Beloved Essays (Examples)

Slow, lingering death lies in the daily carnage of body and spirit- not only of her own, but more so with Tom's. And so on that night, before Steven came and start his abusing spree of the mother and child, Julie prepared a special dinner for her and Tom. She and her son then devoured a delicious bowl of meatball soup, mixed with insecticide. In a matter of hours, the two were then lying on the floor and frothing on the mouth. Incidentally, a neighbor came in to give them a warning that Steven is in a very, very bad mood having been fired in his job, and that they should probably escape now to avoid being Steven's madness outlet. Yet when the neighbor saw the two bodies of Julie and Tom, she realized that they've found another means to escape Steven. Three years have passed since that incident. Julie…

Clearly, color, specifically the color red, plays a significant symbolic role in developing these aforementioned central themes. At the most basic level, in a book that is primarily about slavery, color is a powerful theme as the colors of black and white divide society and is the entire reasoning for the conflicts of slavery. Even after emancipation, the colors of black and white continue to create conflict, as even Sethe determines that there are "no good white people." Likewise, even white people who do not believe in slavery, such as the odwins, assume the worst of black people. According to aby Suggs, "There is no bad luck in the world but whitefolks." (Morrison, p. 94).

This black vs. white color conflict creates the tensions that drive the novel and create the emotions that are symbolized by other colors. For example, aby Suggs eventually gives up on life and only wants…

Beloved is a contemporary novel with the appeal of a ghost story, a mystery, and a work of historical fiction. It is a complex literary work that pieces together a story line of complexity with descriptions of how African-American people were treated before, during, and directly after the Civil ar. This beautifully written and Pulitzer-Prize wining novel examines three generations of women -- one who was born in Africa and brought to America as a slave, her daughter-in-law who suffered so terribly as a slave she would do anything to prevent her children from being raised in slavery, and her granddaughter who, saved from slavery by her mother's outrageous action, represents hope for future generations of African-American females. Paul D, a black man, ex-slave, and escaped convict, who helps the women in the story put the past into a workable perspective, is another protagonist character whom the three women depend…

Beloved by Toni Morrison is a haunting, darkly beautiful and intensely moving novel that depicts the profound traumatic reality of slavery and its repercussions on one woman's life, her mental stability and psychological well-being, her ideas of and abilities in motherhood, her entire sense of self, even her basic humanity. Beloved tells the story of an escaped slave woman who, when faced with capture, slipped into a state of psychosis and made the horrifying decision to murder her children rather than allow them to be subjected to a lifetime of the horrors of slavery. Three of her four children survived. The title refers to the two-year-old girl whom was actually killed and subsequently returns, as a vengeful, spiteful, angry and lonely baby ghost, to the mother who took her life.

In Part II, the characters are dealing with various feelings of loss, regret, guilt and shame, and the intense anger…

"The best thing [Sethe] was, was her children. hites might dirty her all right, but not her best thing, her beautiful, magical best thing -- the part of her that was clean" (250). She had been made to endure a lot which most slave women experienced during enslavement. They were brutally raped, used and beaten and often had to work as prostitutes. "I got close. I got close. To being a Saturday girl. I had already worked a stone mason's shop. A step to the slaughterhouse would have been a short one" (203-204).

Sethe's sense of abandonment was what gave her an imbalanced torn personality. She wanted a mother's love which she was denied and then she later did the same thing to her daughter and thus suffered immensely. In a way she was both Beloved and herself since she could feel Beloved's feelings of deprivation, abandonment and loss. hen…

Swift unnavigable waters, swinging screaming baboons, sleeping snakes, red gums ready for their sweet white blood.... But it wasn't the jungle blacks brought with them to this place from the other place. It was the jungle whitefolks planted in them. And it grew. It spread....The screaming baboon lived under their own white skin; the red gums were their own. (Morrison, 198-199)

The strong bond between Sethe and her children reflects this ownership of the slaves by their masters. The jungle that was planted by the white people in the blacks through slavery is mirrored in the Sethe's violence. The murdering act of Sethe can thus be explained: she does not know herself and mistakes her own identity with the fate of her children. Unable to see herself as an independent person, Sethe clings to her role as a mother and becomes extremely possessive. She mistakes her own identity with her…

The narrative becomes key eyewitness testimony in the suffering of others.

Memories of a more personal nature, such as of Offred's ex-husband and child, also permeate the present and affect identity construction. Although neither Morrison nor Atwood create novels of nostalgia, memory and nostalgia do go hand-in-hand. "Nostalgia," notes Greene, "is a powerful impulse that is by no means gender specific," (295). Nostalgia provides the emotionally uplifting links between past and present and can be used to create possible futures. The feminist elements in both Beloved and The Handmaid's Tale do present a more pessimistic picture of female nostalgia than male. After all, patriarchal social, political, and economic institutions are the root causes of trauma in both novels. Slavery is a theme in common to both Beloved and The Handmaid's Tale. The institution of slavery is directly linked to female sexual, psychological, and physical subjugation. Rape and political oppression are…

234). Her house was haunted by the angry spirit of Beloved, who resented being separated from her mother and buried in the ground (88-89). The other members of the community knew about her past and were terrified of her haunted home, and no one would associate with her.

