Through the imagery of churches Winterson is able to convey her intensive religious upbringing, her conflicting religious views, and her creative literary depth. Winterson’s religious education and experience shows itself, although not always explicitly, throughout her book The Passion, and is apparent in both her description of churches and her description of church services. Through these two images that the author presents one acquires an inherent sense of community, nostalgia and belonging. Community is conveyed when, during mass Henri, the narrator, feels compelled to take communion and be one with the people in the church. “The nearness of the other people thawed my unbelievers heart” Henri says, and in saying this reveals how the community of the church compels Henri to believe in god.
How Far And In What Ways Does Blake Portray Uncertainty About Religion In The Poems Studied So Far? Religion is sometimes viewed as a primary theme and a motive for Blake’s work, but Blake illustrates to an extent, an uncertainty about religion in his poems. Blake’s poetry is rarely devotional, and rarely preaches, but instead, it concerns itself about the way in which religion affects life and behaviour whilst challenging it at the same time. Each of the poems depicts a different stance on religion, which may suggest the uncertainty. Blake’s attitudes can be seen through his living through the revolutionary upheavals of France and America where the old ruling ways were got rid of to be replaced with what society wanted.
THE ALLEGORY BEHIND THE STORY The Faerie Queene poem by Spenser is an adventure story, but it’s an allegorical work on several levels. Spenser tries to portray aspects of the real life through fictional characters and events. He lived at the time when England was breaking away from Catholicism and turning to Protestantism after Queen Elizabeth I came into power. However, there was still much anti-Elizabeth propaganda from the Catholics circulating on the streets, so we can see why Spenser wrote this poem to honor who he deeply admired and his religion in general, as well as to criticize Catholicism. In the poem, all of the character’s names have an allegorical meaning.
Puritanical Beliefs Princeton defines Puritanism as “strictness and austerity in conduct and religion”. This is a understatement, when referring to the Puritan people of the 16th and 17th century. Based on the idealism of Anglican Christianity and the beliefs of a man by the name of Roger Calvin, Puritanistic incorporation of fundamental values based on the bible makes it seem quite like an extremist-like sect. Puritan life requires unwavering devotion and unfaltering faith - a difficult ambition to achieve in mid-1600 English society. Oppression by the Anglican Church was overwhelming, not to mention prevalent sinful behavior that plagued the continent – contradicting core puritan beliefs.
Ariel Dorfman’s play “death and the maiden” and William Blake’s poetry both had political interest because they chose to write about events in the past that scared them and they both write about oppression and sadness, which shows the audience that they wanted change in the future generations. William Blake writes in his poems about the late 18th century, which is the aftermath of the French revolution and the midst of the industrial revolution. He portrays his thoughts about the past in the poem “the chimney sweeper” from his collection of “songs of innocence” (1789). This poem is about harsh social commentary on child labour and he is being critical towards society, especially towards the church. Blake also portrays his thoughts through the poem “A little boy lost” from his collection of “songs from experience” (1793).
Source E was written by an extremely devoted Protestant woman who was about to be burnt as a heretic. This makes the source less reliable as she would want to portray the Catholic people who were condemning her in a bad light and she would also want to strengthen her own cause and look more devoted which may have caused her to change or exaggerate situations, for example the fact that she lay still and didn't cry while being tortured on the rack. Another similarity between the sources is that they were both given a chance to repent for their heresy. In source A it says when referring to John Forrest that ‘he obstinately refused to repent.’ In source E she is given a chance to change her opinion when asked ‘if the sacrament contains the body and blood of christ.’ However in source A it says ‘the unique case’, this decreases the sources usefulness of the treatment of all religious opponents in general as it is subjective to one special
It appears through Shakespeare’s writing, that he is depicting his thoughts and attitudes towards life and ruling in the Elizabethan era. Religion in the Elizabethan era was seen as quite important, Protestantism and Catholicism, and a major part of Christian teaching was, and still is, forgiveness and reconciliation. Revenge would have been frowned upon in religious societies, so a play including obvious cases of revenge may have been quite surprising and unusual. However real life application of peace, even in religious societies, would, and is, impossible, because of the thirst for knowledge and power, thus causing an unstable culture – hence the conflicts between the various subdivisions of Christianity. The opening act of the play begins with the audience learning about Prospero causing the Tempest, because of Antonio and Alonso overthrowing him from his dukedom.
When Rochester’s tells his tale (pg429-437), Jane’s narration portrays him as beastly, blaming his situation, on the unfortunate, lunatic Bertha, when the union was concocted by Rochester’s father. Religious sincerity is a constant presence within Jane Eyre, Brontë examines corruption, authenticity and the threat of religious beliefs. “My Uncle Reed is in heaven, and can see all you and think; …” (pg31, Jane Eyre) this comment by Jane is a threat to Mrs. Reed that on the monumental Day of Judgement, she will be condemned for her harsh treatment of Jane. The character Mr
“A pure woman”. How does Hardy justify this sub-title? In your answer show how Hardy’s use of language, form and structure influence you view of Tess in “Tess of the D’Urbervilles”. Hardy presents Tess in a controversial way, the argument to whether or not Tess is a ‘pure woman’ is the most disputed subject of the book, You could interpret that Hardy knew this would be the most disputed subject so he set his beliefs straight from the beginning by subtitling the book with ‘A Pure Woman’. It is obvious that Hardy shows a different view to what he feels makes a woman pure in comparison to what Christianity and society thought in the 19th century.
INSERT TITLE HERE Angela Manalang-Gloria’s 1935 sonnet entitled “Soledad” encapsulates the way people’s opinions are, more often than not, influenced by their religion. In the case of the town presented in the sonnet, Christianity is the belief in question. Throughout her work, the author makes use of several phrases and words and religious articles that allude to Christianity. The name “Soledad” is of Spanish origin and it means “loneliness” or “solitude” – an insinuation on the character of the girl described in the sonnet. “Soledad” is also a Spanish title for the Blessed Virgin Mary, Maria de Soledad.