Author: newtonian19

View’s of prostitution as I have experienced throughout my life have generally been negative. Society likes to shine a negative image on prostitution because of its deviation from cultural and ethical norms. Mrs. Warrens Profession, a play written in the nineteenth century by Bernard Shaw concentrates on redefining the public image of prostitution.

 

The central argument in Mrs. Warrens Profession is that prostitution should be considered a reasonable avenue of making a living. In Act 1, Mrs. Warren says “ Do you think we were such fools? As to let other people trade in our good looks by employing us as shop girls, or barmaids, or waitresses. When we could trade them in ourselves and get all the profit, instead of starvation wages. ” while trying to appeal to her distraught daughter. Vivie held strong against her mothers’ argument, on the other hand The Lexicon Universal Encyclopedia actually was congruent with the views held on prostitution in Mrs. Warrens Profession. The Lexicon Universal Encyclopedia claims that “The conditions of vocational and familial life for lower class women were sufficiently appalling [and that] prostitutes working conditions seemed to be less physically damaging than either work in the factories or the exhaustion brought about by repeated childbearing.”.  Hearing this material extended out into my personal views and doubts regarding prostitution. In order to understand the concept further I will break it down into a moral and physical test of whether prostitution’s benefits outweigh its negative attributes.

In order to keep with the theme of Mrs. Warrens Profession, I believe it is appropriate to consider the beneficial aspects of prostitution first. Starting with the claim that prostitution is a “Victimless crime” (Lexicon), meaning that in a normal transaction both parties walk away unharmed and happy with the result. While this may be true in some instances, it can be said that the welfare of the prostitutes is not taken into account when it comes to personal and physical conflicts. Sure, the prostitute may walk away with a large wad of cash in her purse but to what avail? The Lexicon Universal Encyclopedia claims that “The aging process tends to be accelerated in the prostitute by irregular sleeping and eating habits” and also that “venereal infections and the aftereffects of abortions may produce pelvic disorders and speed physical deterioration.”. So, If you want to believe that prostitution is a victimless crime you have to deny the repercussions on the employees. Another and more compelling argument regarding prostitution is that it’s illegality has proven to drive the profession underground and co-mingle it with crime. I believe that this claim holds significant standing in contemporary society, yet not as much for Mrs. Warrens Profession. The play was written during the nineteenth century during a time where brothels and such were considered more of a social norm, seeking out one was neither challenging and rarely had social implications for the customer. The prostitute on the other hand has to combat the familial values that society wishes to portray if they chose to succumb to the profession. This is the battle that the author is attacking. By portraying prostitution as a profession Shaw is attempting to reeducate the public and change views that have been set in society for centuries.

Where’s the resolution? The argument has deep roots for both parties, but where can we draw the line for acceptable subsistence and the dehumanizing effects that prostitution presents? A carpenter does not have to worry about being condemned by society, nor does any other respectable profession.  During the nineteenth century and even in contemporary society prostitution has proven to be combated by many a person with outspoken moral values. Time I would say has been the ultimate answer for this dilemma. Take a look at the laws against prostitution in many countries and you will see that they have significant standing in the polls. The reason for their popularity is because men and women see that prostitution is not a good job opportunity. The side-effects could result in death, addiction, and depression; who in their right mind would sail into an opportunity such as that. Vivie understood this, and tried to press it on her mother, Mrs. Warren on the other hand rightly explained that one does not simply become a prostitute, but that it is driven by a need to survive in a time and place where surviving for many was not easy. Thus it can be said that prostitution under certain conditions can benefit people in a society, but that these conditions oftentimes lead people to other extravagances as well, such as thievery and other crime.  Ultimately what you should take away from this is an understanding of the rights of humans, a women has the right to do what she wishes to her body short of suicide. Like the carpenter employing his skills to build a cabinet, the prostitute takes advantage of her skills in order to make a living. Mrs. Warren has every right in the world to pursue her profession, the heart of the problem is that sexist views of the time kept women from pursuing professional jobs or educational opportunities.