However, Paul D. reminded Sethe of her humanity. First, he exorcised the house of its baby ghost (22) and then he took her to the carnival (55), which was her first social outing in eighteen years. At that point Paul was as yet unaware that she had killed her baby girl. As the story progresses, the truth emerges. In the conversation between Sethe and Paul D (194-195), Sethe tells Paul the story of how she killed her baby girl when Schoolteacher and the other men arrived to take her and her children back to Sweet Home. Paul, horrified, tells Sethe as he…

Since then, however, my grades have drastically improved, and I am on the Dean's List.

My work at Walgreens as a Pharmacy Technician has helped me to understand the needs of patients, and this is in addition to my part-time work in the Pharmacy Department at St. Luke Hospital. Through both of these jobs, I get the best of both worlds - both retail and clinical pharmacy. These experiences, in addition to my work with the Student Government Association and the Pre-Professional Medical Society Club, have helped to shape who I am and my dedication to my chosen field. While I have been through hardships in the past, I would not be the person I am today had I not gone through these difficult times. I feel that everything that I have done in my life has worked to prepare me for this career path, and my motivation to better…

Sethe does not see death as such an opposing alternative compared to the life she remembers. Beloved, seen as the ghost-daughter, is returning back to her mother but she is doing so angry. She is angry for the same reasons as Sethe -- she missed out on the opportunity to be a daughter. Sethe can now take care of Beloved like she was supposed to before. Sethe sees her mother as she never did before and begins to accept her circumstance.

Beloved's identity symbolizes the ghost-child and ghost-mother of Sethe and others who passed before her. Deborah Horvitz believes the ghost represents both the dead child and the dead mother. She writes the ghost-child prompts Sethe to "remember her own mother because, in fact, the murdered daughter and the slave mother are a conflated or combined identity" (Horvitz). From this perspective, we can understand the importance of the mother/daughter relationship.…

We marry and make families and they become our beloveds. A husband and wife can be beloved to one another, but they are also another word that denotes another kind of relationship -- lovers.

A lover represents something more than someone who is beloved. Where a beloved person is seen as benign, a lover is mysterious and sensuous. Lovers act on the feelings that they have and it is not through long walks in the park holding hands. The dirty side of love is that sex is most definitely involved and acts as the fuel to any lustful and loving fire. To be lovers is to be physical actors in a romantic theater.

A lover, also, does not have to be the most loved person in your life. Lovers do not have to be anything more than an instrument of lust. Lovers are fleeting; they can burn bright and extinguish…

Sethe knew about this future and even as a free woman, she could not escape the anguish associated by belonging to someone else because much of the damage had already been done. Sethe was attempting to overcome the damaging effects of slavery while attempting to adjust as a free woman, even though it was like she was not actually free. Coping with the weight of slavery meant eliminating some of pain it caused and this is how Sethe found it in her heart to kill her child. She could only see the pain of a slave life in this child's future and she considered removing her from the earth something of a favor. hile we can understand the faulty reasoning here, it only seems understandable that Sethe must go through a healing process that involves a mental, spiritual, and physical level. Through this journey, she will finally discover who she…

Cry, the Beloved Country

Hungarian Scientist Albert Szent-Gyorgi once wrote that, "A living cell requires energy not only for all its functions, but also for the maintenance of its structure. In Alan Paton's Cry, the Beloved Country the novel's formal structure helps shape its energy and message. In particular, Paton uses inserted intercalary chapters to provide a fuller picture of social issues. Some of the intercalary chapters contain a number of separate scenes and many of them use so much dramatic dialog that they could easily be presented as brief plays. This essay will focus on the intercalary chapters in Volume 2 which revolve around the Afrikaner's concern for wealth over equality. Within the chapters that will be discussed the social implications of a gold mine are examined via intense sarcasm and the effects of racism are demonstrated to the central white character Kumalo. Through an understanding of how these…

Slavery as Removing Humanity: Toni Morrison's Beloved

Set in the time of slavery, Toni Morrison's Beloved explores how the institution was not only physically abusive, but also emotionally and mentally damaging to those forced to endure a life of servitude. Slaves were treated as property and thus had their humanity ripped out of them under extreme circumstances. Slavery does not just lock up the body; it also locks up the mind so that even the individual cannot control their most inner thoughts and behaviors. In this sense, Morrison shows how slavery can be so damaging on a mental level as well as a physical one.

As an institution, slavery robs the individual of control over their own bodies and behaviors. Essentially, it removes their humanity and reduces them to the state of animals, rather than of rational human beings. They are treated as less than human and therefore internalize this…

Beethoven's style disturbed him, causing Beethoven to seek instruction elsewhere, including that of Mozart's rival Antonio Saleri ("Ludwig van Beethoven," the Columbia Encyclopedia, 2008). For awhile he lived in the aristocrat Prince Lichnowsky's mansion and began to secure fame as a 'dueling' piano player and composer. "Beethoven's rivals always retired, bloodied, from such combat. hile he made enemies of many pianists in Vienna, the nobility flocked to hear him.... It was his skill as a pianist rather than as a composer that brought him recognition during his twenties" (Lane 2006). This success was critical in establishing his independence, as Beethoven became the first composer to be able to 'freelance' his talent and not depend on patronage (Lane 2006). Unfortunately, his advancing deafness spelled an end to his career upon the piano -- once again Beethoven faced a setback that would have drained the will of even the most optimistic of…

