Shakespeare's Poetry and Contrast

As the summer season of the Utah Shakespearean Festival in Cedar City draws to a close, I have to say that I was thrilled with the plays I was able to catch on my vacation. I loved the Merry Wives of Windsor. This comedy is one of Shakespeare’s superior ones, in my opinion. I found it down to earth, and the games and attempted deception plausible and laughable, rather than strange and disturbing as they can be. In the end, Falstaff gets what he deserves and is sad because of it, but the ending doesn’t turn into a nasty cruel and unredeemable punishment on him as some of the other comedies punish their pro/antagonists, and he is almost back to his old self, though a bit humbler. Mistresses Ford and Page were so likeable, and their plots so simple, that I couldn’t help but be entertained. And in the end, Miss Page finds true love. What could be better?

Hamlet was amazing. It is more of a thinking play, a wordy play, than tragedies the festival has recently put on such as Dr. Faustus or Richard III (which was sometimes published as a tragedy). Richard III is riddled with juicy murders throughout, while Dr. Faustus presents the allurement of metaphysical knowledge. In contrast, Hamlet is of the unraveling, the non-creation. He is bypassed for the crown, his romance with Ophelia goes sour, noble people die, school boys perish, and the whole kingdom goes “rotten.”

A month or so ago I posted Psalm 8 here because I was captivated by the beauty of it and the deep question it asks. As I watched Hamlet from my gallery seat, I became very excited about listening to his soliloquies in light of that psalm. While putting on a little show for the insincere Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in Act II scene ii, he says sarcastically,

What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! in form and moving howexpress and admirable! in action how like an
angel! in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world!
the paragon of animals!

And continues,

And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? man delights notme.

This is the turning of the psalmist’s words:

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars,
which thou hast ordained;
What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the
son of man, that thou visitest him?
For thou hast made him a little
lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.

While the psalmist’s words are those of creation, of support and strength of oneself that glorifies the God who gives fear and torment to his enemies, Hamlet’s are those that tear down, that see in humankind and himself vileness and falsehood. His enemies are the ones seeking pardons from God, and in Act I Hamlet himself cries out to God only in response to condemning the word and expressing his suicidal inclinations,

O God! God! How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable,
Seem to me all the uses of this world!
Fie on't! ah fie! 'tis an unweeded garden,
That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature
Possess it merely.

What a wonderful contrast in human emotion. On the one hand, there’s total elation. On the other, complete desolation. Yes, Hamlet is a reckoning of they way things go on this earth, that things become broken down, dissipate into useless forms of energy, and “grow to seed.” To Hamlet, it is a universe without meaning repeating this cycle of decay. It’s thrilling in its existentialism as much as Psalm 8 is in its affirmation of a meaningful existence.

Bunker Creek from Brian Head

I thought I was the type who'd try anything once, but after my first mountain biking experience this last week, I'm not so sure. I learned several things from this experience:
1) Mountain biking can be challenging if you've never been on an adult bike, even a road bike, before. There are certain things to consider, such as using your back break more than your front break to avoid flipping over, or learning how to mount and dismount from a bike that's too tall for you to reach the ground with your toes. Learning this over a 3,000 foot descent can sometimes be a little scary.
2) Mountain bikes can do things regular bikes can't, such as going over big rocks, roots, and very bumpy ground. Just be careful and go over them.
3) Even though your rented mountain bike may be one awesome high-end Cannondale with full suspension, there are still some things that you may not want to do on your bike, such as choose the sandy parts of the trail to ride in or worse, the deep ruts of the trail. Don't get stuck in the mindset that your bike's tires are magnets for any debris scattered across the trail.
4) Going uphill can be even more fun than going downhill.
These are a few things that were true to my first experience. There were parts that were really fun, such as riding through the high meadows and the uphill parts (when I peddled, I felt more in control of my speed and direction). The scenery from the top of Brian Head (over 11,000 feet) down to Panguitch Lake (about 8,000) feet was amazing the whole way as it wound through mountain overlooks, fields, woods, and grazing pastures. I was challenged to keep going on my bike, and at times my desired speed was just a little slower than it took to really maneuver my bike, so I went back and forth on taking risks and walking my bike through the rough parts.
All in all, it took me 4 hours to do the 12-mile trail (it usually takes 2.5 for most riders), but I feel like I gave it a good shot, and I have the bruises to show for it.
Unfortunately for my brother who's been trying to coax me into classes, I think this means I may wait a little longer before trying rappelling.

Cedar Breaks

I've been consistently visiting Cedar Breaks at least once a year for the past several years. I find this canyon breathtaking. It's a lot like Bryce, but in many ways it's its own canyon. Kevin and I decided to do a little hiking down the rim of the trail to the Spectra Point and Ramparts Overlook, about 4 miles round trip. This is a relatively easy, well-marked trail, and the scenery is gorgeous as we walked through pine forests almost always in sight of the gaping canyon. My only disappointment was that after walking in about 1/3 to 1/2 mile, we were within easy distance and view of the highway. After that, the trail takes a turn toward the canyon and leads out to Spectra point, providing a clear view of the canyon, Cedar Mountian, and in the distance Cedar City. Still remaining on the rim, the trail to Ramparts Overlook heads into a beautiful strand of pine trees, including bristlecones. It takes a decline through this forest out to a dry desert point, where even the twisted trees struggle to produce green needles.

Red Canyon

Kevin and I just returned from a recent trip to the Cedar City region of the state. Last year we did some hiking at Bryce Canyon National Park, but on our way there from Panguitch, we were stunned as we went through the beautiful Red Canyon, which seemed to just pop out of nowhere from the rolling green hills and plains. I loved it because the brilliant color reminded me distinctly of Arches National Park, where I was first conditioned as a child to love the red rock of Southern Utah. We promised to come back with this canyon as our specific destination.

The ranger at the station was a nice older gentleman with a big, white beard, and at first I was tempted to crack a joke about whether or not he was Ed Abbey reincarnated (I didn't). He and his wife could hardly believe that we came for Red Canyon itself, instead of just merely passing through on the way to Bryce. Yes, Bryce is fantastic; it's breathtaking; however, I think it's unfortunate that Red Canyon be passed up because of its proximity to a naturally spectacular giant.

We decided to go on the Ledge Point Trail, which from the bottom of Red Canyon is about 2 miles to the destination point via Cassidy and Rich trails. Looking at the map and what we could see on foot, it appears that there would be a fun backpacking or horseback trip going up Cassidy and coming down one of the other canyons, such as Losee, where we took our second short hike in the region. We even ran into some riders on the way there, and there were also bike treads on the trail, although the trail was very sandy and wouldn't be my idea of an especially navigable bike trail.

The trail parallels a wash until we split to Rich trail, which started an ascent and took us over a rockier trail. After turning to the Ledge Point trail, we entered a beautiful high Ponderosa Pine forest until we nearly reached the point that looks over much of Red Canyon and is a beautiful prospect.

It was getting close to sundown, and we wanted to stop in Panguitch for dinner at the Cowboy Smokehouse, so we decided to go on a little short tour up Casto Canyon road until we got to the Losee Canyon Trailhead. We walked up the Arches trail, which has about 15 small arches in a .5-.7 mile location. The arches are relatively small, and the place had a Goblin Valley kind of feel to it, but I'd really recommend this hike for kids, although it is a little steep. The rock formations are odd and playful, and it's great to have so much to see in one small place.