She married Roger out of social and economic necessity. When she commits adultrey, she conceals his identity from Dimmesdale. Roger chillingworth visits hester while she is in prison and they both discuss to eachother that their marriage never worked out. Hester says, " I have greatly wronged thee!",(72). Hester is the least sinful because she only committed adultrey and that she never told Arthur chillingworth was her husband.
“The Duchess is pleased with a bough of cherries just as much as she was to her Husband” (Mitchell 75). The way that she felt made the Duke feel insulted that a man of his social status was compared to slaves and sunsets. The Duke is very jealous that his social status and he are on the same level as a white mule to his Duchess. The things that the Duchess loves anger the Duke because he thinks
Although his actions are very insane, they can be seen as rational to reader considering hedonism. Devotion to pleasure, hedonism, makes Dorian be deceitful about his true self by deflecting the attention of the public from the mad man to the beautiful and intelligent gentlemen. Dorian is, young, sensitive, and emotional, meaning that he is susceptible to manipulation. Lord Henry takes advantage of that opportunity and gives Dorian the yellow book; this book opens up the world of hedonism and aestheticism which eventually turns his young life into an eternal oblivion of misery. Dorian develops a fear of aging so he tries to live his life as if it was his last day on earth.
In William Shakespeare’s play, King Lear, Lear’s initial division of his empire between his two selfish daughters, and the banishment of his loyal daughter, cause a rupture in the Chain of Being. Even after abdicating his power, Lear still pretentiously commands others in an authoritarian and kingly way. As the plot progresses, the deterioration of his mind parallels the degeneration of his kingdom. However, Lear still finds wisdom in his madness because he is humbled and reduced to his natural state, unmodified by his superficial regality. After he abdicates his power, Lear still acts authoritarian and kingly, despite having no real power.
I think that inside, Lear is insecure. He has a ton of power, but that is all he really has. This also would explain why he wants to keep the title King, as seen in Act I Scene I Lines 140-141 “Only we still retain the name and all the additions to a king,” but give up the responsibility. He doesn’t want the work, but without being the King, he is nothing, and has no way to identify himself. More than these, I think Lear is motivated by his idea that he is a good man.
When Hamlet explains,“ this majestical roof fretted with golden fire, why, it appears no other thing to me than a foul…”, the “why” adds a tone of confusion, hinting that not even Hamlet can explain as to why he feels this way about the air. The sentences that follow continue the pattern of being an antithesis, with Hamlet describing man with great admiration, but then contradicts what he just said with, “Man delights not me”. Hamlet’s usage of antithesis reflects how he repeatedly contradicts his own thoughts throughout the play. Because of his father’s recent death, Hamlet’s mentality is confused, uncertain, and pessimistic. His disinterest in the world he knows is beautiful confirms the depressed state he is in.
Asher Gevisser Mrs. Nonhoff-Zieg English 1 Honors, period 2 1 November 2012 Morals of the Expectations “All men are created equal” (Thomas Jefferson). Relative to this world-renowned quote, Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations prominently stresses that it should not be the wealth or class, but the loyalty and affection of an individual that determines a true “gentleman.” At first, this novel creates a dark, unsympathetic environment where only the few wealthy enough to own it, control it. During a visit to the most up-scale house in town, the beautiful and rich, yet cruel and arrogant Estella harasses Pip, the protagonist, because “[his] hands [are] so coarse and [his] boots [are] so thick” (1.8.71). Estella, even being the same age as Pip, assumes the superior position as a result of her wealth and class. She disapproves those who have less; despite the fact she stands nowhere near as polite.
In ‘My last duchess’ love is shown as a very strong emotion because of the Duke’s possessive love for his ‘last duchess’. He showed disapproval when she smiled at other men or when her ‘looks went everywhere’. The Duke felt that as he had gifted her ‘his nine-hundred-years-old name’, she was his possession and that her smiles and her beauty should only be for himself. This shows how the Duke’s love was very selfish and arrogant as he thought of her as a trophy to show off as if he did not truly love her. This may have been the case as in the 14th to 16th century when the poem was set, women were treated like this and a man would choose his wife taking great consideration into the wealth of her and her family.
The Duke’s duchess is flirtatious in nature and this displeases the Duke “Sir, ‘twas not her husband’s presence only, called that spot of joy into the duchess’ cheek”. The duke became jealous of all the other men that “called upon that spot of
He stops at a painting of his late wife, his ‘last Duchess’ and begins a speech of which he is recanting his thoughts of her. From this speech, his wife was popular, especially with men, and a passionate and pleasant lady (to the reader only). The Duke is telling of his intolerances of her actions, being that of flirtations with men, however innocent, and how she did not rate his ‘gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name’, but instead treated him as she did others. It is well hinted that her behaviour angered the Duke so he had his Duchess killed, ‘I gave commands;Then all the smiles stopped together.’ It would seem his speech is also for the purpose of letting the envoy know his expectations of his new wife, that being very different to the last. Because the poem is in the form of a dramatic monologue, the reader only shares the conversation of the Duke.