Cho traces the experiences and troubles of the yanggongju across the history of Korea. She does this to document the stories of women who were forced into slavery as comfort women during the war and who by economic necessity ended up turning to the Americans. She calls this emotional suicide the "fabric of erasure" and goes through this process to exorcise the ghost from the Korean national consciousness and the consciousness of women (ibid 1). There is a lot of psychological trauma suffered by the comfort women and Cho adapts to explore these issues across generations of the Korean consciousness. This concept was adapted from studies of the holocaust and fights the emotional erasure. This concept was established by Maria Torok and Nicholas Abraham, scholars of the Holocaust. Cho incorporated these in her project. She said that even "Korean wives who led lives of isolation and were the subject of…

Toni Morrison's Beloved

This story works to capture the essence of slavery's aftermath for its characters. It tells a truth created in flashback and ghost story. It aims to create mysticism only memory can illustrate. "The novel is meant to give grief a body, to make it palpable" (Gates, 29). The characters are trapped in the present because they are imprisoned by the horrors of slavery. They are literally held hostage in their home, isolated from the outside world. In many ways Beloved represents a geographically realistic neo-slave narrative by presenting in flashback the experiences of Sethe. This story also has the fantastic element of a ghost who later becomes flesh and bone. The paragraphs below explore the characters memories and the magical realism of a ghost.

Memory affects the character of Sethe in a way that illustrates the pain and grief of her past enslavement. Sethe is living with…

Paul twice refers to his helper, Onesimus, as "Beloved" (Colossians 4:9 and Philemon 1:16). But then, in Ephesians, Paul begins to speak of all of those who have been saved as the "Beloved." This is the first instance of a group being given this special blessing. In Ephesians 1:5-6, Paul says that we have been adopted as children of God, by God's own free will and good pleasure and praiseworthy grace, and we have been accepted into the Beloved who have been redeemed by the Blood and forgiven of our sins.

Truly, being the Beloved of God is a special favor. Paul tries to tell the members of the church in Rome how, though each one is favored by God in a different way, each is a member of a group that is loved by one another (Romans Chapter 12: 6-10). In Verses 9 and 10, Paul says: "Let love…

"In eloved, Morrison allows the reader to share the legacy of slavery as the characters Sethe, Paul D, and Denver attempt to make a new life in freedom. However, they cannot put the past, lived in slavery, behind them; they must reveal it to themselves, to each other, and to the reader in 'digestible pieces.'" (Nigro) The traumatic events which were experienced by slaves cannot be wiped clean, and the past will continue to have an effect on the future. Today, the concept of post-traumatic stress disorder -- the psychological consequences of experiencing traumatic events -- would perhaps be identified in Morrison's characters. (Feldspar) Nightmares, flashbacks, irritability, emotional detachment, and other distress are common symptoms, and certainly experienced by Sethe and others in eloved, all of which are a kind of continued mental slavery.

In addition to freedom being a myth because of legal and psychological reasons, there are also…

mythical analysis of the book, including whether the mythical content of the book is a "good myth" that prepares the reader to deal with real world problems and issues. "Beloved" is a magical, disturbing, and classic work that won a Pulitzer Prize for literature. eading the book is like reading an old myth, because the story itself is larger than life, and the lessons are larger than life, too. The book teaches the reader about slavery, even if they think they know about it already. It shows the lasting affects slavery had on those who served as slaves, and how it changed people's lives, their outlook, and their very souls. It is a haunting book because it stays in the mind long after the reader has finished turning the pages. Thus, the book helps teach something incredibly important to readers by the use of myth and mythical situations.

What is…

Yiddish as a first language in Ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities, compared to the use of local vernacular (for example, Hebrew in Israeli-ased Jews, or English in London and New York-ased Jews): in Hasidic Jews, the use of Yiddish is widespread, whereas in other Jewish groups, the local vernacular is more common.

This paper discusses the reasons behind these differences, and looks at the functions that Yiddish serves in these Hasidic Jew communities. The paper also looks at the effects of outside pressures has on the use of Yiddish, and on issues of identity in general.

The paper also looks at the religious issues related to the use of Yiddish, and at heritage issues in general. The paper also looks in detail at the use of Yiddish as a cultural isolating mechanism, as a way to create barriers between Hasidic Jews and non-Hasidic Jews, and also Hasidic Jews and non-Jews (gentiles).

The…

The moral background in Life's a Dream is vastly different than that in Iphigeneia at Aulis, but the human elements of the story remain quite analogous. From Vasily's position as king, he acts to rob his son of his right to the throne, from his position as a father, he treats him is a way that Sigismund believes "denied me my humanity." (Calderon de la Barca, 118). In this way, Vasily violates his legal obligation to his son, as well as his patriarchal responsibilities to him. This second responsibility is immoral from a seventeenth century point-of-view in Europe, since a Christian father must raise his children with compassion and understanding; the first is illegal.

