Romance Essays (Examples)

Each had moved away from the other towards a deadening of the spirit" (Billigheimer). Suddenly his wife had a passionate past that she still carried with her. She is more alive than Gabriel is and the sad thing is that Michael is too. This revelation forces Gabriel to look at himself and he becomes a "ludicrous figure... A nervous, well-meaning sentimentalist, orating to vulgarians and idealising his own clownish lusts" (737). Gabriel is alone in the room with his distant wife and her ghost lover.

The Dead" illustrates how the living can sometimes walk the earth as zombies. Gabriel's epiphany forces him to face the truth of his life rather than living in the lie he concocted many years ago. In doing so, he loses the false security of deception.

orks Cited

Rachel V. Billigheimer. CLA Journal. 1988. GALE Resource Database. Site Accessed December 08, 2008. http://www.infotrac.galegroup.com

Joyce, James. The…

But when Enkidu and Gilgamesh embark upon a quest to kill the demon of the Cedar Forest Humbaba, the gods side with Humbaba. And the gods punish Enkidu for his friend's crime. At first Enkidu does not want to kill the demon, because he has portents of a bad outcome. He only helps Gilgamesh because of his love for the king, and the gods turn against him for that reason. Unlike the omnipotent God of the Bible, the gods in Gilgamesh can be tricked -- for example, Enkidu urged Gilgamesh to kill Humababa even when Humbaba tempted Gilgamesh with dominion over the Cedar Forest because he sense the gods were coming to Humbaba's age. Enkidu is cursed for his loyalty to his fellow human and friend, because Humbaba knows that hurting Enkidu is the best way to hurt Gilgamesh. None of the male pairs of the Bible show such sympathetic…

Consensual elationship Agreements

Workplace romance or affairs are likely to happen since individuals with general interests are put together for more than 40 hours per week. Based on the findings of a survey, approximately 47% of 1,000 professionals had been engaged in office romance with 11% of them dating their managers or assistant managers. As a result of the likelihood of affairs in the workplace, managers should generally accept the possibility of office romance and institute policies and ways of addressing it when it takes place. Actually, efforts to prohibit workplace romance tend to be futile and counter-productive since employees are likely to date for the thrill of it when such efforts are implemented. Despite of the likelihood of workplace romance to occur, many companies and organization do not have policies and procedures to govern it. One of the major ways for dealing with this aspect is adopting a consensual…

Sexuality & omance of Their Eyes Were Watching God

"They fought on. 'You done hurt mah heart, now you come wid uh lie tuh bruise mah ears! Turn go mah hands!" Janie seethed. But Tea Cake never let go. They wrestled on until they were doped with their own fumes and emanations; till their clothes had been torn away, till he hurled her to the floor and held her there melting her resistance with the heat of his body, doing things with their bodies to express the inexpressible; kissed her until she arched her body to meet him and they fell asleep in sweet exhaustion."

Sex and romance are at issues at the forefront of Their Eyes Were Watching God. The protagonist, Janie, is a romantic that seeks real love. She seeks it in herself and in the men of her life. When she is unsatisfied, she moves on to…

Middle Ages Romances

Le Chevalier au Lion

Chretien de Troyes' Le Chevalier au Lion (The Knight of the Lion) tells the story of the lovelorn Arthurian knight Yvain, rather than Arthur and Guievere themselves. Thus, the tale of Yvain acts a powerful challenge to contemporary assumptions of about what constitutes a Middle Age Arthurian Romance. First of all, the tale does not revolve around the knightly, courtly conventions of Arthurian honor or loyalty to the king and his code of ethics at all, but around the personal struggles of one of Arthur's knights. Arthur's own tale is peripheral to the story and merely provides a 'frame' to the tale. Rather, Yvain's love for a woman, rather than his service to Arthur is the focus of the narration.

Pining for a love of his wife, the hero loses his mind and throws away his knightly life, taking to the woods. A…

The need for romance and desire via the heart is portrayed as the key element of Christian life, rather than the fulfillment of the mere human body or the head, the physical or intellectual essence. The authors address an audience whom they assume may be undergoing a spiritual conflict. ithout God, life is stagnant and unhappy, although this lack of purpose may seem like a lack of finding the 'right person,' the 'right vocation,' or making enough money. But all loves for things other than God are mere substitutions for the real thing. The authors make use of personal narratives to use their own lives as examples that God, despite occasional evidence that might falsely sway the reader to believe the contrary, is good, and desires His perfect creation of humanity to strive to be good, and hopes that humanity will seek best way to lead a truly purposeful and…

Many women discover that raising a family is the most rewarding career they can ever have, regardless of their training and career aspirations. This may be because of a "culture of romance" that surrounds women and education, but it also may be because women are the traditional reproductive nurturers, and this instinct may be stronger than the instinct to succeed in a challenging and satisfying career.

The theoretical stance of this book certainly is historical, but that has not affected its power or relevance. The truth is, women still compete for men's attention on campus, and many women still enter into careers, and then leave them or modify them when they have a family. The authors note, "Drawing upon a very old tradition, the peer cultures at both universities interpreted gender relations and sexual attraction in terms of romantic love" (Holland and Eisenhart 211). The university campus is not so…

Joyce writes, "While he had been full of memories of their secret life together, full of tenderness and joy and desire, she had been comparing him in her mind with another. A shameful consciousness of his own person assailed him" (Joyce). He discovers life is not all romance, and the world does not revolve around him and his wishes, and it is a difficult lesson for him to learn. That is the conflict, that romance is rarely the reality of a situation, and that ego and self-importance can get in the way of romance and reality.

