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Though it is universally acknowledged that art is subjective, literary critic and philosopher Georg Lukacs offered his opinions on what form art ought to take. In his essay “The Ideology of Modernism,” Lukacs wrote negatively against the modernist movement in literature. He describes traditional art as assuming that there is meaning to human existence (1229), whereas modern literature and art is devoid of substance and meaning, or worse, it promotes an ideal and neglects reality. He states, “in realistic literature, each descriptive detail is both individual and typical. Modern allegory, and modernist ideology, however, deny the typical” (1230). Lukacs does not see human existence reflected back through modernist art. As a result of this, Lukacs concludes “modernism means not the enrichment, but the negation of art” (1232). E. M. Forster wrote his acclaimed Howards End right at a transitional period from traditional Edwardian literature towards literary modernism. Forster writes with the effect to allow the reader to be exposed to and explore modernist ideals behind the safety of tradition. As a result, his novel overwhelmingly reads as a traditional novel, with modernist concerns embodied by certain characters.
Get original essayHowards End represents the transitional period it finds itself in through its vastly different characters. The Schlegel sisters represent an upper middle class that is able to fit into both an elitist, capitalist society, embodied by the Wilcox family, and a lower class, but modernist way of thinking through Leonard Bast. As much as the Wilcox family represents elitism and “old money,” Leonard Bast fits the description offered by Lukacs of a modernist man. Lukacs explains that, “The ontological view governing the image of man in the work of leading modernist writers is…this. Man, for these writers, is by nature solitary, asocial, unable to enter into relationships with other human beings” (1219). In Howards End, Bast encounters such difficulties with his relationships with others and his attempts to climb the social ladder. From his natural distrust of others, whether this fear is warranted or not, his consistently finding himself in situations he doesn’t want to be in with people he does not want to be with, even feeling “trapped” in his marriage, the reader is continuously told that Bast has an inability to form normal social relationships or to “fit in” with society, even though it does not seem to be for lack of trying.
According to Lukacs, modernism is a form that attempts to capture the demise of capitalism by its focus on individual alienation from society and fellow man. He explains, “Man is reduced to a sequence of unrelated experiential fragments; he is as inexplicable to others as to himself” (1222). Conversely, Lukacs sees realism as the form of writing that offers a true portrait of man in relation to their socio economic standing while rooting them accurately in a historical setting. Traditional literature places a character within context, yet the absence of place is a trend in modernist literature. Lukacs explains, “By destroying the complex tissue of man’s relations with his environment, it furthers the dissolution of personality” (1223). However, Forster’s text does not destroy potential problems the characters may feel with their environment, in fact, his text highlights the importance of place for all characters, many of whom have their identities entangled with their homesteads. In Howards End, both the upper class Shelegels and the lower class Bast experience a lack of place, in both physical homesteads, and through blurred class identities. These feelings of disillusionment are reflective of the re-urbanization of London, and the loneliness felt by its inhabitants as a result. The narrator of Howards End describes the city with the following scene:
A block of flats, constructed with extreme cheapness, towered on either hand. Farther down the road two more blocks were being built, and beyond these an old house was being demolished to create another pair. It was the kind of scene that may be observed all over London… bricks and mortar rising and falling the relentlessness of the water in a fountain, as the city receives more and more men upon her soil. (41)
Howards End makes modernist commentary on the disintegration of London. Old buildings are demolished to make room for an expanding middle class, and it negatively affects the characters that are currently situated in upper middle class and high class society. Describing London, Margaret Schlegel notes that, “the population still rose, but what was the quality of the men born” (99) and later decries “I hate this continual flux of London. It is an epitome of us at our worst- eternal formlessness; all the qualities, good and bad, and indifferent, streaming away…” (167). Though Ms. Schlegel is an upper middle class woman, she will find herself married to an elite man by the end of the novel. It is fitting, therefore, that she finds the socioeconomic unrest in London to be an unstable setting for her, as it allegorically represents economic shifts taking place in her own life.
In addition to removing the character from a significant setting, modernist literature wipes away a character’s unique history. Lukacs explains, “Negation of history takes two different forms in modernist literature. First, the hero is strictly confined within the limits of his own experience… Secondly, the hero himself is without personal history. He is ‘thrown-into-the-world,’ meaninglessly…(Lukacs 1220).” In Howards End, characters are shaped by their history, class, money, and politics. An overview of the last ten years of Margaret’s life is provided by the narrator, who asserts “surely, if experience is attainable, she had attained it” (67). Even Leonard Bast has hints of a history, though his character is the one that appears most “thrown into the world,” his helplessness evokes sympathy and drives the plot. Forster does not remove characters from their history, although his modern London often coincides with a modernist one, and his characters learn the hard way that history cannot compete with the present moment, which is all there is in modernism.
Perhaps the most notable characteristic of modernism is how the movement addresses the idea of potentiality. According to Lukacs, “Potentiality, seen abstractly or subjectively- is richer than actual life… Modern subjectivism, taking these imagined possibilities for actual complexity of life, oscillates between melancholy and fascination” (1220). While Lukacs condemns modernism for its inability to appreciate “real” life, he discounts the fact that melancholy, nostalgia, and anxiety of the future are all real experiences of the human condition, and should be regarded as so in literature. Forster uses his traditional characters to speak against this idea of potentiality by removing some of the glamor from the elite Wilcox family. According to Helen Schlegel, “I felt for a moment that the whole Wilcox family was a fraud, just a wall of newspapers and motor-cars and golf-clubs, and that if it fell I should find nothing behind it but panic and emptiness” (21). Here Helen attributes the Wilcox’s material possessions and class as a smoke screen, hiding the real human fears and emotions the family has buried. The family uses their materialism to mask the experience of living actual life, unable to communicate or relate to one another. The Schlegels, one step lower economically than the Wilcox family, are able to see that the grass is not always greener, and with a modern sensibility they see living up to ones potentiality as potentially empty.
Modernism alone does not simply root an individual in a state of dissatisfaction and unrest, and heroes of traditional literature experience the same desires that Lukacs discredits as casualties of modernist potentiality. In Howards End, Leonard Bast best exemplifies this unrest and desire for potentiality from a modern perspective. Internally Bast laments, “Oh, to acquire culture!.. But it would take one years… how was it possible to catch up with leisured women, who had been reading steadily from childhood? (34),” and he is able to admit to himself that he will never quite reach that potential. Of course, one issue holding him back is the fact that he was not raised with money. Money undoubtedly effects potential. The Schlegel sisters understand this, seen with the following statement. Margaret comments, “But Helen and I, we ought to remember, when we are tempted to criticize others… the poor cannot always reach those whom they want to love, and they can hardly ever escape from those whom they love no longer. We rich can” (54). Both modernist Bast and the traditional Schlegel’s must acknowledge the role that money, or lack thereof, plays an enormous role throughout their lives. The rich are privileged in their wealth, and the poor are truly in want of it.
The narrator describes Leonard Bast’s unrest with his socioeconomic position in life. He is written as “inferior to most rich people… not as courteous as the average rich man, nor as intelligent, nor as healthy, nor as loveable. His mind and his body had alike been underfed, because he was poor, and because he was modern they were always craving better food” (40). Bast fails to reach his “potential” as a condition of being modern. The narrator seems to be commenting that this drive for “something more” seems to be the exact thing that holds his character back. Despite his attempts to fall into the right crowd socially, make the right career moves, and to find love, nothing goes exactly the way Bast had planned, he often seems lost and out of control of his own life.
This too falls in with Lukacs ideas of modernism, and the critic explains that “As the ideology of most modernist writers assert the unalterability of outward reality… human activity is…rendered impotent and robbed of meaning” (1227). Though Bast more represents the “modernist man” in Howards End, other characters in seem to find humanity lacking in importance, especially the wealthy. Of Mrs. Wilcox, the narrator notes that her voice “suggested that pictures, concerts, and people are all of small and equal value” (63). Additionally, Margaret states, “I believe we shall come to care about people less and less, Helen. The more people one knows the easier it becomes to replace them. It’s one of the curses of London” (119). In Forster’s novel, human activity is only lacking importance when one is wealthy enough to afford to see life as meaningless. In that case the individual, something so important to the modernist man, is replaceable, and even worse, a commodity to collect.
Lukacs may fall somewhere in between when examining the text of Howards End as an Edwardian or modernist piece, however, it is important to note some of the downfalls of his theories on modernism. His belief that writing must be written realistically in order to accurately portray man does not allow for change, growth, or the evolution of the written word. It pigeon holds the artist and humanity creatively, and artist have always charismatically rallied against having rules imposed on them when it comes to their art.
Without the freedom to break rules, novels like Howards End would never get written. Though it is arguable where Forster’s loyalties really lie, he writes his characters in a way that embodies many voices that were in a “modernist” London. Perhaps Forster’s overall views on capitalism and elitism are summed up in a passage near the end of Howards End. The narrator states, “…the Imperialist is not what he thinks or seems. He is a destroyer. He prepares the way for cosmopolitanism, and though his ambitions may be fulfilled, the earth he inherits will be grey” (300). Forster and Lukacs both interpret the materialist world the modernist man inhabits as a bleak and unfulfilling one driven by capitalism. Assuming the unnamed narrator is Forster’s voice of reason interjecting into the story, the reader hears the same message Lukacs delivered in his essay. Materialism is unfulfilling, elitism is empty, modernism is riddled with flaws, and yet the unrest within tradition cannot be ignored. Forster presented such topics hidden behind the veil of a traditional novel, allowing readers to become exposed to modernist sentiment, perhaps whether they realized it or not.
References
Forster, E.M. Howards End. 2013: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, London.
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Get custom essayLukacs, Gyorgy. “The Ideology of Modernism.” The Novel: An Anthology of Criticism and Theory 1900-2000. Ed. Dorothy J. Hale. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2006. 394-412.
Everyone has his or her own idea of literature and what separates a work of literary fiction from a work of popular fiction. Generally speaking, a work must adhere to literary traditions, convey a deeper meaning, and present conventional themes in order to be recognized as a work of literary fiction. To be recognized as young adult literary fiction, a work must meet all of the previous requirements, and it must be appropriate in style and subject matter for the intended audience, provide the audience with a valuable moral lesson, and focus on some sort of theme revolving around coming-of-age or self-realization. However, a work can meet all of the previous requirements and still lack the necessary cohesion, harmony, and conciseness required to meet the literary fiction standards. A work of literature intertwines various aspects of a novel that may seem unrelated on the surface in the interest of attaining a certain level of stylistic and technical aptitude. While a work of popular fiction is merely a source of entertainment that gratifies the masses with no significant end result, a work of literary fiction is a piece of unified art with a purpose. Diana Wynne Jones’s young adult novel Howl’s Moving Castle is a work of fantasy which meets all of the requirements that are necessary to be considered a work of literature.
Get original essayHowl’s Moving Castle begins in “the land of Ingary, where such things as seven-league boots and cloaks of invisibility really exist” (Jones 1). The protagonist of the novel, Sophie Hatter, is the eldest of three sisters, and this is considered to be “quite a misfortune” in Ingary (Jones 1). Both of Sophie’s biological parents died before the story takes place, and she is left in the care of her step-mother, Fanny Hatter. Being the eldest of the three sisters, Sophie is destined to inherit the family hat business while her sisters go on to fulfill their dreams. Sophie grows tired of living like an old maid working at the hat shop, but she continues to do so because she feels as though it is her destiny. Meanwhile, magical warfare is on the horizon in Ingary. Howl, a wizard with a reputation for stealing the hearts and souls of beautiful young women, roams around the areas surrounding Ingary in his enchanted castle, and the Witch of the Waste, a powerful and dangerous witch who has been banished to the Waste, a dismal land outside of Ingary, is on the prowl. One day, the Witch of the Waste visits the Hatter’s hat shop, and by mistake, she turns Sophie into an old woman using a curse. Sophie, in hopes of finding a way to break the curse, sets out to go visit Wizard Howl. Upon entering Howl’s moving castle, Sophie meets Calcifer, a fire demon, and Michael, a young apprentice. Calcifer recognizes that Sophie has been cursed, and he makes a deal with Sophie. If she can break the mysterious contract between Calcifer and Howl that keeps Calcifer bound to the castle’s hearth, he will undo the Witch of the Waste’s curse. Jones takes fantastical concepts and blends them with traditional aspects of young adult literature in a manner that creates a stunning work of literary art.