Unlike Agamemnon, Vasily behaves in such a way in the hopes of avoiding the fulfillment of prophesy -- Agamemnon felt that he had to fulfill it. As a result, Vasily sacrifices his son's well-being to preserve…

Mythological Origin Story For Constellation Goddess

In the most ancient times when Men had yet to assert their dominion over the Earth and its inhabitants, and vengeful Gods still controlled the destiny of all creatures, the land of Telzah was ruled by the goddess Anre. As beautiful as she was benevolent, Anre was beloved throughout Tezlah and the people's devotion to her extended even beyond her land's borders. Rather than use her awesome powers to extinguish life wantonly and enjoy herself at humanity's expense, habits her fellow gods and goddesses had long grown accustomed to, Anre was known far and wide for her willingness to aid the injured and assist the fallen. Tales were often told of encountering Anre on one's travels, the extraordinary beauty of her earthly visage belying her any attempt to conceal her divinity, and invariably these stories ended with the provision of food and water, or…

The Gospel of Luke, as has been mentioned here, is very similar to that of Mark in its narrative and in describing Jesus, the man. This is an element of the Gospels about which authors Nickle and Brown agree. There is, too, a strong belief that the Gospel of Luke was written by a "missionary colleague of the Apostle Paul (Nickle, 1980, p. 125)." The Book of Luke is the most extensive and detailed account of the life of the historical Jesus of any other book in the Bible. "hen this Gospel is joined by its companion volume, Acts and Apostles, they together make up about twenty-seven percent of the New Testament (Nickle, 1980, p. 125)." The most distinctive characteristic of the Book of Luke, is that it is sequenced with Acts and Apostles (Nickle, 1980). Luke is unique in that his book goes beyond the life of Jesus, into…

ECIPE FO FIVE GUYS BUGES' SUCCESS

Business

The ecipe for Five Guys Burgers' Success

The ecipe for Five Guys Burgers' Success

The recipe of success for Five Guys Burgers is a combination of traditional or even homestyle marketing and business practices integrated into a 21st century digital landscape. One of the reasons Five Guys is a success is because it is a places that makes burgers. Americans love burgers. We love to have a variety of choices of burgers. We will make our own burgers and we will pay for someone else to make our burgers for us just the way we like. Aesthetically, the burgers at Five Guys look appealing. They serve huge burgers with a wide selection of free topics not including any special toppings that come with the burger. These few facts make it clear that Five Guys knows their consumers. Americans love burgers; they love big…

Chinese Poetry

View from Li-Chao's Husband, or Afterward to an Afterward on Records on Metal and Stone"

Friend, let me advise you. Friend, do not marry. Collect yourself a nice-looking cook for the kitchen, a winsome maid for the tidying up of one's bedroom, and let your mother boss you around every now and then, if you are the type of man who likes that sort of thing.

Collect women rather than take one woman to wife. Collect women like books. One does not read one book all one's life. Rather different books exist for different purposes and give readers access to different realms of knowledge. So it should be with women. Have a different woman for different purposes, and never settle on one single one for all.

If you must marry, marry a woman who cannot write from the country, no matter how big her feet.

Never, never marry…

He questions whether he should try to clear the court of corruption or just give up and end his life now. It is this emotional doubt that drives Hamlet to act deranged at times, but he overcomes it, and almost manages to answer the difficult questions posed in his life. In Act V, when calm returns, Hamlet repents his behavior (V, ii, 75-78) (Lidz, 164).

In Lidz's book Freud is quoted as saying "that if anyone holds and expresses to others an opinion of himself such as this [Hamlet's "Use every man after his desert, and who shall escape whipping?"], he is ill, whether he is speaking the truth whether he is being more or less unfair to himself." Though Hamlet has proved his intellectual stability, he is quite obviously emotionally "ill."

This emotional illness and uncertainty is why Hamlet procrastinates in the killing of Claudius. On his way to…

Ross (1988) notes the development of Romanticism in the late eighteenth century and indicates that it was essentially a masculine phenomenon:

Romantic poetizing is not just what women cannot do because they are not expected to; it is also what some men do in order to reconfirm their capacity to influence the world in ways socio-historically determined as masculine. The categories of gender, both in their lives and in their work, help the Romantics establish rites of passage toward poetic identity and toward masculine empowerment. Even when the women themselves are writers, they become anchors for the male poets' own pursuit for masculine self-possession. (Ross, 1988, 29)

Mary ollstonecraft was as famous as a writer in her day as her daughter. Both mother and daughter were important proponents of the rights of women both in their writings and in the way they lived and served as role models for other…

Once again Daniel has been magnetized by the power of a woman's beauty. This quote fits well with the author's overall use of sexual tension as he interweaves not only Daniel's story set in the present but multiple layers of a love story and history of Spain after orld ar II. This magnetism also foreshadows Daniel's lack of a mother figure as the book starts out with him not remembering his mother's face. This may be why this theme continues to come up in the story. He is searching for a mother in every woman. "Don't you see? It feels like as if it's been waiting for me." In this line Daniel is talking about the book as his life has become so closely attached to it as the adventure of what happened Carax unfolds.

Conclusion

This paper briefly explored questions brought up by the reading of the Shadow of…

The debate on the immigration should be stopped and sober legislation is needed to curb the influx. American must work together to achieve this objective as we reflect our values and aspiration which bond us as a nation. it's also necessary for the state to assist the illegal immigrants who are still under shadow to come out. This would the government tot document all the immigrants which would be benefit the country economically. Assist refugees both from within and outside to help them build themselves strong economically, socially and politically. Most importantly, the protection of our borders should be more vigilant to prevent more illegal immigrants from entering the country.

Conclusion

Many studies have shown that immigrants play a very important role for the economic, social and political development of the United States. Therefore the immigration issues which affect5 the country should be handled with a lot of sobriety to…

Andrex developed an effective positioning statement? Will it help Andrex face the future?

