In Chapter VII pages 167-169 of Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's The Leopard is the actual ruin of the novel's protagonist, Prince Don Fabrizio
The Leopard Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa Commentary In Chapter VII pages 167-169 of Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's The Leopard is the actual ruin of the novel's protagonist, Prince Don Fabrizio, and thus the near-ending of the story and Donnafugata. The chapter, titled "Death of a Prince", consists of exactly this; the slow, alone death of Don Fabrizio in a hotel room a few hours after arriving Palermo. The passage being analysed, however, more specifically summarizes his thoughts and feelings about himself and his life while dying. The extract, while and after reading it, is effectively rather haunting for the reader. One of the most obvious features of the overall mood and atmosphere of the passage is its evident morbidity. Throughout, the Prince tends to ask himself rhetorical questions and make cynical statements that give him a sense of helplessness, lost in bitter melancholy. "Why, he wondered, did God not want anyone to die with their own face on?" (5-6) is an example of this. The morbid sense of the passage is also depicted by the Prince's reference to death as a "game" - "It's a rule of the game; hateful but formal" (17). This proves to be paradoxical, as death, which is normally perceived negatively, would not usually be associated with a word that is conventionally positive (game). Other features that facilitate the clear morbidity of this passage is Tomasi di
William Shakespeare's King Lear - short review
Karl Beer 2/02/02 William Shakespeare's King Lear Published by: The Signet Classic Revised Edition 1963 William Shakespeare is arguably the greatest playwright the world has ever known. Throughout his career Shakespeare has written classic plays such as Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet and The Tempest. In total he has completed thirty seven plays as well as some nondramatic poems. For this book report I have chosen to read the tragedy of King Lear. William Shakespeare was born in late April 1564 in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon to John Shakespeare and Mary Arden. His father made a living from tanning, trading in wool and glove making. He was the third child and eldest son in the family. He attended the King's New School, the Stratford grammar school known for its classical curriculum. At the age of eighteen William married Anne Hathaway and had three children. His daughter Susana was born in May 26, 1583 and later he had twins, Judith and Hamnet on February 2, 1585. In the 1590's William Shakespeare established himself in London as a playwright and actor. Surprisingly the majority of his money did not come from his writing or performances but from his position as a sharer in the Lord Chamberlain's Men, which earned him 1/10 of the company's profit. These profits were enough to allow Shakespeare to become a successful real estate investor. In 1616 William Shakespeare died,
"The power of tragic texts springs from our recognition that the protagonists are men and not gods; it is their humanity that we value" - Discuss using two works of literature you have studied.
English Essay "The power of tragic texts springs from our recognition that the protagonists are men and not gods; it is their humanity that we value." Discuss using two works of literature you have studied. Tragedy is based on human flaws and the struggles which build up among passionate beings. What characterizes mankind is not solely the virtue of each, but the complexity of psychologies, the failure to stand with reason. Tragedy, in fact, is able to capture the essence of the being in his inconstant nature, by putting forth the many obstacles in accomplishing virtue. It takes the dilemma of a common individual to the extreme point, in order to unveil the ultimate prowess of the soul - humanity. What the reader or audience then admires are the things man does to achieve human goodness; we admire the hero. If men were gods, tragedy would become simple melodrama in the eyes of such an easy quest for truth. It is exactly the opposite in reality. A hero becomes a hero by the endless effort he puts forth - the noble side of living ignorants. This is clear in all tragedies, as in King Lear by William Shakespeare and Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. Achebe's novel is set in the Igbo tribe, in what we would today call Nigeria. Okonkwo, a respected member of the tribe, is the epitome of a self-made man, well anchored in his values of manliness and tradition. He made his own
Character is Destiny - The lives of both King Lear and Oedipus Rex revolve around the idea that character is destiny.
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Write on the relation between the real and the ideal in Conrad's novels
Write on the relation between the real and the ideal in Conrad's novels At every level of his story-telling, Conrad throws together pairs of opposites, the tension between which (in his best work) seamlessly progress from the local to the universal. One might consider man and nature in Heart of Darkness where Kurtz is superficially degraded to the state of a "wandering and tortured thing"[1] crawling on all fours. Yet that dualism enters the metaphysical realm with his jarring and inarticulate cry - "the horror! the horror!"[2] -recalling Shakespearean tragedy such as Lear's animalistic quartet of howls.[3] Had Kurtz not been carefully prepared as a mythic figure, its own pretension might render it absurdly out of place. The graduation is ably handled. This essay shall concentrate on another key pair of opposites, that of the real and the ideal: the above example merely illustrating that this is not the only axis of its type running through Conrad's work. Using Heart of Darkness and Under Western Eyes as exemplars - both use a narrative frame, both concern the meeting of Western culture with something inimical to it, both include a narrator struggling to understand the plight of a man under psychological disintegration - it is possible to discern a common pattern. In the narratives itself, idealism is in opposition to Suffering, but the narrative merely reveals that the
Discuss the role and significance of Cordelia in the novel Cat's Eye.
