Analyzing the Description of Alison
The story of Alison is a typical set piece of courtly romance. This
classic example of courtly romance is represented in the description
of her appearance and her relationships with John, Nicholas and
Absalon. The male attitude to marriage in the time that Chaucer was
writing 'The Miller's Tale' was very selfish. It was to produce a male
heir and to improve social and economic status. Usually very little
sexual activity was indulged in between the husband and wife, thus the
young wife falls prey to admiration from other men.
Many of the descriptions that Chaucer uses to describe Alison are
double entendre descriptions. Chaucer immediately begins with such a
description when he writes "As any wezele hir body gent and small".
This is a simile which emphasises her slimness, slenderness and her
desirability. Alison is compared to a weasel. A weasel is not at all
desirable; stereotypically it is a sly character. For a second time,
Chaucer uses the same type of description, "And softer than the wolle
is of a wether". At first it seems that Chaucer is describing Alison
as soft and cute, but if you delve deeper into the meaning you see
that Chaucer is also describing Alison as a male sheep, a "wether",
plus a male sheep's wool is wiry and not nice to touch. Chaucer twice
suggests Alison as being 'fresh' and 'bright' when in fact he is
implying that she is a 'loose' and 'fake'. An example of such a
suggestion is, "Ful brighter was the shyning of hir hewe, Than in the
Tour the nobel yforged newe". Here Chaucer describes Alison's face,
body and personality as bright and shiny, but there is a hint of her
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...in a time when women where subservient to men. They had
no power, only men did, and they were only seen as objects of distant
desire or to provide the male heir. There was a strict code of
behaviour which women and men were expected to abide by but as Chaucer
infers this did not allow for natural human instincts, particularly
someone as obviously attractive and alluring as Alison. There is
no doubt in my mind that Chaucer is describing the type of woman that
he is attracted to, and that John, her husband, is the typical type of
man that he dislikes.
In the final rhyming couplet of the description of Alison, Chaucer
states that Alison's demeanour would not be fitting for a relationship
with a Lord, which I believe she clearly wants. Her manner of dress is
not restrained enough, which is due to her social background.
Jennifer Saake is the daughter of Ralph and Betty Camp. Jennifer was born in 1972, after her parents struggled with infertility issues. Saake spent her childhood years on the mission field in Japan.
In Geoffrey Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales", the Wife of Bath tells a tale that includes irony to her and Chaucer. She was considered a beautiful woman but today would be considered ugly. She is considered worthy but vulgar. The reader would think her title showed that she was a loyal wife but the reader will soon know that is not true. Her tale and she have some symbolism each other. Some aspects of the tale resemble Chaucer's life.
Picking up the book Fun Home, one would imagine that the novel would embellish some sort of comical life story of a misunderstood teenager. Although the short comic-book structured novel does have its sarcastic humor, Alison Bechdel explains her firsthand account of growing up with the difficulty of living of finding her true identity. Alison was a teenager in college when she discovered that she was a lesbian, however, the shock came when she also discovered her father was homosexual. I feel that the most influencing panel in Fun Home is where Alison and her father are in the car alone together. Not only does this panel explain the entirety of the novel in a few short speech bubbles, but it is the defining scene that connects both Alison and her father together for the first time (221). This explains the absences of Alison’s father in her life, and the scary realization that both characters are more alike than different. The car scene must be broken into spectrums to fully analyze what is happening. The only way to understand the Alison’s feelings to observe the illustrations and expressions she uses.
Hansen, Elaine Tuttle. Chaucer and the Fictions of Gender. Berkeley: U of California P. 1992. Print. (Kennedy Library PR1928.W64 H36 1992)
...e and foolish people can act while in love; this is something that many stories try to teach their readers. Finally, somehow, Chaucer may have been reaching out to women with The Wife of Bath's Tale, although some believe she is used as an anti-feminist tool, perhaps Chaucer's point was to have that woman teach other women the positives of being in control. No matter what message these women bring, Chaucer clearly appreciates their importance not only to his readers, but also to his tales.
"How Tatiana De Rosnay Turned French History Into ‘Sarah’s Key’." Speakeasy RSS. N.p., 14 July 2011. Web. 21 Nov. 2015.
To begin, Chaucer uses satire in the General Prologue. This prologue starts out by explaining how a group of people set out to go on a pilgrimage. The narrator then takes the time to explain many of the people actually attending. As part of the satire, we get characteristics thought to be typical of particular occupations, but exaggerated hugely. (Shmoop Editorial Team) Some examples could be the wart on the Miller's nose, or the puss-oozing wound on the Cook's leg. Since Knights are supposed to fight battles, the Knight in this story has fought in practically every battle in the past twenty years! Women back then were thought to be lustful but married, well the Wife of Bath mentioned had five husbands not including her numerous lovers. When introducing the Prioress, Chaucer uses satire when saying, “She was indeed by no means under grown” (Line 160) implying that she may have been a little chubby. The intended audience for this section of the writing is the commoners and middl...