In conclusion, this short story looks at reality in a very different light, and shows that people like Gabriel, who are so concerned with themselves, often get romance and reality confused. He really did not know much about his wife, but felt he was the only man in her life - a romantic notion…

He listens to conversations, watches Hollingsworth and Zenobia together, and flaunts their relationship in Priscilla's face, when it is clear she loves Hollingsworth. In this, he is selfish, just as he has accused the others of being, and he uses the others in a sort of voyeuristic way. In addition, Coverdale, even though he is the narrator of the story, seems removed from it somehow. He does not understand the relationship between Zenobia, Priscilla, and Hollingsworth, and he is kept at arms distance by many of the characters. He is remote and removed, and perhaps this is how Hawthorne felt after his stint at Brook Farm, and why he was so disillusioned with his time there. It seems that others felt the attempt would fail, and finally, so did he. He seems to be pointing a finger at those who hoped for "Utopia" to say that it cannot exist, and…

orkplace Dating & Sexual Harassment Issues

orkplace romance and sexual harassment in the workplace are the topics to be covered in this paper. There is a great deal of scholarly literature on those issues and they will be reviewed and critiqued in this paper, along with statistics that show workplace dating is an ongoing (although controversial and potentially tension-creating) phenomenon .

How Common is orkplace Dating?

The issue of workplace romance is not a new one, and from the available literature is appears that the workplace is an ideal environment for meeting, dating, and even falling in love with a co-worker. According to the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP), a recent study showed that "…40% of the respondents" to a survey reported they met their future spouse "at or through work."

In the Kansas City Business Journal another survey (conducted by CareerBuilder.com) is presented that shows "more than…

True Romance in Real Life

True Romance is awash in fantasy. From the protagonists' attraction to comics to the hero's delusions of an Elvis (the patron saint of pop culture) who guides him on his fantastic journey to the sexually-charged, hooker with a heart of gold (male fantasy) to the uber-machismo (yet extraordinarily sensitive) male (female fantasy) to the white suburban middle class fantasy of a sex and violence-fueled escape from the bland world of McLiving to the fantasy land of Hollywood (and then Mexico), the film bears no resemblance to reality in the least. Instead, it is like a school boy's daydream. This paper will show why the kind of romance in True Romance would be impossible in the real world.

The two characters meet in a movie theater where Clarence is watching a triple feature. Alabama literally stumbles into him, nearly spilling her cleavage out of her dress,…

Talking Styles

In order to create lasting, worthwhile relationships with people individuals must possess the ability to communicate effectively. At least this is the argument posited by Spitzberg (1999). Further, he states that interpersonal communication or rather the lack thereof is what creates the potential for harmful situations when humans interact (Spitzberg 1999,-page 20). ithout the ability to communicate effectively and meaningfully with others, it becomes unlikely that an individual will be well adjusted as an adult. Conversely, individuals who do possess those qualities will likely develop relationships which are highly rewarding, including their relationships with family members, friends, and in their romantic relationships. The article "Shared Talking Styles Herald New and Lasting Romance" by author Bruce Bower (2010) postulates that people who can converse along the same lines are more likely to become a romantic pairing.

It makes sense that people who have the same communication level and those…

Some of the mathematics of the book are shown to correlate to certain political aspects of the book, making the work perhaps more profound than Abbott ever intended (McCubbins & Schwartz, 1985). Certainly, the entire novel pushes for freedom, justice, and equality, both by satirizing certain social institutions and beliefs and by promoting the free and rigorous use of logical examination as a way of discovering, learning, and truly knowing things about the world we live in. he alternative that Flatland shows is a world full of people that do not really listen to or respect each other, and they often show as little regard for the realities of physical and theoretical truth.

hough this book is almost one hundred and thirty years old, it is still very useful today. It can be read as an introductory text to certain mathematical and philosophical concepts, a historical document showing the opinions…

Man of Good?

Nathaniel Hawthorne's "romance," the short story "Young Goodman Brown," is a highly allegorical tale regarding the nature of evil and good. Even a cursory analysis of the title of the principle characters, Goodman Brown (who represents mankind or humanity) and his wife Faith (who represents faith in religious piety) indicates that they are representative of basic fundamental concepts that were at the heart of the Puritan religion that this tale is based upon. Therefore, the conclusion of this story, and the events leading up to it, is symbolic of more than the outcome of the aforementioned characters, but actually represents Hawthorne's view of mankind and its religious fervor. In providing this viewpoint, the author answers critical questions about the stem of evil (where it originates) as well as man's ability to stave it off or to submit to its dictates. A careful look at the diction and…

Courtly Lyrics

Western ideas about romantic love came in large part from the classical Greek and oman past. However, they were also filtered through the very different culture of the European Middle Ages. One can trace the concepts that dominated Western thinking until recently to the mid-12th Century. Before that time, European literature rarely mentions love, and women seldom figure prominently. After that time, within a decade or two, all transformed. Passionate love stories replaced epic combat tales, and women were praised to goddess status (Brians). Since courtly love was often a very complicated and confusing social interaction, in the 12th century, Andreas Capellanus, or Andreas the Chaplain as he was known, wrote the Art of Courtly Love, including the "rules of love." Below is one of the lyrics of the 14th century by songwriter Guillaume de Machaut. Capellanus' corresponding rules are written as well.