 

 

Works Cited:

 

Schlesinger, Benjamin. ”prostitution.” The Lexicon Universal Encyclopedia. 1984 ed.

The main focus of this blog was science and technology of the victorian era. While it can sometimes be difficult to connect pieces of literature and art, I feel that we did a good job. These are our best works in no particular order.

http://newtonian19.wordpress.com/2012/09/10/the-beauty-of-the-beautiful/

This piece really showed our ability to connect the scientific world with the world of art and literature. It discusses Didero’s views on what people place value on, and why they place value on it.

http://newtonian19.wordpress.com/2012/09/26/the-ruined-maid-analysis/

This piece does a great job analyzing the Ruined Maid, and especially focusing on the new focus of the women as objects rather then as people. It goes into great detail about how this change in view has ruined the girls.

http://newtonian19.wordpress.com/2012/09/21/the-morality-to-despise/

In The Morality to Despise our author discusses how one’s up bringing can have powerful effects on how we perceive others both positively and negatively. She clearly goes into how Mr. Bellingham’s relationship with Ruth is constantly darkened by the morality of his up bringing.

http://newtonian19.wordpress.com/2012/09/18/resistance-to-change-in-science-and-culture/

Our final piece is about The resistance to change. In this piece our author discusses the fear people have when things around them change, and how that can cause them to strike out against the change, and those who change.

It is well known by now that swimming in the Thames during the mid eighteenth century was a delusional and suicidal idea. Why? Because of the pollution, During this time their was a massive increase of people wishing to live and work in the city. With increased residency in the cities, came an increase in waste, this turned out to be a pitfall for everybody living in or near the city. “The Thames [was] hit daily by 260 tons of raw sewage” (E-H resources), and as you can imagine it created a problem that needed to be fixed. George Frederick Watts conveyed his disappointment in this aspect of city living in his painting “Found Drowned”. The dark and dirty background of London, and what clearly is the Waterloo bridge show that Watts had contempt for the newly rising industrial revolution.

While the London was witnessing an industrial revolution, this pollution of the Thames is an example of the need for science and technology to evolve as well.  Without science and technology, the germs would have overcome the city.  The need for medications, healthcare systems, etc. was continuing to grow at a much faster pace.  Not only that, but machines in the factories couldn’t have ever been born, etc.  For a city or time period to grow, it needs science to evolve.  Science and technology has been very important throughout the history of the world, and continues to be as the world evolves.

In fact the pollution presented such a problem that The London Board of Health had to step in. From 1840 to 1874 London built the first sewer system in the world, and had successfully cleaned the river Thames and other rivers across London. The Project took 16 years to complete and cost the city a load of money, but it was well worth it. Taking the sheer amount of disease, sickness, and death into account, the amount of money poured into the river Thames was little compared to the sewage that was poured previously in it’s stead.

Works Cited: . “The Industrial Age.” EH Resources. Creative Commons, n.d. Web. 19 Sep 2012. <http://www.eh-resources.org/timeline/timeline_industrial.html&gt;.

  This is the second picturesque photo that I captured. It lacks details, and all presence of human life, the landscape isn’t even of much beauty. If you were stranded in a place like this I imagine it would be much like a desert of grass. So what makes this picture picturesque? Remember how earlier I talked about how the picturesque is parasitic of the sublime. In this picture you are presented with a rolling landscape and a beautiful blue sky, the landscape would be sublime if it had more detail, more color, and more life. Yet since it is devoid of these characteristics it is simply parasitic of the sublime, making it picturesque. This picture to me seems to capture the seemingly endless supply of rolling fields that the Palouse is famous for. The lines in the field and waving grass give it a texture that can’t be reproduced by any artwork, the position of the landscape with the mountain fading away in the background makes the closer mountain almost shout with color and details by comparison. This brings up something that I really love about this picture; If you look at the sky, it slowly fades from blue to white, the hill even seems to fade away with the one in the background. It seems almost that the flash on my camera brought this portion of the landscape to life, and that without it, the sky would have sat without color, and the hills without texture. Another thing that I found just as interesting is the miniature forest that is visible on top of the hill to the right. It looks to me like a beacon of hope for any and all types of life in this grass desert. Like an oasis I can already feel the shade from those trees keeping the hot sun off of my back, I can taste the berries provided from the shrubbery, and feel the adrenaline of chasing game through the tree’s. This picture truly captures the picturesque and tells a story that is magnificent. I hope I have helped shed some light on the picturesque, also I hope you enjoyed my pictures!

