British Literature
What we can do for another is the test of powers, what we can suffer for another is the test of love."
This I believe is the underlying theme, the thesis, if you will, that lingers in the mind long after reading Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband and Robert Lewis Stevenson's The Beach of Falesa. They are literary masterpieces that play on human emotions, that build on human relationships, that pull at the heartstrings of the reader, urging him to believe that in this day and age of greed, immorality and social hypocrisy, unselfish love and true devotion can still reign supreme negating the ill effects of evil.
Wilde's ideal husband, Lord Chiltren has been fashioned by a woman's love- Lady Chiltren's faith, trust and devotion for her husband, Lord Chiltren. He was her creation, from their first meeting, and throughout the early years of their marriage when he was still…...
E.M. Forster's the Life to Come, on the other hand, is a tale divided into four parts: Night, Evening, Day and Morning. Its main character is a young missionary by the name of Paul Pinmay who is sent to spread the word of Christ to the native people. All prior attempts to proselytise these people have failed. During his attempt he meets with the tribal chief, who approaches him to learn more about "this god whose name is Love." The two then sleep together and the tribe becomes Christian.
This leads to Pinmay being appointed by the Bishop to become the minister of the new district. The chief again asks Pinmay to sleep with him, and Pinmay orders the chief not to mention the night ever again. This causes the chief to question the new religion. Eventually this relationship dissolves and the story ends with the chief killing Pinmay.
Clearly, this story…...
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, in…...
mlaWorks Cited
Allen, Peter L. The Art of Love: Amatory Fiction from Ovid to the Romance of the Rose. Philadelphia:
The University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992
Geoffrey Chaucer. The Canterbury Tales. New York: Penguin Classics, 1947
Mann, Jill. Feminizing Chaucer. Rochester D.S. Brewer, 2002
British Lit. Romanticism to Present
Following the liberating Age of Reason, the Enlightenment, the age when humanity was triumphing through literature and Rousseau's philosophy was inspiring revolutions, the age of Romanticism saw the birth of some genius writers of its own. Among them, Lord Byron, a man who lived his thirty-six years with the intensity of one who wants to know it all and do it all, was a prolific writer whose works were the expression of his time.
Lord Byron was the restless soul who burnt every resource he had in his inquiries about the meaning of life. He traveled extensively and, like most of his fellow artists, was enchanted with the exotic of the East. Byron was both blessed and haunted by his genius. His image on the seashore, watching the fire lit to burn Shelly's body at Via Reggio, in Italy, is one of those images most illustrative for…...
records court transcripts from "The Trials of Oscar ilde," when the opposing council at the trial asks the defendant, Oscar ilde, if he kissed one of the boys whom ilde was supposed to have engaged in homosexual practices, ilde appears unfazed. hen asked if he kissed the boy, ilde, with customary wit, responded that he did not, because "he was a very ugly boy." This kind of exchange forces the reader to ask the question not so much why ilde was found guilty of gross indecency, but why ilde ever believed he could be found innocent of the love that "dare not speak its name." (Longman Anthology 2125)
Throughout both of his trials, ilde adopts a kind of insouciant, provocative pose that seems, to the modern eyes, to be a 'typical' portrait of a flamboyant male homosexual. Because Oscar ilde's artistic medium has become synonymous with such a posture it…...
mlaWorks Cited
Barry, Peter. Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory. Manchester University Press, 2002.
Longman, Addison Wesley. The Longman Anthology-British Literature-Compact Edition-Volume B2. University of Southern California Press, 1999
Modest Proposal
Jonathan Swift's satirical work A Modest Proposal is particularly successful at lambasting careless attitudes towards the poor because Swift's proposal that poor children be sold as food for the upper classes is rendered in the language of pseudo-scientific argument and economics. hen deployed elsewhere, this combination of tone, appeals to authority, and abrogation of evidence is precisely the kind of language used to support various misguided, outdated, or bigoted ideologies, such as any number of various "scientific" works purporting to demonstrate the superiority of whites over blacks, or men over women, for example. In Swift's case, however, the tone he adopts and the logical fallacies he engages in function precisely to reveal themselves, so that Swift's use of these common tactics is a means of pointing them out and revealing that they are in fact tactics, or rhetorical methods used to support an otherwise insupportable argument. By performing…...
mlaWorks Cited
Swift, Jonathan. A Modest Proposal. New York: Forgotten Books, 2008.
