Burney shows the ideal of a truly well-bred man through Lord Orville. Orville contains all good qualities of the ideal man such as his good breeding and being civil with ease.
A polite gentleman must be able to not be frightened of being laughed at by people when he speaks and comfortable speaking with no fear of people of fashion speaking to him.
“Evelina records that his manners are so elegant, so gentle, so unassuming” (425). Orville is able to treat people of lower status as equals even to Evelina as a social nobody. At Mrs Stanley’s ball, Evelina speaks of Orville’s politeness, “I could not have met with more attention and respect” (33). Orville has no social awkwardness and makes no tensions in mixing and mingling the social classes
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Evelina is surprised to discover such a rude man “from the way he sacrifices the harmony of the party he is with to single out Evelina for attention. He openly stares at her to the point of making her uncomfortable-thereby revealing his lack of manners”(427). He falls short of true civility even after complimenting Evelina multiple of times with his overly “politeness”, his “appropriate” behavior does not match up. It is highly improper for a young woman to dance with strangers at the public assembly and for anyone to intrude on a party in which one does not know any members. However, Sir Clement avoids these rules and uses his boldness,persistence, and tortured logic to get to Evelina. He frequently violates social conventions from his ignorance. His self centered personality is shown once he claims Evelina as his dance partner “rather than sparing Evelina’s feelings, as any well-bred gentlemen would do, he actively seeks to embarrass her, making her feel by turns foolish, confused, abashed, and ashamed”(427). He portrays a creature that is uneducated with his lack of manners. He has no reasonable excuse to his ill-will, bad tongue, and ill-bred because he ignores the principles of civility. He refuses to take knowledge of learning the technique of self-discipline and adopting the values of a refined sociability. The discipline he lacks are needed to attain
Schall describes ‘self discipline’ to be a fundamental principal that will ultimately enrich the ‘self.’ Hence, to posses qualities of dedication through a set of self-discipline habits are virtues that will enable to comprehend the truth in our reality. Indeed, the author makes a key-point by explaining that one must be able to achieve order in our mundane lives, from what “deviates from what it is we know we ought to be or do.” Therefore, one must be able to overcome any obstacle that may impede from reaching our goal of seeking knowledge and understanding. However, self-discipline is only the “beginning of wisdom, not its end.” Hence, wisdom may be achieve through a personal library, by studying the greatest minds that had existed in the past and perhaps, in the our present time, in which they have come close and/or achieve the goal one purposely
Chivalrous, gentleman, classy- all these words are given as labels to people through the same pattern of delicate and thoughtful movements. Those labels state that a person was not loud, was not unhygienic, was distinguished. There was never a point when boisterous, larger-than-life people were given such a title. They were distinguished, but not refined. Terms relating the epitome of social behavior follow a very thin line. A person only has to behave a certain way to obtain these labels. Being genuine may receive praise from a rigid society that demands so much from everyone, but it isn’t always associated with class. One person’s
The band of characters is drawn from every level of the class system. Unique interactions among characters from different social standings are conveyed, from the distressed, kindly gardener, to the impertinent daughter of the village innkeeper, to the prosperous de Luce family, and to the royalty. What appealed to me was that Flavia could trace her family’s history back many generations, and for one to be able to make these personal connections is extremely rare. Of course, this awareness of their past is correlated to the de Luce’s chain of affluence.
her is inferior to Rochester and others of high class. She is forced into this social
At face value, Evelina is not necessarily a comedy, considering both males and females often seek to take advantage of her. One often feels that Evelina truly is an “innocent angel, and as artless as purity itself” (Burney 15), wandering in the midst of London’s wolves. Evelina’s life is not her own, and the letters from Lady Howard, Villars, and others concerned, including her own father, are a testament to this fact. The reader will notice that those in authority are essentially Evelina’s “puppet masters.” The humorous moments of the story, therefore, lie in her perceptions, which are concise and hilarious in their honesty. Other characters are often painted in ludicrous terms. For instance, she notes that Madame Duval “…endeavoured to adjust her head dress, but she could not at all please herself….[Evelina] should have thought it impossible for a woman at her time in life to be so very difficult in regard to dress. What [Madam...
She then moves on to be a gracious host to all of these men, again showing success in her womanly duties. Later that night one of the visitors, Sextus Tarquinis, comes into her room, and forces himself upon her, telling her that if she does not comply he will make it look like she had an affair with one of the servants (Livy, 101). She yields to him because she does not want it to seem as if she had an affair and is not able to explain what occurred.... ... middle of paper ...
