Class 15: EWRT 2

AGENDA

0 Group Discussions: Justice and A Game of Thrones 0 Get into your teams to consider the

application of Cicero and Thoreau to A Game of Thrones

0 Class discussion: Cicero/Thoreau and A Game of Thrones

Why look at GOT through the lenses of philosophy texts

0 EWRT 2 aims at providing the tools for both meaningful reading and critical thinking. Intertextuality expands the scope of text interpretation beyond the reader, carrying it to the meeting place of texts.

0 The challenge of developing intertextual aptitudes develops conceptual, curricular, and methodological perspectives.

0 Using a theoretical or philosophical lens, that is viewing a novel from a particular perspective, fosters thinking development, the use of broad lateral thinking, associative thinking, focusing, and critical thinking.

0 The practice of frequently using intertextual aptitudes helps to develop a habit of mind that includes complex thinking, creative insights, and speculative conclusions.

Group Discussions: Justice and A Game of Thrones

Get into your teams to consider the application of Cicero and Thoreau to A Game of Thrones. Make sure to find textual evidence to support your claims.

Cicero!Thoreau

Acts of civil disobedience

Injustice

DiscussionJustice and A

Game of Thrones

Cicero and Westeros

One of the main points Cicero makes in favor of injustice is mentioning how there is no universal law of justice in nature, that justice is just a man-made force imposed onto us by ourselves out of the spark of fear (Cicero 126). Cicero backs his claim by comparing different forms of justice in various countries and even demonstrating that justice morphs over time in the same country.

Different ideas of justice and honor are imposed according to general location. For example, different directional regions have different “bastard names” that brand bastard children; the name represents a social branding and justice from birth that dictates and defines plenty of life hurdles in an individual’s life. [Moreover,] In the land of A Game of Thrones, above all else, the say and word of the king is justice; it is the law: “My mother bids me let Lord Eddard take the black, and Lady Sansa has begged mercy for her father…But they have the soft hearts of women. So long as I am your king, treason shall never go unpunished. Ser Ilyn, bring me his head (Martin 518).

Cicero and The Dothraki

“Furthermore, a considerable number of peoples, unlike ourselves, have believed that the practice of human sacrifice is pious and thoroughly pleasing to the immortal gods” (Cicero 124).“Moreover, if I wanted to describe the differing ideas of justice and the divergent institutions and customs and ways of life, that have prevailed, not only in various nations of the world, but even in this single city of our own…”(Cicero 125).

“The heart of the Stallion would make her son strong and swift and fearless, or so the Dothraki believed, but only if the mother could eat it all”(489). In the Cicero essay, Philus argued that there are many different types of cultures and beliefs amongst different lands. In Game of Thrones, it is shown to be true when Dany has to eat the entire horse heart. Any other person, not in the Dothraki tribe, would find it disgusting, but they see it as an important pregnancy ritual.

Cicero and Ned

[J]ustice is, “[…] not just something that naturally exists, but a quality that is created by those who are occupied in government” (Cicero 124).

This concept is clearly seen in A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin when Ned Stark beheads the Night Watch’s deserter [Gared] (Martin 15). All that Gared was guilty of was leaving a situation which put his life in danger. […] As a member of the Night Watch’s this is a crime but, as Cicero points out this is a law created by the government. […] The idea that deserting is a crime is not something created by nature but instead created by man leaving it subject to interpretation and change. If King Robert had not made it a crime to desert then Gared would have been spared.

Cicero and Ned

Ned’s sense of justice provokes him to seek the truth of Jon Arryn’s death with the aid of lord Petyr, allowing Cersei to go unharmed which Cersei takes advantage of, and his intentions of allowing Lord Stannis to claim the throne because he is the rightful heir. In the end he is betrayed and imprisoned where he suffers physically and mentally. In his cellar, Varys tells him “’you are an honest and honorable man, Lord Eddard. Oftimes I forget that. I have met so few of them in my life.’ He glances around the cell. ‘When I see what honesty and honor have won you I understand why’” (634).