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…...
mlaWorks Cited
Carlyle, Thomas. "Past and Present." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Vol. II
New York W.W. Norton and Company. 1986. pp. 157-70.
Carl Woodring, "The Eve of St. Agnes: Overview." Reference Guide to English Literature.
2nd ed. 1991. Gale Resource Database. Site Accessed April 20, 2005.
role of religion in the history of European society is a tumultuous one. Christianity, from its obscure beginnings in the classical age, eventually took the reins as the centerpiece of philosophical, literary, and scientific thought. It is true that religion, often, tends to justify actions that might objectively be perceived as incongruous to the established faith. It has historically been the case that when traditional forms of worship become threatened, morally questionable methods are undertaken to strengthen the order. This is certainly the case with Christianity. Since the birth of the Catholic Church in the Roman Empire, Church officials have actively attempted to make their privileged positions in society impervious to assault -- this process has progressed for centuries and, indeed, tens of centuries. For many years this single faith dominated nearly every aspect of European society and was a strong force in maintaining the status quo. However, the…...
mlaWorks Cited:
1. Haney, David P. "Christianity and Literature." Malibu, Winter Vol. 54, Iss. 2, 2005.
2. Mill, John Stuart. "Utilitarianism." Reason and Responsibility. New York: Wadsworth Publishing, 1999. Pages 571-77.
3. Shelley, Mary. "Frankenstein." The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Seventh Edition, Volume 2. New York W.W. Norton and Company, 2000. Pages 905-1033.
4. Wilde, Oscar. Literary Criticism of Oscar Wilde. Lincoln: Bison Books, 1968. Page, 233.
omen and Commodities
In both Jonathan Swift's "The Lady's Dressing Room" and Christina Rossetti's "Goblin Market," women are presented both in a world of commerce and as commodities themselves, but only Rossetti's text is critical of this formulation. In both poems, the value of a woman is dictated by her physical appearance, but whereas Swift seems to be arguing that the value produced by a beautiful woman outweighs any of the undesirable or otherwise unattractive elements which go into maintaining that beauty, Rossetti suggests that the woman who allows herself to be tricked into believing that a woman's value comes from her physical appearance will ultimately be doomed to waste away and die. By examining the conclusion of Swift's poem in conjunction with certain relevant scenes from "Goblin Market," one may see how the former serves to reinforce the notion that women are essentially semi-autonomous commodities, existing solely for visual consumption,…...
mlaWorks Cited
Rosetti, Christina. "Goblin Market." Loudlit. Loudlit.org, n.d. Web. 24 Oct 2011.
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Swift, Jonathan. "The Lad'ys Dressing Room." Rutgers University. Rutgers, n.d. Web. 24 Oct
2011. .
Earlier in this paper it was revealed that a small unit within the Security Service was originally doing the work; but soon the espionage unit had grown to more than 1,400. On page 848 Major Vernon Kell began -- what later became an out-of-control behemoth organization -- with just "a room, a desk and a filing cabinet"; when Kell asked for a clerk to assist him, the bureaucracy was surprised that "…such extravagance was necessary" (Hiley, 848).
This juxtaposition is by way of explaining how, as the fear of the Germans expanded, and as the list of suspected spies grew enormously huge, and paranoia became so powerful that peace groups and labor groups came under suspicion, civil liberties were shoved aside. On page 853 Hiley notes that prior to October 1911, in order to open a letter that was passing through the Royal Mails, a warrant had to be signed…...
mlaWorks Cited
Hiley, Nicholas. (1985). The Failure of British Counter-Espionage against Germany, 1907-
1914. The Historical Journal, 28(4), 835-862.
Hiley, Nicholas. (1986). Counter-Espionage and Security in Great Britain during the First
World War. The English Historical Review, 101(400), 635-670.
Indeed many of the "rotating staff may have never been on a transfer" and in addition most transport vehicles "are not conducive to carrying out active interventions on patients" -- a situation that can lead to serious medical complications during transfers (which often take place in late-night hours) (Ahmed, p. 503). Moreover, less than one in three NHS hospitals followed the procedure of checking the compatibility within the ambulance and it's "mounting system" prior to moving the patient (Ahmed, p. 504). All of these concerns are worth noting by U.S. healthcare professionals, lest similar situations may occur and put patients in jeopardy.
