From the Caitlin's of the World

Got to digress for a moment. Thought this was interesting. I have received my first encouragement on my epic project. Caitlin sent along some encouragement and expressed her affinity for GBU. This is somehow important. My eldest daughter is named Caitlin. She is a sophomore in college in Washington DC. I would suspect that she still does not quite understand her old man and my epic task would not register in her present reality, busy as she is. So somehow it is a pleasant thought to have A Caitlin, be the first well wisher. Thank you again, Caitlin.

Some definitions are in order?

Hey, how you doing. Haven’t seen you around for awhile. Actually, I have never met you since you don’t yet exist. Perhaps someday.

But, again, I can not wait until you show up. If we all waited for an audience then nothing would ever be attempted.

You would not know from my writing or the direction of this blog that I have a minor in western civilization studies. Yep, that’s right. Graduated from a good American college with a degree in social work of all things and a minor in Western Civilization. Good thing because that is where I have had to spend most of my time. At the college I went to in the mid to late nineteen seventies we were all required to graduate with this minor. I suppose, being that it had a religious affiliation, that they wanted to keep us from becoming pagan’s or keep us from the fires of hell, Dante’s Hell perhaps. I must say, while almost completely wasted on me at the time, it probably has led to whatever interest that I have in this subject or morality plays or anything else in art, theatre or even some music. Perhaps it was not a waste after all. I will let you be the judge of that.

So, as I was saying, you would think that I would appear better educated when it comes to this English literature thing or just in general. But so much of education is wasted on the young and I should get some points for caring at this point. Thanks, I appreciate it.
So, as I was reading more about medieval morality plays, the authors began to talk about all these fancy words. Since I am going to produce my spaghetti western morality play, I should at least try to understand how it is structured and how or why the story was created. So I was reading and came across these definitions that are apparently oh so important with a morality play. So I will just post them. If you know all about his stuff, please bear with me or even better educate me further.
Laurent

Allegory is a form of extended metaphor, in which objects, persons, and actions in a narrative, are equated with the meanings that lie outside the narrative itself. The underlying meaning has moral, social, religious, or political significance, and characters are often personifications of abstract ideas as charity, greed, or envy.Thus an allegory is a story with two meanings, a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning.

Metaphor is a comparison of two unlike things using the verb "to be". An example:He is a pig. Thou art sunshine. A metaphor is another kind of comparison. It is actually a condensed simile, for it omits "as" or "like." A metaphor establishes a relationship at once; it leaves more to the imagination. It is a shortcut to the meaning; it sets two unlike things side by side and makes us see the likeness between them.

Personification is giving human qualities to animals or objects. An example: a smiling moon, a jovial sun

Symbolism is using an object or action that means something more than its literal meaning. The practice of representing things by means of symbols or of attributing symbolic meanings or significance to objects, events, or relationships. An example: the bird of night (owl is a symbol of death)

Anybody out there? Probably not, but of course that should not deter me. I will just go along like someone other than me cares and perhaps someday someone will.

I found this picture on a site and of course it is a gruesome image. But then again morality could be couldn’t it? This site gave us a starting point for our discussion. To define what a morality play really is. So >it is form of medieval drama that developed in the late 14th century and flourished through the 16th century>. Good enough, that is clear. O.K. >The characters in the morality were personifications of good and evil usually involved in a struggle for a man's soul>. The most famous of which is of course The Everyman. (reference: Infoplease)

We will get to some meatier stuff latter but a simple definition helps us began to think about how a morality play might relate to our other subject, the spaghetti western, The Good, The Bad and of course the Ugly, Tuco.

Now, the profound thoughts…The three characters all contain bad and at least two of the characters represent some good. Bingo. This is not going to be too hard. But that is enough for now. Must contemplate this a bit more.

Laurent