Seda Yavas, author of the scholarly article “Diana Wynne Jones's Howl's Moving Castle (1986) Or The Story Of A New Mythology," notes, “The very title of the novel could be interpreted as a warning for the readers that this is not going to be a typical fairy tale although all the necessary elements are present throughout the text, but in a completely different order in utterly different associations and combinations” . Jones explores traditional young adult themes of self-definition and coming of age while placing the readers of the novel in unconventional yet fully developed settings and situations. Charles Butler, author of the book Four British Fantasists: Place and Culture in the Children's Fantasies of Penelope Lively, Alan Garner, Diana Wynne Jones, and Susan Cooper, recognizes: In recent years, Jones’s critical fortunes have risen sharply, in part because her exploitation of such “post-modern” devices as multiple or fragmented subjectivities, alternate realities, self-altering narratives, intertextuality, and generic hybridity have made her a more fashionable writer in the theory-conscious academy of the 1990s and beyond. Jones takes common motifs and simplistic themes that are used in young adult literature, and she weaves aspects of high fantasy within them so that she may highlight or dramatize the actions taking place or lessons being taught in the novel. Jones did not create a work of popular fiction with a flashy storyline and alternative realities just for the entertainment value of it. She did not create a work of young adult literature which relies solely on fairytale cliches to teach a lesson. Instead, Jones explores elements of fantasy to accentuate and complicate the young adult story of Howl’s Moving Castle in a style that is befitting of a work of literary fiction.
One of Jones’s most notable adherences to the young adult literary tradition is seen in the absence of Sophie’s parents. Absent parents are quite common in young adult literature. Removing the parental figures from a novel allows the author to throw the protagonists into worlds of their own. The absence of parents in young adult literature is a technique employed by authors so that the focus of the novel is shifted toward the youth’s own ideals, choices, and actions. It is the literary equivalent of a mother bird pushing her fledglings out of the nest and forcing them to live their own lives. The absence of parental figures moves the plot forward by forcing protagonists to act on their own accord. Jones utilizes the absence of parents in Howl’s Moving Castle so that she may set up Sophie’s character’s growth. Another way in which Jones follows the young adult literary tradition is setting boundaries for Sophie to break during her character’s growth. Because Sophie is the eldest of the three sisters in Ingary, she is destined to lead an uneventful life. Her sisters could marry, learn magic, and be successful, but Sophie knows that she will have to live the life of an old woman in her hat shop. A common motif in young adult literature is breaking the rules or conditions of the setting, so Jones includes the limitations of Sophie’s identity in order to highlight Sophie’s character development and self-definition.
In addition to having no real parental figures and struggling with self-definition, Jones employs another common young adult literature in through Sophie’s attitude. Sophie is extremely unhappy in her position at the beginning of the novel. She feels as though her endless work in the hat shop is being taken advantage of by her step-mother, and she feels trapped in her reality. When she is cursed by the Witch of the Waste, she is able to seek another reality and escape her own. Escaping reality is a common theme in both young adult literature and fantasy literature, and Jones brings attention to and raises questions about this theme as the novel progresses. In addition to blending aspects of the young adult literary tradition with the fantasy tradition, Jones utilizes several literary devices which complement the literary quality of the work. An example of this can be seen in the self-fulfilling prophecy of Sophie’s age. When Sophie is despairing over her identity at the beginning of the novel, she feels as though “the past months of sitting and sewing had turned her into an old woman” (Jones 17). Shortly after this moment, the Witch of the Waste curses Sophie and turns her into an old woman, and this fulfills the prophecy. The Witch of the Waste turned Sophie’s fears of aging in a hat shop into her reality.
Age is a prominent subject in young adult literature, but Jones delves into the concept of age in a completely fantastical way. Deborah Kaplan, author of the article “Disrupted Expectations: Young/Old Protagonists in Diana Wynne Jones Novels,” notes the importance of age in the young adult literary tradition: “Questions of age confusion are particularly notable in works for young readers, for whom age is considered a pressing concern” ). In addition to serving as a self-fulfilling prophecy, Sophie’s age serves as an important turning point in her character development. As a young woman, Sophie was uncomfortable with her identity. As an old woman, Sophie becomes more open and comfortable. Because she does not feel confined by her identity as the eldest of three sisters as old woman, she is able to overcome her ill-fated destiny. Sophie’s old age allows her to become more comfortable with her identity and understand the trivial nature of the boundaries that she once perceived as determining her destiny. What was supposed to be a curse proves to be a useful tool for character development.
Another literary device employed by Jones is the use of allusions in Howl’s Moving Castle. Jones uses many allusions in her work, but she uses them in a slightly unconventional manner. Based on the idea that Ingary is a reality in which magic exists, Jones is able to mold literary allusions to fit her fantastical world. Among the allusions are references to Arthurian legend, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, J.R.R. Tolkien’s Elven city of Rivendell, and Hamlet. Clearly, Jones understands the importance of calling upon works of classical literature for the sake of furthering her own literary quality. One of the most striking allusions employed by Jones is the curse that was used on Howl by the Witch of the Waste. The curse is an allusion to the John Donne poem “Song: Go and Catch a Falling Star.” In Ingary, John Donne’s writing takes on a magical meaning that diverges from reality. The poem operates as a curse, and it is able to do so successfully because of the fantastical alternate reality which removes the poem’s original or true meaning.
In Ingary, magic is normal, so normal is foreign. If magic is real in Ingary, then poems can certainly be curses. Jones takes advantage of the opportunity to blend reality with fantasy in a way that helps the story generate its own form of believability. Because of the fantastical structure of her novel, she is able to generate a suspension of disbelief for her audience in what Farah Mendlesohn, author of Diana Wynne Jones: The Fantastic Tradition and Children's Literature, labels “a fully immersed fantasy” . Jones allows her readers to become fully immersed in the land of Ingary from the beginning of the novel. Sophie is never shocked by the magic that she witnesses in the world, and this further cements the believability of the novel. This suspension of belief that is generated by the wholeness of the fantasy reality allows Jones to employ allusions in a way that differs from standard use. Jones is able to separate the world of the novel with the real world through her magical twists on literary allusions. The plausibility or believability of the young adult themes explored in the novel is made possible by the setting. Because Jones asserts from the beginning of the work that magical is the norm in Ingary, she is able to convincingly explore common young adult themes in a groundbreaking and otherworldly manner.
Pauline Dewan, author of The Art of Place in Literature for Children and Young Adults: How Locale Shapes a Story, notes the importance of setting in other fairytales and fantasy works: Fairy tales are a particularly concrete, visual, and cinematic form of writing, a genre in which place is all-important. In fact, the concept of place is the focal point of Tolkien's definition of the fairy tale: “Fairy-stories are not in normal English usage stories about fairies or elves, but stories about Fairy, that is Faerie, the realm or state in which fairies have their being.” The world that Jones creates in Howl’s Moving Castle is what allows her to openly explore the young adult literary tradition without limitation. By creating a fantasy world, Jones is able to take readers into an unknown universe where they have no choice but to rely on the characters and their actions.
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Get custom essayIn conclusion, Jones’s Howl’s Moving Castle is a work of literary fiction rather than popular fiction. Jones demonstrates a clear adherence to both the fantasy literary tradition and the young adult literary tradition. Howl’s Moving Castle explores common themes associated with young adult literature through an unconventional fantasy setting which bolsters the believability of the novel. Jones effectively amplifies young adult themes by dramatizing them in a fantastical manner. Jones includes allusions to other literary works in her novel, but she does so atypically. Jones’s allusions adhere to tradition while deconstructing reality. It is apparent that Jones intended for the work to be read as a piece of literary art that takes the form of a young adult fantasy novel based on the sense of intricacy and interconnectivity that is displayed.
High Performance Computing most generally refers to the practice of aggregating computing power in a way that delivers much higher performance than one could get out of a typical desktop computIn simple terms, HPC enables us to first model then manipulate those things that are important to us. HPC changes everything. It is too important to ignore or push aside. Indeed, HPC has moved from a selective and expensive endeavor to a cost-effective technology within reach of virtually every budget. HPC is actually used in two ways: it can either mean “high performance computing” or “high performance computer.” It’s usually pretty clear from the context which sense is being used. To many organizations, HPC is now considered an essential part of business success. Your competition may be using HPC right now. They won’t talk much about it because it’s considered a competitive advantage. Of one thing you can be sure, however; they’re designing new products, optimizing manufacturing and delivery processes, solving production problems, mining data, and simulating everything from business process to shipping crates all in an effort to become more competitive, profitable, and “green.”
Get original essayHPC may very well be the new secret weapon. You may have heard of supercomputing, and monster machines from companies like Cray and IBM, that work on some of mankind’s biggest problems in science and engineering. Origins of the universe, new cancer drugs, that sort of thing. These are very exotic machines by virtue of the technologies inside them, and the scale at which they are built: sometimes 10,000 of thousands of processors make up a single machine. For this reason supercomputers are expensive, with the top 100 or so machines in the world costing upwards of $20M each. This kind of computing is related to the HPC you might consider for your business in the way that Formula One racers are related to your Camry. They are both cars, but that’s about where the similarity ends. Supercomputers, like race cars, take vast sums of money and specialized expertise to use, and they are only good for specialized problems (you wouldn’t drive a race car to the grocery store).
But a high performance computer, like the family sedan, can be used and managed without a lot of expense or expertise. If you’ve never done this before, you will need to learn new things. An HPC machine is more complex than a simple desktop computer — but don’t be intimidated! The basics aren’t that much more difficult to grasp, and there are lots of companies (big and small) out there that can provide as much or as little help as you need. High performance computers of interest to small and medium-sized businesses today are really clusters of computers. Each individual computer in a commonly configured small cluster has between one and four processors, and today’s processors typically have from two to four cores. HPC people often refer to the individual computers in a cluster as nodes. A cluster of interest to a small business could have as few as four nodes, or 16 cores. A common cluster size in many businesses is between 16 and 64 nodes, or from 64 to 256 cores. The point of having a high performance computer is so that the individual nodes can work together to solve a problem larger than any one computer can easily solve. And, just like people, the nodes need to be able to talk to one another in order to work meaningfully together. Of course computers talk to each other over networks, and there are a variety of computer network (or interconnect) options available for business cluster (see here for an overview of cluster interconnects).
Weather forecasts focus on short-term conditions while climate predictions focus onlong-term trends. You dress for the weather in the morning; you plan your winter vacation in the Virgin Islands for the warm, sunny climate. Delivering weather forecasts multiple times per day demands a robust computing infrastructure and a 24x7x365 focus on operational resilience. Computing a weather forecast requires scheduling a complex ensemble of pre-processing jobs, solver jobs and post-processing jobs. Since there is no use in a forecast for yesterday, the prediction must be delivered on time, every time. The best practice to deliver forecasts is to deploy two identical supercomputers, each capable of producing weather forecasts by itself. This ensures a backup is available if one system goes down. Running climate predictions are longer term jobs requiring bigger computations.There is no immediate risk if a climate computation takes a bit longer to run. Generally, climate prediction shares access to spare cycles on high-performance computing (HPC) systems whose first priority is weather. Fitting in and sharing access without impacting weather forecasting are the priorities. This complex prioritization and scheduling of weather simulations and climate predictions on HPC system sis where Altair’s PBS Professional (PBS Pro) workload management technology plays a keyrole. It is a natural fit for HPC applications such as weather and climate forecasting.
It enables users to address operational challenges such as resource conflicts due to more concurrent high-priority jobs, complexity of mixed operational and research workload, and unpredictability of emergency or other high-priority jobs. PBS Pro supports advance and recurring reservations for regular activities such as forecasts. It also provides automatic fail over and a 100% health check framework to detect and mitigate faults before they cause problems. Flexible scheduling policies mean top priority jobs (forecasts) finish on time while secondary-priority jobs (climate predictions) are fit in to maximize HPC resource utilization. In addition, the PBS Plugin Framework offers an open architecture to support unique requirements. Users can plug in third-party tools and even change the behavior of PBS Pro.
The practice of meteorology can be traced as far back as 3000 BC in India. Predicting the weather via computation, though comparatively recent, pre-dates electronic computers. In 1922, British mathematician Lewis Fry Richardson posited employing a whopping 64,000 human computers (people performing computations by hand) to predict the weather – 64,000 “computers” were needed to per form enough calculations, quickly enough, to predict the weather in “real time” (humans calculate at about 0.01 FLOPS, or FLoating-point Operations Per Second). It took another 30 years for electronic computers to produce the first real forecast: In 1950, ENIAC computed at a speed of about 400 FLOPS and was able to produce a forecast 24 hours in advance – in just under 24 hours – making it a match for Richardson’s 64,000 human computers in both compute speed and timeliness of result. Forecasts are created using a model of the earth’s systems by computing changes based on fluid flow, physics and chemistry. The precision and accuracy of a forecast depend on the fidelity of the model and the algorithms, and especially on how many data points are represented. In 1950, the model represented only a single layer of atmosphere above North America with a total of 304 data points. Since 1950, forecasting has improved to deliver about one additional day of useful forecast per decade (a four-day forecast today is more accurate than a one-day forecast in 1980). This increase in precision and accuracy has required huge increases in data model sizes (today’s forecasts use upwards of 100 million data points) and a commensurate, almost insatiable, need for more processing power. Today, weather centers across the globe are investing in petascale HPC to produce higher resolution and more accurate globaland regional weather predictions.
