Rodo's Lesson

Jose Enrique Rodo is a 19th century professor, who is trying to send a message to his students not about academics but of morality. 

To do so, he uses Ariel, a type of angel from the Tempest. This is done strategically because Rodo is trying to implement a good morality on his students, and Ariel serves as an allegory for his lesson. Rodo says that "Shakespeare's ethereal Ariel symbolizes the noble, soaring aspect of the human spirit. He represents the superiority of reason and feeling over the base impulses of irrationality." This means that he serves as an example for society because he is able to control his natural impulses, and is able to act on by thinking nobelly and with reason. 

Rodo tells his students that they should concentrate on making changes in America, no matter the size to make it a better place as Ariel would do it. They could all relate to Ariel because he is one that is dominated by an authority: Prospero, but at the same time is able to do the right thing. His nobleness is the greatest power that he has, and that is how he wishes his students to act. 

Also, he wants to implement hope in his students, and reminds them that if they ever feel hopelesness to think about Ariel, to generate them that motivation and hope that they need to go on. 

As you can see, Ariel works as a symbolism of hope, nobility and reason which makes him be an allegory of acting well and making a change. 

Some of the words that I didn't know what they meant were: ethereal, chisel, gossamer, and numen. 

Having found the meaning of these words made me understand better the meaning of what Rodo was saying. For example, when Roso says "I call upon Ariel to be my numen", since I didnt know the meaning of numen, for me it would have made no sense of what Rodo was saying. It could've meant the same thing as saying that he calls up Ariel to be his clown. Finding the definition of numen which is:  the spirit or divine power presiding over a thing or place, I understand that for Rodo, Ariel could be like his god because he admires his character so deeply. Finding and knowing the meaning of words is essential to understand what a person is saying. Without them, it would be as if the person is saying nothing. 

Numen: the spirit or divine power presiding over a thing or place.

Gossamer: a light, thin, and insubstantial or delicate material or substance.

Chisel: a long-bladed hand tool with a bevelled cutting edge and a handle which is struck with a hammer or mallet, used to cut or shape wood, stone, or metal.

Ethereal: extremely delicate and light in a way that seems not to be of this world.