Andrex, as the case study shows, relies almost exclusively on advertising for its success. Its positioning reflects its qualities, but most importantly its positioning has made Andrex a beloved and familiar product in the minds of many. It is due to this positioning, that Andrex targets a premium market of older people (mainly housewives) who can afford the toilet paper.

When recession hits, however, toilet paper is one of the first items that suffer and consumers prefer the cheaper brand. Andrex too has fierce competition that includes brands such as Scotts and Kleenex.

Andrex paper is represented by the Labrador puppy that seems to be an endearing symbol to many. It not only shows consistency but also warmth, strength and endurance. The puppy has been inextricably linked with the toilet paper in the minds of many. Andrex…

Embedded Communication in Advertising

"There is no evidence that advertising can get people to do things contrary to their self-interest." -- JI Fowles, in Advertising's Fifteen asic Appeals

"Good advertising does not just circulate information. It penetrates the public mind with desires and belief." -- Leo urnett, Advertising Executive and Creator of the Marlboro Man

"The ability to attract new smokers and develop them into a young adult franchise is key to brand development." 1999 Philip Morris report

When the preceding collection of opinions regarding the influence of modern advertising are considered in conjunction with the iconic advertising image shown above, it becomes quite clear that, much like advertising itself, forming an informed position on this ubiquitous aspect of modern marketing is simply a matter of perception and perspective (elch 120). Corporate conglomerates and other private enterprises ascribe tremendous value to the persuasive power of advertising, bombarding the general public…

Charles Ivey Song Lyrics

"Charlie Rutlage" by Charles Ives (1920), from Cowboy Songs and Other Ballads

The song "Charlie Rutlage" by composer Charles Ives was released in 1920 as part of Ives' collection Cowboy Songs and Other Ballads, and the work is distinctive of his signature style. The lyrics are mournful and melancholy, as Ives eulogizes "another good cowpuncher (who) has gone to meet his fate," telling the story of Charlie Rutlage, a hand on the XIT ranch who was killed after his horse fell and crushed him underneath. Ives sings the opening lines of the song with a celebratory bravado, lauding Rutlage by saying "Twill be hard to find another that's as liked as well as he" to suggest that the fallen cowboy was beloved by his friends and family. In my estimation, this passage is used by Ives to form an emotional connection between his listener and the…

Socio-Historical Background: Book Of Philemon

The epistle of Paul to Philemon has often been called a captivity epistle because it was written when Paul was imprisoned because of his Christian faith. The frequent references to the Church and to Philemon's house underline the fact that Paul likely intended this to be a public, instructive letter, not simply a private document conveying information (Witherington 54). Philemon is usually studied in conjunction with Philippians, Colossians, and Ephesians (Witherington 1). Although the authorship of Ephesians is in doubt, the majority of Biblical scholars believe that Paul is likely the author of Philemon.

Unlike the so-called Pastoral Epistles, Philemon can thus be viewed as relatively likely to be an account of Paul's own views. What we know of Paul is that he was originally a Pharisee, allegedly once persecuted Jesus (according to Acts, a less reliable account not by Paul himself) and that "Paul…

The fact that this figure remains a guess says something important about what orrison was up against in trying to find out the full story of the slave trade. uch of that story has been ignored, left behind, or simply lost.

Through her works she attempted to retell the stories of grief associated with slavery and terror, her characters living their lives with greater understanding of its value than almost any other set of characters in fiction today.

Within the genre of the autobiography there is a different tenor of thought the words and deeds are that of the author and the message is clearly self, devolvement. Angelou in the Heart of a Woman demonstrates the ideals of her time, as a civil rights organizer and protestor. She clearly spells out the strife that exists between whites, and blacks and the dangerous dance they are doing during what most would…

" That Giles does not translate that section highlights their differences. Giles never addresses the beloved, but refers to him in second-person, as if had been stricken from the mind of the poet and could not now be addressed but only spoken about. "For his coming shall not I too yearn? Since my lord left -- ah me unhappy day!"

It is not that Giles' speaker no longer is in love, but they no longer retain an image of the beloved as someone who can be addressed directly. It is easier for them to address the clouds than to address him. One may also notice a subtle difference between the speaking of his return as well. Miao referring to him as having "went away," and yet has also stated as a fact that "when people separate they always reunite" -- so it may be only a matter of time, which…

Shakespeare, Sonnet 57

A Reading of William Shakespeare's Sonnet 57

Shakespeare's Sonnet 57 begins with a striking metaphor: "being your slave." Shakespeare does not soften the image by using a simile to suggest he is "like a slave" -- he is already a slave because he is in love. Structurally any Shakespeare sonnet consists of three quatrains and a concluding couplet, in which the quatrains in some way speak to each other, ramifying or deepening the argument in some way. Here the striking opening metaphor of servitude is ramified and toyed with throughout the quatrains. But intriguingly the final couplet of the sonnet sidesteps all the imagery of slavery and servitude to redefine the terms of the lover's situation as described in the earlier body of the sonnet. I intend to show how the metaphor of slavery used in the first three words of the sonnet is unwritten by the…

