The Kiss of Deception
‘The Kiss of Decption’ is a profound novel that was written by Mary E. Pearson, published in 2014. The book tells the story of a princess, named Lia, who fled on her wedding day, to the village of Terravin. When two handsome strangers arrive in the village, she is unaware that one is the jilted prince, while the other is an assassin set to kill her. Betrayal is shown through the difficult relationship between Lia and her parents. Betrayal and deceptions is illustaited through the unrequited love of Pauline and Mikael. The book further shows a tragic romance, between Lia and Rafe, that was based on facades. One of the book’s setting is the repudiated kingdom of Vanda, abandoned by her sisters, killed by her husband, which contributes to Pearson’s theme of
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betrayal in love. Lia’s rocky relationship with her parents leads to distrust and betrayal. ‘As First Daughter, She is expected to have the revered gift of sight, but she doesn’t’. Because of this Lia knows her parents a perpetrating a sham, when they arrange her marriage. When her father finds out she ran away, he was utterly embarrassed. He ordered a bounty on her head. ‘What kind of father would order his own daughter’s murder?’ If the deteriorated relationship between father and daughter wasn’t clear, it certainly was now.‘ Killing in the name of war was one thing. Killing one’s own kin was another.’ The betrayal of her father, diminished the little love she had left for him. Lia’s mother, the one parent that was truly there for her, was conspiring with the enemy to take her away. It was in her best interest to keep the gift hidden from her. This was not only the cause of Lia’s capture, but it launched a secret war between three kingdoms. Even though Lia beg for it not to be true, her mother confirmed it by saying, ‘I’ve been conspiring with him for years.’ Her mother, the Queen, blatantly Confessed that she had betrayed her husband, kingdom and daughter, he and she dearly loved. Whether intentionally or not, Lia’s parents served as the ultimate betrayal between their family’s love. Many of the characters in‘ The Kiss of Deception‘ fall in love then get betrayed one way or another. The most permanent example of this was the Relation between Pauline, Lia’s lady-in-waiting and best friend, and Mikael, a soldier. Walther, Lia’s brother, describe Mikael as a playboy who ‘boasts about his conquests and the broken hearts he’s left behind as if they’re medals pins on his chest.’ Mikael never really love Pauline, he was only using her for fun. Pauline talk to Lia about their love and how he was coming back for her. Pauline said she fell in love with him when he told her ‘you’re the most exquisite creature the gods ever created’. A typical playboy move. Naive Pauline got involved with them until the point of no return. As soon as Mikael had enough, he packed his things and felt falsely promising his return. Pauline moved to Terravin because that was the spot they were to meet. When Lia told her Mikael was dead, all she would do was mourn for her love and weep for her unborn child, fully living in the fantasy that Mikael still loved her, meanwhile we he was actually with other girls. Pearson’s presentation of the romance of Pauline and Mikael, was a very powerful tool in illustrating the important theme. Another prominent example of a complicated relationship is the romance between Lia and Rafe. Prince Jaxon Rafferty had one mission and one mission only; to find ‘this girl who thumbed her nose at two kingdoms and did as she pleased.’ He succeeded in finding Princess Arabella Jezelia, poses as a taverns maid in Terravin. ‘He was decidedly angry from the moment he saw me and 8 felt he wanted to hate me (Lia).’ Rafe’s hatred didn’t go unnoticed, but there was something he didn’t expect fro her, she was different then anything he ever envisioned a spoilt princess who wrote, ‘I wish to inspect you’ on a note. She was quite the opposite. The attraction was mutual. They started to fall in love with each other, whiteout mowing anything about the other. Rafe new Lia was a princess, while Lia new Rafe was lying about his identity, although the truth was oblivious to her. ‘He had lied. He had manipulated me.’ Kidnapped and alone Lia felt that Rafe was going to forget her and move on. She new he lied to her, and hated him for that. Hurt and betrayed, Lia turned to Kaden, the assassin and kidnapper, for support and love. Around the same time Rafe was searching the entire continent for her, Lia was snuggling up to Kaden. Dread filled her as she realized what she had done; she had kissed Kaden. ‘It was true. I wanted to kiss him.’ Her betrayal ran deeper then the kiss, it made Kaden fall in love with her, and Rafe loath Kaden, turning two latter allies against one another. The history of the three kingdoms go back to the time of women, who were betrayed by their own kin.
