December 30, 2012 - Ozymandias and Frankenstein

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Onnthis date in 1816, two authors married. Percy Bysshe Shelley was thenRomantic poet who would later write Ozymandias, and MarynWollstonecraft Godwin was the author who would later write the gothicnnovel Frankenstein. (At that point her name was MarynShelley.)

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nThenShelleys were considered radical in their lifestyle and politicalnviews during their own lifetime, but they achieved admiration andnfame for their writings since then.
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nIt’snalways interesting when two famous or well-accomplished people marry.nIn the past such power-couple marriages were rare because women werenso strongly encouraged to stay home and to focus on family matters;nalso, women often lacked educational opportunities. n

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nFromnQueen Victoria and Prince Albert to Bill and Hilary Clinton, fromnElizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie,npower couples can achieve great things together or support each othernas they achieve great things separately. Power couples often stayntogether for years or decades, but they often break up suddenly andnpublicly as well. n

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nThenhubris of humankind

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nThenword hubris means excessive pride—that is, too darned muchnpride. Both of the Shelleys dealt with hubris in their works I amnfeaturing here.

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Ozymandiasnis a short poem about a mighty king who thought he would make angiant, lasting imprint on history…Read it here, or listen tonit over here.

nItnis hubris to assume that, no matter how much you matter to yourself,nyou will matter to everybody, for all time. n

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nFrankensteinnis about a scientist who tries to create life out of dead body partsnand ends up creating a monster. Some people worry that sciencenpushing into matters of life and death is another example of hubris,nof people meddling with things that shouldn’t be meddled with. Othernpeople worry that these worries are exaggerated and that we shouldn’tnarbitrarily limit scientific experimentation.
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nAlsonon this date:

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