I want to stay faithful,…

Courtly love is usually defined solely in terms of the image of a noble knight pining for a woman he cannot have, because she is married or betrothed to another. Later writers such as Dante, Cervantes, and Milton often viewed this construct of courtly love as absurd or funny. Dante in particular saw courtly love as an inferior reflection of the love a man was supposed to feel for God. In the Italian poet's own affection for Beatrice, a woman he fell in love from afar, he felt that his love for this woman acts was a kind of conduit to higher spiritual truth and feelings for the divine. Likewise, courtly love's use of an earthly woman was the parallel for an mediating holy figure such as Mary who acted as an intermediary between God and humanity -- for Cervantes, it did not matter what the woman was 'really' like…

They gossip with their partners and they should not return to work while they are disheveled. This suggests that they should come back as working professions because love may be blind, but workmates may not be blind. People who work together must avoid being involved in romance with company stakeholders such as vendors, suppliers and clients (Business Wire, 2000).

Employees should avoid engaging in activities such as dinner with their workmates. Such dinners are likely to continue smoothly and result into a relationship. Workmates might notice the potential in their companions vote for the partner's promotion. This might generate rumors within the organization, which might make employees divert their concentration because of jokes. Those being subject of the rumor might find t difficult to continue working because of the accusation. This may negatively the work production of employees especially if they were involved in a quarrel during the previous a…

Consensual Agreements

FO CA: In reviewing the current literature on the issue about sexual intimacy on the job, one might wonder why people bother to go anywhere else for fun. It has become clear that sexuality and romance are significant in many contemporary workplaces, which means that businesses of all types have to begin to bring a discussion and specific responses to this issue home. More employees work either online or in businesses that depend on online activity. As such, few employees are far away from resources that involved open and frank discussions or that outright promote or advertise sexuality and romance.

In a future job I expect to work in a company that is connected to and encourages business innovation on the Internet. I would love to work with a Facebook or Twitter-type company where I could work with creative people and new technologies. A place like this will…

The U.S. Supreme Court has given employers "little choice" in the matter, Boyd explains. If a company "can prove" they took "reasonable care" in order to prevent or to correct inappropriate behavior, under the law they have (in many cases) "safe harbor" from punitive damages (Boyd, p. 332). The author states that sexual harassment training "…has evolved to become an ornate administrative display which has the appearance of concern…" but which in fact is "expedient in that it mitigates employer liabilities in any future court cases" (p. 332).

Charles a. Pierce, Professor of Management at the University of Memphis, offers another approach for HR managers in his article published by Human Resources Management. He asserts that "nearly 10 million workplace romances develop annually" in the U.S. And "about 40% of employees" have had a workplace romance (Pierce, et al., 2009, p. 448). The reasonable and logical point of Pierce's article…

Neither lust, nor greed, nor vanity, is necessary to account for betrayal: it is the simple and inevitable reflex of the changeability that is the very life of human beings."(Mann, 19)

Thus, the discourse of the ife of Bath should be seen rather in this light, than as an antifeminist one. In fact, her prologue is to be read rather like a purposeful unmasking of the many antifeminist stereotypes circulated in that epoch. As Jill Mann has noted, the fact that the ife of Bath recounts all the things that her husbands have told her, the specific nagging that takes place between men and women:

That is, she [the ife of Bath] does not live in the insulated laboratory world of literature, where she is no more than a literary object, unconscious of the interpretations foisted upon her; she is conceived as a woman who lives in the real world,…

The CA should not, as such, be forced on the staff members, and these should be trusted to manage their own personal and professional lives in the best possible manner; the company should then create the adequate environment for professional and ethical behavior outside of signed contracts.

In some specific occasions nevertheless, consensual relationship agreements should be maintained, but these normally refer to situations in which the relationships occur between employees in subordinate positions. While assessing relationships between physicians and their trainees in Australia, Canada and the United States, Christopher James yan (1998) at the University of Sydney found that:

"There should be not be a general prohibition against such relationships, but a prohibition should apply in certain special circumstances. Such circumstances include occasions when the psychiatrist is currently supervising the trainee, when a particular psychiatrist has repeated sexual relationships with trainees and when a group of psychiatrist voluntarily pledge…

The supernatural element is also often present in the Arthurian legends, such as the appearance of the Green Knight in Sir Gawain, and it is an important part of the mystical experiences described in the legends. In a sense, the knights, just like the epic heroes, are confronted with the supernatural so as to prove their worthiness, but the difference is that the knights, such as Lancelot, Percival or King Arthur himself engage in a mystical experience rather than in a mere confrontation with their own destiny, as Ulysses does. The romance is thus more concerned with the inner qualities of the knights. Courtly love also plays a very important part in the romances, as the knights are usually devoted to God, to their king or liege and to a beautiful and virtuous lady.

The Odyssey and the Arthurian Legend

There are many similarities, as well as significant differences between…

Clarence and Alabama are capable of finding some sense of mirrored self in the eyes and common quest provided by relationship with another, and it is worth remembering that identity is serious business in "True Romance," serious enough to kill over, as in the film's perhaps most famous dialogue sequence, where Christopher alken assassinates a man whom he believes has impugned the identity of Sicilians.

