“A young man of sound judgement, easy motions, proper dress, and general good character” is Hardy’s description of Gabriel Oak in the first chapter of “Far From the Madding Crowd”. ” Archangel Gabriel was the Messenger of God, so it is expected by the reader that Hardy’s Gabriel must be reliable and dignified. There are many times in the novel when he acts as a guardian angel. His surname is a metaphor for his appearance and character. An oak tree is a symbol of great strength, solidity and endurance. Gabriel Oak shows these qualities throughout the novel. Oak’s character is established in the first few chapters and remains consistent throughout, unlike other characters such as Bathsheba and Boldwood, which is one of the main reasons I chose him.
Thomas Hardy portrays Oak in a positive light, inviting the reader to like him as a character. His “wide smile”, the first we see of him, tells us he is content with life. Hardy makes us believe Oak to be an amiable man because when he smiles his young face wrinkles like “the rays . . . of the rising sun”. He is more comfortable in his working clothes than his Sunday best, implying that he is in tune with the countryside and nature. Oak is “imposing” in stature and has developed a slight stoop so that he appears less physically threatening, showing us that he can empathise with others and see things from their point of view. Hardy uses some similes to describe Oak’s stature, for example his fist was like “Thor’s hammer” “rather smaller in size than a common loaf”. He could be described as a gentle giant.
“Far from the Madding Crowd” is a romantic novel set in rural England. Oak, Boldwood and Troy all seek the hand in marriage of the main character Bathsheba. All three have differen...
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...ction for himself.
Overall, Gabriel Oak made the greatest impression on me, as I feel he is reliable and trustworthy throughout the course of the plot. He had to wait a long time for Bathsheba to reciprocate his love, but he remained composed and respectable. Unlike Troy and Boldwood, Gabriel has principles and keeps his promise to never again ask Bathsheba to marry him. Oak proves to be a loyal friend even when he experiences difficult times himself. He stays as a close confidant to Bathsheba, guiding her and “taming” her as she said she wanted. He is supportive of her and helps her through difficult times, and is in my opinion the most kindly, considerate and steadfast character in this novel and the character most worthy of Bathsheba’s love despite being from a different social class. The main theme of the novel is that true love always persists and wins.
Irving and Hawthorne both explore the role the forest has on their Puritan communities and main characters. Irving’s story focuses the forest as a place where the devil is while cutting and burning trees. Irving’s depiction of the forest is very dark, and the forest itself is more a swamp than a traditional, lush forest. Irving describes it as, “thickly grown with great gloomy pines and hemlocks, some of them ninety feet tall, which made it dark at noon-day…(Irving, 178).” He also uses adjectives like “stagnant”, “smothering”, “rotting”, and “treacherous” to describe his story’s forest.
The main theme of the Wife of baths tale is the two of the seven deadly sins “lust and greed”.
As stated by Ulrich, Bathsheba was remembered in English and American sermons as “a virtuous housewife, a godly woman whose industrious labors gave mythical significance to the ordinary tasks assigned to her sex.” In the Proverbs, she is described as one who is willing to serve her family (Ulrich 14). Moreover, just with Ulrich’s initial description of this biblical woman in which she compares women of the 1650s-1750s to, readers are able to get a general understanding that a woman’s role in economic life was vital to the success of her
Germaine Greer's task in her ingenious new book, "Shakespeare's Wife," is to expose the construction of this fantasy, tracing its evolution from early biographers like Thomas de Quincey through the work of respected modern scholars like Stephen Greenblatt. "The Shakespeare wallahs," she writes, "have succeeded in creating a Bard in their own likeness, that is to say, incapable of relating to women."
In part one, titled Bathsheba, Ulrich discusses how women fulfilled their role as a housewife. Bethseba is described as “a willing servant to her family… In doing so, she earns the devotion of her children, the praise of her husband, and the commendation of God” (pg 14). A wife would only be considered a good wife if she was able to perform her household duties, a seventeenth century writer wrote that “a woman who was ‘utterly ignorant’ of cookery could ‘then but perform half her vow; for she may love and obey, but she cannot cherish, serve, and keep him with that true duty which is ever expected’” (pg 20). In unfolding the roles of a good house wife, Ulrich allows the reader to be introduced to Beatrice Plummer, Hannah Grafton, and Magdalen Wear – three women living in three distinct households, but all are striving to fit the ideals molded to them.
