Changing the World in Milton’s Paradise Lost and Cavendish’s The Blazing World
It only takes one person or one event to change the course of the world. Eve changes the world and the course of humanity when she eats from the tree of knowledge in John Milton’s Paradise Lost. In Margaret Cavendish’s The Blazing World, the Empress single-handedly changes the world she rules for the worse, and then changes it back again. The message is that our worlds are not fixed; they are ever changing—fickle and subject to one event or action. Humans must realize that the actions of even one person can produce world-altering effects.
The film Pleasantville demonstrates this idea. In the film, David, an unpopular and unhappy teenager in a post-lapsarian world, idealizes the life he sees in reruns of a black and white fifties television show called Pleasantville. After a visit from a mysterious television repairman, David and his sister Jennifer are transported into the show and into the lives of the characters Bud and Mary Sue. Jennifer, now known as Mary Sue, hates her new colorless existence, and sets about to change the town of Pleasantville. Her actions and ideas lead to the introduction of passion into Pleasantville, creating a whole new world-view for these naïve citizens.
Mary Sue’s actions, at first scorned by her brother, now known as Bud, soon begin to change him, too. He leaves his unpopular, passionless existence behind, and finds the same pleasure in the discovery of passion as do the Pleasantville citizens. Mary Sue, who once scorned Bud for his love of Pleasantville’s depiction of a worry-free fifties life, now understands the virtues of that life; she begins reading and goes to college. Bud and Mary Sue chan...
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...erence in the world, but I have found that even one person not eating meat saves thousands of animals and hundreds of acres of rainforest, and prevents an immeasurable amount of environmental degradation. Besides, according to Milton, Adam and Eve were vegetarians!
Milton and Cavendish both give examples of a world being changed by the actions of one person. Interestingly, Adam and Eve’s world and the Empress’s world were perfect before they were changed. Today, our world is far from Eden or Paradise, and we are constantly bombarded with changes—sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. Our responsibility, a lesson we can take from Paradise Lost and The Blazing World, is that all of our actions have an effect. We must make sure that the effect is desirable and beneficial to all of humanity, and remember that it just takes one to make the change.
Wilde, Oscar, and Joseph Bristow. The Picture of Dorian Gray. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2006. Print.
Comparing Margaret Cavendish’s The Description of a New World, Called the Blazing World and Sir Thomas More’s Utopia
Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray was written during the late nineteenth century England. The protogonist Dorian Gray is portrayed as a paragon of youth and beauty whose aristocracy and charisma inspire his surroundings, particularly an artist called Basil Hallward. Dorian poses for him and one day while again posing to Basil, he is introduced to a cycnical philosopher and orator William Henry. Dorian is easily seduced by his theories. Lord Henry corrupts this young boy by transforming into a hedonist. Through him, he faces the harsh realities that his physical appearance is fading and he becomes afraid of ageing. He envies the concrete and ever-to-survive masterpiece of Basil and longs for aging on his life without any sign of ageing and decay. Then his wish incredibly turns out to be real. And his sins begin to be appear in the pic...
Upchurch, David A. "The Picture of Dorian Gray: Overview." Reference Guide to English Literature. Ed. D. L. Kirkpatrick. 2nd ed. Chicago: St. James Press, 1991. Literature Resource Center. Gale. NORTHWEST COLLEGIATE ACADEMY. 28 April 2011 .
Hell is huge but it isn’t big enough. Within the text of Paradise Lost by John Milton, it is, A universe of death, which God by curse Created evil, for evil only good,Where all life dies, death lives, and nature breeds,Perverse, all monstrous, all prodigious things,Abominable, inutterable, and worse… (II.622-6)There is no satiety in Hell. Eden, by comparison, is a relatively small place in Milton’s epic poem, but it seems to be an environment replete with satisfaction. Or is it? We students of experiential literature owe Milton a debt of gratitude for helping us to experience our forebears’, that is Adam and Eve’s, lack of satiation within a paradisiacal environment. This paper will explore the topic of satiety within that environment; and, along the way, discuss the concept of singularity found in Cavendish’s Blazing World for comment upon that satiation.
When the Aesthete, Oscar Wilde, first showed up with his loving association with art it was seen by many as almost “unhealthy” and dangerous, “Wilde himself was accused of corrupting a young man (Lord Alfred Douglas), and his writings (including The Picture of Dorian Gray) were help up as evidence of his dangerous ideas” (Boilard). Some of his writings were frowned upon because they focused on subjects of sensual love, lust and cruelty. It was said that Wilde did not...
Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. Michael Patrick Gillespie, Editor. Norton Critical Edition. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2007.
Ruddick, Nicholas. "'The Peculiar Quality of My Genius': Degeneration, Decadence, and Dorian Gray in 1890-91." Oscar Wilde: The Man, His Writings, and His World. New York: AMS, 2003. 125-37. Rpt. in Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. Ed. Jessica Bomarito and Russel Whitaker. Vol. 164. Detroit: Gale, 2006. Artemis Literary Sources. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
In the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray written by Oscar Wilde readers are presented with a vast depiction of the art of immorality in the face of ignorant innocence portrayed by the character Dorian Gray. In the beginning it seems to be a quaint novel on artistry and the paradoxical relationship between two lifelong friends by the name of Basil Hallward and Lord Henry. The plot takes a surprising twist when introduced to the real center of attention, the character of the seemingly innocent Dorian Gray. Upon this introduction Wilde then begins to tell the tale of what a life of secrecy and deception will lead to without the consciousness of a moral threshold and the inescapable burden of Dorians horrid accumulation of sins. The deception begins with a simple shout out to the heavens for the impossible to be granted. This then flourishes into unspeakable acts caused by an Egyptian statue, bringing misfortune to Dorian Gray by giving him exactly what he so desperately desires, thus teaching the world a lesson. Not everything we so strongly desire the world to provide is good for the soul.
power of one person to make a difference, we must also note the contributions of
In The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, Dorian Gray slowly becomes more influenced by things and people around him. Eventually, Lord Henry gifts him with a book describing a wealthy man’s pursuit of aesthetically and sensually pleasing items. “The yellow book” has a much stronger effect on Dorian Gray’s perception of beauty than Lord Henry Wotton does. Although it can be argued that Lord Henry introduced Dorian to the idea of aestheticism, the “yellow book” drives Dorian to live a life full of it, and changes his focus. Dorian shows the fact that he is not strongly influenced by Lord Henry through his interactions with Sibyl. Contrary to this, Oscar Wilde illustrates the substantial influence the yellow book has on Dorian by one, the
Many people don’t believe think anything of what they eat or how it got there. But the harsh truth is the meat that you eat was once a living, breathing creature that had feeling and emotions. Maybe next time you order a steak or chicken nuggets you should think about the animals that went through extreme pain and conditions for you to eat. Not only is it inhumane to put animals through such pain, not eating meat and having a vegetarian lifestyle can have huge benefits to animals, the environment, and your health.
Eighth graders who played video games and watched television the most did the worst at school (Beckham 1). “Playing a video game significantly increased heart rate, blood pressure and oxygen consumption in a group of people ages 16 to 25” (Segal, 4). Subjects who played aggressive video games were more excited than those who didn’t. After playing the video games, the subject would act out with more aggression towards others (Anderson 5). College students that played video games, compared to those who did not, showed signs of changes on class attendance and on their grades. Some of these changes included a drop in grade average and attendance (Kardaras 1).
...ming I will be willing to contribute in any way that I can, and becoming a vegetarian will help the environment a great deal. Becoming a vegetarian can also lead to becoming a healthier person and living a healthy lifestyle. And lastly, the way animals are killed and treated in factory farms are unethical and they should not be treated the way they are just to create a meal for the next person.Consider that the animal you are eating was a vegetarian and the meat contains all the minerals and vitamins of the plant foods it ate when you eat it. Along with fats yourbody needs in substantial amounts to stay healthy.....more on the fats later. Meat is as close to a complete meal as you can get because of this.
In conclusion, vegetarianism benefits many part of our life. A healthier body, a better environment, and more fair treatment of animals are all requites of becoming vegetarians. It is hard to change eating habits, but it is not impossible. There are many kinds of food that vegetarians can choose today. The taste of the non-meat food is not all bad and some of them maybe much better than imagination. It is not wise to deny being a vegetarian before trying to be. With more and more people adopting the vegetarian diet, the world will be a better place in the future: animals will be treated better; global warming will be alleviated; fewer people will be starving, and ultimately, people will be healthier and be living longer. Therefore, people should start action before it is too late.