Are fairytales 'just' stories for children? Refer to at least two tales in your answer.

Are fairytales 'just' stories for children? Refer to at least two tales in your answer. There is a certain quality in fairy tales that enthrals us as children, and inspires us as adults. Although fairy tales do not necessarily contain fairies, they all weave a tapestry of a magical world where fairies, and other supernatural beings, are possible. The term "fairy tale" was coined in 17th century France. The French saying, "conte de fée" was translated into the English "fairy tale". To define what fairy tale itself is, is not easy, for often the line between fairy tale, myth, folk tale, and legend blurs. Many have tried, but the task of setting the parameters for genres is as untidy and subjective as the knowledge of classification. However, it is generally accepted that most fairy tales have an undefined setting, "once upon a time" and "in a land far away", as well as characters with archetypical, static personalities. The study of fairy tales is, nowadays, usually associated with study of children's literature, and it is understandable. However, for the first thousand years or more of their existence, fairy tales were part of an oral tradition that was told by adults, to adults. Stories descended through generations by being told and passed from one person to another, as part of a communal bonding process. This made a tale subject to change, dependent on the

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  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
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Canterbury Tales.

Canterbury Tales The character the Knight is the first person analyzed in the General Prologue. This implies clearly that the Host is keen on him. The Knight also has his own tale, which is the first one in "Selected Canterbury Tales," The Knight's Tale. Within this tale the Knight himself is personified through Theseus, the duke of Athens. Chaucer is able to keep some qualities of a knight in perspective throughout his description and the Knight's tale. The qualities include the "Knight's ideals" (chivalry, honor, generosity, and refinement), notable military career, his mannerisms, and his clothing. The Knight's ideals encompass him. To be considered a knight you truly need to have these traits. Being that he is personified through Theseus, you see exactly how "knightly" he is. Webster's dictionary defines chivalry as "the sum of the ideal qualifications off a knight including courtesy and generosity, valor, and dexterity in arms." A good example of his chivalry is within the first three (3) pages of the novel. Theseus encounters the older women who are mourning over the deaths of their husbands and Creon refuses to bury their bodies. Theseus being not only chivalrous but a "ladies man," shows pity for the women and agrees to return their husbands bodies to them. He is able to win the hearts of the women by risking his life for the bodies of their dead husbands. This shows

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  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
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What is the Merchant like?

Claire Gittoes What is the Merchant like? In the general Prologue the portrait of the merchant is like the man himself, not straightforward. He is described having, "a forked berd, In mottelee, and hye on horse he sat; Upon his heed a Flaundryssh bever hat, His bootes clasped faire and fetisly." His forked beard is an indication of his fashionable nature but also overtones of the devil; in addition it could symbolize his duplicity, at which Chaucer only hints. He is well dressed, in a very business like way, with his clothes being the height of fashion, the "bever hat" and "his bootes clasped faire and fetisly." Chaucer does depending on ones interpretation; persuade the reader not to take the Merchant on his own valuation. The presentation of the Merchant is secretive and dignified: "his social status, bolstered by his apparent wealth, is high." He occupies the middle position of the social strata of the Pilgrims, but he is clearly on the way up, the description of him sat high on his horse possibly an indication of his rising social status. However, Chaucer intentionally provides the Merchant with a fabliau tale, which are typically told my Peasants. This indicates that although the Merchant may appear to be or think that he is rising in status, he still possesses lower class characteristics and ideas. In addition, the Merchant is an ignorant misogynist who is obsessed

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  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
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With special reference to The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale, would you describe Chaucer as a feminist writer?