In the time of the remnant’s ancestors, there were two sisters Venda, Gaudrel, who had a niece named Morrighan. ‘Three women who were torn apart. Three women who were family.’ Morrighan was kid appeared and taken by Harik, the theif, and sold to a scavenger named Aldrid, for a sack of grain. Her aunt, Venda, was one of the person who gave her away, betraying Morrighan and Gaudrel. In result, she fled to a kingdom, and married the king and become queen. ‘She was killed by her own husband.’ After Venda married the king. They say she started going mad, singing on a six hundred feet wall. It was say she sung of dragons and destruction, something the king didn’t want his subjects to her. Venda fell off the wall to her death, pushed by her husband to hush the insanity. In the end, these three women raised kingdoms and clans, that were powerful each with there own story of how the events played out. Because of these women’s betrayal, their kingdoms are mortal enemies. ‘The Kiss of Deception’s’ presentation of family ties, ultimately leads to the betrayal and deceit between the remnant
kingdoms. Mary E. Person portrays the theme of betrayal in love in an interesting and powerful manner in ‘The Kiss of Deception’. Her use of Lia’s unnerving ties with her parents as an effective beginning, as it adds a background to the novel, which creates greater sympathy on the part of the reader. The character struggle affairs betrayal in love which was seen in the shaky relationship between Lia and Rafe, and the beguiled love of Pauline and Mikael. The history of the novel revealed at the end, exposed the true reason for the kingdom’s futile animosity towards each other. Through these four examples portray the theme of betrayal of love is shown in ‘The Kiss of Deception’. As said in the novel, ‘Maybe there were a hundred different ways to fall in love’ , this novel makes the reader appreciate the human need for love and companionship which is relevant to our lives today.
The book The Wreath by Kristin Laransdatter is about a loving and religious family who lives in a rural area in Norway. The book revolves around the character Kristin who has a fairly close relationship with her father Lavrans who is a respected master. Ragnfrid is the wife of Lavrans who is going through depression after losing three sons and her youngest daughter being crippled because of an accident. A attempted rape tragedy that ruined her reputation makes Kristin be sent to a convent which turns her life around. Her parents had already betrothed her to a landowner’s son since childhood whose name is Simon Darre. She ends up disobeying her parents, friend and brother, breaking church rules and being untruthful. When she goes to the convent she ends up falling for Erlend Nikulausson and begin a hidden romance because to the church and the state is a sin. Lavrans does not approve the relationship at first because Erlend is seen as impulsive and immature but he realizes that he cannot stop the relationship so he allows them get married. When Erland and Kristen are finall...
The form of the novel’s initiatory journey’s corresponds to the three-stage progression in the anthropological studies of rites of passage. The novel begins with alienation from a close-knit and securely placed niche as Naomi Nakane lives in her warm and joyful family within Vancouver. Then, the passage proceeds to isolation in a deathlike state in which Naomi is stripped of everything. Her family is removed from its previous social niche and exiled into concentration camps. Naomi is forced to separate with parents and sent to live with aunt Obasan. Finally, the journey concludes with reintegration accompanied by an elevated status as the result of the second stage. Naomi accepts the surrogate family and develops a recognition of her past. When she gets her family’s documents and letters, Naomi finally shatters the personal and cultural veils of reticence and secrecy that have clouded her past, and reconciles herself with the facts. The three-stage initiatory journey helps to transform the protagonist from a victim of the society to a hero. The protagonist transformation illuminates the values such as redemption of sins, willing forgiveness of offenses, and so forth. Along with its motifs and symbols that allude to Christian rituals, thus, the heroic figure, Naomi, serves as a role model and gives meaning and guidance to the lives of readers thereby
Galchen creates the character of her narrator to be very similar to that of the young narrator in “Araby” in a modern setting. In their youth, each narrator becomes infatuated and obsessed with someone who does not realize. The narrator of “Araby” falls in love with his friend Mangan’s sister, as seen in that he states that “when she came out on the doorstep [his] heart leaped” (123). He forms an obsession with her, as evidenced by the fact that he “had never spoken to her . . . and yet her name was like a summons to all [his] foolish blood” and in that “her image accompanied [him] even in places the most hostile to romance” (123).
