Within the extremely popular play named ‘An Inspector Calls’ Priestly uses the play to expose the lies, deceit and overall hypocrisy of people during his time. Hypocrisy is usually demonstrated by virtue of pretending to have qualities or beliefs that you do not really have. In a literal sense, weakness is the state of lacking strength. However, Priestly portrays weakness as having personal defects or failings especially in lack of moral integrity. Again, Priestly shows wickedness somewhat detached from its literal meaning and instead shows wickedness in the characters departing from the rule of divine and moral law.
Gothicism in The Minister’s Black Veil Gothicism is a division of the Romantic period characterized by darkness, mysteriousness, and an obsession with the supernatural. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses these elements in the short story “The Minister’s Black Veil”. Hawthorne wrote this parable while he was obsessed with the Puritan era to show the consequences hypocrisy, greed and arrogance. He wrote this while displaying the religious theme of redemption often used in American literature. In the story one may think of Minister Hooper as a hero because he is able to admit he has sinned.
Explorative Study Texts: The Duchess of Malfi, Written by John Webster, Edited by Brian Gibbons and Measure for measure, Written by William Shakespeare, Edited by Colin Gray Compare and Contrast the Presentation of Central Villains in Webster’s: ‘The Duchess of Malfi’ and Shakespeare’s: ‘Measure for Measure’. Throughout The Duchess of Malfi and Measure for Measure there are characters that play a villainous role. Ferdinand, Cardinal, Bosola, Angelo, and in my opinion the Duke, are all motivated by three of the seven deadly sins: greed, lust and vanity. They have heroic qualities and all have been corrupted in some way. They are corrupt because they have social status but then they abused this power.
“It is pride, not covetousness, which is the Pardoner’s greatest sin.” How far do you agree? Pride has been traditionally considered the chief of sins due to it incorporating all aspects of the others as it involves false beliefs in a person’s own importance, is the sin through which Lucifer fell and became Satan and is the was the downfall of Adam and Eve due to them believing they could be gods themselves. In The Pardoner’s Tale the Pardoner is presented as ‘a ful vicious man’ implying that he has no morals and is engulfed by the sins that he preaches. Using the word ‘vicious’ is intriguing because of the sibilance and the snake-like onomatopoeic nature to the word. It represents him as almost inhuman as he has more serpent-like qualities.
In 'othello', The way the three women (Bianca, emilia and Desdemona) are depicted represent the ideal expectations of women in Elizabethan society. From a feminist perspective we can gather knowledgeable aspects of textual evidence that represent hints of struggles. Iago's belief for the suspected act of adultery and desire for revenge creates an apt example of his view of women; women are mere possessions. In (II.1.290), the feelings between Iago, emilia and Desdemona are dismissed and ignored. This creates a potential struggle to men not only for the balance of good and evil but also the ideology of sanity.
In the late 1600s, individuals to be considered 'mad' were thought to have been possessed by the devil or some other evil spirit, and so were mocked and considered dangerous and unapproachable (as suggested by Sir Toby in Act 3 Scene 4 “defy the devil”). In some ways, they weren't even thought of as the same species to conventionally 'normal' people. For this reason, an Elizabethan audience may find the joke to be comfortably within boundaries and possess the acumen necessary to find humour within the text and jokes. Another reason a 17th Century audience could consider the joke to be within the boundaries of comedy is the possibility of Malvolio being an ill-considered puritan to them. A puritan is a religious person who's personally opinionated line between what is wrong and what is right is absolute and solid.
There has always been a notion that women are not on the same level as men. The prominent barrier between the sexes has been evident since existence. This idea is especially apparent in the novel, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. Atwood shows sexism and misogyny with an extreme of the traditional roles, where the value of a woman is based on her functionality. Atwood’s portrayal of a dystopian society criticizes the present day attitudes towards women and the exaggerations depicted in the novel can be the result of the inequality between men and women today.
However, his obscene references set him aside of northern humanism. Marguerite of Angouleme expressed views similar to those of Protestants, that were sexual tales in which gratified the social class during its time. The Dutch Scholar, Erasmus, is considered one of the most influential figures among humanists. His work promoted the philosophy of Christ and dignity of the individual. Consequently, Erasmus got into conflict with Roman Catholics and Protestants with his foolish satires.
Consequently, he results in reading ‘heavenly necromancy books’. This could imply that Faustus reads books that are about black magic, which relates to society at the time, as people would have frowned upon and be terrified of black magic. Witch trials were also taking place at the time which added to the superstition and alleged evidence of the superhuman. ‘Heavenly’ juxtaposes the use of ‘necromancy’ as heavenly supports the idea of God and what is good; however ‘necromancy’ supports the idea of the devil and what is bad. Necromancy
Evil Machiavellian or Unwitting Pawn? Explore the Role of Bosola in ‘The Duchess Of Malfi’ The text that I am using for this essay is ‘The Duchess of Malfi’ by John Webster. Bosola is a central character that experiences the most complex situations in the play. Bosola causes debate on his actions as the audience may be split in believing his actions are due to his personality and character, or because of his delegation to others in which he has no other choice but to abide. Bosola can either be seen as an evil Machiavellian character to an extent as at time he conveys compassion, or an unwitting pawn who is just doing his job Bosola potentially conveys an insight to the reader about the future in the play, saying there are acts of corruption.