Supercomputing, along with big data, can meet the future demands of weather forecasting in three key areas:
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Get custom essayInfrastructures offering simulation and data-driven analytics capabilities to support routine execution of high-resolution forecasts will combine with advanced research to promote a whole new array of specialized meteorological services for public and private sectors. The future of weather forecasting requires capabilities we couldn’t even conceive of when we began predicting the weather 64 years ago. Supercomputing innovation has so far kept pace with the demands of the community, and it is poised to offer new solutions in the years to come.
In China, the name Hua Mulan (???) has been connected with the term ‘heroine’ for hundreds of years. Hua Mulan has become a symbol of heroic behavior. Her character has inspired many Chinese women to defy traditional gender roles.
Get original essayThroughout history, there have been many versions of the legend of Mulan. They all have a common storyline: Mulan’s father has received an order to serve in the army. Due to his age and frailty, Mulan decided to disguise herself as a male and take his place. Mulan achieved a lot during battle and was soon promoted into a general because of her great military strategy. When the war was over, the emperor asked her what she would like as a reward. Mulan asked for nothing but to return home to her parents.
The legendary character, Mulan, originated from a Chinese poem, the “Ballad of Mulan (???).” It is one of the first poems in Chinese history to support female equality. In the poem, Mulan seems uninterested in chores and getting married. She is more worried about the draft which calls for a male in the family to serve the army. Near the end of the poem, it is said that Mulan went back to her female appearance and met up with those men she was fighting alongside with. They were shocked to find out that she was a woman. The last four lines quotes how it is impossible to tell the gender difference when they are “running side by side close to the ground.”
This poem was first put into written form in the Musical Records of Old and New in the 6th century. However, the original work no longer exists. The story of Mulan has been passed down through many years in all different ways and forms. During the late Ming Dynasty, the story was expanded into a novel. And as time goes by, the story of Mulan became a popular folk tale among the Chinese people.
The historical setting of Mulan is uncertain. The earliest accounts of the legend state that she lived during the Northern Wei dynasty which was from 386 AD to 534 AD. However, Cheng Dachang of the Song Dynasty recorded that she lived during the Sui and Tang Dynasties, which was from 581 AD to 618 AD. Many others throughout history stated different time periods and places Mulan was from. However, most agreed that she was from a region in China known as the Central Plains.
Mulan is revealed to be a very caring daughter. She sacrificed herself to serve the army in place of her father. She was said to be a skillful fighter and brave warrior. She was away from home and fought in war for twelve years. In the twelve years, she has been promoted to a general and became well-known for her military tactics and strategies. She was said to have saved China and was offered a reward by the emperor. She became a very significant person in Chinese history and a symbol for heroism.
Was Hua Mulan a Real Person? Whether or not Hua Mulan was a real person or based on a real person is still unknown. However, a woman in Chinese history, Wang Cong’er, is believed to be similar to Mulan. Although Wang Cong’er’s story is different from Mulan’s, her bravery and tactics are similar.
Wang Cong’er led the uprising of the White Lotus sect against the Qing regime. She led an army of men and fought with kung fu and acrobatics along with a sword in each hand. The current records of the Qing court stated that “the deadliest of all the rebels are those led by Madam Wang, wife of Qi.” After thousands of men were killed by Qing’s army, Wang retreated forcefully. With nowhere left to go, she jumped to her death. Despite being defeated, Wang has created a precedent for revolts against the Chinese imperial rule. This continued until the mid-20th century when Mao Zhedong and his army eradicated the monarchy.
Besides Wang Cong’er, it was said that Hua Mulan was also based off of a lot of other female warriors. No one knows for sure whether a character like Mulan really existed in real life. Some believed for it to be just a legend, some believed the original creator based Mulan off of a person with a similar background.
Medias Based on Mulan. Many movies have been made about the character, Mulan, including Disney’s version of the story that was released in 1998. Although Disney’s version is less authentic and more westernized, it still brought Mulan’s name to a wider audience. Disney’s version has the general idea of the poem. However, the difference is that in the movie, Mulan is shown to be unskilled with weapons. The Mulan in history is said to have practiced many different weapons and where she lived was known for practicing kung fu and being skilled with the sword. Disney added a wise horse, a cricket, and a small red dragon in the movie to accompany Mulan and help her during battle. Of course, according to legend, Mulan was by herself and no one knew that she was a woman.
According to Disney’s version and other movies about Mulan, it is said that she have fallen in love with somebody during battle. In the legend of Mulan, nothing was mentioned about her falling in love or having a relationship with anyone. It was just stated that she believed she was unfit for marriage.
Other than Disney’s release in 1998, the story of Hua Mulan also inspired a lot of other movies and series such as ‘Mulan Joins the Army’ (1939; film), ‘Lady General Hua Mulan’ (1964; film), ‘A Tough Side of a Lady’ (1998; series), ‘Hua Mu Lan’ (1999; series), and ‘Mulan’ (2009; film). There were also operas and plays based on this legend that were before and after Disney’s release.
Overall, the legend of Mulan still remains a legend. But the name Hua Mulan is known by a lot of people today. Throughout history, a lot of different versions of the legend of Mulan have been created. There are still movies made about Mulan. Whether or not this female warrior was a real person in history, her story has inspired a lot of people.
In John Webster’s tragic play The Duchess of Malfi, the titular character is undoubtedly subjected to great degrees of suffering, both physical and mental. However, it is less clear whether or not she can be viewed simply as an innocent victim. While it can indeed be argued that the Duchess provides an example of good people being made to suffer by the evil of in imperfect world, she can also be contrarily viewed as unwittingly contributing to her own downfall in fitting with the Aristotelian ideas of tragedy. To view the Duchess as a character who destroys herself can be to view her as a generally moral person who falls prey to her own hamartia, be it an error in judgement or rashness. Alternatively, it can be to view her as a character that brings about her downfall through moral discrepancies such as lust, selfishness or excessive pride or hubris. This latter portrait is one of a character who is deserving of her fate, as her suffering comes to be seen as a punishment rather than an instance of unjust persecution.
Get original essayIt is tempting to argue that the duchess herself is the culprit of her own downfall, due to her poor choices and actions. David Mann clearly lays the blame on the Duchess’s shoulders as he suggests that “unlike other heroines who are passive victims of men’s cruelty or misapprehensions the Duchess creates her own tragedy by her actions, quite wittingly, preferring to live her sexual life to the full and, knowing what they are, to risk the consequences”[1]. In this sense, it can be deducted that lust is the Duchess’s tragic flaw or hamartia, and her inability to resist its temptation paves the way to her ultimate destruction. Indeed, it is her secret affair and marriage with Antonio which leads directly to her decidedly tragic death and suffering as it serves to provoke the wrath of Ferdinand and the Cardinal. She disobeys her brothers’ wishes for her to remain a chaste widow, for which they inflict torture and murder on her in return. Of course, along with the notion that the Duchess causes her own suffering, may too come the idea of her deserving it for being, in Ferdinand’s words, a “whore”[2] who embodies corruption and indecency. Indeed, her language to Antonio is often sexually suggestive, for example when she tells him she “is flesh and blood…not the figure cut in alabaster…Kneels at [her] husband’s tomb” (14). Here the imagery of her flesh delineates her seductive nature as she offers her body to a second husband in direct defiance of her brothers. Philip Stevick supports this view as he argues that “Here we have a protagonist whose character is essentially unsympathetic, in that [their] goals and purposes are repugnant”[3]. This statement highlights the arguable obscenity of the Duchess’s desires and the way in which her suffering could be rendered well deserved. It can also be seen that, along with her sinful acts of lust, the Duchess also suffers from a degree of hubris in the form of pride. Indeed, she holds the conviction that she should be able to choose her own partner, and refuses to bow to her brothers’ wishes. She defies social norms by proposing to Antonio, suggesting that her pride renders her unwilling to exist as her brothers’ claim to a royal bloodline, and she deems herself worthy and capable of taking on the masculine role in her courtship of Antonio. It can be argued that the Duchess’s power leads her to develop an inflated sense of self, believing herself to be exempt from the expectations placed on her both as a female and as a ruler. This assumption can be seen as her error in judgement, and her excessive pride as her fatal flaw.
It can be argued that the Duchess is also guilty of discarding her public duties in favour of a sexually driven marriage with the social inferior she has fallen in love with. She makes her priorities clear just before she proposes to Antonio, as she tells him that she is “making [her] will as 'tis fit princes should” (12). This statement can be interpreted as the Duchess suggesting that the personal endeavour of courting and marrying Antonio is her true duty rather than her political duties and public obligations. From this view the Duchess is guilty too of possessing a weakness of character, as she seems to lack the necessary willpower to put the importance of leadership in front of her own personal desires. The Duchess, as the leader of a nation, can be viewed as having two separate sides. There is her physical body and personal life, and then there is her political side or body politic. By focussing her primary goals and attentions on Antonio, the Duchess shows herself to be far more concerned with the needs of her private physical body than the duties of her body politic. It is notable that the complete loss of control and power at the hands of her brothers’ can be seen as a fitting punishment for her abuse and neglect of political power. She does not respect her position of power and so it is taken from her, along with the power to protect those she loves. The loss of her husband and her children can all be seen as consequences of her selfishness and disregard for her duties. She seduces Antonio into living a provocative secret life with her, and one which ultimately gets him murdered. Meanwhile, her children actually stand as a physical product of the sexual actions which arguably render the Duchess guilty of irresponsibility and selfishness. It can be deemed that the Duchess’s children are born at the expense of her nation, as she is more preoccupied with her motherly responsibility for her children than her public responsibility for her people. The nature of the Duchess’s relationship with Antonio has in itself two conflicting sides, much like the Duchess and her priorities. Antonio is not only the object of her lust and later her husband, he also holds a political position in her court as her steward. Politically and socially he stands as her inferior, but the Duchess knowingly breaks custom and public expectation by raising him up to be her marital equal. On this note, the act of marrying beneath herself can also be seen as the primary driving force of her brothers’ wrath, and therefore the root cause of the Duchess’ tragic fate. This idea is supported by the conversation between the Duchess, Ferdinand and the Cardinal during which the Cardinal warns her that remarriage to someone who is not a noble like her first husband would “sway [her] high blood” (9). From this comment it is evident that the two brothers have personally concerned themselves with protecting their sister’s royal blood by way of making sure it remains untainted by remarriage to a suitor of a lesser social class. Theodora A. Jankowski supports this standpoint by stating that “the very nature of her marriage is so revolutionary and challenges social custom to such a degree that the Duchess must be punished for her audacity in creating it”[4]. Indeed, the Duchess not only breaks custom by marrying beneath herself, particularly as she is a figure of political power, but also by taking on what would have been perceived as the ‘male’ role in the relationship in a Jacobean context.
From another viewpoint, the Duchess is still to blame for her own downfall, not just because of her lustful nature or disloyalty to her duties but because of her decision to juggle both situations at once. From this standpoint her true error is rashness, as she carries out a secret marriage, becomes a mother to children, and tries to keep her position as Duchess without thinking of the possible consequences of this collision of priorities. In contrast to the idea of her choosing lust over duty, it seems that she actually chooses both lust and leadership. It can be seen that it is this impossible attempt at maintaining two journeys down conflicting paths which causes her life to unravel into what Stevick refers to as “Well deserved misfortune”[5]. From this standpoint, the path of duty is only feasible in a situation where the Duchess either remains a widow, or remarries to someone fitting of her own social standing. On the contrary, the Duchess instead marries Antonio for love and attraction as oppose to social responsibility and duty. Along with this ill-advised attempt at a double life, the duchess can also be seen to be guilty of a severe error of judgement in regards to her brothers’ capabilities for evil. As Marliss C. Desens argues “she initially underestimates the lengths to which her male relatives will go when they perceive her as slipping out of their control”[6]. Indeed, while she is aware that her brothers will disapprove, she tells Antonio that if they were to find out “time will easily/ Scatter the tempest” (14). She acknowledges that marrying beneath her may provoke her brothers’ anger, but does not realise that their need to control her goes a lot deeper than simply choosing her husband for her.
