Transcendentalism in Walden
Transcendentalism in Walden Transcendentalism, a religious philosophical and literary movement, arose in New England in the middle of the nineteenth century. Critics generally cite 1836 to 1846 as the years when the movement flourished, although its influence continued to be felt in later decades, with some works considered part of the movement not being published until the 1850s. Transcendentalism began as a religious concept rooted in the ideas of American democracy. When a group of Boston ministers, one of whom was Ralph Waldo Emerson, decided that the Unitarian Church had become too conservative, they espoused a new religious philosophy, one which privileged the inherent wisdom in the human soul over church doctrine and law. Among Transcendentalism's followers were writers Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, and Walt Whitman; educator Bronson Alcott; and social theorists and reformers Theodore Parker and William Ellery Channing. Authors Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Emily Dickinson, and Edgar Allen Poe also felt the influence of Transcendentalism. Important works from the movement include Emerson's Nature, "The American Scholar," and "Self Reliance"; Thoreau's Walden; Fuller's Woman in the Nineteenth Century; and Whitman's Leaves of Grass. Novels such as Melville's Moby Dick and Hawthorne's The Blithedale Romance also had transcendentalist
Compare how Golding and Stevenson portray uncivilised behaviour in The
Compare how Golding and Stevenson portray uncivilised behaviour in The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Lord of the Flies. Uncivilised behaviour is explored in both The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Lord of the Flies; both depict the battle between good and evil within the human psyche and portray a decay of respectable individuals, into rebellion induced by the erosion of society's unwritten rules. Both Golding and Stevenson use allegory to present this change in behaviour, and thus to convey the central theme in both novels, the duality of mans nature. The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was first published in 1886, when reputation and respectability were of much greater importance than they are today. It was commonly believed, for example, before the twist was revealed, that Mr Hyde and Dr Jekyll were having a homosexual relationship, something very taboo at the time. Similarly, Lord of the Flies was very controversial upon its publication in 1954, as it references R.M Ballentyne's Coral Island in which three boys land on a desert island and have great adventures. Golding, however, showed the darker side of human nature, and used children to do so, creating controversy. Allegory, the use of symbolic characters or objects to convey major themes, is particularly prominent in Lord of the Flies, the very title is
Power In The First Part Of A Clockwork Orange
How Does Burgess Explore Power In The First Part Of A Clockwork Orange? The opening of the novel is the line "What's it going to be then, ey?" This is clearly something that is said by someone in an authoritative position and we learn in the next sentence that this is Alex. He is our narrator and this gives him a certain amount of power as he can choose what he wants to tell us as readers. Burgess also shows Alex's power through the various violent attacks he perpetrates on people who we would consider to be in a position of more authority than Alex is in our own society. The first of these instances is the attack upon a schoolteacher, which is a clear and obvious indicator that this society is very wrong. At the tender age of fifteen, it would be considered totally inconceivable that Alex would not only attack, but also humiliate a man who relies upon respect from youths in order to do his job. The physical power the gang have over the teacher is almost a way of compensating for Alex and his gang feeling threatened intellectually and in this sense the teacher is the more powerful. This idea of physical versus intellectual power is explored again when the gang leave the town centre to seek victims in the suburbs. When they find the writer and his wife, they destroy the book and beat the couple into teary subordination. These actions are lead by Alex who is portrayed as an
Analysis of the three short stories, The Hanged Man's Bride, written in 1860, The Trial For Murder, written in 1865 and Confession Found in a Prison, written in 1842.
Richard Tandy March 2004 Buile Hill High School Centre Number 33321 English Coursework Charles Dickens Assignment Introduction Based on my study of Charles Dickens, I have decided to focus upon three short stories to write about in detail. These are: The Hanged Man's Bride, written in 1860, The Trial For Murder, written in 1865 and Confession Found in a Prison, written in 1842. To enable me to understand the stories better and also Dicken's interests and motivations, I have carried out necessary research on historical, literacy contexts and other biographical details. Charles Dickens stories could be said to be a reflection of his own childhood because of the intensity in which he writes about the subject - his early years were full of upheaval and uncertainty. He was born in 1812 into a middle-class family, however, his father was declared bankrupt in 1824. His family was sent to the Marshalsea Prison for debtors in London. Charles, however, at the age of 12 was sent to work in a blacking factory, labeling bottles. He lived in lodgings in semi-squalor in an attic room. However, his father borrowed money and Dickens was then sent to a public school called Wellington House, but the masters were savage and academic standards were low. Dickens got a job at 15 as a clerk for a
Views on the penal System: The Dungeon and The Convict
How do Wordsworth and Coleridge present their views on the penal system in 'The Convict' and 'The Dungeon'? Consider point of view, form, structure and language. Both The Convict and The Dungeon present views on the penal system in different ways. Upon first glance there is a slight contradiction within The Convict. It is written in typical ballad form (as favoured by Wordsworth) - a light, jaunty rhythm. This may be appropriate for the first stanza but soon seems to contrasts with the subject matter - that of a forlorn convict in a prison cell. This is a problem with Wordsworth's insistence on a rigid form which may not always be suitable, however it may also present us with a hidden meaning on the penal system: if you are a convict, do not despair as you should realise that there is a 'jolly' life outside of the prison, as the salvation of nature awaits you. A key theme within The Convict is that of nature, and Wordsworth contrasts this greatly with the idea of imprisonment to air certain views on the penal system. Nature's beauty and glorious power is emphasised; "The glory of evening" highlights the difference between the joy of the free world and that of the convict. Further, there is sensory irony in "the joy that precedes the calm season of rest/Rang loud through the meadow and wood", as joy is an internal emotion but it is described as tangible by the senses. This
Lears tragic fall proceeds from his misuse of power in Act 1
Lears tragic fall proceeds from his misuse of power in Act 1, Scene 1 In Act 1, Scene 1 or King Lear Shakespeare shows Lear attempting to divide up his kingdom between his three daughters yet still wanting to keep the status of King and also keep his authority whilst not having the responsibility of caring after the peoples or the lands. Lear has decided to split his kingdom up between his three daughters and says 'which of you shall love us most, that we our largest bounty may extend,' this shows his plans to hold the love test where his daughters must profess to Lear the extent of their love for him. The daughter who says they love Lear the most will be given the most bountiful and therefore best share of the lands. Gonerill must speak first professing in a rehearsed way that she loves Lear 'more than word can wield the matter,' thus saying she loves her father so much that it is impossible for her to convey it in words, yet she continues to say that he is 'dearer than eyesight, space and liberty,' thus saying that he means everything top her. In response to her confession Lear gives a third of his kingdom 'To thine and Albany's issues be this perpetual.' Thus proclaiming that the land will always be in Gonerill and Albanys family, left on to their 'issues' (children). It is argued that the use of his power to make his daughter tell him they love him is a misuse of his
How are women portrayed in The Millers Tale, The Handmaids Tale, and The Crucible?
