Goodlife Mojo

We are surrounded with people who can read our palms, study our stars, use a parrot or a tarrot... whatever and millions are being spent to understand what the future holds for us. Am I saying this is wrong or right? Thats not the issue, though I have had animated discussions with my friends on the futility of such an exercise. For long I look at this entire subject from a very religious eye glasses and condemned it with the belief that God holds the future. Off late I am trying hard to look at things very differently, as a human being with no eye glasses at all. After all when you are trying to talk to your friend its best to be like them, understand them and deal the way they want to be dealt. I have removed these glasses now and I have plunged myself into having a normal vision. The best source of my understanding comes from reading. And Shakespeare influenced the climate of modern thought. Macbeth gives us an excellent way to handle superstition. I am not using the word sup...

Magic 1: Puck is introduced, epitomizing the very nature of magic in the play. He is a fairy with special powers to transform his voice and appearance so that he may "lurk in gossip bowls" Act 2, Scene 1, line 47 and cause mischief. His conversation with the fairy is very magical and fantastical and sets the scene for the rest of the play. Magic 2: Titania's story of the origin of the Indian boy is very fantastical in nature. She talks about magical events in nature and immortality. Immortality is a magical characteristic that only the fairies possess. Magic 3: Oberon tells Puck of the magic flower juice that when placed on sleeping eyelids, makes that person fall in love with the first creature it sees upon awakening. The flower is magical because it was hit by one of Cupid's arrows and now contains this fantastical love-transforming juice. Magic 4: Oberon places the magic juice on Titania's eyes to play a trick on her. Here, magic is used as a tool for him to ge...

Love's Foolishness 1: The mockery made of love in this play is evident from the first scene until the last. The play opens as a wedding is supposed to take place, the realization of a holy union of bliss. However, that union is interrupted by a plea from outside. The very fact that the symbol of love, a wedding, begins the play, but never truly takes place sets a precedent for the illustration of the foolishness of love for the rest of the play. Love's Foolishness 2: Young Helena is unabashedly in love with Demetrius, a man who not only despises her, but is in love with her close friend, Hermia. The roles seem to reverse in this "couple," for Helena is the person who pursues an unwieldy Demetrius, while he chases another. This is a game of cat and mouse. These characters have turned love into a game. Love's Foolishness 3: This time, love is mocked in a play within a play. The commoners (and comic relief of this Shakespearean play) decide to put on the lamentable t...

Jealousy 1: This first hint of jealousy is seen as Egeus claims to Theseus that Demetrius has stolen Hermia's obedience and love. He is slightly jealous of the new man in his daughter's life. This father/daughter jealousy is of course natural, but is taken to extremes is the play. It is also just one type of jealousy explored in the five acts. Jealousy 2: Helena is deeply in love with Demetrius, who is in love with Hermia. Therefore, Helena is jealous of Hermia's beauty and she claims that she too is as beautiful. She wonders what Hermia has that she doesn't that makes men follow her everywhere. So, out of jealousy, Helena tells Demetrius that Hermia and Lysander plan to escape to the woods so that he will follow them and she will follow him. Act II, Scenes 1-2: "Night, A wood near Athens" & "Another part of the wood" Jealousy 3: Oberon and Titania bicker over many issues, including their supposed "other" loves and the possession of the...