The Shop
The sound made Elizabeth jump. Yet again it had come from the shop next door. She frowned at the old, battered doors of the ancient antique store. It was as though the owner was renovating. The problem was, the shop did not have one. The owner had won the lottery and moved to Las Vegas a few months ago. Leaving his battered old shop and all the merchandise behind. Elizabeth had called the police three times but nobody was found. The police weren’t very pleased after the third time. Anyway, even if the store was unguarded Elizabeth doubted there would be any looters – most of the merchandise was dragged from the local dump.
SMASH
Elizabeth jumped again. The noise was replaced by the loud, sharp shriek of an electric drill gnawing at the wall. The ground seemed to shake at the loud, shrill noise. Elizabeth covered her ears. She was very annoyed now. The noise next door has been going night and day for the past three days, and because she lived at the back of her boutique she couldn’t get a wink of sleep.
A truck pulled up next to the boutique, two extremely hairy and extremely tattooed men came out the back and began unloading boxes marked “summer drs” onto the footpath. After about ten boxes were stacked not–so–neatly next to Elizabeth’s feet the men got back in the truck and started the engines.
“Wait a minute!” shouted Elizabeth. “You need to put these in my store!”
“That’s your problem lady, not ours.” One of the men jeered, his friend laughed and slapped him on the back, and with that they were gone. Their outdated truck spewing out a line of thick, black exhaust.
“You good–for–nothing bastards!” Elizabeth screamed at the truck as she picked up a stone and threw it. Miraculously it flew right through the driver’s window. The truck swerved, scattering a mass of boxes big and small on the road, and stopped.
The driver came out with a bruise on the side of his head, his friend followed and shouted, “Hey lady! You stupid or something? We could’ve been killed! You gotta help us pick this mess up!”
“That’s your problem!” Elizabeth called back as she hauled on of the boxes into her store.
When she finally finished with the boxes, it was already midday. Elizabeth wiped her forehead with her sleeve and went inside to make herself a cup of cappuccino…
Were the witch-hunts in pre-modern Europe misogynistic? Anne Llewellyn Barstow seems to think so in her article, “On Studying Witchcraft as Women’s History: A Historiography of the European Witch Persecutions”. On the contrary, Robin Briggs disagrees that witch-hunts were not solely based on hatred for women as stated in his article, “Women as Victims? Witches, Judges and the Community”. The witch craze that once rapidly swept through Europe may have been because of misconstrued circumstances. The evaluation of European witch-hunts serves as an opportunity to delve deeper into the issue of misogyny.
The air hung around them, tensed and quiet. The fragility of her emotion was threatening to shatter. It is as if that time stood still for her. She fingered the brim of her notebook, nervously and took notice of the cup of coffee on her side. Controlling the sudden urged to drown the caffeine all at once; she carefully picked the cup and warily sipped its content. It had long been cold, and her tongue appreciated that fact.
The witch hunts in early modern Europe were extensive and far reaching. Christina Larner, a sociology professor at the University of Glasgow and an influential witchcraft historian provides valuable insight into the witch trials in early modern Europe in her article 'Was Witch-Hunting Woman-Hunting?'. Larner writes that witchcraft was not sex-specific, although it was sex-related (Larner, 2002). It cannot be denied that gender plays a tremendous role in the witch hunts in early modern Europe, with females accounting for an estimated 80 percent of those accused (Larner, 2002). However, it would be negligent to pay no heed to the remaining 20 percent, representing alleged male witches (Larner, 2002). The legal definition of a witch in this time, encompassed both females and males (Levack, 1987). This essay will explore the various fundamental reasons for this gender discrepancy and highlight particular cases of witchcraft allegations against both women and men. These reasons arise from several fundamental pieces of literature that depict the stereotypical witch as female. These works are misogynistic and display women as morally inferior to men and highly vulnerable to temptations from demons (Levack, 1987). This idea is blatantly outlined in the text of the 'Malleus Maleficarum' written by James Sprenger and Henry Kramer in the late fifteenth century. This book is used as the basis for many of the witch trials in early modern Europe (Levack, 1987). The text describes women as sexually submissive creatures and while remarking that all witchcraft is derived from intense sexual lust, a women is thus a prime candidate for witchcraft (Sprenger & Kramer, 1487). In this time period, men are seen as powerful and in control and thus rarely...
In the Malleus Maleficarum, Sprenger and Kramer’s basic argument about the origins of witchcraft is that witchcraft is found chiefly in women due to several reasons that focus on characteristics of women. Sprenger and Kramer argue that witchcraft in women is more probable because women were very naïve and impressionable, carnal lust is never satisfied in women, and they are of lower intelligence and weaker memories than men.
