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The influence of cultural differences
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Beowulf and Grettir's Saga
IN THE DEAD OF THE NIGHT, someone or something, is murdering the local townsfolk. As fate provides, a stranger marches into the local bar announcing his intention to kill the menacing outlaw. The fiend returns to the scene of his crimes, and, as predicted, the outsider fights and mortally wounds the brute, which limps off to a hidden lair. The hero and his comrade(s) track the wounded villain to an underwater cave and the ensuing fray results in the death of the criminal's sidekick. The stranger/hero explores the cave, discovering the carcass of the original fugitive, treasure and booty. Meanwhile, the stranger's posse thinks the hero is dead and abandons him. The hero's surprising return marks the end of his mission. Excluding the underwater cave, the plot line of Beowulf and Grettir's Saga is the premise for countless songs, sagas, epics, stories and movies (especially western and horror films). Likewise, Christianity contains the story of a redeemer rescuing mankind from evil. Although these two oral tales contain similar action sequences, differences can be found in the details and underlying moral tenor. Elemental distinctions include seasonal differences, the role of women, the actual fight scenes, the style of the combatants and their foes, how plunder is qualified, and what happens to the hero at the end of his mission. Even as the details differ, the dogmatic tonal shift can be discovered by looking at how the differing communities act in relation to what they say, and noting the variation of the characters' attitudes, from the older Beowulf's world of a pagan society working to integrate Christianity, to Grettir's Christian population, whose older heroic heathens are cast out.
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...ng, Howell D. "Introduction." Beowulf. Trans. Howell D. Chickering, Jr. New York: Random House, 1989.
The Epic of Gilgamesh. Trans. Maureen Gallery Kovacs. Stanford: Stanford UP, 1989.
Hesiod. Theogony. Trans. Richard Lattimore. Ann Arbor: U of MI P, 1991.
Isaak, Mark. "Flood Stories from Around the World." The Talk. Origins Archive. 4 July 2004.
Jackson J. Spielvogel, Western Civilization: Volume I: To 1715, 8th Edition, (Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2012), 90.
Bongars, Gesta Dei per Francos, 1, pp. 382 f., trans in Oliver J. Thatcher, and Edgar Holmes McNeal, eds., A Source Book for Medieval History, (New York: Scribners, 1905), 513-17
Kleiner, Fred, Gardner's Art through the Ages: A Global History, Fourteenth Edition The Middle Ages, Book B (Boston: Wadsworth, 2013), 348.
Ruskin, John. “Grotesque Renaissance.” The Stones of Venice: The Fall. 1853. New York: Garland Publishing, 1979. 112-65. Rpt. in Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism. Ed. Jelena O. Krstovic. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1989. 21-2.
The Middle East has since time immemorial been on the global scope because of its explosive disposition. The Arab Israeli conflict has not been an exception as it has stood out to be one of the major endless conflicts not only in the region but also in the world. Its impact continues to be felt all over the world while a satisfying solution still remains intangible. A lot has also been said and written on the conflict, both factual and fallacious with some allegations being obviously evocative. All these allegations offer an array of disparate views on the conflict. This essay presents an overview of some of the major literature on the controversial conflict by offering precise and clear insights into the cause, nature, evolution and future of the Israel Arab conflict.
5. Howe, Helen, and Robert T. Howe. From the Ancient and Medieval Worlds. N.p.: Longman, 1992. Print.
Hyams, Paul. "Medieval Sourcebook: The Strange Story Of Thomas Of Elderfield." www.fordham.edu. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Dec 2013. .
The Israeli-Palestine conflict is an event that has been well documented throughout the course of Middle-Eastern history. The conflict dates back as far as the nineteenth century where Palestine and Zionist, will later be known as Israel, are two communities each with different ideologies had the same overwhelming desire to acquire land. However, what makes this clash what it is, is the fact that both of these up and coming communities are after the same piece of land. The lengths that both sides went to in order obtain they believed was theirs has shaped the current relationship between the two nations today.
The epic poem, Beowulf, is one of the oldest European epics in existence. When Beowulf was written, the writer incorporated many of the ideals of the Anglo-Saxons. Some of these ideals included loyalty, bravery, selflessness, and justice and were demonstrated in the hero. Both the characters Beowulf and Grendel represent aspects of both good and evil, Christianity and Paganism, and what occurs when they collide with one another. A characteristic of an epic poem is the concern over struggles that humans face, which is presented in a serious manner. The hero often embodies the religious, national, and cultural values of his homeland and abroad. The premise of the story is quite simple: the Danes were in distress because of the great monster Grendel, so Beowulf, a native of the Geats, sails to engage in battle with Grendel and become victorious in saving the seemingly faithless Danes. Throughout the epic, there are many instances where examples of the thirteen epic conventions are used in the writing of Beowulf and in describing both the ideals of the Anglo-Saxons and the underlying challenges with mortal problems, such as good versus evil.
In this paper, I will attempt to review the debate on pornography in Chapter 4 - State and Society - of Philosophy and Contemporary Issues, Seventh Edition by John R. Burr and Milton Goldinger.
“Palestinians do not control their own fate but instead live under the power of other states” (82, Yambert). The one state that directly controls the fate of Palestinians in the occupied territories is Israel and for the Palestinians who do not reside in Israel, other governments control them. The history of Palestine and how Israel came into existence is essential to understand in order to break down the present day conflict. The most dominant and important player in the Palestinian – Israeli conflict has been the United States of America, which has completely shaped the predicament in order to fulfill its interests. Before delving into the role of the United States, it is essential to go back in time and familiarize with the history of Palestine and Israel.
Rachels, J. (2013). The Moral Argument for Vegetarianism. In L. Vaughn, Contemporary Moral Arguments - Readings in Ethical Issues Second Edition (pp. 617-622). New York: Oxford University Press.
The epic poem of Beowulf and the tale of the great warrior has been one of the most revered texts of old Anglo-Saxon literature, and has maintained a self-sustaining relevance in today’s society as a result of the vast amounts of translations and reworks of the tale into movies, art, and literature. The epic poem dates back to the ninth century and was first translated off of an old frayed manuscript, leaving some portions of the epic to be left up to the reader of the absent text. The epic story was thought to originate from an oral background as traditional folk tale, yet this has been questioned for debate. On thing that is certain is the fact that Beowulf , is full of thematic elements of the decisions of good vs. evil , the intrinsic excitement of masculinity, and the morbid reminder of mortality, all of which have been analyzed among great scholars and writers throughout decades.
Rice, Eugene E. and Anthony Grafton. The Foundations of Early Modern Europe, 1460-1559. 2nd. ed. New York: W. W. Norton and Co., 1994.
Pornography and feminism have had quite an odd relationship. Feminist writers such as Gloria Steinem have denounced the sex industry while it has continued to expand exponentially. Due to technological advances such as the internet and cell phones, pornography is easier to access then ever before. Some publications even estimate that gross annual sales for pornographic videos would exceed four billion dollars (Rich 2011: 1). With this much money being invested into an industry that operates in a capitalistic society, it would be ignorant to hope that it would cease to exist. The truth is that pornography is not going anywhere. The issue that feminists from many different strains are debating is if porn is detrimental to women. And if so, how truly immoral is it? In this paper there will be an examination of how the two different radical-feminist theories have dealt with pornography while also discussing why the issue of pornography can be seen as such a confusing topic for feminists as a whole.