In the Wife of Baths Prologue, her true colors unfurl which gives the reader the sense of who the Wife of Bath is and where her mind is in terms of the gender inequality. Her prologue also lays down the path to the direction her tale is going to go. The wife of Bath makes it clear that more than anyone it is her that has experience in the field of marriage just from her tone one can see she is a woman with a desire for authority. The Wife's Prologue is the framework that allows room for making distinctions on all the issue women in the Middle Ages face and indeed with her hearty an well define details she is left to be an unforgettable icon of the Canterbury tales . It is suspected that the Wife of Bath feels strongly on the notion...
...ptions of women and their roles as wives. Rather than opposing binary oppositions, she engages with them, using skilful language and exploiting her sex in order to disprove patriarchal thought. In particular, the Wife argues for experience over authority, demonstrating the biases that coincide with authoritative scripture and doctrine. By undermining the validity that is associated with authoritative arguments, the wife ironically is able to make dominating arguments, and propose new interpretations of masculine texts and label them as experienced opinions. She does not necessarily overturn masculine supremacy, but rather transforms it absoluteness into relativity. Through her prologue and her tale, the Wife of Bath promotes the re-interpretation of gender customs and marriage dynamics using feminized language, successfully giving a prevailing voice to women.
Leicester, H. Marshall, Jr. "Of a Fire in the Dark: Public and Private Feminism in The Wife of Bath's Tale." Women's Studies 11.1-2 (1984): 157-178. Literature Resource Center. Web. 1 March 2014.
The prosperous and vibrant Elizabethan Age made England the heart of all commerce, culture, and most importantly, theatre. Romeo and Juliet, the masterpiece tragedy by William Shakespeare, takes place in this time period and relays the story of two young lovers whose ill-fated deaths eventually end an ancient family feud. The two, Romeo and Juliet, come from quarreling families who adamantly disapprove of their union. Thus, after knowing each other for only a few days, the star-crossed pair marries in secrecy and continues their furtive relationship. The situation complicates as the story progresses, with a previous love, arranged marriages, a perilous plan, and several deaths. Ultimately, Romeo and Juliet both fall to the consequences of their actions and have a pain-filled and sorrowful demise. Shakespeare’s use of various tactics in developing Romeo’s character in the play Romeo and Juliet shows that Romeo has an impulsive and emotional disposition. Romeo’s inner feelings, his actions and responses, and others’ opinions about him all help shape his character. William Shakespeare’s methods all combine to draw Romeo’s disposition.
Eisner, Sigmund. A Tale of Wonder: a Source Study of the Wife of Bath’s Tale. New York: B. Franklin, 1969.
and how defiant she is. Bathsheba is seen as a woman of the 1870's set
The Wife of Bath's Tale is the story of a knight who is saved from the disciplinary justice portrayed by the king just to confront the queens rehabilitative justice. This story has issues that we are still debating about today. The knight commits a violent crime and therefore has to have disciplinary actions. There are a tremendous amount of themes in The Wife of Bath’s Tale. The themes that I chose to discuss are old age, appearance, and feminism.
“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 Wife of Bath is one of the most famous characters within Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. In her prologue, it is quickly made clear that she has had a lot of husbands and by a lot I mean five. Since she has all this experience with men, The Wife of Bath dedicates her prologue to describing how each of her marriages went. In her five marriages she has been accused of lusting too much, to being too controlling, and being abused. While some good husbands were good and some were bad, The Wife of Bath depicts a solid image of her feelings toward men. In her relationships, she must always have the upper hand. She is the type of woman who gets what she wants when she wants it. While describing one of her marriages, The Wife of Bath explains how
...scene and the misogynistic views of such as Iago, 'How if she be black and witty'' with the later scene of Act IV Scne iii and Desdemona's refusal to say the word 'whore', 'I cannot say whore/It does abhor me', then the dark baseness of the male world is seen in opposition and dark contrast to the innocence and naivety of Desdemona.