How are women portrayed in The Miller's Tale, The Handmaid's Tale, and The Crucible? The Miller's Tale was written and is set in medieval England, a time when women had much fewer rights than men, and were more or less just owned by their fathers, and then by their husbands when they got married. 17th century United States in The Crucible has a slightly different society but also has the similar male dominance. The Handmaid's Tale is set in a dystopian future where women are also heavily dominated by men, but in a completely different way. This essay is about the ways that women in general are portrayed and perceived in these three stories, as well as touching on the characters of the individual women in these tales. The Miller's Tale is one of the stories from the Canterbury Tales series, all written in poetic form, by Geoffrey Chaucer. These tales in the series are all told by different pilgrims, who are also fictional, so this uses a story-within-a-story literary device. Their tales are part of a contest to entertain each other on their pilgrimage from Southwark to Canterbury Cathedral. In The Miller's Tale, it is the miller's turn to tell a tale, and he tells the story of a devious young student called Nicholas, who is attracted to the much younger wife of a carpenter, his neighbour, and plots a cunning plan to sleep with her. He does this by telling the dim and simple
How does cat in the rain use and deviate from the traditional codes, functions, roles and structure of folk tale morphology?
How does 'cat in the rain' use and deviate from the traditional codes, functions, roles and structure of folk tale morphology? Morphology means the study of forms, their component parts and their relationship to each other and the whole in 1928 Vladimir Propp wrote 'morphology of the folk tale'. This involved Propp studying a group of fairy tales and then breaking them down into functions, a function can be described by "function is understood as an act of a character, defined from the point of view of its significance for the course of the action" Propp then came up with seven characters these are: - Villain: harms the hero - Donor: provides hero with magical agent - Helper: aids hero in solving difficult tasks - Princess and Father: sought for person, assigns difficult tasks - Dispatcher: sends hero on his mission - Hero: searches for something/fights villain - False Hero: claims to be hero but is unmasked In Propp's functions it starts with an 'initial situation' this means the members of the family or hero are introduced. This happens at the start of 'cat in the rain'. "There were only two Americans stopping at the hotel". The readers are now introduced to the family or a potential hero. When it says "only two" this could mean they are hiding and alone. The story begins with a description of the surroundings. At first the text begins to seem positive,
Analysis of Dystopian Genre - Brave New World & Nineteen-Eighty-Four
Analysis of Dystopian Genre - Brave New World & Nineteen-Eighty-Four Dystopian novels are generally written by authors to convey their moral messages about society's flaws and the various ways they think the conditions of life will become miserable and people will be in a constant state of despair; induced by poverty, oppression, violence or any other terrible state of living. It is intrinsically important to dystopian novels that the futuristic setting is convincing and harrowing as the civilization, alien to the reader, is usually the catalyst for the events within the novel. In both Aldous Huxley's 'Brave New World' and George Orwell's 'Nineteen-Eighty-Four' the setting is portrayed via literal description and through the thoughts of the key characters. The settings of both novels are very similar as they both intend to instil a feeling of dread and uneasiness created by the grim nature of the locations being described; It is important for the reader to feel these emotions so they can fully engage with the protagonists' hatred of the world they live in. An unwelcoming semantic field is conjured by both authors with phrases such as 'vile wind', 'harsh, thin light', 'bleakly shining' and 'gritty dust' setting the tone immediately, while also appealing to the senses with words such as 'smelt of boiled cabbage' and 'hands gloved with a pale corpse-coloured rubber'. Both
19th Century Mystery Stories Coursework
9th Century Mystery Stories Coursework The 19th century writers create an atmosphere of mystery and suspense by including some key factors such as; the inclusion of a good plot, the building up of suspense and tension, the setting, sometimes also the type of narrative can add to the feel of such a story. Using The Red Room, The Signalman and The Pit and the Pendulum as examples will give us a good idea of what it is that really makes a good mystery story. Firstly we can look at the The Red Room and look at the setting. The time of the day is a key thing to consider, and in the Red Room we know it is set at night, which is a time of crime and unnerving happenings, it is a time when shadows are formed and night is also usually associated with supernatural events. It's at night when everything is mysterious, scary and makes him unsure about himself. It also creates doubts in his mind and slowly but ultimately as we see it takes away his confidence, and he becomes completely unearthed by the happenings in the red room. We see a lot of repetition of words like "dark", "candle light", "fear". For example "Monstrous shadow of him crouched upon the wall..." "Moonlight" in horror, mystery and ghost stories has a great impact on scenes of the story because it is associated with werewolves especially, but also adds to the dim lighting conditions in a dark environment. This is used to