She is the Good Samaritan whose attention to the victim robbed and abandoned by the roadside earned him a place in biblical history. Amy does not falter when called to aid and abet a fugitive slave, or touch a mutilated black woman, or bring new black life into the world. She drags Sethe back to life, using spider-webs to ease her back, massaging circulation into her damaged feet, and delivering her baby. Proactive Christianity provides the tension that undercuts passive emulation and dissimulation. Amy's religion is eminently present, representing her sense of urgency and agency. Sethe owes her life to Amy, who is irreversibly linked to black life, both through her own suffering and through her surname, Denver, which the grateful Sethe gives to her newborn daughter. " (Iyasere, 179)

The commentaries made by Amy Denver are also very significant: first, her call on Jesus: " Come here Jesus" when…

Idyllic, Idolizing, Late Victorian Tears

The poem by the Victorian poet laureate Alfred Lord Tennyson entitled "Tears, idle tears," has the unfortunate status of having its become such a common phrase in modern parlance, that the reader finds him or herself bracing his or her ear for more and more cliches as the poem progresses. In other words, one hears that tears are idle so often, one can easily forget, not only that Tennyson said, "I know not what they mean," but that the poem attempts to express the seriousness of futility of grief, or outward displays of affection by calling tears idle, in that they do no real work in the world. The use of 'idle' in multiple variances of meaning, from impractical and lazy, to idyllic, to idolizing is in fact quite profound and sophisticated, yielding a poem with a compact linguistic and stylistic structure.

It is also…

unter and the unted:

Courtly Love and the Many Faces of the ero

Literature abounds in depictions of the hero.

Solomon, Esther, Gawain, and countless others call to mind tales of strength, valor, and passion. Whether a text's purpose is religious, instructional, or purely a matter of entertainment, a single character stands out. Emotion is often overpowering, as too, are the choices between what is right and what is wrong. Morality plays an equally important role in each of these "superhuman" stories. Frequently, the path of virtue is crossed by the highways of desire. A hero may take the high road, or he may take the low road, but which choice is correct depends upon the specific circumstances of the narrative, and upon the central figure's point-of-view. A bewildering array of problems, impossible tasks, and larger-than-life villains can turn closely-held beliefs inside out, and cause a hero to commit acts…

Indeed, when Alcibiades arrives, we are reminded that love is quite extraordinary, and even Diotima suggests this to her pupil: "For love, Socrates, is not, as you imagine, the love of the beautiful only." "hat then?" "The love of generation and of birth in beauty." "Yes," I said. "Yes, indeed," she replied. "But why of generation?" "Because to the mortal creature, generation is a sort of eternity and immortality" (210). Love, in other words, is necessarily related to the eternal because only that which lasts forever can be said to be truly good. Each action that relates to eternity is good because it is directed toward the ultimate possession of the good. Socrates proceeds to bring his discourse to its proper closure and just then is when a very drunk Alcibiades arrives, reminding us all of how human we all are in relation to the divine and eternal.

Thus, in…

Letters of Richard Steele to his beloved Mary Scurlock, who would become his wife during the course of these correspondences from August 9 through October 22, 1707, illustrate the transformation of a genuinely romantic relationship from infatuation through marriage. While the style of Steele's letters seems shallow and almost comical at times, the author nevertheless betrays his deep adoration for Mary, an adoration which subsumes his love of anything else for the time during which he woos her. In these letters, Steele addresses very little other than his affection for Mary. Mary remains for the reader of these letters a nebulous figure, at times appearing cold and distant especially in comparison to the doglike Steele. Moreover, Steele does not offer any detailed descriptions of his beloved's physical features, so she remains shrouded in mystery and adulation. Only on a few occasions does Steele make any mention of a world other…

Hans Christian Andersen

How Andersen's Writings Mirrored his Life

One of the most beloved writers of fairly-tales is Hans Christian Andersen. He was a Danish author who searched his past and that of his native Denmark for ideas that could become children's stories. The fact is though that Andersen was writing for a large audience. Though his stories may have been told in the fairy-tale genre, he was relating morals that applied to all ages, genders and ethnicities. The legacy he created by telling the tales in the manner that he did was as a children's story writer, but he wanted to be more. This paper discusses the legacy that Andersen created with his stories and the legacy he sought vs. The one he achieved.

Hans Christian Andersen has always been remembered as someone who wrote children's stories, despite the fact that he wanted to earn much more important distinction…

Sangster, DeLillo, Nature and God

hat is the opposite of Nature? There are a number of different answers we could give in playing the game of finding an antonym. e are accustomed to speaking of "nature vs. nurture," but "nature" here is a shorthand for the phrase "human nature." In referring to Nature in its environmental sense, we are more likely to speak of "nature vs. culture" or "nature vs. art" -- environment is defined as something which stands apart from human habitation or cultivation. In this sense, it is paradoxical to approach the subject of nature in a work of art -- the fact of its being art serves to remove us in some way from the realm of Nature. I would like to examine the treatment of Nature as a concept in two very different works: the nineteenth-century Canadian poem "The St. Lawrence and the Saguenay" by Charles…

Uns-El-Wujood and El-Ward Fi-L-Akmam is a tale of love, separation, and reunion. Set in legendary kingdoms in times of yore, Chapter 18 of Arabian Nights is a quintessential romance. The daughter of the king's Weezer falls in love with one of the king's soldiers. Both become completely smitten with one another, but when their affair is discovered, the Weezer fears that the Sultan will not approve. The Weezer, Ibraheem, consults his wife, who prays for guidance. The parents of El-Ward Fi-L-Akmam decide that their only recourse is to send their daughter to a land far away, in "the midst of the Sea of the Kunooz...on the Mountain of the Bereft Mother," (p. 200). There, they will build an "impregnable palace" in which she will spend the rest of her days in isolation (p. 200). The lovers, who have been exchanging verses of love poetry since they first fell for each…

Although the events and characters' reactions to them have their differences in the interest of plot variety, similarities between the cases far outweigh the differences.

