Telling My Humanities Story

Humanities 310

School of Athens
Raphael
1509

    Thinking back to my first week of this Humanities class, my initial thought was that I probably wouldn't enjoy the class or the class might be too overwhelming for me because I was quite unsure what humanities were. But I knew that my goals were to learn something that I may have never heard before and find new interesting topics that can help me build onto my interests which I was able to achieve. Now it is the end of the semester, I realized that I was able to achieve those goals. I felt that I learned so much more in this class than in my other classes, despite the fact that this class was asynchronous. I was unsure what humanities were and now I have a clearer definition that humanities are the study of human experience and events that can influence better acts out of humans. Humanism is something that is continuing as we are living throughout the past, present, and future and it builds a connection with one and another. 

    What interested me the most in this class was reading Shakespeare and writing blogs. I've read Shakespeare once before and didn't quite understand it before, but after reading Hamlet, I have a general gist of how Shakespeare writes and the type of story that he usually plays out. I never thought I'll find myself reading Hamlet, however, I ended finding it very interesting. Writing blogs was probably one of my favorite assignments to do because it was a place for me to research topics and study them myself. Also, blogs gave me the opportunity to write freely about topics as if there's no right or wrong answers. I've learned different ways of how artists composed their artwork and its significance on it. It was interesting how artists were able to be influenced by their era which further influences other artists through the Renaissance. Something that I already knew were some of the artists' names like Michelangelo, da Vinci, etc. These names were always familiar to me from high school. I knew about Queen Elizabeth I before, but I'm glad that I had the opportunity to dig deeper into her life through blogging. 

Books I've read for this semester class:

de, B. P. A. C., & Sahlins, B. (1994). The Marriage of Figaro. I.R. Dee.

        -  A modern translation of a comic play written by Pierre Augustin de Beaumarchais in 1784. A total of five acts, it focuses on the relationship between Figaro and Suzanne who are workers for the Count and Countess. However, the Count has an eye for Suzanne though he is married to the Countess and Suzanne will be soon married to Figaro. Figaro finds out about the Count and wants to prevent the Count from furthering his interest in Suzanne. It is full of comedic plots that made me interested in every character in this play. 

Lamb, Sidney. " Shakespeare's Hamlet". Cliffscomplete. 

        - Shakespeare's works have always been difficult for me to understand, however, this Cliffsnote version of Hamlet helped me understand the overall story and plot of Hamlet. A tragic and twisted story of Hamlet whose father has just passed away and his own uncle has taken over the kingdom and married his mother, the Queen. Hamlet approaches a ghost who is the spirit of his father, the old King, and it tells him to avenge his death by killing his uncle. Hamlet seeks revenge, however, his uncle, the new King, fears for Hamlet's realization and also plots to kill Hamlet. It's a story that has a tragic end in a happy way but also has a romantic trope. 

Machiavelli, Niccolo. The Prince. Third Norton Critical Edition, 2019

        - Niccolo Machiavelli suggests for new rulers and princes the right ways to be an effective ruler and how they should be perceived, specifically to be feared by. Machiavelli makes his points about rulers should focus on their imaging and how it can be misleading to be a generous prince. He argues on the differences between virtu and fortuna princes and their effects. The Prince is worth reading especially for leaders in high ranks to understand how to handle their reputation and make themselves more likable for their audiences. 

A modern opera of The Marriage of Figaro if you're interested in watching

Thank you for a great semester!