Romeo and Juliet at the Utah Shakespeare Festival

I chose the story of Romeo and Juliet to see as a live play at a Shakespeare festival because the story was the most gripping to me. This for me brought drama to a new level in the classic romance. It would be extremely interesting to see how the actors display the scenes where Romeo and Juliet fall in love and see if they make it feel real like movies can in present times. What would be even more interesting is to see how they bring to life the heartbreak and sadness of the suicides of both Romeo and Juliet. I chose to see this play specifically at the Utah Shakespeare festival because it claims to pay attention to detail and I wouldn't want to see it with any new added elements, what I find intriguing is the history and originality of the play. It also says that it will play after "Shakespeare in Love" which shows how Shakespeare may have written the play in the first place which again shows that it will try to remain authentic.

https://www.bard.org/plays/2017/romeo-and-juliet

The Bait by Donne

After the first few lines this poem has created a scene for me of a relationship between two people where they are moving away and having a fresh start on life. He talks of golden sands, clear brooks, silken lines and silver hooks which I believe is his idea of a sort of paradise that he wants to share with someone. Then he refers to the ocean as a live bath and talks about the fish swimming to this unknown partner he is speaking too, saying they will choose that person instead of him. This is where I'm going to interpret this as the fish having a deeper mean or even representing an emotion such as happiness. 
The lines "By sun or moon, thou dark'nest both, And if myself have leave to see, 

I need not their light having thee." This to me sounds like if he would need to leave that place or was to be consumed by darkness in this case being distress, depression, or even pain, then he would not want the person he's referring too, too give up or sacrifice any happiness or "light" they have, for him. The last few stanzas threw me off completely, but I think maybe  "For thee, thou need'st no such deceit, For thou thyself art thine own bait: That fish, that is not catch'd thereby, Alas, is wiser far than I." could mean that the person attracts happiness on their own, being their own "bait". Then he goes on to say the fish is wiser than him and that could mean happiness alludes him. So in all I think it's about a man proposing a perfect place to this other person, and would be willing to do the most for this person as well if things were to ever not be as great as expected.  And yes this was interesting to try and decode because I went stanza by stanza and that made it more challenging instead of reading the poem as a whole and then trying to interpret. That's because the story and scenery literally changed completely after each stanza but I was still trying to correlate as good as possible to my initial theory.

The Garden of Earthly Delights

I will be focusing on one of Bosch's most famous works, The Garden of Earthly Delights, and specifically on the second panel. This panel seems to show a sort of utopia where humans and nature have collaborated and are working as one. You see scenes of the sharing of food by animals and humans, and also scenes of animals allowing humans to use them as transportation and even shelter. This is depicted by the humans on horseback and one inside of a giant clam shell.

But then when you zoom in on the pond area of the picture it starts to show signs of things that lead to the collapse of a society. You can see three malnourished and discolored bodies and two others looking afraid of them near the edge of the pond, this could represent a famine starting to take place. That could be due to the greed of humanity overusing resources. Another small detail is that you can see a man with a woman that is devilish black color sitting by the side of the lake. I perceive this as Bosch's interpretation of evil this all black luminous figure. The symbolism I see behind it is that she appears to be pregnant and that could mean the birth of evil. When you tie the two together a famine mixed with greed and evil will eventually go on to represent the last panel of the piece showing death and destruction everywhere. 

The Characteristics of a Successful Leader

Machiavelli believed that there were 5 prominent things that defined a good leader. The first of which involved being feared by your people, and to him this was beneficial because if a leader was feared then there was less chance of revolt against him. The next was to be supported by the people as well, because without the people you are essentially powerless. Machiavelli's belief that virtue was also necessary builds on the previous point, seeing that to earn the support of the people you must be liked. The fourth trait or rather decision, is to use your own arms in battles, because hired mercenaries would likely flee before a soldier that is willing to die for his king. The final and most important thing a leader must have is intelligence because without it he could not manage all the previous necessary traits and decisions to be the perfect leader. Someone that fits this description would be Adolf Hitler. The fear factor was there because his troops knew of how mercy less he was on those who opposed him or didn't fit his agenda. But he was seen as virtuous and a great leader by the public when he would rally. He would use the people of his country in battle and they would follow all his commands even through all the unmoral orders. Lastly he was also an intelligent man that rose to power without being a very known or privileged person.

I agree with a few of Machiavelli's opinions but I would add a few different things. First of all I think that being loved would be a better approach in today's society. I think more people would be willing to lay down their lives for you and I think it would lower the amount of revolt in the first place if the people liked their leader. I do however agree completely with the approval of the people and virtue to earn it so those would be my second and third traits to have. Having a military background is also something that should be required for a leader to lead. This is because if you haven't been in a position to put your life on the line for your country, then it would be strange to be in charge of people that are actually out there doing exactly that. For the last and most important trait I agree with Machiavelli again because intelligence is what makes the other traits possible and easily balanced. Someone I think that had these traits was George Washington. He was elected unanimously to be president which showed the strength of his character and how he was liked by the people. This was done by his virtue. He served and even lead battles in the military showing his dedication to the country. Lastly he was intelligent not only when it came to leading the country but also military intelligence for battle tactics.