In Act 2 of Tristan and Isolde, Tristan explains his previous behavior by contending that 'deceitful day' had blinded him, by appealing to his ambition, desire for glory, etc. Love for Isolde, on the other hand, has made him "night-sighted" -- he sees behind conventional appearances of 'day' and 'appearance/shine' to the truth of 'night.' This truth seems to involve an experience in which various separations and boundaries fall away: between people, between the human being and the world, etc. I asked you to discuss the relative virtues and faults of being 'light- or 'night-sighted', and to write down your thoughts in a sentence or two. Please post your thoughts below in the comments section to this post below.
Looking forward to reading what you have to say...
Art Strum
A blog attached to the Pacific Lutheran University course, "The Revolutionary Sensibility in German Literature, Philosophy, and Art," Fall Semester, 2011.
The advantage of being night sighted is that you are free to follow your dreams but the disadvantage is that you take the risk of hurting someone you care about. Another advantage is that you feel a type of limitlessness like your unstoppable but the disadvantage of that is that you have a distorted sense of reality and you can’t see danger coming or understand the seriousness of warnings.
ReplyDeleteThe advantages of being light sighted are you understand reality and can sense danger; you can be honored by society and gain a position of fame. But the disadvantage of light sightedness is that you limit yourself from your true desires and you keep your real values and opinions to yourself.
I would like to think that I am night sighted and that I will live for my passions and not for fame but I am not sure simply because I haven’t had to decide.
- Nicole Jordan
There are advantages and disadvantages of being light/dark-sighted. On the light-sighted end of the spectrum, one receives honor, glory, and worldly goods, however this way of living is very materialistic; it may offer empty glory and fame, but it doesn't allow one to truly follow their heart. On the other side of this is dark-sightedness, in which one may have to betray the duties that go along with light-sightedness. However, this way of living allows one to follow their heart's true desire, therefore filling the emptiness that often comes from the more materialistic light-sighted way of living. I believe that it is best to have a combination of both light and dark-sightedness. On one side you get creativity and a passion for following your heart. On the other side you get reality and obligations that come with this reality. When looking at the "scale of life", it is best to balance these sides. If you put all of your "marbles", per say, on only one side of the scale, then you will miss out on the best parts of both light and dark-sightedness, and your life will be out of balance.
ReplyDelete-Taylor Christensen
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ReplyDeleteI interpreted the meaning of being night-sighted and light-sighted as a means of how people perceive ones self. In contrast, being light-sided is you acting how you are expected to act, or basically you are living to society's expectations of you. While being night-sided would be letting go of society's ambitions and being true to yourself and not what people want to view you as.
ReplyDelete-Chris Johnson
I think that both dark-sightedness and light-sightedness have pros and cons. One pro of being dark-sighted is equality, in other words, viewing each person in the same light and looking beyond the literal, physical appearance of people. The darkness allows people to be whoever they want to be and escape any judgment that people are faced with on a daily basis. A con of being dark-sighted is that you may think you're invincible and hurt yourself or others in the process due to a distorted mentality of what reality actually is.
ReplyDeleteA pro of light-sightedness is that you have the ability to succeed and become a significant part of the real world, and a con is that you may be limited to your desires and aspirations because of negative influences such as other peoples' perceptions or stereotypes.
-Amber Aguiar
I think that the light side reperesents those who find happiness through fulfilling their material wants and that their possesions are more important than the emotions they may feel in their heart. The dark side represents those who believe that the presence of their heart is what matters over material possesion.
ReplyDeleteThe difference between light and dark brings to my mind a passage from Plato's
ReplyDelete"Republic". While my memory of the passage is a bit hazy, here is what I
remember: Every person must posses equal, or nearly equal, amounts of any two
opposite character traits in order to remain balnced. For example, a person may be
slightly more artistic than they are cerebral and still be able to function properly.
But if that person were to become extremely artistic, or extremely cerebral, they
would be out of balance and could potentially go insane. Tristan and Isolde are
out of balance because they are living too much in the dark dream world, and not
enough in the light, reality world.
I believe that in Tristan and Isolde, The "Light" vs. "Night" is similar to what Fritz experienced in "The Blue Flower." It is similar to Fritz because he was able to see underneath the appearance of Sophie and realize his love for her. This is similar to Tristan and Isolde because in the story, Tristan, Isolde and King Mark are night sited, by which I mean that they see beauty that isn't there, and these characters know what is right and what is wrong. In the story, these are the only characters that are night-sited because in the story, Tristan and Isolde fall in love with each other and even though Tristan is a loyal servant to Mark, he realizes that he cannot let him marry Isolde because she truly loves him and not Mark. Mark has night vision as well because he also knows that Tristan should be with Isolde, however, he cannot let that happen because it would make him appear as though Tristan were the king and not him.
ReplyDeleteI believe the light side represets things people naturally acceopt as being "light", happiness, courage, love. The dark side as depression, pain, war. I believe humanity is equal, life has its ups and downs. But a human being can possibly go their whold life without having honor, courage, or feeling love, so I would personally say humanity is more on the dark side.
ReplyDeleteDark sightedness is idealistic, holding to a higher hope. Things are not judged by thier appearance. Social status does not matter here, only your dreams. In the night things are hidden, so being dark-sighted may blind to the truth. However, in the darkness Tristan and Isolde can realize thier love and be happy - for a short time.
ReplyDeleteTo be light sighted is to look at things as they appear. In the light are the visible gains of life, such as status and honor, things with immediate benefits. In the light there is status, one thing bows to another. To be happy in the light is to do your duty and follow the orders of others, even at the expense of your happiness.
-Jeb Savage
How I see the contrast of night-sightedness and light-sightedness is the idea that with night-sightedness you are more free to represent yourself and follow your dreams but being in the dark also allows danger that you can't see get to you. With light-sightedness you are aware of everything but because of this reality blinding you, you are unable to be who you want to be or do what you want to do. You go about your life being safe gaining glory and honor but it will mean nothing if you don't try to take risks and pursue true happiness. In the end I think people should be more night-sighted but still have some light-sightedness every one in awhile.
ReplyDeleteNight sightedness and light-sightedness, though they both hold pros and cons and contrast each other, draw a person to become one-sided. At least, the night-sightedness does for me. When a person is night-sighted, it provides the person with their real hearts' desire, and fills that emptiness that one may have in the light-sighted world. Night-sightedness is not as real(in reality) as much the light-sightedness side of things does. Night-sightedness can let you let go of reality and retain what fulfillment and pleasure you really want. Night-sightedness even hints at, maybe, betrayal and loss of loyalty. Night-sightedness could even be looked at as a fantasy world; a place where a person can have fun, where they aren't being productive to the world, but to themselves/their wants/needs.
ReplyDeleteTristan is much better off seeing things from the night sighted point of view. His love for Isolde has changed the way in which he views the world, to the point where his honor, his bravery, and the rewards he will receive from the King no longer matter to him. Only Isolde matters to him anymore, and if he views things from the light, as he used to, his life will be empty, and devoid of all happiness. If he uses the night side, while he may be dead along with Isolde, at least he is with his love, and not living a life that is empty. Living an empty life is much worse than not living at all.
ReplyDelete