Free Writing 2

“We learn in this episode that Spock’s family is likely important; though his human mother doesn’t attend his wedding, the formidable T’Pol officiates. And we learn that Spock has become a legend among Vulcans, so much that T’Pring resists the fame that will accompany her position as his wife.”

Using this quote, we may be able to see where Spock is coming from when he returns back to his home planet Vulcan. We know that it is do fulfill his marriage commitment to his wife that he hadn’t seen in many years. Since Spock is such a well-known and respected Vulcan on his planet, a very highly known Vulcan, T’Pol has come to officiate the ceremony. This, along with the large crowd, shows that this everyday ceremony is popularized based on the people involved. This is similar to being a celebrity in the sense that every normal thing you do has hundreds of people watching. With this is mind, Spock could not back out of his death match because it would not only bring shame to his name in front of everyone, but would also bring shame to his family. Taking the easy way out and fighting to keep his wife was the honorable thing to do and showed that Spock really cares about his heritage more than his wife. This is supported when expert Star Trek writer Michelle Green says “Spock, whose entire self-definition hinges upon being Vulcan rather than human…”(Green). After the fight, Spock realizes that his wife (T’Pring) still wants Stonn to be her husband. Spock willingly gives Stonn his wife and then proceeds to leave Vulcan. This says to me that Spock might have not necessarily had loved his wife since he gave her away so easily, but felt it was his duty to fight for her in order to retain his high honor that he and his family had earned around planet Vulcan.

Citations:

http://www.treknation.com/reviews/tos/amok_time.shtml