Word Count: 2484 With special reference to The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale, would you describe Chaucer as a feminist writer? Geoffrey Chaucer is considered to be one of the founding fathers of British literature and his many works are still widely read today. This can be specifically seen as Chaucer's Canterbury tales have recently been re-produced for BBC television and also "The Knight's Tale" was the inspiration for Brian Helgeland's 2001 motion picture 'A Knights Tales'. Therefore, it is difficult to ignore the originality and inspiration that Chaucer's writing can provide. However, trying to understand whether Chaucer could be considered a feminist writer proves much harder and there are many possible ways of understanding Chaucer's work and life, some of which make him out to hold a feminist stance more than others. Nevertheless, there are also other factors which must be considered that limit the emphasis of feminism within Chaucer's work. The primary problem in a discussion that identifies ideology within Chaucer's work is that they are reliant upon speculative suggestion that do not always hold substantial evidence to support their claims. Also, there is very little knowledge of Chaucer's intentions, especially as The Canterbury Tales are an uncompleted source due to Chaucer's death before completion, and they are over 600 years old. However, to disregard

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
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Blasphemy in The Pardoner's Prologue and Tale

Audra Kwilos English 3351 Dr. Gustafson 0/22/04 Blasphemy in The Pardoner's Prologue and Tale The Pardoner's Prologue and Tale, by Chaucer, is a story about a corrupt Pardoner who tells a tale about three sinners. In The Pardoner's Tale, the Pardoner is a blasphemer as well as the three men in his story; blasphemy is in the very structure of the story itself. Nearly all of the Canterbury Tales are related to the storytellers in someway, this very true of The Pardoner's Tale. The Pardoner may be the biggest blasphemer in the whole tale. Blasphemy is defined as: a contemptuous or profane act, utterance, or writing concerning God or a sacred entity; the act of claiming for oneself the attributes and rights of God. We first see the Pardoner in the General Prologue where his vile outward appearance suggests his inner corruption. "This Pardoner hadde heer as yelow as wax," it was thin, long and stringy. "Swiche glarynge eyen hadde he as an hare." In his lap he held his knapsack; "bretful of pardoun comen from Rome al hoot." He would take these relics to the countryside and prey on poor people and he would make more money in one day "than that the person gat in monthes tweye." He made fools of the parson and of the people; "ne was ther swich another pardoner." He is skillful at his business and very proud of his cleverness. The first act on the long list of his

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
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Illustrate from 'The Pardoner's Tale and Prologue' the Pardoner's skill as a preacher.

Illustrate from 'The Pardoner's Tale and Prologue' the Pardoner's skill as a preacher. People sought salvation with devotion as The Black Death swept across Europe. The pre-science era when Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales meant priests faced an increasing workload, introducing monetary payments in exchange for remission of sin or penances (punishment). The responsibility of the collection of this money went to quaestores. These quaestores1 did not always have a firm connection with the Church, and definitely not with the artes praedicandi, the collected thought embodied in the theory and art of preaching. However, the new direction the Church took became a rampant breeding ground for forgers and confidence tricksters such as the Pardoner, preying upon the fears of the diminishing population for personal gain. The artes praedicandi was divided into two areas, the moral and the technical. With the moral, the preacher, genuinely inspired, was to be the mouthpiece for the Holy Spirit. There is no question that Chaucer's Pardoner is a completely immoral creature, his motives selfish and his interests in human art more important than guidance from God. However, in the technical aspect of preaching he excels. Medieval practice and sermon called upon the preacher to provide religious teaching as well as entertainment.2 Gardiner writes of elements of convention in the traditional

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  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
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Poetry Appreciation  “Fire the Sun” poem selected 'Ye Housewyf' by Meg Wanless.

POETRY APPRECIATION "FIRE THE SUN" Poem selected: 'YE HOUSEWYF' BY MEG WANLESS SUBJECT This is a poem about a particular housewife who is very different to the other women we have seen so far in the poems. The housewife seems a jaunty, jolly woman even though she 'loved the sink least in all the lands'. She also gives the townspeople reason to be shocked; she openly smokes cigarettes of the common brand Woodbyne, she has dyed her hair blonde with peroxide and the mention of 'red lippes' may indicate the use of lipstick. We get the impression that she goes out quite a bit for she loves Bingo, enjoys chatting to people and likes singing. However we are also told that before she goes to play bingo she prepares her husband's tea- this indicates that she still accepts that she has certain responsibilities before making time for herself. FORM Although there is no specific pattern, there is a distinct rhyming scheme throughout the poem. It is written in rhyming couplets- all except line thirteen, which is: "Hastily sped she hither to the toun" Maybe the poet did this intentionally so as to underline the unconventional nature of this particular action. There is rhymed iambic pentameter in the first six lines and last three lines of the poem yet the lines in between vary between eight and nine syllables per line. The form relates to the housewife for she also has

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  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
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Medieval Literature 2, Testament of Cresseid: To what extent should the planetary gods be blamed for Cresseid's downfall in Henryson's "Testament of Cresseid"?