The very fact that the Duchess possesses the power to rule can be seen as enough in itself to taint her moral image and colour her as the cause of her own well deserved downfall in the context of a Jacobean society. Therefore, although choosing love over duty is sometimes seen as her fatal mistake, dedication to the throne may have been just as catastrophic. Lisa Hopkins supports this reasoning by stating that, in Renaissance England, “Female government is by its very nature seen as inherently monstrous, as indeed is suggested by Knox when he compares female government to a monstrous body politic with no proper head”[7]. Indeed, Knox’s rejection of female rule predates Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi by about three decades, and it epitomizes the aversion to the placement of women in positions of authority which remained to some extent throughout the early modern period. The reference to the body politic metaphor which compares a nation and its people to a living body, together with the assertion that a government or ‘body’ under female rule is inherently deformed and monstrous, certainly suggests that the Duchess’s leadership is a destructive and corrupting plague upon herself, her country and her people. The portrait painted by Knox holds further implications for the character of the Duchess as he describes the female lead body politic as being without a head. This suggests that, like all female rulers, the Duchess is intellectually and inherently incapable of success, rendering her failure not only self-imposed but also ultimately inevitable based purely on her gender. Hopkins outlines this view of women as being incapable of achieving anything substantial as she notes that “What the Duchess does would not be wrong if she were a private person; the implication is, therefore, that if a woman is put in a position of public responsibility, she must either violate her own nature or transgress against her duties”[8]. Indeed, the romance between the Duchess and Antonio is arguably immoral largely because of the Duchess’s responsibility to protect the royal bloodline with which she rules over the nation. Her marriage and sexual relations with Antonio not only violate this bloodline, but also distract her from her obligation to dedicate herself to her country and her people. Moreover, Knox summarised his reasoning behind his denunciation of female rulers using Biblical references of God’s creation of Adam and Eve. For example, in his sixteenth century book The History of the Reformation of Scotland Knox wrote “First, I say, the woman in her greatest perfection was made to serve and obey man, not to rule and command him”[9]. The religious connotations of women being “made” to be subservient hold implications for the morality of the Duchess, the implication being that in renouncing her God given position in favour of ruling, she deserves her suffering as a form of divine punishment or justice. Therefore, from a purely Christian basis the Duchess surely does bring misfortune on herself through her actions and their respective consequences, but these consequences come as a punishment from God himself as oppose to simply being the logical outcome of cause and effect.
However, the apparent impression of the Duchess being to blame for her own downfall is likely to be more a product of the play and the playwright’s original time period, as opposed to being due to any true fault on the part of the character. The portrayal of a powerful woman who makes her own choices and resists the restraints of Jacobean patriarchy would have been deemed controversial and provocative within its original seventeenth century context. Mann emphasizes this point as he states that “It is a unique portrait well in advance of its time, and one, arguably, that transcends the restrictive polarization of women to which even Shakespeare very largely subscribed”[10]. It can be argued that it is this diversion from gender role norms which once made the Duchess appear as a kind of abomination, destroying herself by rejecting her expected submissive nature. In other words, the suffering of the Duchess appears to be self-inflicted or well-deserved only when placed against the backdrop of a Jacobean society and its oppressively rigid expectations of both real and fictional females. It is not only the audience’s perception of the Duchess which would have been influenced by this society but also Webster’s portrayal and treatment of the character and her actions. This treatment, unlike an outdated audience perception, endures even in contemporary society as it comes through in language and tone. As Emma Smith argues, the play “certainly does not perpetuate the moralising [of the Duchess being a whore who deserved her suffering], but nor does it completely recast the play’s central couple as heroic”[11]. However, whilst the character of the Duchess is, to some extent, coloured negatively due to her being an autonomous and powerful female character who is a product of a male orientated time period, there is also a contrasting sense of her as being a sympathetic character. Leah S. Marcus disputes the idea of seventeenth century audiences seeing the Duchess as an immoral and self-destroying character as she argues that “Despite – or because of – her clandestine marriage and its aftermath, the Duchess of Malfi aroused a sympathetic response among many Londoners even decades after the work in which she appears was written and first performed”[12]. Smith gives an example of a scene which outlines the play’s more positive impressions of the Duchess and her morality as she states that “The death of Cariola, begging for mercy, seems designed to emphasize the Duchess’s self-possession and grace”[13]. Indeed, when juxtaposed against the pitiful begging of her handmaiden who rants that she is “not prepar’d for it” and that she “will not die…must not” (66), the Duchess’s dignified acceptance of her own death reinforces her as both a sympathetic character and as an admirable one. Smith acknowledges the dual impression of the Duchess in terms of morality and of her choices and actions as she argues that “The play’s inconsistent attitudes towards the Duchess may suggest its own struggle with what she represents, and the impossibility of reconciling her aspiration to self-governance with the patriarchal world in which she, and her Jacobean audience, largely live”[14]. Certainly, although the integrity of her actions is often questionable, it must be taken into consideration that these moral misgivings may well be necessary for her to free herself from the oppression of the males in her life.
In spite of the arguments portraying the Duchess as a character who falls prey to her own hubris, the more convincing view concerning the cause of her suffering is that it is not her fault. Overall she comes across simply as an innocent victim of external evils. The most poignant of these evils is the human cruelty or her brothers, who directly destroy most everything the Duchess holds dear to her, before ultimately ending her life. In the case of Ferdinand, the ‘punishment’ he inflicts on his sister has little to do with what she has or hasn’t done, and has everything to do with Ferdinand’s own flawed and deeply warped nature. Martin White argues that “Ferdinand’s desire for his sister borders on the incestuous, though his feelings are in no way returned by the Duchess”[15]. Indeed, many critics interpret Ferdinand’s obsession with his sister’s destruction as being driven not by social class concerns or anger over his sister’s disloyalty, but rather by an unrequited sexual attraction to her. Indeed, on more than one occasion he uses his dagger as a tool of intimidation against his sister. This dagger can be viewed as a phallic symbol, and the way in which he uses it to threaten her as holding sexual undertones. The threat of penetrating her flesh with a phallic object is quite possibly a metaphor for his true threat of a rape motivated by his need to sexually possess her. From this view, the Duchess is completely blameless in her downfall, as her only contributing traits or acts are those which she cannot help, namely being a woman and being attractive. She is ultimately forced to endure untold suffering simply because of Ferdinand’s bitterness and jealousy towards her marriage to another man, together with his hope that destroying her will destroy the perverse and forbidden feelings of lust which he may or may not be fully aware of himself. The emergence of Ferdinand’s delusion of lycanthropy supports this notion of incestuous undertones in his character, as his ‘transformation’ occurs shortly after his sister is murdered. Having dominated her physical body by ending her life, the ‘beast’ which emerges can be seen as being symbolic of a forbidden sexual desire towards his sister which is finally released by her death. Even if this incestuous view of Ferdinand’s intentions is to be rejected, and he and the Cardinal are indeed concerned with their sister’s social class and purity of their bloodline, it remains unfair that the Duchess is forced to suffer for their fixations.
Of a wider significance, the innocent Duchess is a victim not only of her brothers, but of patriarchy in general. She has come to be in a most unique position for a woman of the seventeenth century, in that she is both largely autonomous as a widow and in control of her deceased husband’s court. It is this autonomy and power which ultimately renders her as a target in a largely patriarchal society. Her brother’s symbolise the crushing oppression of patriarchy on women and their desire for freedom, as supported by Dr Sarah E Johnson who argues that Webster’s play “shows men obsessively trying to control a woman’s body, and a woman attempting to recover the body, at least to some extent, from the damage of this control”[16]. The brothers seek to control her physical body, first by denying her bodily pleasures by ordering her to remain chaste, and later by denying her physical life by quite literally strangling the life from her. Indeed, as the Duchess’s title offers her some political authority over her brothers, Ferdinand and the Cardinal use violence as a means of rebalancing their family dynamic to once again fit the model of patriarchy, with the female sibling being crushed by the domineering weight of the male siblings. The aforementioned phallic symbol of Ferdinand’s dagger not only holds undertones of incestuous desire but also of the mechanics of patriarchy. This is evident as Ferdinand tells the Duchess that it was “[their] father’s poniard” (10), and is therefore a symbol of patriarchy which has been passed down from father to son. This can be seen to demonstrate, through this use of symbolism, the way in which the control of females in the seventeenth century was passed down from their fathers to either their husbands or to their brothers. Despite her tendency to reject tradition, the Duchess does not completely separate herself from these patriarchal restrictions, as she makes every effort to keep her marriage a secret from her brothers. In this way, she realises her restrictions as a woman and attempts to work around them without submitting to them. This is an important point in light of the view that the Duchess could be at fault for keeping her marriage a secret, as she would not have been forced to do so if not for the oppression of patriarchy.
Of course, while the oppressive force of patriarchy and the wrath of her brothers can be viewed as the primary causes of the Duchess’s suffering, there is also the idea that human cruelty and societal oppression are just two harsh aspects of a deeply flawed and imperfect world. The character of Bosola, although a villain himself, subscribes to the belief that living in the world and, more specifically, human society is an unpleasant experience. He describes life itself as a “general mist of error” (65), suggesting that humanity is the result of a random accident and therefore rejecting the Christian idea of Divine creation. He goes on to imply that we are born for no reason other than to suffer and die, which is evident as he juxtaposes the image of death as “a hideous storm of terror” (65) against the calm yet depressingly bleak imagery of the meaningless mist of life. This is indeed largely reminiscent of the Duchess’s experience of life during the novel. After she presumably finds freedom from her husband with his death, she still lives under the oppressive ‘mist’ of the evils of a society obsessed with social standing and self-interest. These warped values are ones which can still be deemed relevant even in contemporary society. From this view, the Duchess does not bring the suffering on herself, but is rather inevitably doomed to suffer along with the rest of humanity. Alternatively, it can be argued that her suffering is not inevitable in general, but inevitable because of her innocence and kindness. Rather than being rewarded for this, she is tortured and murdered, demonstrating the way in which those with positive virtues and characteristics are destroyed by those who are corrupt and evil. Northrop Frye adheres to this idea that the Duchess is a light of goodness amidst the darkness of cruelty as he states that “the Duchess has the innocence of abundant life in a sick and melancholy society”[17]. Indeed, she values the modest ideals of love and motherhood over the deplorable ideals of power and controlling others and ultimately she is destroyed because of this. Therefore, it is not the Duchess herself who brings on her catastrophe but rather the unjust triumph of evil over good and corruption over innocence which prevails in an imperfect world.
In conclusion, the view that the Duchess is a character who causes her own suffering through her hubris or hamartia is ultimately unconvincing and weak. The implication of such a view is that it is essentially a form of victim blaming, looking to justify the actions of the Duchess’ sadistic brothers rather than to highlight them as the clear villains. While she as a character is not perfect, as she irresponsibly lives two separate lives and tends to fall prey to human weaknesses such as desire and love, she is still not to blame for her own downfall as any hubris she may be deemed guilty of greatly pales in comparison to the cruelty of the characters she is surrounded by, together with the degree of her suffering. Instead, she is persecuted because of her brothers’ patriarchy fuelled desires for control and their obsession with the purity of their family bloodline. The play paints a perfect portrait of how the innocent are not spared the cruelty of an imperfect world, and in actual fact suffer more for their innocence as they become victims of, and used as pawns by, others who are crueller and more corrupt than themselves.
Bibliography
DESENS, Marliss C. “Marrying Down: Negotiating a More Equal Marriage on the English Renaissance Stage”. In Medieval and Renaissance Drama in England, edited by John Pitcher, 227-258. Mississauga: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2001.
FRYE, Northrop. “The Mythos of Autumn: Tragedy”. In The Questions of Tragedy, edited by Arthur B. Coffin, 167-210. New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 1991.
HOPKINS, Lisa. Writing Renaissance Queens: Texts by and about Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots. Cranberry: University of Delaware Press, 2002.
JANKOWSKI, Theodora A. Women in Power in the Early Modern Drama. Champaigne: University of Illinois Press, 1992.
JOHNSON, Dr Sarah E. Staging Women and the Soul-Body Dynamic in Early Modern England. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd, 2014.
KNOX, John. The history of the reformation of religion in Scotland. Glasgow: Blackie, Fullarton, and co., 1831. Accessed February 21, 2015. https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=z_8QAAAAIAAJ.
MANN, David. Shakespeare’s Women: Performance and Conception. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
MARCUS, Leah S. “The Duchess’s Marriage in Contemporary Contexts”. In The Duchess of Malfi: A critical guide, edited by Christina Luckyj, 106-118. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2011.
SMITH, Emma. Introduction to Women on the Early Modern Stage: A Woman Killed with Kindness, The Tamer Tamed, The Duchess of Malfi, The Witch of Edmonton, edited by Emma Smith, vii-xix. London: A&C Black, 2014.
STEVICK, Phillip. Theory of the Novel. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967.
WEBSTER, John. The Duchess of Malfi. New York: Courier Corporation, [1614] 2012. Kindle Edition.
WHITE, Martin. Ford: ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.