Philus, Cicero’s character in the discourse, a man known for his impeccable honor and integrity like Eddard, gives the argument against justice and delivers his strongest example when he tells Laelius whether any individual would choose to be a just man who society has mistakenly condemned as evil and thus suffers harsh injuries for it, or a brute who society has mistakenly perceived as a just man and is thus praised and rewarded for it. Ned embodies the persona of the former and Varys’ response to Eddard’s demise is parallel to Philus’ rhetorical question as to “who could be so mad as to doubt which of the two men he would prefer to be?” (128).

Cicero and Joffrey

In Cicero’s The Defense of Injustice, Philus says “Anyone who has the power of life and death over people is a despot – though they prefer to be known as kings” (Cicero, pg. 126).

It is when Joffrey takes the throne that we see the true meaning of the word “despot” exhibited.“‘Why did you kill her?’ [Sansa] asked. ‘She was god-sworn…’‘She was a traitor.’ Joffrey looked pouty; somehow she was upsetting him” (Martin 749).This passage from a Game of Thrones shows how insensitive Joffrey is a king as he forces Sansa to look at the heads of her father and Septa, whom he had killed hastily. A despot (as defined by Google) is “a ruler or other person who holds absolute power, typically one who exercises is it in a cruel or oppressive way.”

Cicero: Eddard and Joffrey

0 ” Let us imagine that there are two men, one a paragon of virtue, fairness, justice and honesty, and the other an outrageous ruffian. And let us suppose that [...]the good man is an evil villainous criminal, and that the bad man, on the other hand is a model of honourable and propriety” (128).

These two men remind me of Ned and Joffrey, although Joffrey is not a ruffian, he puts himself in opposition to justice symbolically when he beheads Ned. Philus continues his story by saying that “their country is so misguided that it believes that the good man is an evil, villainous criminal, and that the bad man […] is a model of honourable propriety” Cicero 20). This too matches the story of Ned an Joffrey, who each got beheaded and crowned, respectively. Philus shows us through this story that justice is subjective, and people alter their behavior so that they can get ahead in society rather than because of some all known truth about moral behavior.

Cicero and Petyr Baelish

“the most fortunate choice is the first, to perform injustice, if you can get away with it … the second best is neither to perform it nor suffer it… and the worst is to engage in an everlasting turmoil consisting of both performing it and suffering it” (Cicero 127)

In A Game of Thrones, the most clever characters, such as Petyr Baelish, are the most successful because they hide their schemes and manipulate people without their knowledge, thereby avoiding retaliation. By the time Baelish’s victim realizes he has been betrayed, it is too late (Martin 362). A lawless world works to the advantage of lawless people. It is fitting that “The Defense of Injustice” is the rulebook for how to win in A Game of Thrones.

Thoreau, Robert, and Ned0 King Robert brings up a subject on

whether to kill Daenerys or not since she is pregnant. “The other councilors were all doing their best to pretend that they were somewhere else. No doubt they were wiser than he was” (Martin 351). Ned speaks first that this shouldn’t be done. Becoming furious by his rejection, Robert urges other councilors to speak: “Have the rest of you mislaid your tongues? Will no one talk sense to this frozen-faced fool?” (352) After all, “[Ned] and Selmy stand alone on this matter” (354) and Robert makes his decision to kill her.

0 The philosophy of Thoreau is applied here. Ned rejects the decision on killing fourteen-year-old girl because he makes his decision based on his conscience that he thinks “men first and subjects afterward” (Thoreau 178). When the subject was brought to the table, the councilors remained silent because while their consciences were telling them ‘no’, ‘yes’ was the answer that seemed more desirable. Eventually, majority says yes, and King Robert makes the decision based on the opinions of majority “which the rule of expediency is [only] applicable” (178).