Christian De Neuvillette is introduced as an impulsive baron with charming features. Christian can be interpreted as a nave, and shortsighted character, although within the play, his character bonds between more than just two negative attributes. The most desirable personality traits that a character would acquire are strenuous to preserve. One of these strenuous traits includes courtesy, which readers target their attention to. The readers’ concentration targets characters with high qualities that differ from other characters, in this case Christian fits perfectly into the category.
In his Canterbury Tales, Chaucer fully explicates the cultural standard known as courtesy through satire. In the fourteenth century, courtesy embodied sophistication and an education in English international culture. The legends of chivalric knights, conversing in the language of courtly love, matured during this later medieval period. Chaucer himself matured in the King's Court, as is revealed in his cultural status, but he also retained an anecdotal humor about courtesy. One must only peruse his Tales to discern these sentiments, for Chaucer’s view of courtesy can seem shocking and, all together, obscene at times, it’s the similarity of the differences that make Chaucer’s tales superior. An example of this can be seen through Nicholas’ attempt at “courting” Alison versus Arcita and Palamon’s endeavors at courting Emily. Nicholas' anxious and lewd behavior, in conjunction with his explicit sexual connotation, demonstrates Chaucer’s more farcical side; where as, the manner in which Arcita and Palamon court Emily can seem more satirical. In the Miller's Tale, Chaucer juxtaposes courtly love with animalistic lust, while in the Knight’s tale, the subject of chivalry is held with much higher regard, and used as a florid, glorious attribute. These numerous references provide the reader with a remarkably rich image of the culture and class structure of late fourteenth century England.
Margaret is an intelligent, articulate, and ambitious woman who desires to rise up in social status by marrying a man of higher social rank. She attends to those above her, in hopes of elevating her status as she becomes closer to the upper-class. As a minor character, she plays a small yet crucial role in advancing Don John’s plot to slander Hero and spoil her wedding. As a lower-class character, Margaret serves as a foil to the rich girls, particularly Hero, who embodies every attitude and mindset Margaret does not. But she also offers an alternative perspective on the upper-class characters in the play. Because Margaret is victimized because of her social ambitions, punished for wanting to rise above her ...
The story begins with the Marquise de Merteuil corresponding with Vicomte de Valmont regarding a luscious new act of ‘revenge’, as she describes it, against the Comte de Gercourt. The young Cecile de Volanges has just come home from the convent and her marriage to Gercourt has been arranged. However, before he can wed the innocent child, Merteuil proposes Valmont ‘educate’ her, thus spoiling Gercourt’s fancy for untarnished convent girls. Valmont is uninterested in such an easy seduction and is far more aroused by the thought of lulling The Presidente’ de Tourvel, the very epitome of virtue, into submission. And so the tale unfolds.
His attempts to flirt with Maria by showing how clever he is fail when Sir
The first source, Christine de Pizan’s book ‘The Treasure of The City of Ladies’ contains a handful of sections on how differing demographics of women, elderly, young, property owning, should behave in order to cultivate a virtuous character and play the role of mediator between conflicting parties. It should be mentioned that this is definitely a prescriptive source, not an accurate portrayal of what was actually happening at the time, simply an ideal of what the author wanted to be happening and potentially observed. The document addresses women of middle and lower class in how they should be forging relations with both other women and men as a demographic. It has been contended that medieval shared “striking” similarities in experiences with class despite other cultural differences. Christine herself was a famous intellectual in the 13th c...
The Speaker in ‘My Last Duchess’ is conversing with the servant of a count whose daughter he is proposing to marry. He treats t...
Discipline, he says, “is the basic set of tools we require to solve life’s problems” (15). Life, without a doubt, is unavoidably difficult; embracing this difficulty takes discipline, courage and strength. The process of meeting and solving problems gives life its meaning. Man is a problem solving being, but when we procrastinate,
Some critics of Shakespeare’s play, Measure for Measure, judge Isabella as "a narrow minded but passionate girl afflicted with an irrational terror of sex" (Barton, 546), "a young, immature woman" demonstrating "moral absurdity and cruelty" (Nicholls, 478), whose actions are scarcely defensible. A classmate of mine asked, "Why doesn't Isabella just sleep with Angelo? What's the big deal?" These statements reveal that these people have no understanding or sympathy for Isabella’s position: socially, morally or physically.