Thus, the protagonists of "True Romance" are more successful than the protagonists of "Badlands." They are not simply more successful as outlaws, but as human beings. They win their quest for fulfillment, money, and excitement because they are able to work together, and are a more functioning romantic and criminal team together. Although togetherness provides the psychic fuel of the meaningless murders of "Badlands," the generation of the Kit and Holly couple is not really a couple at all. The two never connect, and their…

XV were Christian is beyond doubt; and it is equally certain that Beowulf was composed in a Christianised England, since conversion took place in the sixth and seventh centuries. Yet the only Biblical references in Beowulf are to the Old Testament, and Christ is never mentioned. The poem is set in pagan times, and none of the characters is demonstrably Christian. In fact, when we are told what anyone in the poem believes, we learn that they are pagans. Beowulf's own beliefs are not expressed explicitly. He offers eloquent prayers to a higher power, addressing himself to the "Father Almighty" or the "Wielder of All." Were those the prayers of a pagan who used phrases the Christians subsequently appropriated? or, did the poem's author intend to see Beowulf as a Christian Ur-hero, symbolically refulgent with Christian virtues" (Yeager)

Interesting though Vis and amin share some characteristics with Hellenistic romances written…

Scarlett Letter

Review of the Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1850. Hawthorne has been canonized in many literary circles and is widely recognized as one of the most famous writers of American literature. He wrote The Scarlet Letter at the age of 46, at a time in which he lived with his wife in Concord, Massachusetts. Hawthorne belonged to the Transcendentalist school of writers, which included notable New England writers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau; this group of writers were less indebted to religion than was common at the time, and preferred to look toward nature and individual thought as sources of wisdom. By the time that The Scarlet Letter was written, Hawthorne was already a well-established writer. He had published his first novel in 1828, a full 22 years before The Scarlet Letter. In this regard, The Scarlet Letter…

Courtly Love -- the French Ethos Embodied in the Romantic Lancelot, and the English Ethos Embodied in the Dutiful Gawain

In many ways, the courtly love narratives of medieval chivalric romance were equally as formulaic as Hollywood romances today. The typical Hollywood romance is boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl, while the typical courtly love scenario might be defined along the lines of knight pines for (married) lady, married lady pines for knight, knight does great deeds in the name of the unattainable lady, and both come to tragic ends. The French chivalric romance adopted many of the characters and conventions of the English tales of Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, such as the thwarted love for the greatest and most loyal knight Lancelot for Arthur's queen Guinevere. But when the French chivalric genre, as exemplified Chretien de Troyes' Lancelot, "Knight of the Cart"…

medieval romance has inspired literature for generations. The magic of the Arthurian romance can be traced to Celtic origins, which adds to it appeal when we look at it through the prism of post-medieval literature. The revival of the medieval romance can be viewed as an opposition against modern and intellectual movement that became vogue in modern Europe. These romances often emphasized the human emotions rather than the human intellect and a return to more classical traditions. Poets and writers in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries did not want to feel the oppression from the constraints of their time. Instead, they looked beyond the intellectual to a more mystical and emotional realm. They wanted to achieve another level in their writing -- one that allowed them to stretch their imaginations and their knowledge. The medieval aspects that we find in literature from this era accentuates a different type of thinking…

Reeve's telling of the Egyptian story was part of an orientalizing trend at the time, with Arabian stories in vogue and seen as both exotic and moralistic in the romantic vein at one and the same time.

Charoba was a character representing the exotic world of Arabia and also depicting a strong woman besieged by an invading army under King Gebirus.

In the Landor version of the tale, some of the same elements may have served to appeal to his readers and to suggest a more romantic structure than the poem actually has. The poetry is seen by many critics as relatively severe, though they also see it as a masterpiece. Landor explained his approach in a postscript when he wrote, have avoided high-sounding words. I have attempted to throw back the gross materials, and to bring the figures forward. I knew that people would cry out "your burden was…

The relationships transcend the racial, economic and power limitations.

This disregard for the traditional relational constraints produces some unique outcomes as it is not unusual to see a white foreign professional woman in the arms of a rural male with limited education and even less income. These associations are desired by young males as it opens new vistas of opportunity for them. They are able to acquire some income, status and the possibility of an exit out of poverty to a foreign country.

As with any endeavor there are associated risks. There is the possibility that the woman may move on to another male who appears to be a better prospect. There are occasions when the males are taken to the home country of the woman they are unable to fit in. In the metropolitan country education is a premium, and he has little so his income earning potential is…

The French tradition of the Arthurian legends, however, are far less overtly political in their approach to the tales and to Guinevere in particular, and though politics and loyalties are still important elements of these stories the aspects of romance, love, and sexuality are far more prominent. Beginning with the poet Chretien de Troyes, Guinevere began to take on a more active role that at once justifies the feminine and begins to suggest the degradation and un-holiness of the female body and intent. Though Man might still be the more active and potent partner, Woman can corrupt and influence Man, these tales suggest, and the character of Guinevere seems a brand new creation given her immensely increased prominence when compared to all known earlier forms of the legends (Fulton, 3).

