Today’s seminar class was for the most part brand new material for me. I never heard of Mendelssohn, but I was shocked to hear of all the wonderful contributions he made to the world of art. He was a brilliant man, which rubbed off on his children because they were consumed with a rigorous education schedule. Mendelssohn’s children had many tutors, music and gymnastic lessons, learned Greek, Latin, and arithmetic. While in Europe, he did the Grand Tour, which is to go all around Europe absorbing the culture as part of your education. Mendelssohn took ideas of what he believed the Scottish individuals portrayed and poured it into his symphony. We were privileged enough to hear one of his most famous works, “Wedding March,” from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Also, this brilliant man wrote incidental music, because he got caught up with writing music for Shakespeare. Because of Mendelssohn prodigious education, he knew five languages, and was constantly reading, making him fluent in Shakespeare.

Henry James, the author of Washington Square spent most of his life in Europe, and his point of view of the Native Americans was in fact, completely prejudice by his experiences in Europe. He thinks European culture is way better than American life, and developed a keen eye by constantly observing the human character. The narratives point of view is quite sarcastic, and ironic. In my opinion, Catherine, as described in the novel, looks like a plain yet pretty woman and solidly built. Catherine loves to spend her money on fancy clothes, which definitely isn’t approved by Dr. Sloper. Her father doesn’t like it because it shows that she is wearing her money as well as making her look older. I found it quite interesting as to why the novel was written in 1880, but Henry James set the action back thirty years. The reason for doing this was because it was before the Civil War, and economically, it was prosperous. The title, Washington Square, evokes a sense of calmness, and a feeling, that everything is good in the world.

Henry James makes fun of Catherine by saying that her back is a broad one, which could have carried a great deal. He never blatantly says something nice to her, which in a way upsets me. Catherine doesn’t wear expensive clothes to look better; she just likes the clothes and the way it feels on her body. Therefore, the reason she chose to wear a red dress was because her mother wore red, so it was Catherine’s way of connecting with her deceased mother.

Finally, towards the end of class, we compared both movies, which are Washington Square and the Heiress. There are some striking differences pertaining to both motion pictures. For example, Catherine is perkier in the movie Washington Square, whereas in the Heiress, she is more elegant and contained. Also, different people in both movies introduced Morris Townsend. This class was another one of those influential and uplifting sessions, teaching me a lot of something I hardly knew anything about.