Although both Absalom and Nicholas share the same immortal attitude towards Alison, Nicholas’ blunt desire for sex and well-versed abilities in cleverness trumps Absalom’s initially obscure requests and foolish desperation. Once again, Chaucer conveys the theme of cleverness over morality by presenting Absalom’s originally hesitant lust and stupidity in a negative manner, thereby emphasizing Nicholas’ immoral and clever character as the favorable
I. Marlene King’s Pretty Little Liars (PLL) has been airing on ABC Family since June 2010 and is one of the most crowd-pleasing shows on social media. The teen mystery drama is based on the popular novels written by Sara Shepard and follows four high school girls; Aria, Hanna, Emily and Spencer living in fear of the unrevealed “A”. Given that PLL is the top rated show amongst female millennials, keeping their Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Pinterest accounts updated is key. Social media is an effective and cost-efficient way to distribute information to different networks and audiences of all sizes (Ciprian, 2015, p. 96). Understanding the relevance of photos, videos and other social media support can make or break a show. Actress Troian Bellisario who plays Spencer admitted that: “Pretty Little Liars exists because of social media” (Zemler, 2016). With over twenty two million combined followers, PLL definitely masters the art of social hype.
While Logan's marriage with Janie was short, it provided a solid foundation for Janie's development towards her own will and power. After Janie's grand mom practically forced Janie into marrying Logan, she later finds Joe Starks. He was about to head to later-named Eatonville, when he invited her to come along with him. The narrator reinforces Janie's desire to have her own will and power on the day she leaves with Joe, and lays the base foundation for herself: “Mah mamma didn't tell me Ah wuz born in no hurry. So whut business Ah got rushin' now?(...) You ain't done me no favor by marryin' me” (Hurston 64). While Janie's grand mom, or Nanny, did force her to marry Logan, she did say she wasn't “born in no hurry”. This play on words towards
Chaucer’s portrayal of the Wife of Bath is a reversal of the meek maiden of courtly love, instead she takes on the man’s stereotypical role in the courtship. This is especially obvious where Alyson speaks of love in relation to women as a group and how disinterest only makes women want that love object all the more. “Forbede us thyng, and that desiren we,” and they would “crie al day and crave,” she says, embodying the mad desire for the “thyng” that is the courted male’s love. [cite] Anne McTaggart says that the attitude the Wife “calls on the conventions of love allegory” and in doing so, puts herself in the “role of the wooing male” (McTaggart 49). This reversal serves a dual purpose. Not only showing the Wife’s rebellion against the system
During the 14th century an extreme change took place in society, and a middle class arose between the higher class of nobility and the working class of the commoners (Reid). This significant change caused a median between the two classes, whereas before the higher class and lower class were totally separated from each other. Before the middle class, the upper class looked down upon the commoners, but the establishment of the middle class formed a happy medium where the people could relate to both classes. Chaucer, the author of “The Miller’s Tale”, was a part of this middle class. Chaucer was the son of a wine merchant and spent most of his time at the harbor meeting people of all classes which would later reflect in his writing (Reid). Chaucer made the English language important and wrote in extreme satire, heckling both the noble class and the class of commoners (Reid). For example, “The Miller’s Tale”, tells a fabliau or dirty story that people can relate to for entertainment (Reid). In the poem “The Miller’s Tale”, three characters can be portrayed as evil, but Alison is considerably worse because she is an adulterer, a liar, and inhumane.
After reading Diane’s story I can say I have never been more shocked and surprised by a book than this one. Just by being told that this was Diane Guerrero’s story and from me knowing she was an actress I thought it would be your basic coming to fame story. I was completely wrong in every single way. It really goes to show that there’s always more to the person you see on-screen and that they started off a normal human being who has lived through their fair share of struggles.
Orphans are often forced to mature faster than any other child. Often, they are exploited and used for their labor at a young age, ridding them of any potential childhood. Moreover, orphans lack a sense of belonging and have trouble relying on anybody other than themselves because the people they loved broke the only trust they knew, this leads to an isolation among them and a struggle with social development. Throughout the texts and films such as Anne of Green Gables, Orphan Train, Sidekicks, and The Outsiders we see specific examples of how orphans are expected to behave more maturely than children who grow up in a secure family setting.
Chaucer, in his female pilgrimage thought of women as having an evil-like quality that they always tempt and take from men. They were depicted as untrustworthy, selfish and vain and often like caricatures not like real people at all. Through the faults of both men and women, Chaucer showed what is right and wrong and how one should live. Under the surface, however, lies a jaded look of women in the form that in his writings he seems to crate them as caricatures and show how they cause the downfall of men by sometimes appealing to their desires and other times their fears. Chaucer obviously had very opinionated views of the manners and behaviours of women and expressed it strongly in The Canterbury Tales. In his collection of tales, he portrayed two extremes in his prospect of women. The Wife of Bath represented the extravagant and lusty woman where as the Prioress represented the admirable and devoted followers of church. Chaucer delineated the two characters contrastingly in their appearances, general manners, education and most evidently in their behaviour towards men. Yet, in the midst of disparities, both tales left its readers with an unsolved enigma.