Erec and Enide is the tale of one of Arthur's knights and the peasant maid he loves and marries, but…

Art Analysis: Art21

After reviewing the artists from Art21, the artists chosen are Pierre Huyghe and AI Weiwei as the subjects of this paper. The pieces the paper will be "This is not a time for dreaming" by Huyghe and "Forever" by Weiwei. Both pieces are installation pieces although the artists are not classified under the same grouping on the Art21 website. Weiwei is listed as "Featured in Change" and Huyghe is listed as "Featured in omance." Though they are not featured or classified in the same group, their respective groups are related. There are several different kinds of people in the world for whom change is romantic. Weiwei is a renowned activist as well as renowned artists. Artists typically have a deep passion within that they express via their art. Therefore, Weiwei could see the connection between romance and change. For the native Parisian Huyghe, romance may very well…

Recognition of identity is also related to gender in Possession: A Romance, in which two scholars pursue an affair held by long-dead poets to discover truths about their work and themselves. Acutely aware of the manner in which text creates meaning, and in which the intellectualization of sexuality (and the sexualization of intellectuality), the relationship between the modern scholars is as fraught with complications as the century-old relationship between the poets they are studying. In the nineteenth century, however, explicit social rules made certain behaviors unacceptable and drew boundaries around the two genders. In the modern era, these boundaries are not explicitly imposed but rather are more subtle and insidious yet just as influential. Maud, the female scholar and half of the pair of erstwhile lovers, has accepted the modern role of the female scholar that in many ways negates female sexuality and is expected to be beyond such thoughts…

The fact that Percy's engagement with Anne was broken off has also been substantiated. According to tarkey (2003), Percy's engagement with Anne was repealed and he married Mary Talbot, the daughter of earl of hrewsbury in the August of 1525 or 26. The marriage failed. Mary demanded a divorce accusing Percy of a "pre-contract betrothal" to Anne. Anne was subsequently put on trial. ince this occurred during Henry's period of dissatisfaction with her, it was efficacious to Henry in that it resulted allegation of her adultery and in her execution.

Then again, there are also sources showing that the King had urged Cardinal Wolsey to end the engagement. All of these corroborate Cavendish's account and we may therefore decide to accept his statements as fact and as primarily, if not totally, objective.

On the other hand, we may decide to suspect the objectivity of the writer based on the following…

In addition to that sex tourism occurs in a manner that is generally difficult to legitimately police efficiently. Tourist will come to a country on business and while there they engage the locals in any number of activities.

Economically both sex and romance tourism provides income for the persons engaged in the practice. In Jamaica where the "rent a dread" practice is dominant many young men depend on the largess of foreign women for their successful living. Many also tie their future fortunes to the women falling in love with them and taking them back to Europe or America. In depressed areas sex is a major income earner for persons who have nothing else to trade.

The sex trade in its multiple manifestations provides income for some and pleasure for others. The immediate challenge is that it represents the bankruptcy of the individual and the country when the last resort…

At times these endings are mesmeric, while at others they increase the pace to integrate smoothly with the subsequent chapter.

Dumas also uses characterization to create suspense. One good example of this is William of Orange, who makes his initially anonymous appearance in Chapter 3 of the novel. He is described as a pale, thin, and almost creepy person. he reader learns only later that this is William of Orange. After the murders, the reader also learns that William's inner being is quite as uncomely as his physical appearance, when it is revealed that he is behind the murders of the De Witt brothers.

Dumas' addressing the reader directly gives the impression of being taken into the author's confidence, as if secret information is to be revealed. his contributes to the suspense of the overall plot by creating parallel between the reader-author relationship and the lives of the characters.

Romance…

Therefore, he is very much painted as the victim of this love story.

David on the other hand lends himself to the kind of character that reacts to save Beile. He is characterized as a shy and constant jokester, and in his humor he is at the same time evidenced as a very passionate individual. This is established by the narrator through his daydreams where David feels an impulse to "through himself" on Beile's lips. The author paints David as an underdog, an individual who had hitherto never made his love clear to Beile, but clearly cares for her. In this way, his actions are even more passionate when he stands up to defend her.

The author again uses careful juxtaposition to establish the reader's sympathy and support for David. He is described at the outset as a "shy" individual who rarely speaks but to make jokes. His heroism in…

HUMANITIES215 Discovering Humanities Sayre Pearson 2 9781256735007 1304A HUMA215-07 Please reference include sayre. DISCUSSION BOAD -2 in 12th century, literacy women increased. Though literacy Latin limited specific social classes, literacy local vernacular languages increasingly commo

Initial Post: Write 100 words within the Discussion Board responding to the following questions. Create a substantive and clear post expressing your research, thoughts, and ideas:

• Discuss common characteristics of romantic or courtly love poems.

• What are your reactions to these expressions of romantic love?

• Does the content of the poetry surprise you in any way?

omantic or courtly love poems expressed the devotion of a knight for his lord's lady. The love of the knight in the courtly love scenario was thus never likely to be consummated. It was supposed to be chaste and pure, much like the love a worshipper might feel for the Virgin Mary. The main audience of…

Inductive reasoning leads Legrand to discover an encrypted message that he sets out to painstakingly decipher. Poe's detailed analysis of the cryptogram is quintessentially romantic, encouraging rational inquiry into seemingly supernatural phenomenon. A respect for both the natural and supernatural worlds is implied by the story. Interestingly, nothing supernatural does take place in "The Gold-ug." Legrand admits to the striking coincidences that led him to the treasure, but coincidences themselves are not supernatural events. Legrand states, "it was not done by human agency. And nevertheless it was done."