   I decided to show this picture before I show my last picturesque photo because of the houses in the background. After reading about Kodaks tips, and Ruskin’s theories on the picturesque, the houses in the background bothered me. The straight architecture of the buildings which is neat and uniform, along with the pleasing color of paint that was used on the buildings disqualifies this picture from the picturesque. The fields around the house on the other hand present a picturesque quality which I will talk about in my last post. Regarding the houses it is important to mention that man made architecture can be used in a picturesque photograph. These photos though will depict rough houses with a strong presence of ruin, such as a run down building, or fragmented structure of some sort. The clean edges of the houses in my background don’t appeal to ruin or bring the same amount of emotional upheaval that could classify them as picturesque. Since I had decided that this picture could not be used for one of my main pieces, it was up to me to find an angle that would work. I realized that if I zoomed in a little bit, and changed the angle from which I was viewing the landscape, that I could completely erase the presence of the houses. This allowed me to focus on the picturesque quality that I wanted to develop upon in this assignment. This also goes to show that by taking the Kodak tips to heart, you can really improve upon your photography. 

  In this portion of my photograph essay I am going to talk about camera techniques, capturing landscapes, and tips for taking pictures. Taking pictures of landscapes seems like an easy feat, and for the most part it is. Most landscapes we photograph are beautiful enough that any camera angle can’t help but be beautiful as well. On the other hand, in order to reap the full reward from taking the picture you really must explore with different angles, viewpoints, and much much more. For example the picture I included here is the same backyard as in the previous post, but the camera is tilted and raised above my head. By doing this I have allowed myself to see the scenery in a different light. At least in my imagination the picture went from being a classic river landscape that I have explored extensively, to a river flowing down the side of a mountain with trees tipping precariously over what seems to turn into a waterfall. I also seemed to capture more of the river by turning my camera like this, allowing the viewer to see the rapids that my smooth flowing river leads too. Other then tilting or raising your camera to capture a better view there are plenty of other things that can be done to increase the intrinsic value of your picture. Kodak.com shares loads of tips for taking photos of nature, here I will talk about some of the tips I felt were helpful to me. One of the things that you can do to better capture a picture is to “step into the light”. Kodak says to “Look for interesting combinations of color, light, shadow and texture.” this may mean changing the zoom setting or flash setting of your camera, just work with things until you think you have it just right. Speaking about settings Kodak also says that when taking a picture you should “explore your camera modes”. Most cameras have at least three settings including: “Landscape mode” which “optimizes the camera settings for landscape photos and capturing objects at great distances”, I used this mode on my camera when taking my pictures. “Macro-mode” is also another helpful mode that is “perfect for taking extreme close-up photos”. And lastly “Panorama stitch mode” which can stitch several pictures together. Another thing that Kodak warns about, is that you should be careful of glare in your pictures. This happens when light obstructs the photo, and can be avoided by simply changing your position or angle. Although changing settings and the angle of your shot is important, remember that what makes a picture beautiful is primarily the picture itself. This is why Kodak reminds us that one of the most important aspects of taking a picture is “Location, location, location”. Get out of your house and explore nature until you find that one view that you want to keep forever, and capture it.