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Get custom essay[1] David Mann, Shakespeare’s Women: Performance and Conception (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008), 185. [2] John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi (New York: Courier Corporation, 2012), 31. Subsequent references in parenthesis are to this edition. [3] Philip Stevick, Theory of the Novel (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967), 159. [4] Theodora A. Jankowski, Women in Power in the Early Modern Drama, (Champaigne: University of Illinois Press, 1992), 179. [5] Stevick, Theory of the Novel, 159. [6] Marliss C. Desens, “Marrying Down: Negotiating a More Equal Marriage on the English Renaissance Stage”, in Medieval and Renaissance Drama in England, ed. John Pitcher (Mississauga: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2001), 240. [7] Lisa Hopkins, Writing Renaissance Queens: Texts by and about Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots (Cranberry: University of Delaware Press, 2002), 41. [8] Hopkins, Writing Renaissance Queens, 40. [9] John Knox, The history of the reformation of religion in Scotland (Glasgow: Blackie, Fullarton, and co., 1831), 445, accessed February 21, 2015, https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=z_8QAAAAIAAJ. [10] Mann, Shakespeare’s Women, 185. [11] Smith, introduction, xv. [12] Leah S. Marcus, “The Duchess’s Marriage in Contemporary Contexts”, in The Duchess of Malfi: A critical guide, ed. Christina Luckyj (London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2011), 116. [13]Emma Smith, introduction to Women on the Early Modern Stage: A Woman Killed with Kindness, The Tamer Tamed, The Duchess of Malfi, The Witch of Edmonton, ed. Emma Smith (London: A&C Black, 2014), xv. [14] Smith, introduction, xv. [15] Martin White, Ford: ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), 93. [16] Dr Sarah E Johnson, Staging Women and the Soul-Body Dynamic in Early Modern England (Farnham: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd, 2014), 129. [17] Northrop Frye, “The Mythos of Autumn: Tragedy”, in The Questions of Tragedy, ed. Arthur B. Coffin (New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 1991), 182.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a compelling story filled with excitement, sorrow, and life lessons. Huckleberry Finn goes on an escapade into the south with a runaway slave, Jim. The opportunity to do what is morally right versus what everyone around you believes is right is an option people come across today. A decision between doing what is morally correct and what society expects of oneself is a choice Huck is continuously making. Throughout the story of Huckleberry’s adventure, his conscience is regularly fighting with his brain on what to do. In chapter sixteen, Jim is telling Huck how he will save money to buy back his family once he is free, and if he does not have enough money, he will steal them. This makes Huck feel as if he is doing wrong by the man who owns Jim’s children. Huck tells Jim he will take the canoe to shore and see how far they are from Cairo, the city Jim associated with his freedom. When Huck leaves in the canoe, he has the intention to turn Jim in. Huck hears Jim say that he is the, “on’y white genlman dat ever kep’ his promise to ole Jim”. These words made Huck realize returning Jim to slavery would be breaking the trust of a friend.
Get original essayJust because society expects you to return a person to slavery, it does not mean it is the morally correct decision to make. Just last month, India removed a law discriminating against the LGBTQ community. For many years, the people of the LGBTQ community in India had been criminals for expressing themselves. Slavery in America kept African Americans from living their lives fully. They were invariably degraded because of the color of their skin. Huck recognized that the color of one's skin does not make you more or less human than someone else. With the new law passing in India, it shows, “our ability to recognize others who are different is a sign of our own evolution”.
The people of India identified that they were ignorant about rights the LGBTQ community is entitled to, just as Huck realizes Jim is just as human as he is. Others in the story recognized that slaves are people too. Miss Mary Jane was disheartened when a slave family was separated due to the auctioning of their property. As she and Huck discussed her feelings on moving to England, “she didn’t know how she was ever going to be happy there, knowing the mother and children warn’t ever going to see each other no more”. Mary Jane knew it was unethical to separate a family, no matter the color of their skin. Huck did not want Mary Jane to endure the pain of thinking this was her doing. He decided telling her the truth was the appropriate action to take. Recently, in Kenya, many people have been ignoring laws and acting inappropriately towards their fellow citizens. Some are saying that, “when morals go down, the society becomes disorderly and everything and anything is possible”.
The increase of crime and rape show the lack of respect and morality citizens have. With no appreciation for one's own life, they have no appreciation for the life of another. Huck and Mary Jane considered the lives and feelings of other human beings more than some people in the world today. All throughout the story of Huckleberry’s adventure, characters are given the choice to side with society or their morality. Huck had the chance to return his friend to slavery as society would expect him to do, but he never did. Mary Jane was heartbroken about splitting up a slave family and rejoiced when she found out they would be reunited. These characters knew not to let society dictate what they believed about others based on their race.
In the book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn written by Mark Twain, is a story that is placed in the 1830’s. As Huck is drawn out to be a “normal” 13-year-old boy, the circumstances he is given have a far more complex living situation due to his alcoholic father who treated him poorly. Twain has juxtaposed civilization, slavery with freedom and many other social norms. As we know, Huck is not a slave although he still feels trapped by society’s norms. Huckleberry Finn's character change between morally correct and incorrect is a result of ultimately being a child that is forced into adulthood due to the natural consequences of his inability to fit into society, which is shown through his growth of maturity that is expressed between his interactions with others, conflict with his father, and experiencing different social beliefs.
Get original essayStarting at the beginning of the story, the robber game that Tom Sawyer and Huck played was very descriptive and a key to character development that Twain hinted at early on. Tom who can not escape his immanent mortality simply does not pay attention to rules and others around him. When Tom wanted to bind Jim to a tree, Huck, more soundly, disagreed, “Jim may wake up and alert the people in the house and they would be discovered”. During this situation, as Huck expresses disagreement, an external conflict arose due to Tom pushing Huck to the side and refusing to not do anything to Jim and let him be. Huck begins to discover his voice and mortality very early in the book, because he refuses to tie up Jim to a tree, internally this is a huge conflict because of the way he was raised to believe it is wrong to show sympathy to a slave. Because Huck is still young and inexperienced with life, he still lacks the maturity we will see later on. This is just one step of a stone as he begins to transform from a child who lives according to 'normal' social values to becoming an adult who brings their own values to life.
Furthermore, Hucks' father, Pap, complicates Huck's life considerably compared to the other characters in the book. It is obvious that being a father is an important role to play in a family, although Pap doesn't care about Huck, as he beats and psychologically abuses him. In fact, pap is primarily interested in only getting drunk. As a result, he is also resentful of Huck's ability to learn how to read and write, as well as studying religion, and only wants Huck for his own needs and ordered chores.“He said he'd cowhide me till I was black and blue if I didn't raise some money for him”. Pap, who was very drunk, tried to kill Huck as he attempted to escape. This is a very big moment because then Huck runs away and meets Jim and starts to move forward in a lot of ways beginning their adventures. Huck's runaway and journey was in part due to Pap. Having lived with his Pap, Huck was faced with several challenges, but under the surface he recognized Pap's psychology and took measures into his own hands as if that was the only way to survive. The way he reacts shows he has grown and matured since even playing the game with Tom; the way he makes this statement is by simply running away with Jim and refusing to relent to the abuse. Ultimately, although he is still a young boy, we can already see him developing into a young adult by the fact that he is no longer going to have a father figure in his life.
Last but not least, culture has a huge impact on individuals in Huck Finn's world, and in the case of Huck, he had to rebel against the 'normal' values of society to find the truth for himself. Slavery was justified under whatever social or religious means Americans deemed necessary at the time. Huck's non-conformist attitude entails a large amount of conflict, causing him to rely predominantly on himself, subsequently causing him to alienate himself from the rest of society. While society kept attempting to reform him, they were unsuccessful, “All right, then I’ll go to hell”. In this quote, we can see how Huck has switched perspectives and has found the courage to speak his truth and stand up for his beliefs even if it may result in him going to hell. During his journey, Huck encounterd the brutal realities of society and discovers its many shortcomings as he learns from others' mistakes and develops a friendship with the escaped slave, Jim. As it is near the end of the book, it is apparent that Huck has developed another level of maturity that he did not possess in the beginning. He has overcome his insecurity of himself and his own values, regardless of how you are perceived by society which ultimately transformed him into a young adult.
In conclusion, Huck learns to think for himself, and to not conform to the ways of the people around him. Although the world that he lives in teaches him to be a racist, he showed growth and maturity that transformed into a young adult by the end. Humanism, the notion that every person deserves respect and compassion, the emphasis on regional differences and the need to understand others who are different, and satire addressing our complacency regarding the evils in the world are all worth highlighting. Huckleberry Finn is a book that is qualified to teach anybody. It captures the moment when young adults are making significant decisions about their lives - emotional, academic, social, and moral decisions. Young people are making decisions about their jobs and friends that directly influence their behavior away from adult supervision away from the confines of home and school. Since Huck has to go through the same process, the book serves as a model for young people everywhere who are making the same choices.
Within the poetry of Hughes and Plath, the theme of human relationships is written of in varying and diverse manners. Plath’s work details relationships, such as the parent-child relationship, using powerful and intricate imagery, while Hughes conveys the theme using comparatively simpler, but more metaphorical language. Both poets seem to supply a complex view of relations, and although many may consider their portrayal as ‘bleak and disturbing’, there are certainly readings which could oppose this view.
Get original essayFirstly, ‘Morning Song’, a poem illustrating the surreal period of time for the parents after the birth of a new baby, certainly portrays the relationship of parent and child in an ambivalent manner. The poem was written shortly after the birth of Plath’s first child Frieda, so could be read biographically- however, in many of Plath’s poems, personas are used to convey her views on different aspects of life- so, although a confessionary poem, the emotions are likely to be exaggerated. At a first reading, the relationship may seem disconnected and distant - but as with all Plath’s poetry, the symbolic and cryptically metaphorical language conveys deeper implications of the relationship.
The title of the poem, ‘Morning Song’, arguably does not seem to indicate any startling negativity concerning the relationship; on the contrary, both words seem to immediately evoke joyful, or even celebratory connotations. The time period of ‘morning’ could perhaps be metaphorically alluding to the idea of beginnings- the start of a whole life for the child, and the commencement of a different life for the new parents. Many readers would automatically link the idea of a new beginning, to the idea of hope, and the great possibility of happiness. Furthering this interpretation, the word ‘song’ evidently holds the idea of celebration and jubilance, and could be viewed as representative of a welcoming for the child. Alternatively, it could be interpreted that the title alludes to the cry of the new baby- if so, it does not seem to be representing it particularly negatively. The comparison of a cry to a song certainly seems to suggest an awe, or admiration from the point of the parent rather than anxiety or discomfort. However, perhaps a more bleak interpretation of the title could be formed if ‘morning’ is read as simultaneously suggesting the homophonic word ‘mourning’. In which case, it could be seen as implying a metaphorical death of the parents- their old lives fading away, as the birth of the child completely changes them. Although this idea could be seen as negatively representing the relationship, it is only a single, arguably tenuous interpretation- primarily, the title provides the reader with a light, hopeful first view of the poem- far from being disturbing.
However, within the poem itself many instances seem to present a more negative, and bleak representation of the relationship. Most pointedly, the speaker states: ‘I’m no more your mother/ Than the cloud that distils a mirror to reflect its own slow/ Effacement’. Certainly this seems to indicate the mother’s reluctance to accept her new responsibility, her attempt at distancing herself from the child, almost a rejection. By using such an abstract metaphor to describe their relationship, the sense of alienation is further enforced. The speaker’s comparison of herself to a ‘cloud’ which ‘distills a mirror’ could be read as the process of the mother caring for her child, which Plath sees to be a ‘mirror’ of the mother. The child grows older as the ‘mirror’ is further ‘distilled’ by the parents’ care and nurture. However, the as the mother sees her child, a mirror-image of herself when she was younger, it only ‘reflects’ and highlights, her ‘slow effacement’. In other words, as the child grows older, it only emphasises to the mother her ‘effacement’- how she is becoming more insignificant, essentially fading away into her old age, like the condensation which fades away as the mirror becomes clearer. If interpreted in such a way, it could be viewed that the mother is very much apprehensive to commence this new life with her child, viewing it as something which will only bring sorrow and disappointment, in highlighting to her her own mortality, and insignificance. Interestingly, Plath’s comparison of herself to a ‘cloud’ is seen frequently in other poems, for example, ‘Little Fugue’- it often highlights both a sense of obscurity or confusion, and the idea that she is a victim, particularly due to the white, pure colour of the cloud. The line ‘I’m no more your mother’ alone arguably shocks the reader and provides an unsettling view of this relationship- what with the implication of the mother being neglectful or uncaring, it could be viewed that this indeed provides a ‘disturbing portrait’.