Her lionhearted clothes reflected her valiant and strong attitude. However – Elisa Allen hid her true feelings. She was deceitful in interpersonal communication. Her tongue spilled bittersweet black smut like that of industrialized coal engines. However – it was compassionate, her concern and subtle behavior. A girl screaming to escape maiden life, but only knew it was disrupt order. “Her face was eager and mature and handsome; even her work with the scissors was over-eager, over-powerful. “The chrysanthemum stems seemed too small and easy for her energy.” Verily, she had the heart of a lion and the appearance of a virgin.
The issue of betrayed expectations in love from is confronted in both The Prince’s Progress and Goblin Market. In both stories the topic of the power of temptation to entice man from the worthy and earnest work of life is common. In Goblin Market the temptations are both resisted and overcome; in The Prince’s Progress they succeed over the main characters. Also, in the case of Goblin Market the main temptations taking over Laura were sensory and in the end were equated with sexual pleasures. She allowed the goblin men to ravage and soil her with the juices of their fruits with the end objective as Lizzie breaking away from her spell. Only one of the two central temptations, lust, in The Prince's Progress prevents the understanding of the implied ideal that married bliss is not only...
Romantic gestures have been seen as a useful motive to win hearts of women for centuries. However, as society constantly changes, the effectiveness of these chivalrous acts has diminished. In James Joyce’s “Araby” and John Updike’s “A&P”, this theory is explored, both telling the story of a boy whose efforts to impress the girl of their desires fail. As said by Well’s in his critical analysis of these stories, “Both the protagonists have come to realize that romantic gestures—in fact, that the whole chivalric view [sic] --- are, in modern times, counterproductive”. These stories, despite the differences between the two characters, clearly show that the character’s world is changing, with chivalry becoming more obsolete.
In Aphra Behn’s Oroonko, and Voltaire’s Candide, love is a subject of prominence; it serves as a starting point for both of these characters. For example, if Candide hadn’t fallen in love with his insatiable beauty, Cunegonde, he would not have been thrown from his home, castle Thunder-Ten-Tronckh, and sent on his dreadful journey across Europe. “The Baron of Thunder-Ten-Tronckh passed by the screen and, talking note of this cause and this effect, drove Candide out of the castle by kicking him vigorously in the backside (Voltaire 356). Throughout the entire story, Voltaire discusses Candide’s impalpable feelings for Cunegonde; he even commits twice to be with his fair maiden. Throughout the entire story, Candid, discusses his impalpable feelings for Cunegonde; he even commits twice to be with his fair maiden. “It was a quick, clear chain of reasoning; without giving the inquisitor time to recover from surprise, he ran him through and laid him beside the Jew” (Voltaire 367). Candid will even leave the “best of all worlds”, Eldorado, to retrieve Cunegonde, from the Governor of Buenos Aires, whom Cunegonde willing accepted a proposal from, thinking only about her own wellbeing. “We have enough to pay off the governor of Buenos Aires-if indeed; a price is placed on Miss Cunegonde” (Voltaire 385). Likewise, Oroonko’s’ love for his beautiful, Imoinda marks the starting point of his unfortunate journey. For example, Oroonko’s lover Imoinda is sent a veil, from his grandfather, the king; the veil signified that Imoinda was now his wife, therefor, she and Oroonoko, were no longer able to pursue marriage. “He sent the royal veil to Imoinda; that is the Ceremony of Invitation: he sends the lady, he has mind to honour with his bed, a vei...