Not only are the events that Nel and Crowe experience and their reactions to them similar, but also both characters have striking revelations at the end of their stories that suggest the importance of the events. In Nel's case, the remembering "the death of chicken little" allows her to "[reconfigure] a number of long-held memories" (Matus, 69). One of those memories, and probably the most poignant is that of Sula. After coming back to the Bottom, Nel is less than friendly with her former confidant. In fact, she joins the rest of the town in labeling Sula and her wild ways as evil, a predicament that helps unite the town. Although Nel and manage a brief reconciliation before Sula's death, the force of the reconciliation…

" The point made by the poet is similar to the poem above. The reference to John,

The Father of our souls, shall be,

John tells us, doth not yet appear;

is a reference to the Book of Revelations, at the end of the Bible.

That despite the promises of an Eternal life for those who eschew sin, we are still frail and have the faults of people. We are still besought by sin and temptations and there's really no escape. People are people. No matter what we say or do, we find that life is not so simple. Consider this reference, which really refers to a person's frame of reference or "way of seeing."

Wise men are bad -- and good are fools,

This is a paradoxical statement: there is large gap between spirituality and reality. Those we consider wise or bad, might make decisions that are globally profound,…

Such evidence as there is can be taken up at a later time. But of one thing we can be sure. If Virginia was the prototype of Eleonora she was not the model for Morella or Berenice or Ligeia."(Quinn, 255)

These feelings can also be inferred from Poe's letters to Mrs. Clemm, Virginia's mother:

I am blinded with tears while writing this letter-- I have no wish to live another hour. Amid sorrow, and the deepest anxiety your letter reached -- and you well know how little I am able to bear up under the pressure of grief -- My bitterest enemy would pity me could he now read my heart -- My last my only hold on life is cruelly torn away -- I have no desire to live and will not but let my duty be done. I love, you know I love Virginia passionately devotedly. I cannot…

Images of Refined Love:

Beroul's Tristan and Dante's Inferno

Love has many faces, earthly and sacred. Passion is love, but so is devotion. Sometimes one must fight for one's beloved, and sometimes it is one's beloved who dispels the demons. The medieval concept of Refined Love combined these aspects of the quest within and the quest without, of the noble and the ignoble, and of the sinful and the sacred. The knight who sought the hand of the forbidden lady risked transgression against the laws of the church. If his love was pure; if he did not let that love become physical, he could remain righteous. The virtuous maiden was one of the most potent symbols of the age. Mary, the Mother of God, had been born without sin, and had conceived without sin. Chastity was of the noblest of virtues. The soul unsullied by earthly love made for itself…

He is described as being of gigantic size and of tremendous emotion. Always Achilles is described with the most exaggerated terms, shining like the sun or falling in the most absolute wretchedness. In a moment of sublimity oddly precognizant of gothic writers like E.A. Poe, Achilles refuses to bury his beloved Patrocles' body because "since I'm journeying under the earth after you, I'll postpone your burial...Till that time, you'll lie like this with me..." (book 18, 330-338) Achilles is perfect and heroic in the extremity of his nature. A more archetypal approach would say that he was heroic because, more than any other character, he represented the purity of war. Archtypically, he represents a purity of action and emotion than can drive men to battle, the pure warrior who is at once filled with the strength of emotion and will and yet resigned to perfect destiny, faithful towards the gods,…

In The Inferno, Beatrice is more the goal to which the poet aspires as he passes through Hades, and later through Purgatorio before reaching Beatrice in the ideal Paradise.

Many of the elements of courtly love, which Dante expresses elsewhere with reference to his beloved Beatrice, are evident in this epic work as well. For example, Beatrice and the Virgin Mary are the two women who send Virgil to guide the poet through the Inferno, and this also adds luster to Virgil as a spiritual guide as Dante adheres to the Italian, Christian view of women, a school touched by sentiment and by the elevation of women to a high place. Beatrice is the ideal woman who is held in highest esteem by Dante. She is his symbol of all that is high and beautiful, and her selection of Virgil does him credit. Virgil is to be his guide through…

Homer -- Was the Blind Bard a Poetic Activist for War or Peace?

Homer is a poet of war, namely the war between the Greeks and Trojans, and later in his "Odyssey," of the war between Odysseus and the gods whom would bar him from his trajectory homeward. He is a poet of war in the sense that war provides the narrative structure of how he outlines how a moral human being lives in a violent, conflict-based society. However, Homer also chronicles in his works with what might seem to the modern reader, a distinctly anti-war literary sentiment and tone. This is perhaps best embodied in the example of Odysseus himself as a character. Homer's most famous anti-hero initially attempted to simulate madness to avoid being a participant in the Trojan wartime events, because they were far away from his beloved home of Ithaca and wife Penelope.