At the time of writing, many critics took a feminist perspective on Plath’s poetry- the persona’s reluctance to accept her role as a mother may have been viewed as indicative of the excessive pressure put on women to enter into a life of domesticity and childcare. The identity of a female was arguably extremely limited in those years, what with the clear lack of equality in such a heavily patriarchal world- the poem could be seen as expressing Plath’s reluctance to be trapped in the confines of such an identity, an identity almost defined solely by motherhood. Rebecca Warren further notes that Plath’s poetry concerning motherhood is often read by feminists today as reflecting the conflict posed by individual creativity, and domesticity- so perhaps the detached portrait of the persona’s relationship to her child indicates the fear of losing her creative freedom, and is more complex than simply a ‘bleak and disturbing’ rejection of the child. Furthermore, the first line of the poem arguably dispels any negativity, perhaps even the first word- ‘love’. The speaker, addressing her new child, denotes that ‘Love set (it) going like a fat gold watch’, seemingly providing an upbeat, endearing start to the poem. Instantaneously, the idea of ‘love’ illuminates the poem with a kind of positivity and tenderness, implying the both the love between the parents, and the love they have for the child. Additionally, the simile of ‘like a fat gold watch’ is arguably endearing, perhaps alluding to the child’s healthy physical appearance, while the colourful adjective ‘gold’, connoting wealth and riches, seems to convey the child as being something precious and prized. Combined with the upbeat monosyllabic rhythm of ‘fat gold watch’, this opening line certainly seems to convey a sense of adoration and joy towards the new child. However, it could conversely be argued that it does, in fact, conjure a negative portrait of the parent-child relationship. Although the poet does state that ‘love’ is what brought the child into the world, which could seem positive, it is arguably an impersonal word, and distances the baby from the parent -instead it is linked to an abstract concept. Perhaps this furthers the sense of reluctance the mother feels to accept this child and to accept her new life- instead of linking the child with herself and her own responsibility, she relates it only with this abstract ideal. Furthermore, the idea that the child is compared to an inanimate object seems somewhat unsettling- as soon as a life begins, it is immediately assimilated to something with no life. Such a comparison also occurs later in the poem, when the child is described as a ‘statue’. It could be interpreted that this once again portrays the speaker’s apprehension to accept the child, and acknowledge the presence of this whole new life, in her life. It could be counter-argued that by the speaker addressing the child as ‘you’, it conveys her acceptance of the child’s existence and presence in her life, and somewhat subsides the sense of distancing. Additionally however, the fact that the child is compared to a ‘watch’ arguably presents the reader with an ominous and foreboding image- it could be interpreted that the speaker implies a stopwatch, representing the already diminishing time left in the child’s life. This is undoubtedly a ‘bleak’ and pessimistic view, perhaps indicating the speaker’s own concerns with mortality- the child only reinforces her preoccupations and fears of death, instead of filling her with hope for new life created.
Furthermore, the sense of alienation and distancing from the child is created in many other instances throughout the poem, furthering the negative and joyless representation of the relationship. The emotionless, synaesthesic description of the baby’s ‘bald cry’ does not evoke any sense of the parent’s awe at hearing their child for the first time, instead conveys it is being something empty, emphasising the lack of connection between the parents and child. Additionally, Plath describes the cry taking ‘its place among the elements’, which seems to separate the child from the human world, and associate it instead with something exterior and alien. The sense of discomfort and unease which the parents seem to feel is further enforced by the lines: ‘your nakedness/ Shadows our safety’. Here, it seems as if the presence of this new, fragile and vulnerable child in their responsibility seems to threaten their own security- their before structured lives have now been completely changed, and to feel comfortable again, they must adjust. The contrast between the words ‘nakedness’ and ‘safety’ emphasises the disquiet of the parents, as it highlights the change which has come over their life; the previous order and security, now tainted by the vulnerability of their situation. Furthermore, the word ‘shadows’, emphasised by the enjambment, seems to convey the looming anxiety and fear which the new child has caused the parents. However, it could also imply the ambiguity of emotion which the child has caused for the parents - shadows and darkness obscure and confuse, and in this way, the sudden presence of a fragile and innocent child in their care, has left them without clarity of emotion or of the situation. Although the sense of alienation and detachment from the child may seem to present a ‘bleak’ image of the relationship, it is arguably a considerably realistic portrayal- the birth of a new child is undoubtedly a large change, and the difficulty of becoming adapted to this is certainly not a ‘disturbing’ idea. Equally, the parents’ feelings of being less secure at having such a great new responsibility is certainly not an unsettling idea, nor ‘bleak- it is simply a normal, and arguably temporary reaction.
The parent-child relationship was also explored by Ted Hughes in his poem ‘Full Moon and Little Frieda’. Similarly, it seems that the relationship has been portrayed in an ambivalent and complex manner and once again, the poem can be read biographically, as ‘Frieda’ was his first daughter with Plath. As with Plath’s poem, it is written in free verse, and is filled with vivid, intricate images. Firstly, the speaker’s first reference to Frieda, ‘And you listening’ immediately seems to show his love, and awe of his daughter. By composing the poem almost as if addressed completely to Frieda, through use of the ‘you’ pronoun, it is rendered considerably more personal and clearly shows his close relationship with his daughter. Comparatively, Plath addresses Frieda in the same way in ‘Morning Song’, and in both poems, this usage of ‘you’ seems to capture the intimacy of the parent-child relationship, through this direct addressal. Furthermore, this short, three word sentence is made even more distinct by Hughes’s use of end-stopping, allowing the description of Frieda to be strongly emphasised in its isolation. The awe and admiration of the speaker is certainly conveyed through such a great focus on this singular, simple action in the present moment.
In this way, the relationship is certainly not conveyed as ‘bleak’ nor ‘disturbing’, but entirely loving and tender. Notably, the entire poem is composed in the present tense, perhaps in order to vivify the moment and sentiments Hughes is writing of. The majority of ‘Morning Song’ is equally written in the present tense, and it could be argued that the purpose of this, in both poems, it to fully communicate the intensity of the actions and emotions experienced, by conserving them in the immediacy of the present moment. However, further into the poem, Hughes begins to compare his daughter to various images, which presents a different element to their relationship. Firstly, Hughes describes her as ‘A spider’s web, tense for the dew’s touch’. This could be interpreted as conveying the child’s wonder, and anticipation of the full moon coming into view, as she sits ‘listening’, ‘tense’ with excitement for its arrival. However, an alternative reading could be that the speaker is implying the impending maturity of his daughter that time will bring. The ‘tension’ which the speaker’s daughter is linked perhaps portrays the looming inevitability of her growing up and maturing into adulthood, something which the speaker seems to view with concern. He continues this theme by comparing her to ‘A pail lifted, still and brimming’. The idea of a ‘pail lifted’ perhaps conveys the beginning of her life- currently, she is only ‘lifted’- her childhood has only just been initiated. Although a sense of stasis is created through the word ‘still’, this is contrasted by the present participle of ‘brimming’, seemingly suggesting that the water is still moving on the surface, despite its apparent ‘stillness’. This could be read as indicative of the speaker’s knowledge that despite the fact that his daughter’s maturity is ‘brimming’ and inescapable, in the present moment, her childhood and innocence is ‘still’ and stagnant. Perhaps this is why Hughes composed the poem in the present tense- in order to solidify and preserve the sweet, infant state of his daughter.
The speaker’s apparent concern with the imminent maturing of his child could be linked to Plath’s ‘Morning Song’, and the speaker’s comparison of her new baby to a ‘watch’. In Plath’s poem, by linking her child to the image of a ‘watch’, it could be argued that Plath too is concerned by the inevitable passing of time, and thus the inescapable aging of her child. Both poets seem to be preoccupied by the idea of time’s inevitable progress, and the effect that will have on their children. Equally, in both poems the child is compared to inanimate objects. In Hughes’s case, it could be argued that he compares Frieda to a solid object, a ‘pail’, in order to convey his desire that she should be unchanging, and should be preserved as a child forever. However, in ‘Morning Song’, it seems that Plath tends to draw comparisons between Frieda and inanimate objects to convey the speaker’s reluctance to fully accept the child. Some may consider that both poets’ concern with time and the inevitable maturing of their children is in itself arguably ‘bleak’, perhaps even morbid in the case of ‘Morning Song’- they may view the poets as focusing purely on the negatives of having children, instead of simply treasuring them as they are. However, it does not seem possible to draw from this representation the belief that it is ‘disturbing’- it is arguably a natural and common fear for a parent to see their child so quickly growing up and changing. In fact, Hughes’ poem could even be considered touching, such is the love and tenderness shown towards his daughter, in his comparison of her to a ‘work’ of art.
Furthermore, within Plath’s poem ‘Little Fugue’ a significantly different perspective on human relationships is presented, particularly concerning the relationship between father and daughter, and husband and wife. Throughout the poem, using symbolic and cryptic imagery, the speaker seems to be attempting to reconcile the idea of her father in her mind, and recall his image. This poem is largely read biographically, as Plath herself experienced the trauma of losing her father at the age of eight, and her complex relationship with his memory is reflected in many of her poems.
Many may come to view Plath’s representation of relationships in this poem as ‘bleak’ and sombre, due to the speaker’s focus on her desperate attempts to communicate with her dead father, and her frustration at being unable to do so. The theme of obscurity runs throughout the poem, beginning with the statement ‘Cold clouds go over’. This could be interpreted as the mental haziness and blur which obscures the speaker’s memory of her father, as the ‘clouds go over’ the ‘yew’- which could be seen as representative of her father, due to its symbolism of both death and rebirth (linking to the idea of the speaker trying to regain her father). Such dimness of her father’s image is also implied through her description of the ‘featurelessness’ of her memory, emphasising it’s vagueness, while the use of exclamation mark at the end of the same line perhaps highlights her desperation and agitation. Her inability to reconcile her relationship with her dead father, or a clear idea of him in her mind, is further conveyed through the evident confusion of senses depicted throughout the poem. The speaker seems to compare her vagueness of memory to how ‘the death and dumb/ Signal the blind, and are ignored’, and such a simile clearly highlights the frustration felt through her impossibility of communicating with her father. Further into the poem, the speaker once again describes herself as ‘deaf’, causing the memory of her father to be but a ‘dark tunnel’. Whilst the ‘deafness’ emphasises the difficulties of communication, the image of the ‘dark tunnel’ reinforces the idea that the idea of her father in her mind is heavily obscured and indistinct. Additionally, through Plath’s use of synaesthesia in the statement, ‘I see your voice’ the idea of confusion and obscurity is heightened- such a mixing of the senses in this way clearly conveys the speaker’s strife to communicate, but ultimate inability. It could be argued that the portrait of the father-daughter relationship presented here is indeed ‘bleak’- it can be seen that the speaker still struggles to accept the death of her father, and her desperation to communicate or regain the memory of him, could be viewed as both sad, and unsettling. However, others may believe that although there is a hopeless desperation within the poem, it does not render the relationship ‘bleak’, but purely tragic.
Arguably, the relationship presented is too complex to immediately be judged ‘bleak and disturbing’. Despite the speaker’s wishes to regain the memory of her father, the image which we are provided with of him is dark and unsettling: ‘A yew hedge of orders/ Gothic and barbarous, pure German.’ As in many other poems, particularly ‘Daddy’ Plath seems to be inferring World War two here, and comparing her father to a perpetrator of the holocaust. The image of the speaker’s father as a ‘yew hedge’ once again links to the symbolism seen at the beginning of the poem, and conveys him as a restricting, controlling figure of authority. Further, by describing him as ‘barbarous’, the speaker clearly conveys the cruelty and inhumanity which she believes her father to possess. Perhaps this reflects Plath’s own resentment towards her father for being pro-Nazi at the time of the war, or, her anger and frustration at this death, which could have been avoided, had he not wrongly misdiagnosed himself. The poem seems to present an extremely conflicted view of the relationship: on the one hand, the speaker describes her father as an oppressive, evil figure which ‘Dead men cry from’, and on the other, the speaker conveys her utter desperation and toil to regain a clear memory of her father, or somehow communicate with him. Therefore, it would seem to simple to conclude the portrayal of the relationship as ‘bleak’- it is evidently multi-layered, complex and confused. However, it may seem reasonable to view it as ‘disturbing’- it is certainly an unsettling idea that someone is so obsessed by the memory of their dead father, despite condemning him as ‘gothic and barbarous’.