Works Cited: http://www.kodak.com/ek/US/en/Home_Main/Tips_Projects_Center/Learn/Photo_Tips_Techniques/Nature_Photography/Nature_Photography.htm

   Part of the reason that I felt the clear cut picture was picturesque is because of my background with living near the forest. My entire life I have loved nature and all of its extreme’s, the forest has been a wonderful influence on my life. The picture taken above is the forest behind my house, as you can see it lacks the ruin that is presented in the clear cut picture. This picture is a prime example of the sublime to me, it captures so much life and natural beauty, it is “awe-inspiring”. What does this mean then for the sublime and the picturesque? Are they just opposing words? No, I would say that both words actually have more in common then in difference. Both words are used to describe something that inspires on an emotional level. The clear cut picture and this one for instance are both of equal greatness; the first achieving this through a picturesque portrayal, and the second through a portrayal of the sublime. Thus a picture of the sublime cannot be said to be greater then a picture of the picturesque in similar contexts. What can be said is that the feeling granted through looking at the two pictures is different. The sublime, in my opinion invigorates and excites, making you wish you were in the picture. The picturesque excites, and invigorates you as well, but with a feeling more inclined to be the one viewing the picture and speculating on it. Focusing a little less on the sublime and concentrating on the picturesque can help distinguish them. John Ruskin a painter of the picturesque mentioned earlier, believes that there are two forms of the picturesque: one with a heart, and the other heartless. Ruskin explains that the “heartless” picturesque “by its natural concentration on ruin, encourages the artist and spectator to delight in sad, painful things for the sake of interesting lines and colors to the neglect of the human significance of the scene depicted.”. Examples of this include “broken windmills” or “weakened men” where the artist is merely trying to depict something of “visual interest”. This form of the art “neglects the higher forms of the beautiful to portray broken rocks and thatched roofs”, it is not parasitic of the sublime, it isn’t sublime at all. Because the “heartless” depiction of the picturesque cannot appeal to the sublime, it cannot hold as much admiration. This I believe should qualify the depiction not picturesque, but ruinesque, since the appeal to ruin is stronger then the appeal to the sublime.

William Hogarth, was a famous satirical painter of the late 1600s to the early 1700s. Many of his paintings showed in stark relief the sins that ran rampant through the society of the time. It was also him that created the artistic style of painting several pictures that together created a story, much like a comic book, rather then relying on one picture to tell the whole story. In arguably his most famous work, Marriage a la Mode, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriage_%C3%A0-la-mode_(Hogarth)) he creates a satire of the then modern marriage. A couple married for money, and for political reasons, are unhappy with each other and then, through the series of paintings first their marriage falls apart, then the husband is murdered and the wife commits suicide. This form of satire is again much in evidence with these two paintings, Before, and After. In before you see what appears to be the courtship of an innocent couple. But in after you see the true message, neither even waited to completely remove their clothing.

Fear is often described as not knowing. When a person doesn’t know about the object of their terror, then it is often magnified becoming some terrible beast that can’t be survived. Edmund Burke describes this as one of the greatest emotions of the sublime. In the early part of the 19th century before many scientific discoveries something that was unknown was something to be feared. A common cold could be something terrible like demonic possession. Or having two different colored eyes was clearly the mark of being born of the devil. But once scientific discoveries began to explain things, they lost much of their terror. When your daughter got sick you no longer called for a priest, instead you called for a doctor, who told you not to worry, it will pass in a few days, or perhaps gave you some new antibiotics that made the sickness go away immediately. Now with the subjects of our fears analyzed and explained, many hold less terror, for they are no longer obscure.

For our class assignment due this Friday we are required to capture photos of ruin in our surroundings. Interestingly enough the first photograph was taken in 1827 by Joseph Nicephore Niepce*. Many of the photographs of the time clearly demonstrate things that we have studied in class. From ruin, both of pictures of ruins and of the once pristine photos degrading due to age, also the picturesque, with pictures often centering on things that lacked clean lines, and may have been called ugly but for the artistic expression.

*http://inventors.about.com/od/pstartinventions/a/stilphotography.

 

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