Cat's Eye - Margaret Atwood " But I am not free of Cordelia " Discuss the role and significance of Cordelia in the novel Cat's Eye. Elaine's struggle throughout her life can be greatly attributed to Cordelia's role during her childhood, which ultimately led to Elaine's retrospective of her artwork and also more personally her whole life. Cordelia's influence over Elaine in her earlier years carried through in her subconscious and affected every relationship she would have in her future, with males and more importantly with females. Cordelia made Elaine feel inferior, abusing her both mentally and emotionally causing her to have a warped idea of what female friends are. Cordelia's methods of showing friendship was by demeaning the people who surrounded her mainly because she herself was demeaned and caused to feel inferior by her family, mainly her father. By doing this Cordelia had control over Elaine which allowed her to speak to her however she felt and persuade her to do things she would not normally do like going down into the ravine for her hat in the cold. Elaine's need to have a girl friend caused her to endure the abuse from Cordelia and Grace because she never knew what it was like to have a female companion. She had grown up playing with her older brother Stephen and had always dreamt of having friends that were girls. Due to this Elaine accepted her first
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David Napiorski Principles of lit. study 12/10/03 War is Peace: Perceptual and Societal Death and Rebirth in William Shakespeare's, "King Lear. In William Shakespeare's classic tragedy, "King Lear," certain characters' flawed sense of perception allows the fundamental structures of reality to be completely turned upside-down and gives shape to the play's holistic metaphor of a life cycle in ultimate death and rebirth. The world created for King Lear's story is one where the idea of perception weighs heavily on every action and every move made the characters. False realities allow ostensible evil to perpetuate itself. The very fact that the play's overarching metaphor envelopes the death and rebirth of certain perceptions symbolizes that in the world within the play, one perceives another is king. Furthermore, within the world of "King Lear," the instruments used to stimulate such rebirths of perception are natural and uncontrollable. Whether it be a natural and uncontrollable physical ailment such as blindness or insanity, or something as natural as the weather, only pure naturals that are unable to be manipulated by the perpetuators of these false realities can break these false perceptions, beginning the life cycle again. The idea of a natural stimulus only further qualifies this metaphor. Under the blanket theme of perception and the overarching interpretation of
Symbolism in A Long Day's Journey into Night
Leon Nepomniatshy American Literature II November 13th, 2002 Symbolism in A Long Day's Journey into Night O'Neill makes extensive use of symbolism in the play by introducing objects, props and cultural artifacts that develop the major themes in the play. He achieves this by giving the objects second meanings far beyond the literal, and by having them stand for whole concepts that are in fact the play's core. One of the first and most meaningful things of this nature that the reader, or a member of the audience is introduced to is the fog and the foghorn, when Mary mentions them for the first time: "Thank heavens, the fog is gone. I do feel out of sorts this morning. I wasn't able to get much sleep with that awful foghorn going all night long" (Baym 1343). Throughout the play, the presence of the fog parallels the time of day - when night comes, so does the fog, and when it is morning, the fog is gone. This, of course, is no coincidence. One of the key human features explored in the play is deception, or keeping each other in the dark. Thus, one might suggest that the fog and darkness in the form of the night are congruent symbols reinforcing one another, because they come together and empower the same concept. The fog can also be seen as a sort of a "personal fog" each character is shrouded in, and something that suggest blurriness and unreality, especially in the final
Contextualising the Play.
Contextualising the Play King Lear is a play influenced by history and predominantly affected by contemporary social, cultural and stately events of the early 17th Century. To contextualise the play I will look at cultural, social and historical background and distinguish how this had an effect on Shakespeare's inspiration to write King Lear. A lot of the characters and inspiration for King Lear came from the society around Shakespeare. He observed lots of contemporary rumours and stories in the news about scandal between fathers and daughters. For example, Sir William Allen, a former Lord Mayor of London, split his estate between his three daughters and arranged to live alternately with each. But all three treated him cruelly and disrespectfully. Another popular subject of gossip in 1603-4 was Sir Brian Annesley. His youngest daughter Cordell defended him against her eldest sister who tried to have her aged father certified mad so that she could take control of his estate and wealth. This must have been the inspiration for the main story line for King Lear, he used the idea for Gonoril and Regan to betray their father from the three daughters of Sir William Allen and then altered it to include one daughter defending and truly loving the father from the story about Sir Brian Annesley, where he also got the name for the good daughter, Cordelia form Annesley's daughter
How might different productions dramatise the struggle between chaos and order in King Lear?
How might different productions dramatise the struggle between chaos and order in King Lear? In the play King Lear, the struggle between chaos and order could be dramatised and highlighted through different productions, reflecting certain perspectives. Shakespearean critic, Kathleen McLuskie, criticises King Lear from a feminist perspective, arguing that both the narrative and dramatisation of the play portrays a misogynistic and conservative patriarchal society, which was considered as the natural order of things. Chaos in the society occurs when females, Gonerill and Regan are empowered through the division of the kingdom, thus creating a struggle between chaos and order. A Marxist argument however, would dramatise the collision between the eroding values of the feudal era and the emergence of individualism. Such changes in social condition result in a power struggle between classes, consequently resulting chaos between the old and new order. The feminist approach examines the society in King Lear as a patriarchy where men generally have power over women. This was considered as the only acceptable equation between 'human nature' and male power. In the play, Lear represents the authority figure not only of his family, but of his kingdom as well. His sense of power and domination is intensified through the absence of both the mother and Queen in the patriarchal society.