The titular bug is a scarabaeus, which is a direct allusion to ancient Egypt. Like pirates, the imagery and lore of ancient Egypt has romantic, compelling connotations for readers. The reference to the scarab is coupled with the eerie image of the skull. When Jupiter finally climbs out on the "dead" limb the situation takes on an ominous tone before resolving itself…

They did not expect her to evolve into a ruler of any significance. They were wrong.

Catherine moved quickly to consolidate her power after taking the throne. She studied policy and reached out to consultants and political actors who would both aid her and prove trustworthy. She ruled with a lighter touch, perhaps, than her husband, but she was certainly no push-over. Alexander writes that "Her style of governance was cautiously consultative, pragmatic, and 'hands-on,' with a Germanic sense of duty and strong aversion to wasting time."

She had absolute power, but she acted with a certain reserve, at least initially, which belied the fact that she would eventually become known in history as a toughened despot. Perhaps this notion of Catherine the Great as a despot was introduced due to her later years when she seemed to indicate an unwillingness to allow her son to ascend the throne, or…

Hitchcock's universe is also, perhaps more than anything else, common
throughout in its worldview. The uniqueness of Hitchcock's films as
thrillers, suspense dramas or dark comedies goes beyond simple genre
representation. To some extent, "directors' statements of intent guide
comprehension of the film, while a body of work linked by an authorial
signature encourages viewers to read each film as a chapter of an oeuvre."
(Lewis, 41)
This perhaps above anything else, helps to reinforce the basic
presumption of this discussion, which is that there is a knowing
relationship between audience and filmmaker-often based on a history
between the two-in which certain conceits of the genre or personnel tend to
reinforce the presence of a stylized illusion, in this case the machismo of
a Mafioso community. This approach is at the heart of filmmaking for
audience and filmmaker alike, with both parties desiring an end product
that sufficiently removes the…

Mildred tries to imitate the economical management in her own family. Like in Faye's case, whose marriage had been a "business arrangement," her own marriage to Monty has the same business character: Mildred chooses Monty for his relations that could help her daughter to make the most of her musical talent. Also, Mildred's other attempt in getting a husband for money is telling for the way she is constantly selling or trying to sell herself, and not only her prettiness, but also her cooking talents. The analogy between her career as a waitress, and then a restaurant manager, trying to sell food and the way Mildred tries to sell herself as a wife to ally Burgan, using the same cooking talents as a weapon, is striking. It is here that we most clearly detect the parallel between private life and mass economy. Love, like in est's book, is nothing else…

Revenge, too, is prominent in all of these works: Beowulf must destroy the monster our of revenge for the havoc on the Kingdom; the Greeks must avenge the kidnapping of Helen and the slights against their lands; the Knight, the Miller and the ife of Bath all must seek revenge for perceived wrongs. Poems like Canterbury Tales, Beowulf, and the Iliad and Odyssey, especially as oral tradition, frame the journey of the hero through trials and tribulations to, eventually success. The saving of society, though, is often met with grave personal sacrifice, sometimes of tangible wealth, more often of loved ones, or, in the case of Beowulf, the ultimate sacrifice -- giving up one's own life in the service of society.

Yet in each of the tales there is at least one, and frankly many more, characters that have a fatal personality flaw that causes not only consternation, but increases…

The fact that a novel in the sentimental and seduction genre attained such heights of popularity is, in the first instance, evidence its impact and effect on the psyche and minds of the female readers of the novel. As one critic cogently notes:

hy a book which barely climbs above the lower limits of literacy, and which handles, without psychological acuteness or dramatic power, a handful of stereotyped characters in a situation already hopelessly banal by 1790, should have had more than two hundred editions and have survived among certain readers for a hundred and fifty years is a question that cannot be ignored.

(Fiedler 94)

The initial question that obviously arises therefore is what made this book so popular and in what way does this novel speak to the feelings and aspirations of the readers to make it such a perennial favorite. As Fudge ( 1996) notes,

It is…

Bad Girls

It is evident that the things that are historically accurate about the film Bad Girls are few and far between. Also, given the plot line and theme of the film, Bad Girls is clearly directed at women who sought to be entertained by tales of female empowerment. In the film, four prostitutes -- Cody Zamora, Anita Crown, Eileen Spenser, and Lily Laronette -- leave their former lives behind after Zamora commits a justifiable homicide and escapes from police custody. After Zamora and her cohorts escape, a duo of Pinkerton detectives is hired to apprehend Zamora and bring her back to Colorado, where the homicide took place. hile on the lam, Zamora and company are faced with bank robberies, kidnapping, and a seemingly unattainable dream of owning a sawmill, which they hope will provide them peace and stability.