However, Homer's anti-war…

Close Textual Analysis: “The Flea” by John Donne

The British poet John Donne is one of the best-known and most often-quoted of the metaphysical poets. Donne was a devout Christian but often used strange, arresting metaphors to convey theological truths. This can be seen quite clearly in “The Flea,” in which the small, biting insect that is apparently a mere annoyance becomes a metaphor for the joining of the poet and his beloved. “It sucked me first, and now sucks thee, / And in this flea our two bloods mingled be,” writes Donne (3-4). Even though the poet and his beloved are not physically touching, the ugly, even repugnant parasite still has an elevating, even beautiful role in uniting the two souls, although the poet’s beloved cannot perceived this.

Donne’s poem reflects his belief as a Christian that all creatures, however humble, have a dignity as they are created by…

A: Summary
Nicholas, K. (2017). Masterpiece - Seeing Yourself as God's Work of Art Changes Everything! Lynchburg, VA: Liberty University Press.
In today’s world, material wealth has become our ‘god’ (Hudson, 2010). We have structured the society in such a way that success is literally equated to wealth. From their early days in school, all the way to college, our children are being taught that the formula to success is simply working hard in school and getting a well-paying job. We have a society whereby people no longer appreciate the intrinsic value of things – instead, they are mesmerized by the price. It is for this reason that our world is in tatters. Morals and values have been thrown out of the window and replaced with materiality, which breeds immorality (Harris, 2011). The situation is likely to get worse if nothing is done, fast! The book offers an alternative way…

Rather than a poem reflecting her enjoyment of her lover, as would have been typical of an English sonnet, this poem is about the speaker reflecting on the fact that her lover will have to die. The opening octet seems to describe all of the features of the lover and how they will al fade away in death. The sestet puts a sudden shift in the poem, however, using lighter imagery though not taking a lighter tone, and possibly indicating that the speaker is lamenting their own death, and referring to their own body in the first half. The shift in a sonnet is called the volta, and is another standard feature of the sonnet (Baldick, 1990). Usually in an Italian sonnet, however, the octet presents a problem or question, and the sestet solves or answers it. In this poem, the sestet adds a complication to the problem set in…

Reynolds and I have been described as exact opposites. I seek to learn my trade by my own hand not at some pretense to any system that is better than nature herself. Reynolds on the other hand seeks to understand art by some compass that is supposed to refine his hand and eye. He is also much keener on watching and learning from other men of letters and this is not my desire or my goal. I care only about the nature of my art, does it build on or represent the value in the object?

aterhouse 11) Reynolds, has also been described as my chief nemesis, even though our work has hung opposite one another in many shows. e are contemporaries with different styles, nothing more. I harbor no animosity toward him, nor do I wish to be continually compared to him as if we were separated twins seeking…

As the two men enter the door to the last Trial, the music that is played is incredibly beautiful and celestial, as their ecstasy in coming to this point carries them onward. Much of the music in this act is dramatic and full of many voices and full orchestra. The music depicts glowingly the trials of the two men and their despair and longing as they search for their loves. Mozart is at his finest in these melodic arias, reminiscent of folk songs and very memorable as far as melodies go. The winner is the best and the strongest: es siegte die St. rke, says the line in the song, and this is the theme where two good young men use music (the flute and the bells) to win the hands of their beloveds and conquer the forces of evil.

The musical elements used in the work are full orchestra,…

You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as once I was" (92). This statement is significant because it reveals Montresor's sense of revenge as well as another motive for his actions - his health. It would seem that Montresor blames Fortunato for his ill health - whatever that may be. Montresor has no angst regarding what he will do. This is evident when Fortunato assures Montresor that a cough will not kill him and Montresor answers, "True -- true" (93). Here we see the depth of Montresor's madness because he is willing to go to any lengths to commit murder. Even as Fortunato realizes what has happened to him and is begging for mercy, Montresor has already accomplished his task and we can almost see him dusting his hands. To validate his madness, Montresor exclaims, "In pace requiescat!" (95). Even after Fortunato is buried behind the wall, shrieking,…

Rather than inquiring with Una into her motivations or intentions when he discovered her image with another man, Redcrosse flees and abandons her to fend for herself. Una, is upset to find herself alone in a dangerous land, not truly knowing why her knight had left her. Rather that believing in her loyalty and virtue, Redcrosse took the easy way out in the land of great deception and turmoil. He assumed that what his eyes saw was really reality, rather than believing in Una's true virtue.

Later in Cantos XI, the tables of deception turn. Once again a case of mistaken identity threatens the virtue of one of the major characters in the epic story. Rather than Una, this time it is Redcrosse's virtue which is questioned. After defeating the dragon and freeing Una's parents, a messenger arrives and informs the kingdom that Redcrosse is in fact engaged to another…

The use of physical suffering as a symbol for emotional and spiritual suffering is also well-known in the estern tradition. Centuries later, men and women would disappear into the desert in search of God. They would live apart from all human companionship, and deprive themselves of all physical comfort. Gilgamesh does the same. Gilgamesh is also like the lover who pines away for his beloved and wastes away in body, as well as in heart. The message is that the eternal truths of the universe are not easily discovered, and again that these truths are largely hidden from humankind. Humanity's lot is to suffer even in the face of our greatest happiness. Unlike the gods, we cannot know joy eternally. Enkidu was a dear friend, but he could not be by Gilgamesh' side forever. The joy and love that the hero had known were foreordained to be short. Even if…