Medieval Literature 2: Testament of Cresseid To what extent should the planetary gods be blamed for Cresseid's downfall in Henryson's "Testament of Cresseid"? Here, the problem is posed as to how far the planetary gods can be seen as responsible for the infliction of leprosy and ultimately the death of the poem's heroine, Cresseid, the beautiful yet unfaithful lover of the Trojan knight Troilus in Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde to which this poem is a sequel. However, it might be questioned whether the planetary gods can be blamed at all for Cresseid's downfall. The poem outlines how Cresseid, rejected by her lover Diomede, blasphemes against Venus, the goddess of love, and her son Cupid. She then falls into a swoon in which she dreams that she observes a counsel of the planetary gods as they decide her punishment, and when she awakes she looks in the mirror to find she has been inflicted with leprosy: . . . than rais scho vp and tuik Ane poleist glas, and hir schaddow culd luik; And quhen scho saw hir face sa deformait, Gif scho in hart was wa aneuch, God wait! (lines 347-350) Nevertheless, it could be argued that Cresseid deserves such a cruel punishment for her arrogance in refusing to accept responsibility for her own actions, instead blaming the gods; it would almost certainly have been understood by a medieval audience that the planets represented their

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The Pardoner's Tale.

Of all of the tales that are told by the pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales, one of the most satisfying is that of the rioters related by the Pardoner. In recounting the exemplum of three young sinners out to destroy Death, the author uses many different elements to draw in his audience. The mysterious atmosphere of the tale, the dramatic tension created by the length and speed of the narrative and the use of irony in both the telling of the tale and in the tale itself all have the combined effect of fascinate the readers and ensuring that the moral of the tale is heard. While not necessarily the most likeable of all the pilgrims, the Pardoner is a master story-teller who uses every available means to captivate an satisfy his audience. One important element that makes the Pardoner's Tale so intriguing is the atmosphere of the story. The reader is never quite sure whether the events described are taking place in the domain of reality or fantasy. This confusion starts with the Pardoner himself, an extremely bizarre character both physically and mentally. Described very effeminately in the General Prologue as a "gelding or a mare" (693) with no beard, long blonde hair and the finest clothing. He is an admitted hypocrite and sinner, who goes back and forth between what seems like true sincerity and pure salesmanship. This is obviously not a realistic characterization, but rather

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Chaucer the Great.

Chaucer the Great If I walked up to you on the street and asked you who Geoffrey Chaucer was, would you know? The answer is probably no and yes. Chaucer is known as "the Father of English Poetry" and this is true, for he paved the way for such men as Shakespeare. But you probably heard this name sometime in your life if not by reading one of his works, but a teacher talking to you about him. Chaucer was well renowned in Europe in the mid 1300's and held many political jobs, he was known as a very kind and loving man, and his work The Canterbury Tales show us his many emotions. Chaucer lived a good life in the early and mid 1300's and he even had great political careers but, his late years would be a little bit grimmer than his early years. First, Chaucer was born in the early 1340's in London England to his mother and father Agnes and John Chaucer. He was really known well for his writings, "Widely known as the "Father of English Poetry," Chaucer is considered the foremost representative of middle English literature" (Disc. Auth. Chaucer). He was married to Philippa de Rout on Sept. 12,1366. Chaucer was known as a great political figure. He was a customs agent, a justice of the peace, and to highlight his career he even was apart of the British Parliament. That changed in the late 1300's, after serving three kings: Edward III, Richard II, and Henry IV, when

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
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