the process of living is all about (Redfield 243). Reaching Heaven on Earth is why we are here. Now we know how it can be done.
Works Cited
More, Sir Thomas. Utopia: A New Translation, Backgrounds, Criticism. Ed. and trans. Robert M. Adams. Toronto: W. W. Norton
Comparing Macbeth, Hamlet, and Othello
Comparing Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Hamlet, and Othello
Shakespeare’s tragedies were extremely popular in Elizabethan times and today. A tragedy is described as “a sad, serious story or play, usually ending with the death of the hero. A disastrous, fatal or dreadful event.” By comparing the three plays, Macbeth, Hamlet and Othello it is possible to see how he has used techniques appropriate to tragedy and how he applied them to his plays. The opening of the play is significant because it sets the scene and the preceding atmosphere. When looking at the start of many of Shakespeare’s plays the audience generally discovers the protagonist by other characters. The audience also become aware of where the play is performed, together with important events contained in the play’s plot. In order to compose the openings of the plays it is necessary to examine the way in which Shakespeare uses setting, imagery, language, theme and structure. In doing this it will be possible to understand Shakespeare engages the audience attention in his opening scenes.
The setting of a play is very important. The setting creates the mood and can say a lot about the characters in that scene, following scenes, and often introduces characters we have not yet met. In Othello a dubious character Iago is introduced in a dark alley. Dark, shady pathways are synonymous with wrong doings and give the audience a hint that the character is bad. Shakespeare does this therefore, to create a picture of the character. He puts that character in a stereotypical environment. There is a degree of mystery surrounding the dark as it limits your senses. This helps accentuate the idea that Iago is a dubious character. In Macbeth the witches appear amidst thunder and li…
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… Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Macbeth. http://chemicool.com/Shakespeare/macbeth/full.html, no lin. Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Norton Critical ed. Ed. Cyrus Hoy. New York: Norton, 1992. Shakespeare, William. Othello. Clayton: Prestwick House Inc., 2005