What the reader understands of the infidelity of Milan Kundera’s characters in The Unbearable Lightness of Being is a mere distraction from the real substance of the story and of the character’s real purpose. Kundera offers the reader a red herring and only through close examination can one dissect and abstract the true essence of each character’s thread that links them to one another in this story. For it is not clearly seen: in fact, it can not be seen at all. It is the fierce absence of the word commitment that is so blatantly seen in each individual, yet the word itself is buried so deeply inside of Tomas and Tereza that it takes an animal’s steadfast and unconditional love to make the meaning and understanding of commitment penetrate the surface.
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.
Malory's Le Morte D’Arthur isn't known to be classic just because of Arthur-but rather the themes of family, love, revenge, identity, loyalty and betrayal. As King, Arthur is put in many situations that test the people he surrounds himself with. Therefore, betrayal has become a reoccurring theme. Throughout the novel, people are seen betraying each other. Betrayal has become familiar in a way to the members of the round table, ultimately leading to it's demise. The acts of betrayal occur in various forms, whether it be through adultery or just going behind the other person's back. Regardless of how it happens it brings about serious disorder for all involved.
Love is a powerful emotion, capable of turning reasonable people into fools. Out of love, ridiculous emotions arise, like jealousy and desperation. Love can shield us from the truth, narrowing a perspective to solely what the lover wants to see. Though beautiful and inspiring when requited, a love unreturned can be devastating and maddening. In his play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, William Shakespeare comically explores the flaws and suffering of lovers. Four young Athenians: Demetrius, Lysander, Hermia, and Helena, are confronted by love’s challenge, one that becomes increasingly difficult with the interference of the fairy world. Through specific word choice and word order, a struggle between lovers is revealed throughout the play. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare uses descriptive diction to emphasize the impact love has on reality and one’s own rationality, and how society’s desperate pursuit to find love can turn even strong individuals into fools.
“The Wife of Bath’s Tale” is written in an entertaining and adventurous spirit, but serves a higher purpose by illustrating the century’s view of courtly love. Hundreds, if not thousands, of other pieces of literature written in the same century prevail to commemorate the coupling of breathtaking princesses with lionhearted knights after going through unimaginable adventures, but only a slight few examine the viability of such courtly love and the related dilemmas that always succeed. “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” shows that women desire most their husband’s love, Overall, “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” shows that the meaning of true love does not stay consistent, whether between singular or separate communities and remains timeless as the depictions of love from this 14th century tale still hold true today.
The tales of King Arthur and many of their numerous characters are well known in literature. The Arthurian world is one of the great myths of modern times. Those great pieces of literature have many common themes, one of them being courtly love “L’amour Courtois”. This paper talks of courtly love as seen in King Arthur’s world especially examining “Yvain or the Knight with the Lion” and “Lancelot: or the Knight of the Cart”. Furthermore, one of the goals is to show how that courtly love could be seen in today in our world.
The book is about a guy, also known as Johannes, the seducer, who falls in love with a girl then breaks up with her expecting her to be in love with him still, she ends up getting married to someone else. Johannes has his mind set
In literature, both new and old, one of the most popular themes is love. Many novels, poems, and short stories explore this theme in every imaginable way. Henry James’s Washington Square and Steve Martin’s Shopgirl are worthy additions to this timeless tradition. The twist for these two novels is that both heroine’s, Catherine in Washington Square and Mirabelle in Shopgirl, fall for men that do not love them in return. At least the ladies’ love is not returned in the manner they expect. The novels were written more than a century apart. Thus the dialogue, settings, and characters are different, but the central theme of unrequited love is present in both novels.