The final line of the poem, ‘The clouds are a marriage dress, of that pallor’, may lead many into further believing this relationship to be ‘disturbing’. Just as the speaker seems to be concluding her thoughts of her father, a different thread, presenting a different relationship, is woven in. The last stanza itself seems to portray the speaker attempting to reconcile and ‘arrange’ her thoughts on the subject, as she tells herself ‘these are my fingers, this my baby’. She seems to be acclimatising herself with her present life, before referring back to the ‘clouds’ of her memory. Once this ‘arrangement’ has been carried out, the speaker now seems to imply that her marriage, has taken on the same obscurity as the relationship with her father. The same ‘clouds’ that covered her relationship with her father, now cover the relationship with her husband. If read biographically, it must be noted that at the time of writing, Plath’s relationship with Hughes was beginning to break down- which could explain the confusion the speaker now seems to be viewing this marriage with. Alternatively, it could be viewed that the speaker has replaced the memory of her father, the ‘clouds’, with her husband, through the metaphor of ‘a marriage dress’. Her marriage has caused Plath to imprint Hughes onto the image of her father, in order to reconcile his memory in her mind. In other words, it could be seen that the speaker sees her husband, in some ways, as a ‘replacement’ for her father- in her attempts to recover and reach her father, she instead revived him in her husband. This could be linked back to the image of her father as a ‘yew’, the supposed tree of rebirth- for Plath, her father has been reborn in Hughes. Hughes himself is said to have always felt as if he was in the presence of Plath’s father, which arguably contributed to the eventual collapse of his marriage to Sylvia. Evidently this relationship, for many readers would be viewed as ‘disturbing’ and unsettling- however, such writing does arguably encapsulate the essence of the ‘confessionary’ genre, which many may admire as intense, and brave. Rebecca Warren notes that many of her poems detail ‘psychological pain’, and such pain is certainly conveyed in ‘Little Fugue’, stemming from the trauma of losing her father, and her desperation to regain him.
Finally, many moments of Hughes’ ‘Lovesong’ can be compared to ‘Little Fugue’, in the representation of the husband-wife relationship. Largely read biographically as a portrait of the destructive, intense, but passionate relationship between Plath and Hughes, its aggressively sexual tenor and energetically fast-paced structure certainly does not render the poem ‘bleak’. However, many may consider the violent aspects of the poem particularly ‘disturbing’. Such lines as ‘his words were occupying armies,’ ‘her laughs were an assassin’s attempts’, and ‘his looks were bullets daggers of revenge’ clearly convey the relationship to be that of ruthful antagonism and conflict. However, although this imagery of violence could be read negatively, and C.J Rawson’s assertion that ‘everybody knows that Ted Hughes’s subject is violence’ could be seen as affirming his unhealthy fixation on it, even within relationships, it could be viewed in a different light. Perhaps Hughes only uses violence in this poem hyperbolically, in order to exaggerate the passion between the couple- for example, comparing the man’s looks to ‘bullet daggers’ merely conveys the intensity and power of his gaze, not cruelty or anger. The violence imagery certainly causes the lines to be more potent and impactful, especially when coupled with the frequent enjambment, asyndeton, and rhythmic repetition of words such as ‘his’ or ‘her’, which provide the poem with a dynamic pace. Furthermore, arguably, certain moments in the poem place the relationship in a more positive light, for example: ‘love is hard to stop’. Hughes’s simple language, so contrasting to the complex and cryptic writing of Plath, conveys here the true depths and power of their love- however, simultaneously, it could be argued that there is the underlying implication that the couple wish for this love ‘to stop’.
Additionally, the final three lines of the poem arguably set the presentation of their relationship in a more positive, uplifting light, as Hughes describes the couple essentially becoming one, through their love: ‘In the morning they wore each other’s face’. This idea of uniting is reflected in the changing structure of the poem- the penultimate stanza is of two lines, perhaps representing the two lovers, and the final stanza, is of only one line, which could be viewed as imitative of the couple becoming one. To many, this may show the strengths of their relationship- however, the positive view is undertoned by the fact that their uniting is described as being paradoxically hostile: ‘In their dreams their brains took each other hostage’. Despite this powerful love which Hughes is conveying, it seems to be inextricably linked to the antagonism and hostility within the relationship- such a portrait of a destructive, conflicting relationship could be viewed as ‘bleak and disturbing’ by many. However, perhaps if read as a truly hyperbolic account of the relationship, many may consider this representation to be realistic, in its complexity. Certainly the critical readings of Hughes’s poetry have changed over the years- particularly following the suicide and of Plath, and the suicide and matricide of Hughes’s lover Assia Wevill, many feminists viewed Hughes as a cruel, controlling and monstrous figure. This certainly impacted the way his poetry was read, leading to many viewing such a violent portrayal of their relationship as ‘disturbing’.
The husband-wife relationship portrayed in ‘Lovesong’ can be linked to that within ‘Little Fugue’, especially if read biographically. Firstly, describing the couple’s tempestuous love, Hughes states ‘His kisses sucked out her whole past and future or tried to’. This could be compared to the idea conveyed within ‘Little Fugue’, that the persona is so obsessive and preoccupied by the memory of her dead father, that she attempts to reclaim such a figure through marriage. Such a relationship results in the husband attempting to erase ‘her whole past’ and memories of her father, perhaps in order to make the relationship healthier. This could be read as Hughes’s attempts to normalise the relationship in trying to cause Plath to forget her father and the trauma he caused her, as he so often felt as if he were in the haunting shadow of him. Equally, the lines ‘Her embrace was an immense press/ To print him into her bones’, could be linked to the idea of Plath’s desperation to somehow regain her father’s memory, thus resulting in her ‘marriage dress’ taking the form of the ‘clouds’ of memory of her father. Plath’s wish to ‘print him into her bones’ could be viewed as her desire to overlay the haunting memory of her father, with that of Hughes instead- in order to have some kind of reconciliation, and resolution. To many, such a portrait of their relationship may indeed seem ‘disturbing’ and perhaps unnatural- but overall, even when not read biographically, the poems certainly present a complex, and conflicting view of human relationships.
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Get custom essayThroughout these poems, it is evident that human relationships, both parent-child, and husband-wife, are presented by both Plath and Hughes as complex, and convoluted. There are many moments in the poetry of Plath which could be deemed as both ‘bleak and disturbing’, particularly concerning the disjointed relationship presented between father and daughter. Equally, in that of Hughes, the intensely aggressive and hostile presentation of a relationship presents a deeply conflicting view of a couple, which perhaps could be viewed as ‘disturbing’ by some. However, it seems it would be excessive to say that their poetry ‘offers an entirely bleak and disturbing’ view of relationships, since other moments of the poems, and the overall intricacy of the relations conveyed, renders the portrait too complex for such a general conclusion.
It such a normal scene in the human kind history when the media social said that humans are losing their faith in humanity. It is because most of the people nowadays, are starting to being cruel to themselves and others. They keep hurting themselves and their surroundings. Just like a normal problem, there were many facts that causing this ‘virus’ being bigger and influenced to the whole world. When we talk about humanity, we must think it is about human life only but it is not like that only because humanity is all about the human race, which includes everyone on Earth. It’s also a word for the qualities that make us human, such as the ability to love and have compassion, be creative, and not be a robot or alien.
Get original essayThe word humanity is from the Latin humanity for “human nature, kindness. ” Humanity includes all the humans, but it can also refer to the kind feelings humans often have for each other. But when you talk about humanity, you could just be talking about people as a whole. When people do bad things, it tests your faith in humanity. First and foremost, parents are the main cause of the virus became influenced. Education of the family is the first thing that the kids learn before they went to school. If the parents taught them the true lesson and not let the kid being such a pampered kid, I am sure that the problem will be vanished like it was never happened. I also believe the bonding with their friend also give some affection to their behaviour. Most of the teens nowadays love to be involved with the bad and hooligan. In a nut shell, the more negative value that impact our life, the more we lost our humanity. Besides, money also played as one of the fact that human being like this. Most of the people today want to have a great day and life. They kept looked for money like the money is their god.
The scenario began when you put the money aspect as the main point of your life. This will make you forget how to communicate and interact to others around you. Then, you will be ashamed to face the people around you and you will start to ignore them. After that, your mind will slowly start to leave the neighbourhood concept. In a simple conclusion, you just live in your own world without other men in that. Furthermore, lack of religion knowledge also one of the point that make the scenery becomes worse. Each of religion in the world teach their adherents to be loved each other among human. People that leave their religion behind in their live just like throwing their live away and they will be far astray from the real path. As an example, most of the people that have no religion and throw their faith usually live not in a best condition that they want. They love to be alone and usually abstains their selves from the community. They just not being cruel to themselves only but to others because they just started to be a single person in the world and there will be no more humanity aspect in their concept of life.
Every problem that happens on the face of the earth must have a solution unless it dies. One of the solutions to the humanitarian problem that occurred was to create awareness. This is because, giving awareness is the earliest step that must be done to curb this problem from continuing to spread. With the spread of such a problem the world seeks to meet the Resurrection. Through public awareness will make the problem disappear slowly. Good for public awareness especially for children as children are the generations to guide the nation. They should be exposed to humanitarian issues that are happening like the killing of their spirits in Myanmar. Children and the general public should be deeply ingrained in affection for sadness when they see one another in their own peoples.
In addition, adequate education is also able to help prevent this ‘virus’ from continuing to spread throughout the world. This is because, early exposure to children can help them to understand humanitarian issues even in the early childhood. Through the learning of civic and civic education subjects, children are more likely to understand this issue. This is because, these subjects educating children to be more open-minded because in this multi-ethnic country, they are educated to respect other races. Humanitarian nature should be the root of children’s minds growth as it is a future guarantee for a nation. Parents also play an important role in ensuring that the children become the desirable people.
The parents play a role in informal education to children as civilized when they are anywhere. Moreover, the influence of massa media can also help reduce this problem from continuing. This is because the mass media is global and almost all the inhabitants of the world have access to social media use. With the use of social media as a medium conveying the message of the disadvantages of humanitarian problems, it is somewhat able to alleviate this problem from persistence. Social media as a medium of information delivery is more rapidly disseminated and more accurately than rumors that do not yet know the validity. With information spreading around the world on humanitarian issues that are worsening in time, fewer people can open the human eye on the importance of humanitarian issues and not should be underestimated because behind this seemingly common issue there is another human being’s life betting.
In a nut shell, the influence of mass media has certainly helped to alleviate the problem of humanity that is losing humanity. Based on the research done, I found that, the issue of human beings losing humanity is not a small issue because every issue that arises will surely devour many lives. This issue should not be underestimated because if human beings tend to lose humanity actually they just transformed their selves like a cannibal creature. Humankind should preserve human nature within itself as it is a natural human nature. The beauty of humanity is beautiful but on the basis of selfishness causes the humanity’s value to become increasingly lost and faded in the human heart. Human beings throughout the world are able to pin in their hearts to prioritize humanity or affection as it draws closer to new acquaintances as it is the most valuable value in our lives as a human being in fact.
It has been said that “the human condition ... is one of living as the fallen image of God”. In light of this view on human condition, this essay explores how religion sculpts people’s understanding of human existence in Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ and Blake’s ‘Songs of Innocence and of Experience’.
Get original essayReligion was a fundamental component of life in the early modern period and hugely shaped the literature of this era, enabling writers to explore the nature of the human condition in the light of the religious beliefs prevalent in their societies. Texts such as ‘Hamlet’ and ‘Songs of Innocence and of Experience’ were powerfully guided by Christianity, as a form of the Christian Church dominated England during both times of writing. Shakespeare would also have been influenced by the effects of the Renaissance movement, whereby scholars began to query the ideas of the Church: for example, the questioning of the divine right of kings is significant in ‘Hamlet’. We see a progression in thought between the Renaissance and Blake’s time, with the Enlightenment bringing shifting attitudes to God and religion. The movement towards rationality through scientific thinking and observation spurred Blake to draw upon his notions of spirituality, to counter the emerging ideas of the Age of Reason and expose ‘the two contrary states of the human soul’. Blake and Shakespeare both hold the lens of religion over human corruption, an awareness of mortality, the role of women, and the idea of humans being created in the image of God. Elements of both texts portray the sacred, divine nature of humanity, arguably indicating that humans are indeed formed in God’s image; interestingly, in the exploration of this image, the writers indirectly explore the idea of God himself. However, it could also be argued that the pervading themes of corruption and moral degradation in the texts provide a stark contrast to this, demonstrating humanity’s state of Fallenness. It is thus possible to argue that each text presents a hyperbolic dichotomy of human nature: the two incomplete views within each text-only begin to truly represent humanity when juxtaposed.