When someone thinks of a witch, usually he or she thinks about Halloween or the movie The Wizard of Oz. However, during the 16th and 17th century, witches were feared by many. The accusations of witches during this time is the highest reported, more than 500,000 people were tried and more than 100,000 were executed. Many people of the modern era know and believe that witches are not real. This was not the case in the beginning of the 16th century to the end of the 17th century. Individuals were prosecuted as witches because people wanted money and to clean up their community, they were women, and the communities needed a scapegoat for their misfortune.
This paper will look at the different conceptions highlighted by Bulman in his article through the use of different methods used by the actors in the play. Twelfth Night, by William Shakespeare captures the different conceptions of gender identity and different sexualities within the Elizabethan period.
The 2002 and 2003 Globe productions of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night according to James Bulman’s article, “Bearding the Queen: Male Cross-Dressing at the New Globe,” used a cast completely composed of grown men. This casting choice added an extra layer of irony behind the love triangle of the play, causing the comedy to become an even more comical experience for the audience. For example, Olivia is in love with Viola because she thinks Viola is a man. However, in the production described by Bulman, Olivia and Viola are both obviously played by men. Even when gender confusion is straightened out at the end of the play, the audience still sees members of the same sex marrying each other due to the all-male cast. Trevor Nunn’s 1996 film adaptation of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night used a traditional cast of females playing female characters and males playing male characters. Although the film maintained comical elements with a cast of both genders, it removed suggestive elements from Shakespeare’s original play. For example, Shakespeare wrote Antonio telling Sebastian, “I could not stay behind you. My desire,/More sharp than fil...
During the early modern period Europe experienced a phase of vicious prosecution of the people accused of the crime of ‘Witchcraft.’ There has been an estimated death toll of up to 50,000 people during these Witch-hunt crazes, although the exact figures are unknown. What is known is that overall 75-80% of those accused were woman although this varies in different states. In this essay I will discuss the role of gender in witchcraft and why the majority of people executed as Witches were women.
For many centuries to the present day, Christians have lived in fear of witches. They were known as to be the devils child who only practiced black magic and thought of as the Christians “persecution”. Witches have been known to mankind since the 1200’s. Throughout the 1400’s, the examination of witches was more focus and moved from the Jews. In the church’s law, it was stated that the belief of existence and practices of witchcraft was “heresy”. Because of what the Christians believed, churches would then torture and hunt down anyone who they thought were witches and killed the many women and only a few of the men. They even made them make the confession of flying through the midnight sky, being in love with the devil himself, practicing black magic and even turning into animals.
“ You pasted a stop sign, then a stop light, and almost caused a car crash,” he said “ can you please step out of the vehicle.”
"I don't care much for the night," Dave said as he exited the office late one evening. It was a simple building, and older than most of the city. Dave's work relied on light and this building was so old that it couldn't be properly out fitted with power. The generator in the back hummed, sputtered, clanked to a halt as Dave switched it off, hoping to conserve as much gas as possible for the remainder of the week. He looked back at his old office building in dismay. He always thought it would be easier to own his own business. The brick on the building was chipped in several places and windows were cracked, and some were completely broken. The roof leaked anytime it rained and sometimes when it didn't. The wooden door he exited from each night and entered each morning was in danger of falling off the hinges, but Dave did not have the money to make the necessary repairs. He wished now he had rented a building in the newer downtown area, but money was tight starting out, and when a humble old man offered to sell him the building out right Dave jumped on the opportunity.
car. Mrs. Smith said she asked if she should pull over, but the man said for her
Witchcraft persecution peaked in intensity between 1560 and 1630 however the large scale witch hysteria began in the 14th century, at the end of the Middle Ages and were most intense during the Renaissance and continued until the 18th century, an era often referred to as the Enlightenment or Age of Reason. Representation of witches, nay, representation in general is a political issue. Without the power ot define the female voice and participate in decisions that affect women -similar to other marginalised groups in society- will be subject to the definitions and decisions of those in power. In this context, the power base lay with men. It can be said that the oppression of women may not have been deliberate, it is merely a common sense approach to the natural order of things: women have babies, women are weak, women are dispensable. However the natural order of things, the social constructs reflect the enduring success of patriarchal ideology. As such, ideology is a powerful source of inequality as well as a rationalisation of it. This essay will examine the nature of witchcraft and why it was threatening to Christianity.
The Body Shop The Body Shop has branches all over the UK. They sell body products. They consider testing products or ingredients on animals to be morally and scientifically indefensible. Therefore they sell products that are not tested on animals.
My first thoughts are likely "What a rude motorist!" As a result of my culture most people presume it's not proper to flaunt traffic laws, or to endanger other motorists. I understand in the type of the manner he was acting, that this can be definitely some man who should not have a driver's license.