Should every American healthcare provider be required to publish performance data in an online account -- information that relates to the clinical outcomes of his services as well as a record of patient satisfaction? That is a pertinent question because that is the new rule that all NHS…...
mlaWorks Cited
Ahmed, Majeed a. (2008). Risk management during inter-hospital transfer of critically ill
Patients: making the journey safe. Emergency Medical Journal, Vol. 25, 502-505.
Ali, Adam M. (2009). The personalization of the British National Health Service: empowering
Patients or exacerbating inequality? The International Journal of Clinical Practice, 63(10),
Certainly, the reign of Elizabeth I "was indeed the Golden Age of England," due to her personality, love for her country and the adoration of millions of Englishmen and women, not to mention several foreign kings and rulers who during her lifetime were bitter enemies, but following her death became ardent admirers ("Death of Queen Elizabeth I," Internet).
In 1588, some fifteen years before her death, Elizabeth I gave a speech to her faithful and loyal troops at Tilbury camp, where she arrived "in a great gilded coach and was escorted by 2000 ecstatic troops." James Aske, an eyewitness to this event, describes Elizabeth as "king-like and a sacred general" just before she began to address those in presence with "one of the greatest orations of British history, all the more extraordinary for being delivered at a moment of such trepidation." This speech truly reflects the atmosphere of Elizabeth's reign…...
mlaWorks Cited
Death of Queen Elizabeth I." Elizabethan Era. Internet. 2007. Retrieved at http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/death-of-queen-elizabeth-i.htm .
MacCaffrey, Wallace T. Elizabeth I: War and Politics, 1588-1603. New York: Princeton
University Press, 1994.
Schama, Simon. A History of Britain at the Edge of the World, 3500 B.C.-1603 a.D. New York: Hyperion Press, 2000.
This reflection on Milton and Blake is also the reflections of every person who is looking for purpose in their lives (ibid, 588).
However, in the last generation more and more people are asking the same question as Bloom and raising the issue of purpose. Like the humans that recorded the creation story in Genesis, we are searching for the purpose of our being and existence. Blake's parables answer use poetic license to extend this question of existence into the time of the twilight of the Enlightenment when new knowledge was causing people to ask many of the same questions that they asked when they set down the creation story of Genesis thousands of years before that (ibid).
Blog Page 3
hile Israel may be the apple of God's eye, it appears that Jerusalem is that of Blake's since the work comes from this source as well. Inspiring the famous song of…...
mlaWorks Cited
Blake, W., and J.E. Grant. Blake's Poetry and Designs. 2nd. New York, NY: W.
W. Norton & Company, 2007. Print.
"The Genesis Apocryphon." Bibliotecapleyades.net. 2011. Web. 19 Sep 2011.
.
women's places through the writing of British fiction. Using three classic examples of women's fiction in British literature the writer examines the overt and underlying relationship women have in the world and with society throughout the evolvement of literature. There were three sources used to complete this paper.
Throughout history authors have used their works to explore societal lessons. British literature is well-known for its ability to draw attention to moral, societal or other lessons by which the society reflects on the changes it experiences. The role of females has been a favorite topic of British authors for many years, perhaps spurred on by the various class elements that society has experienced along the way. Three classic works of British fiction provide a blueprint of women's changing role in society by allowing for a time span within their measurement. Charlotte Bronte's, "Jane Eyre"; Virginia Woolf's, "A oom of One's Own";…...
mlaReferences
Bronson, Charlotte. Jane Eyre
Woolf, Virginia. A Room of One's Own
Fielding, Helen. Bridget Jones's Diary.
Relationship of "The Old English Baron" and "Vathek" to 18th Century English Gothic Fiction
The rise of Gothic fiction in English literature coincided with the advent of the Romantic Era at the end of the 18th century and beginning of the 19th century. Gothic masterpieces such as Shelley's Frankenstein, Lewis's The Monk, and Stoker's Dracula would capture the imagination by fueling it with the flames of horror, suspense, other-worldliness and mystery. These elements are significant because the Age of Enlightenment had been characterized by a cold, objective, analytical focus on nature and humankind. It had been based on the concept that reason was sufficient to explain all events in the world and in fact all creation. Yet as Shakespeare's Hamlet reminded readers, "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, / Than are dreamt of in your philosophy" (Shakespeare 1.5.167-168). Part of this interest in the Gothic was inspired by…...
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