Firstly, the lens of religion is used to explore the image of humans in comparison to the image of God. For example, ‘The Divine Image’ suggests that man and God are indeed alike since both embody the Christian virtues of ‘Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love’; the poem’s regular quatrains and lilting meter create a sense of hymnal serenity to support this. However, this idea is arguably slightly dissimilar to the idea of humans being created in God’s image, as the assertion that God ‘is’ these values implies that he is simply the apotheosis of human virtues - a somewhat mental creation. This was consistent with the beliefs of many Dissenters, who focused on the existence of the Holy Spirit within each person, and this is supported by Blake’s belief that ‘all deities reside within the human breast’. ‘The Human Abstract’ further expands on these ideas, analyzing the ideals and arguing that if this is our understanding of the constitution of God and of human nature, humans have accepted the suffering of others, since these virtues would not exist without their negative antitheses. Writing that the ‘fruit of Deceit’ grows ‘in the Human brain’, Blake argues that humanity has regressed into a divided existence, constructing oppressive social values to maintain this state. ‘Fruit’ alludes to the Biblical story of the Garden of Eden, further establishing this notion of Fallenness. In a similar way, Shakespeare exposes an almost paradoxical contrast between different aspects of human nature as Hamlet questions, ‘What piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, ... in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god: ... - and yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?’ In his monologue in Act 2, Scene 2, Hamlet initially depicts human beings using the semantic field of divinity, comparing them to ‘an angel’ and ‘a god’, insinuating that humans do exist as God’s image. However, he contrasts this with the moral corruption of humanity, and thus declares humans worthless - a ‘quintessence of dust’. Critic Harrison claims that humans ‘see the earth as a matrix of pain, death, corruption, and tragedy’, and this is arguably true of Hamlet, who seems to corroborate the belief that humanity’s true state is one of Fallenness. Hamlet’s constant deliberation and indecision as he contrasts views on humanity and morality can be seen as similar to the structure of ‘Songs of Innocence and of Experience’. In creating a collection of two separated, hyperbolic views, Blake obliquely suggests that it is necessary to analyze both parts of the dichotomy to ascertain the truth about the human condition.
Hamlet’s assertion about humanity being a ‘quintessence of dust’ alludes to a line from Ecclesiastes 3:20 - ‘dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return’. Religion is shown to shape characters’ awareness of mortality, and this idea of death as a corollary of life is used by authors to explore the meaning of life itself. For example, in Blake’s ‘Laughing Song’, the maxim ‘Come live, and be merry’ echoes the phrase ‘Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die' - a conflation of verses from the Biblical books Ecclesiastes and Isaiah - thus implying the philosophy of carpe diem and suggesting that the brevity of life means that people should seize the moment. The poet’s use of regular quatrains reflects his decision to employ a style of children’s verse in order to mimic the controlled, moralistic verses typical of Enlightenment poetry. Conversely, instead of delineating constraining rules, Blake parodies the form and message of these poems and encourages artless joy. However, the childlike tone and simplistic repetition of words such as ‘merry’ and ‘laugh’ throughout the poem arguably convey the speaker’s naivety, indicating that this view of life is flawed and incomplete. This view from ‘Songs of Innocence’ is contrasted in ‘The Fly’ from ‘Songs of Experience’, which instead suggests that the transience of life renders it somewhat inconsequential, equal to that of a fly. The metaphor of the ‘thoughtless hand’ brushing away the fly is used to create a subtle parallel with the insignificance of human life to our supposed creator. Comparably, in Hamlet’s soliloquy in Act 1, Scene 2, he laments on the pointlessness of life: ‘How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable/Seems to me all the uses of this world!’ The sense of meaninglessness and hopeless dejection - emphasized by the exclamation and the adjectives ‘weary’ and ‘flat’ - is also explored in Act 5, Scene 1. Upon the discovery of Yorick’s skull, Hamlet reflects on death’s ability to transform great rulers like ‘imperious Caesar’ into trivialities: ‘dead and turned to clay’. ‘Clay’ indicates a lifeless malleability in stark contrast to his previous ‘imperious’ regality.
However, an alternative idea about mortality that is explored by the authors is that death is liberating, primarily as it frees the soul from the burden of the mortal body. The importance of the soul is conveyed in ‘Hamlet’ by the Ghost’s anguish at being ‘unhoused, disappointed, united, as this relates to not having received three holy Christian sacraments conducive to the salvation of his soul. This triadic structure of adjectives with the prefixes ‘un-’ and ‘dis-’ emphasizes the sense of lacking and the unnatural nature of the Ghost’s situation. Similarly, ideas about the soul are portrayed in ‘The Little Black Boy’ and ‘The Chimney Sweep’, poems which depict that the mortal body is ephemeral but the spirit is enduring. ‘These black bodies and this sunburnt face/Are but a cloud’ and ‘naked & white, all their bags left behind’ connote the impermanence of the human body, with the ‘black’ and ‘sunburnt’ mortal body carrying implications of being tainted and sinful in comparison to the description of the souls, which has connotations of innocent purity as conveyed by ‘white’ and ‘naked’. The inevitability of death also renders it a powerful equalizing force: as Hamlet wittily states, ‘Your fat king and your lean beggar is but variable service—two dishes, but to one table’. The writers arguably use religion to explore various perspectives on mortality and the evanescence of life, without claiming one particular view to be the absolute truth.
The theme of mortality in literature often alludes to the concept of original sin, as the inevitability of death is viewed by some to be a consequence of the Biblical Fall of humankind. Therefore, this theme links to the authors’ use of religion to explore corruption. Blake introduces ‘Songs of Experience’ with a prophetic bard mourning the ‘lapsed soul’ of humanity, and this allows us to read subsequent poems in the collection - such as ‘Holy Thursday’ - in the light of the concept of Fallenness. This poem highlights society’s selfishness and avarice under the guise of piety, with phrases such as ‘eternal winter’ and ‘bleak and bare’ connoting the unnaturalness of this state of being. ‘Eternal winter’ demonstrates a cold, unfeeling lack of empathy, and the alliteration using the harsh, plosive ‘b’ consonants in ‘bleak and bare’ furthers the atmosphere of misery and hardship. Blake portrays the idea of deleterious false piety in order to expose the corruption of the Church and condemn organized religion. As a Dissenter, he abhorred the hierarchy of the Church, as well as the monarchy’s system of hereditary power and the inequality it caused; the influence of Paine’s book ‘Rights of Man’ on Blake is evident. As well as this, ‘Songs of Experience’ was shaped by Blake’s horror at the tyranny of the French Revolution - in this part of the collection, he more overtly explores the corruption of the Church, the monarchy, and the government. Corruption is also shown to be an agent of entrapment for humanity, symbolized by the ‘mind-forged manacles’ in ‘London’. Blake is revealing the idea that suffering has its roots in the physiological world, with the mind imprisoning humanity, and ‘manacles’ echoes the famous sentence from Rousseau’s ‘The Social Contract’: ‘Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.’ The imagery of restriction permeates the poem, with chartered implying a lack of volition and freedom, the repetition of ‘every’ showing the pervasiveness of suffering, and the use of antanaclasis with the words ‘mark’ and ‘marks’ creating a sense of being permanently tainted. As well as highlighting the misery caused by societal corruption, Blake is decrying the Industrial Revolution - the antithesis to Romanticism - and the poverty and torment it caused.
Similarly, ‘Hamlet’ too explores the theme of corruption, but this is focused more on the monarchy than in Blake’s collection. Grindlay argues that ‘King Hamlet can be seen as an embodiment of a fragile Eden which becomes despoiled by sin’, and this is evidenced by Shakespeare’s portrayal of Claudius’ sinful nature. King Hamlet states that Claudius has poisoned ‘the whole ear of Denmark’ and repeatedly describes him using the metaphor of a snake: ‘sleeping in my orchard,/A serpent stung me’; ‘The serpent that did sting thy father’s life/Now wears his crown’. ‘Serpent’ is redolent of the Biblical serpent from Eden, a powerful symbol of evil and deception. When Marcellus states, ‘Something is rotten in the state of Denmark’, he alludes to the questioning of divine right and the Great Chain of Being - the belief that God has decreed a hierarchical structure that runs throughout life, with the King at the apex of the human hierarchy. However, religion is shown to enable these corrupt characters to recognize and understand their sin, so it could therefore be argued that - while Fallen - these characters retain a sense of morality. This means that they do not stray entirely from the image of God if we define this as the paragon of human ideals. For example, we see the influence of Christianity on Claudius’ soliloquy in Act 3, Scene 3: ‘O, my offense is rank, it smells to heaven;/It hath the primal eldest curse upon’t -/A brother’s murder’. The ‘primal eldest curse’ he refers to is the curse of Cain, the son of Adam who killed his brother in an envious rage. A powerful dramatic device, this soliloquy elucidates to the audience that when Claudius is left alone onstage, his conscience overwhelms him. We can see the influence of morality plays on Shakespeare’s writing here - developed in the Middle Ages, these focused on the conflicts of individual souls.
Finally, writers use the lens of religion to explore the roles of women and what it means to be female. In Blake’s ‘The Sick Rose’, the rose is arguably a symbol of femininity, beauty, and female youth whereas the ‘invisible worm’ is redolent of the Biblical serpent, with the additional idea that this corruption is concealed. A similar idea about invisible corruption is proposed when Hamlet tells his mother, ‘rank corruption, mining all within,/Infects unseen’, although a difference here is that Hamlet is arguing that Gertrude is bringing the corruption upon herself. However, both examples contain the theme of women being easily corruptible, showing the limited change in attitudes towards women between Shakespeare’s and Blake’s eras. There is also a sexual element to Blake’s poem, with the worm being suggestive of a phallus and ‘crimson joy’ being reminiscent of passion, shame, sin, and pleasure. Blake is arguably highlighting the expectations of purity that burdened women of the time, with chastity being one of the seven Christian virtues, and lust being one of the seven deadly sins. Believing the Fall created a division between the sexes - separation where unity was needed - Blake felt that human sexuality had become distorted, possessive, and laden with inhibitions. Similarly, in ‘Hamlet’, the sexual inhibitions by which Ophelia is constrained are evident as Hamlet instructs her, ‘be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow’. The similes portray the extent to which Ophelia is expected to remain pure, but they arguably also show the cold, unfulfilling nature of this chastity that circumscribed all women during Shakespeare’s time. Critic Grindlay states that ‘imagery of the natural world that describes both Gertrude and Ophelia turns them into victims of a literary legacy of the Fall of Man: a gender ideology that blamed women, embodied by Eve, for mankind’s descent into sin’. Ophelia in particular is characterized by natural flower imagery, distributing flowers such as ‘a daisy’ and ‘rue’ according to their symbolism in the last scene in which she appears. In addition to their individual meanings, the flowers can be seen as representative of Ophelia’s blossoming sexuality and giving away the flowers also arguably signifies her symbolic ‘deflowering’. As well as this, Ophelia is found drowned with garlands of ‘crow-flowers, nettles, daisies and long purples, and Laertes later says, ‘from her fair and unpolluted flesh/May violets spring’. This association of flowers with death means that they are symbolic of transience, and offer an insight into the perceived fragility of women at the time. Indeed, Hamlet indirectly implicates his mother when he cries ‘Frailty, thy name is woman, but he is also accusing all women of displaying inherent spiritual and moral weakness. Flower imagery is used similarly in Blake’s collection, with the trio of consecutive flower poems ‘My Pretty Rose Tree’, ‘Ah! Sunflower’ and ‘The Lily’ in ‘Songs of Experience’ compound the impression of female ephemerality and vulnerability. Each poem consists merely of one or two quatrains, so the physical brevity of their form also adds to the notion of transience. With this nature imagery obliquely relating women to the Biblical Eve, it could be argued that religion contributes to the victimization and confined roles assigned to females in the texts.
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Get custom essayIn conclusion, through applying the lens of religion to the human world, writers achieve an understanding of multiple different aspects of the human condition. Both ‘Hamlet’ and ‘Songs of Innocence and of Experience’ juxtapose contrary aspects of humanity: its ostensible capacity for divinity and its terrestrial state of corruption. Shakespeare achieves this in part through the character of Hamlet, whose hesitance and deliberation offer contrasting ideas about morality and human existence; Blake achieves this through the separation of his collection into two almost polarised sections, which only begin to offer a rational viewpoint when explored together. A key theme of both texts is also the fleetingness of mortal life, and the writers examine several ways in which knowledge of life’s impermanence can mold our understanding of it. Corruption is also fundamental to the texts, but while Blake’s collection is largely preoccupied with censuring organized religion and industrialization, Shakespeare’s play is concerned with ‘the corruption of mortal flesh’ and of the monarchy. Finally, religion is drawn upon in the texts to help delineate what it is to be a woman, arguably creating detrimental restrictions that allow society to condemn females in the wake of the Fall of Man. Overall, it could be argued that humanity is portrayed to be fundamentally corrupt in the texts, yet a capacity for goodness and repentance is also demonstrated. Thus, if we define the image of God to be the culmination of human virtues and ideals, human beings are arguably still presented as existing somewhat in this image, albeit to a large extent in a Fallen state.