Thoreau, Tyrion, and Jon

In Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience, relating to justice, he wrote, “As for adopting the ways which the state has provided for remedying the evil, I know not of such ways. They take too much time, and a man’s life will be gone. I have other affairs to attend to. I came into this world, not chiefly to make this a good place to live in, but to live in it, be it good or bad.”

At the beginning of the book Tyrion discusses with Jon Stark the injustice that both of them are subjected to because of the circumstances they were born into. However Tyrion offers Jon with words of council to understand the burden he has to endure when he says, “Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armor yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you.” These words, in my opinion, resemble the same sentiment Thoreau offers to the reader when he reflects on the natural injustices that exist in our society. In other words, we cannot change the evil or injustices that await us, though we are at least entitled to live in it and enjoy it for what we can.

Thoreau and Tyrion

Tyrion started to question the government in the Vale, when he noticed that he wasn’t getting a fair chance to free himself: “Is this how justice is done in the Vale? […] You accuse me of crimes, I deny them, so you throw me into an open cell to freeze and starve” (420). Because he fought back and called them out on it he got the chance to get a trial by combat.

Thoreau states “There will never be a really free and enlightened State until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived, and treats him accordingly” (Thoreau 156). So Tyrion has fought back and is now free. It is needed because a lot of people get thrown into jail unfairly, and they don’t have the power to fight back on their own. They need someone like Bronn to help them.

Thoreau and Varys In Civil Disobedience by Henry Thoreau he explains how injustice can help serve justice.” If the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government, let it go, let it go: perchance it will wear smooth- certainly the machine will wear out. If the injustice has a spring or a pulley or a rope or a crank exclusively for itself, then perhaps you may consider whether the remedy will not be worse than the evil; but if it is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then I say break the law. Let your life be a counter friction to stop the machine.”(145)

“” Varys smiled thinly. “ Why, the realm, my lord, how ever could you doubt that? I swear it by my lost manhood. I serve the realm, and the realm needs peace.””(pg 636) Varys is one of the few characters that takes Thoreau’s ideas and applies them to accomplishing his goal to protect the realm. Varys has always placed himself in some very dangerous situation that if found out he would have been found to be guilty of crimes against the crow. But he knows that the people who are in charge are not looking out for everyone and just want to push their own agendas forward. So in his own way he is the friction in the machine that could cause it to break and make real change.

Thoreau and Eddard

0 Thoreau claims, “A very few, as heroes, patriots, martyrs, reformers in the great sense, and men, serve the state with their consciences also and so necessarily resist it for the most part; and they are commonly treated as enemies by it (139-140).

0 Ned responds to Marq Piper, asking for vengeance [in response to Ser Gregor Clegane burning down common man fields] , when he argues, “I thought we were speaking of Justice. Burning Clegane’s fields and slaughtering his people will not restore the kings’ peace, only your injured pride (Martin 469).

Thoreau and Eddard

0 “Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison” (146).

0 Eddard Stark was thrown into prison for trying to keep his honor and remain loyal and just to the king, yet was thrown into prison for his actions.

0 “’The common people pray for rain, healthy children, and a summer that never ends,’” Ser Jorah told her. ‘It is no matter to them if the high lords play their game of thrones, so long as they are left in peace’” (Martin 151).

0 “Practically speaking, the opponents to a reform […] are not a hundred thousand politicians […] but a hundred thousand merchants and farmers here, who are more interested in commerce and agriculture than they are in humanity” (Thoreau 141).

Thoreau and the Dothraki

So ends the unit on Justice with Cicero and Thoreau.

So Begins the Unit on Privilege and

Perspective: Plato and Woolf

Form new teams for this unit. Remember, 50% of your team must be new to you!THEN, DISCUSS THE DIVISION OF LABOR FOR PLATOQuestions for Critical Reading (453-54) We will come back together to go over the homework before

we leave!

Homework0Read A World of Ideas:

Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" (443-453)

0Post #29 Questions (TBD) for Critical Reading: (pages 453-54)