He subjects the poor characters of his novel to every imaginable evil that man has been wont to commit in order to prove that this could not be the best of all worlds. Secondarily, Voltaire also seems to have other bones to pick. Hardly a paragraph is written that does not contain a sarcastic comment about or outright mockery of some person, idea, or institution. It is a credit to the skill of the author that he is able to present his criticisms with a humor that is as intoxicating as it is relentless and controversial. The sheer number of insults and implications made by the author coupled with a healthy sprinkling of aristocratic inside jokes would indicate that he essentially wrote this book for himself and other like-minded intellectuals of the enlightenment that disapproved of the status quo or could at least appreciate his cheeky sense of humor.
At several points in the story, he all but addresses us directly, imploring us, for example, to notice how bad Aylmer looks in comparison even to an animal like Aminadab. The narrator can also be characterized as a moralist who condescends to his readers. Rather than trusting us to figure out the symbolism of the birthmark, for example, or allowing us to draw our own conclusions about the soundness of Aylmer’s experiment, the narrator rushes to explain every metaphor and symbol as if we might miss his point. The strong narrative voice of “The Birthmark” epitomizes a key difference between modern American short stories and nineteenth-century American short stories. Modern stories are often told in an objective, distant, even ironic voice, whereas nineteenth-century stories were usually told by passionate narrators who infused their own strong opinions.
Not only does it point out the natural inclination of people to feel pain as a ripple effect rather than all at once, it foreshadows the suffering that Hester and Arthur Dimmesdale will undergo throughout the course of the novel. It also explains how Hester is able to handle such terrible things as public shaming without crumbling into herself. His use of words such as torture, rankles and extremity increase the sense of drama in this passage. Chapter 4 “The Interview” Page 30 “We have wronged each other,” answered he. “Mine was the first wrong, when I betrayed thy budding youth into a false and unnatural relation with my decay.
Giovanni’s power of mind- ability to use words and convincing arguments to get what he wants. Power is present in Chaucer’s The Wife of Bath and Ford’s ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore throughout, especially in relationships between male and female characters. Particularly in The Wife of Bath where the pardoner interrupts the Wife’s tale, it presents the power the male character attempts to have over the female character. Medieval pardoners work for the church, collecting money from those sorry for their sins, which is now seen as a rather corrupt job to have held at the time; which perhaps shows that Chaucer wanted the pardoner’s interruption of the female’s tale, and consequent swift dismissal of his interruption, to be seen as a stupid and corrupt male mistakenly attempting to overpower the strong independent women. Similarly, in ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore, the male character Giovanni asserts his power over Annabella, but Ford does this in the opposite way that Chaucer did.
When Proctor had to go to the court to get his wife out of being accused of upholding witchcraft he eventually confess to his sins he committed. Talking to Danforth, Proctors says “I lusted, and there is a promise in such sweet. But it is a whore’s vengeance, and you must see it; I set myself entirely in your hands” (page 49 act three) confessing to the crime he did. He realizes what he did was wrong which was why he tried to hide it for so long. But the only way for
Moliere’s Tartuffe In Moliere’s satire, Tartuffe, the author fires his caustic wit upon the social topics of religious hypocrisy and the inability of obsessed characters to hear the voices of reason around them. At first glance, the focus of this work seems to be religious hypocrisy; however, it is the underlying subplots of obsessive behaviors stay in the mind’s eye until end. Moliere’s portrayal of obsessive characters is certainly exaggerated, but there is a clear note of truth that rings through in their powerlessness to hear reason. Until the spell that binds them to their compulsion is broken, these characters are unable to hear the voices of reason that are shouting the truth to them. The main actor of this play who displays the deafness that comes with obsession is Orgon with his religious fervor that blinds him to his responsibility to his family.
Before Dimmesdale kills himself, he admits his sin to the whole town. Also, Dimmesdale receives treatment from Hester’s husband, Chillingworth, who knows their secret, and is trying to get revenge on them both. Chillingworth ends up realizing that he is going insane with trying to get revenge and believes that he has sinned more than both of them. The novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne uses satire to poke fun of the Puritan attitude toward sinning and the punishments of sinning. The reader learns from the text that the Puritan religion looked down on the idea of sin and punishes sinners harshly.
Even though he helped them be with each other, he just caused more problems. Friar Lawrence first started this whole mess by agreeing to marry them. “By holy marriage. When and where and how / we met, we wooed, and made exchange of vow / I’ll tell thee as we pass, but this I pray / That thou consent to marry us today, (Romeo 2.3 lines 65-68) “ In one respect I’ll thy assistant be,” (Friar Lawrence 2.3 line 97) Here Romeo and Friar Lawrence are discussing how Romeo wants Friar Lawrence to marry him and Juliet. Friar Lawrence know they are from two different feuding families.
First the sun is mocked, and then a wide social spectrum is satirized. The speaker next satirizes “hours, days, [and] months,” which he lambastes as being the mere “rags of time” (10), but then he soon returns to satirizing the sun (11-18). He subsequently mocks “Princes” (23), honor (24), and “wealth” (24) before returning once more to satire of the sun (25-30).This poem, in other words, is a tour de force of satire, presenting an extremely self-confident speaker. Is it possible, however, that Donne himself is mocking the very speaker he presents? Is it possible that the speaker is a bit too cocky, a bit too self-centered, a bit too complacent and self-involved?
During the 1300’s the church started fading away from the beliefs of giving and started caring in the beliefs of money and extortion. Chaucer’s exaggeration of the Summoner, the Friar, and the Prioress reveal their true priorities and ways of living. For example,” We should beware of excommunication. Thus, as he pleased, the man could bring duress on any young fellow in the diocese. He knew their secrets, they did what he said.