Bad Girls focuses on four women and the social conventions and…

Kazantzakis Freedom or Death

Captain Michalis, the hero of Freedom or Death, was based on Kazantzakis' father Michalis, a traditional Cretan community leader and warrior in the independence struggles who fought in the 1888-89 rebellion. He also introduces the Captain's best friend Nuri Bey and his wife Emine, who he also loves, but in the end he rejects them both in the cause of Cretan independence. The Pasha and the Metropolitan also symbolize the ancient clash of religions, cultures and civilizations that is fought out in this novel -- Greek vs. Turk, Christian vs. Muslim -- which also resonates with the contemporary word and the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan. These ethnic, tribal and nationalistic hatreds are so great and so enduring that they crowd out all romance, friendship or personal feelings, as all the characters join in the bloodbath. Only Nuri Bey commits suicide rather than go to war…

Justifications and Excuses

As Adam leaves the bank and approaches his car, he sees his wife behind the wheel of the car with an unknown man seated next to her holding an object to her side. Another man approaches Adam and informs him that he and his partner will kill Adam's wife unless Adam robs the bank and returns to the parking lot within five minutes. He hands Adam a stick-up note and a fake gun. Adam robs the bank and delivers the money to the men. Adam is arrested for bank robbery.

In the past there have been cases where innocent individuals have been forced to rob banks. Either they were threatened with guns or their family members were; others have been hooked up to explosives and told that if they do not rob the bank, then the bomb will detonate. In 2012, a woman was forced to rob…

gender have influenced the historic development of science in the west, as reason and science have long been seen as male traits. Similarly, gender ideals such as the characterization of females as maternal, associated with nature, irrational, and week have been reflected in scientific literature. Today, science continues to be influenced by ideas of gender, as literature reflects gender biases, and female scientists routinely must challenge gender biases.

Many of the ideals the influence the historic development science come from the Enlightenment, a time during the 17th and 18th centuries where reason was seen to be a driving force for progress. Enlightened men were rational, and sought happiness, knowledge, and freedom. Given this emphasis on rationality, and the association of women with the home and emotion, women were largely excluded from the ideals of the Enlightenment. The rational affairs of humankind were thought to be left to men, who acted…

Quijote

Cervantes' Don Quijote is, above all, the story of a reader. The real question of the novel perhaps is why more readers do not behave like Quijote himself, and attempt to act out the things that they find so engaging in print. I would like to explore the way in which the main character's status as a reader in Cervantes' novel gives some clue to us as readers as to how we ought to behave. It seems evident that Cervantes' strategy in the novel is largely rhetorical and ironic: he uses the language of the books Quijote reads, while imparting an ironic distance to how this language fits into the actual world where Quijote finds himself. But the ultimate result for Cervantes' reader is to get a deeper form of literary enjoyment than Quijote is capable of: we are inside and outside the satisfactions of the storytelling at the…

Discouraging office romances will not eliminate such concerns entirely, because people also form strong friendships at work, and such friendships can lead to suspicions of some kind of unfair application of privileges, promotions, salary, or resource allocations.

However, friendships do not lead to some of the problems that workplace romances can. Typically, friendships do not end in ways that cause significantly hurt feelings, anger or jealousy amount mature people, but romances can end quite unpleasantly. Once the romantic relationship is over, one party or the other may accuse the former partner of all sorts of things including various forms of sexual harassment (Wilson et. al. 2003). When the two people hold different positions in the hierarchy, very serious charges of things like pressures for sex in exchange for retaining one's job can surface. The charges may not be true in any way, but the person in tne superior position has…

Business Ethics

When the Truth Takes a Stretching Class

Maria Bailey clearly and blatantly misrepresented the size of her start-up business, but shrugged it off saying she knew what she was "capable of doing" and just wanted to show potential clients "what we were going to be," rather than tell them the truth about how fledgling her business actually was at that time.

Was it immoral for Mary Bailey to misrepresent her company?

Looking at the "consequential" side of her decision to fudge the truth about her company, moral decisions are made based upon what the consequences of the action will be. The results of her action actually could have several consequences. The one first and pivotal consequence Maria hopes will happen, of course, is that the fact of her deciding to embellish the truth about the size of her company will bring potential customers into her business start-up Web…

Relationships in the workplace are often positive in nature and allow for employees to enjoy their work experience. It is not uncommon for life-long friendships, romances, or even marriages to be born out of the relationships of coworkers. However, these same relationships can also create a very uncomfortable work environment.

Perhaps the most controversial workplace relationship is the office romance. Detrimental effects of these types of relationships range from sexual harassment suits to retaliatory actions after the breakup to jealousy from coworkers who believe that a person has climbed the corporate ladder by "sleeping his or her way to the top." (Nations usiness, Pg 1)

The Society of Human Resource Management surveyed six hundred human resource professionals in 1998. This poll concluded that thirteen percent of employers had a written policy on workplace romance. Fourteen percent claimed that they had a "clear understanding" of expected behaviors even though there was…

Dating Involving a Reporting Relationship

Romance in the workplace is not a new phenomenon at all; in fact this aspect of relationship bonding has been a reality in the workplace for years -- in particular since women have become more visible in the workplace. It is not hard to figure out why people fall in love in the workplace because the workplace is "…where most employees spend the majority of their waking hours," Gwen E. Jones explains in the Journal of Organizational Behavior. The workplace has been described as "a natural dating service," Jones explains, and not only do people spend much of their time at work, while at work people tend to be "attracted to those like themselves," and while at work individuals are drawn to people who "share similar interests and values" (Jones, 1057). This paper explores the policy of the Adult & Child Center, which prohibits dating…

“Please God Let the Chicken Bucket be OK”: A Bucketful of Social Satire in Jennifer Knox’s “Chicken Bucket”
Romance and familial life, at first glance, do not appear to be of much importance in Jennifer Knox’s “Chicken Bucket”—but upon closer inspection, romance and family life are really what the poem is all about, albeit these themes are perceived through the eyes of a thoroughly debauched thirteen year old girl transitioning from childhood to adulthood in a cascading fit of booze, schedule 1 narcotics, underage sex, and fried fast food. One could be excused for calling Knox an ironic poet, because if romance and familial relations are the dominant themes of Chicken Bucket they are only so by way of their rather conspicuous absence—at least, a quick examination would lead one to think this. However, romance and familial life are really the heart and soul of Knox’s “Chicken Bucket”—they are just…

Popular Entertainment and Commercial Interests

Popular entertainment is overly influenced by commercial interest. Superficiality, obscenity, and violence characterize films and television today because those qualities are commercially successful."

Through a variety of overt and subtle ways, commercial interests are the key determinants of the content of popular entertainment.

For example, two summers ago, a movie called The Cell opened amid criticism of its stylized depictions of extreme violence. In the opening scene, a pretty girl lies dead in a bathtub. The camera zooms into her vacant eyes and pulls out to show the killer fishing out her bloody kidneys. A later scene shows the killer twirling his victim's intestines around on a stick. Critics complained about the senseless violence, but the movie made $57 million in the United States alone. However, when it was time to release the movie in the international market, New Line Cinema had a problem with…

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…

ob einer's 1987 film The Princess Bride enjoyed only moderate box office revenues, but developed popular underground appeal and has become a cult classic. The enduring respect for einer's quirky romantic comedy is immediately apparent: it is far from formulaic, and does not truly fit in either to the "rom com" designation or that of a fantasy. The Princess Bride also includes a cast filled with luminaries like Peter Falk, Andre the Giant, and Christopher Guest. Its cast and celebrity director therefore enhances the credibility of The Princess Bride. Ultimately, though, the script and the overall tone of the film make The Princess Bride classically compelling. William Goldman's eponymous novel, upon which the film is based, transforms seamlessly into a film that capitalizes on the clever story-within-a-story concept. Peter Falk reads The Princess Bride to his grandson, who is staying home sick from school. At first, the grandson balks at…

When Munro describes the way that her relationship developed with the man who would become her husband, the text used and words chosen are completely devoid of romance. Consider the following when the mailman calls looking for Edie: "He said he missed me. He asked if I would like to go to Goderich, where some well-known movie was on, I forget what. So I said yes, and I went out with him for two years and he asked me to marry him, and we were engaged a year more while I got my things together, and then we did marry" (Munro, 146). If one examines this excerpt, one can see how the author uses simple, declarative statements to convey the development of the love (or the romance which is not at all romantic). They go to the movies. They date for two years. They get engaged, but don't get married…

headline from May 2015. "Picasso's omen of Algiers Smashes Auction Record," is how the BBC phrased it, on May 12, noting that "Picasso's omen of Algiers has become the most expensive painting to sell at auction, going for $160 million" (Gompertz 2015). In the frequently dicey and volatile early twenty-first century economy, it is clear that high art has managed to maintain its value in a way that the mortgage of a Florida homebuyer or the Beanie Baby collection of a midwestern housewife have not. It is now almost eighty years since alter Benjamin issued his famous meditation on what precisely the value of the visual arts could be under late capitalism, "The ork of Art in an Age of Mechanical Reproduction." The subject of what art means in an age where reproductions of art are ubiquitous has been around for a while. But Benjamin had never seen the Internet.…

Popular culture differs from what was once referred to as "high" culture ("Popular Culture" 2000). High culture distinguished and continues to distinguish itself from popular culture by subordinating the latter. However, a tremendous shift in academia has led to the critique of both "high" and "low" culture and a subsequent merging of the two ("Popular Culture" 2000).

Also known as "mass" culture, popular culture can be considered crude even as it shapes politics and policy ("Popular Culture" 2000). According to Chito Childs & Laudone (2004), popular culture is uniquely responsible for the shaping of values, beliefs and norms surrounding interracial friendships, interracial relationships, and race relations in general. Films that depict interracial couples "tend to reinforce the existing racial hierarchy, rendering interracial relationships problematic," (Chito Childs & Laudone 2004, p. 1). Popular culture is part mirror for social realities and part shaper of those realities.

One exception to the generally…

Consensual relationship agreements are used to protect both employers and employees from unwanted litigation. The contracts are legally binding, and "shield employers from liability if intimacy later congeals into a sexual harassment lawsuit or some other discord, (Selvin, 2007). Sexual harassment is not the only concern about workplace romances, from a legal or a human resources standpoint. As Tyler (2008) points out, "workplace romances can lead to accusations of poor judgment, breaches of ethics, favoritism, lost productivity, poor employee morale, sexual harassment claims and even workplace violence." Consensual relationship agreements are also important from a public relations standpoint. They prevent a senior executive's dalliances with a coworker to become the source of bad publicity. Therefore, the consensual relationship agreement has the potential to help any organization. Commonly or colloquially known as "love contracts," consensual relationship agreements are usually handled by the company's human resources department. Consensual relationship agreements are a…