Fame and Glory in Dantes Divine Comedy Essay - 2297 Words

What is fame? Fame is but a slow decay Even this shall pass away. Theodore Tilton The Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri, is a poem laden with such Christian themes as love, the search for happiness, and the desire to see God. Among these Christian themes, however, is Dantes obsession with and desire for fame, which seems to be a surprising departure from conventional medieval Christian morality. Indeed, as the poem progresses, a striking contradiction emerges. Dante the writer, in keeping with Christian doctrine, presents the desire for fame and glory among the souls of Inferno in order to replace it with humility among the souls of Purgatorio. Yet this purification of desire is not entirely embraced by Dante,†¦show more content†¦To which Pier replies, Your sweet speech draws me so that I cannot be still (Inferno, Canto XIII, Lines 55-56). Even Dante is spurred on by promises of fame while in Inferno. During the difficult ascent to the seventh pouch in th e eighth circle, Virgil emphasizes the importance of fame to urge Dante to persevere. He says, Now you must cast aside your laziness, for he who rests on down or under covers cannot come to fame (Inferno, Canto XXIV, Lines 46-47). Indeed the willingness to be bribed by earthly fame is an aspect unique to those souls in hell. As Dante travels towards God and towards perfection, through Purgatory and finally through Paradise, he will find that the bargaining power of earthly fame is markedly diminished as souls become less and less interested in and motivated by fame. As Dante continues to Purgatorio the theme of humility starts to overshadow that of fame and glory, especially in Dantes encounter with Oderisi, Guido Guinizzelli and Statius. In Canto XI, Dante meets Oderisi, a respected artist. After Dante praises him, Oderisi quickly points out that Franco Bolognese is now more famous: Brother, the pages painted by the brush of Franco Bolognese smile more brightly: all the glory now is his; mine, but a part (Purgatorio, Canto XI, Lines 82-85). His earthly fame wasShow MoreRelatedDante and Machiavelli Essay1084 Words   |  5 PagesThis difference in the two could be expressed in terms of religious faith—but they could also be said to have differing views of human nature.   Try to get to the heart of the distinction.   Why is Machiavelli’s sense of right and wrong so opposed to Dante’s? Written two hundred years apart, The Inferno by Dante and The Prince by Machiavelli both contain examples of society during the late middle ages and also the beginning of the Renaissance. While not contemporaries, both men held similar cynicalRead MoreEssay on Ulysses in Hell1081 Words   |  5 PagesBaer Goolsby Honors World Lit 4 April 2013 Ulysses In Hell In Dante’s Inferno, Ulysses, a man known for his skillful word weaving, is sent into eternal damnation in Hell by Dante. In the Odyssey, after the Trojan War ends, Ulysses sails back to Ithaca. In the Inferno, Ulysses recounts the story about how he convinced his men to sail with him past the Pillars of Hercules. It was previously believed that nothing lay behind these pillars, until Ulysses and his men discover the Mountain of PurgatoryRead MoreAnalyzing Dante and Machiavelli ´s Characteristics of a Good Leader1796 Words   |  8 Pagesprince so esteemed as when he personally accomplishes things rare and exemplary. In our times we have Ferdinand of Aragon, the present king of Spain. He may also be called a new prince, because from being a weak king he has become through the fame and glory he has achieved, the first king among Christians, and if you consider his actions you will find them great and some even extraordinary.†(Quote from the prince page 94) Even th ough Machiavelli realizes that it is wrong to use religion to attain

The Downside Risk of Article Critique Online That No One Is Talking About

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An Elephant Vanishes free essay sample

In Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel, food and the kitchen is a means of expressing a range of human emotions. Like Water for Chocolate opens with its most important central setting, the kitchen. Onion-induced weeping quite literally sweeps the protagonist, Tita, into the world, as she is born in the kitchen, crying, amidst of flood of her mothers tears. Her mother, Mama Elena, is unable to produce milk (due to shock at the recent death of her husband) and Mama Elena gives Tita almost immediately to the house cook, Nacha, who rears the child in the kitchen. Surrounded by the colours, smells, and routines of Nachas kitchen, Tita grows up understanding the world in terms of food. She enjoys her isolation in the domain of the kitchen. â€Å"Thanks to her unusual birth, Tita felt a deep love for the kitchen where she spent most of her life from the day she was born† page 10, paragraph two. We will write a custom essay sample on An Elephant Vanishes or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The story of Titas entry into the world marks the first fantastical image of Like Water for Chocolate, initiating the reader into the novels magical realism and illustrating the intensity and improbability that characterise the events of the story. The image of Tita flowing into the world in a flood of tears prefigures the sadness and longing that will pervade her life. After Titas birth, the flood of tears dries to leave ten pounds of salt to be collected and used for cooking. The practical attitude with which the characters greet this surreal happening helps to establish the supernatural as an accepted part of the characters lives. â€Å"Nacha swept aside the residue the tears had left on the red stone floor, There was enough salt to fill a ten-pound-sack- it was used for cooking and lasted a long time† page 10, paragraph two. Outside the kitchen, Tita follows the demanding regime that Mama Elena sets for her daughters. Life is full of cooking, cleaning, sewing, and prayer. This routine is interrupted one day by Titas timid announcement that a suitor, Pedro Muzquiz, would like to pay her a visit. Mama Elena greets this announcement with indignation, invoking the De La Garza family tradition that the youngest daughter is to remain unmarried so that she can care for the matriarch in the matriarchs old age. Tita is dismayed by this rigid tradition. Outwardly, she submits to Mama Elenas wishes, but privately she questions the family tradition and maintains her feelings for Pedro. â€Å" you don’t have an opinion Tita and thats all I want to hear about it. For generations, not a single in my family has ever questioned this tradition and no daughter of mine is going to be the one to start† page 15, paragraph 3 This cold hearted appraoch to Titas yearning for marriage is what makes Tita retreat into the safe realm of the ktichen, I think the reason why magic realism was applied to food is because of how universal it is. Whereas music and art only apply to some of us, food is in all of our lives. Since magic realism is all about mixing the magic with what’s real, food is the ideal choice. We’ve all heard of metaphors exaggerating the taste of food, but Laura Esquivel’s descriptions of the effects of food are much more elaborate. It’s so descriptive that sometimes we doubt our ideals of what’s real by reading the effects of the recipes. By using food as the medium the author was able to smoothly meld together the magical and real aspects of each chapter. Her isolated childhood in the kitchen gives Tita an outlook on life different from that of her sisters, Gertrudis and Rosaura, and she comes to develop different ideals for herself as she matures. As a young woman, Tita rebels against the family tradition that confines her to a life without love. Her insistent questioning (even though she does not petition Mama Elena directly) of her lot in life can be identified as one of the feminist impulses in the novel. This refusal to accept an assigned and undesirable social role marks the beginning of Titas path to self-assertion and freedom. Her love for the kitchen and cooking is a rebelious action against her mother, her realm of the kitchen is the only thing that her mother can not control or do, the kitchen is what keeps her sane from the depressing sitution on the other side of the door. it wasn’t easy for a person whose knowledge of life was based on the kitchen to comprehend the outside world. That world was an endless expanse that began atthe door between the kitchen and the rest of the house, whereas everything on the kitchen side of that door, on through the door leading to the patio and the kitchen and herb gardens was completely hers-it was Tita’s realm. † This quotes proves my point above, the kitchen door acts as a safe guard to the oppressive realm of her mother’s. In an Elephant vanishes one of the major themes of the story is the idea of things being out of balance. This theme is introduced when the narrator tells the editor about the importance of unity in kitchen design, as he states, Even the most beautifully designed item dies if it is out of balance with its surroundings. The narrator later emphasizes the importance of balance between a creature and its environment when he talks about witnessing the change in the elephants size in relation to the keepers size. He states that the balance in size between the two has become more equal, because the elephant has shrunk or the keeper has gotten bigger, or both. Following the disappearance of the elephant and the keeper, the narrator again expresses the idea that things around me have lost their proper balance. He is no longer able to take action on his own behalf, as he is haunted by this sense that the urban world is out of balance, and he feels that a kind of natural balance has broken down inside him. The imbalance between Tita’s kitchen and outside the kitchen can relate to the elephant vanishes. Tita fells safe in the kitchen and at peace with the â€Å"old† kitchen keeps her in balance. Related to the theme of imbalance is the difference between appearances and reality. The narrator points out that the article covering the story of the elephants disappearance is strange, because the reporter tries so hard to maintain that the elephant escaped, when the facts indicate that the elephant had to have almost magically vanished. The characters in the story try to maintain an appearance of normality in the face of an event that defies logic, leading to pointless acts that do not address the nature of the situation. The discrepancy between reality and appearances also arises in the narrators job as he basically just goes through the motions, trying to maintain a professional, pragmatic approach although he does not personally believe that a kitchen has to have unity or any of the other maxims his company invokes to sell its products. The narrator finds that he cannot reconcile the differences between appearances and reality, and as he questions his own perceptions, he experiences a sense of disorientation and confusion. Throughout the story, Murakami subtly reveals how the vanishing of the old ways leaves people feeling disoriented and how the new ways of being create a sense of disconnection and unease. This can be said about Mama in â€Å" Like water for chocolate† as she is does not like the idea of Tita marrying . She is scared of modern society perhaps, and is insecure about her future. Mamas death The narrator, for example, performs his job as a public relations executive successfully by espousing the commercial viewpoint that things you cant sell dont count for much. Because in truth he does not necessarily believe this statement, saying it and operating from this pragmatic mode seem to confound the narrator, confusing him about his purpose in life. Like other Murakami characters, he is also a loner, a single person, living alone with no apparent ties to family or friends also this can be said to Mama Elena, she has distanced herself from her loved ones through the death of her grand c hild and of the cruelty committed to Tita . The narrator watches the elephant and the keeper and marvels at their closeness, their special bond. In the wake of the elephants disappearance, the narrator feels despondent, more isolated and alone than ever. As is Tita at the end of the novel after Pedro dies. â€Å" Now it would never again be possible to see that light, because she could no longer feel anything. She would but wander through the shadows for eternity, alone, all alone. † An Elephant Vanishes free essay sample Explain the role of the kitchen in â€Å"Like Water For Chocolate† by Laura Esquivel and â€Å"The Elephant Vanishes† by Murakami. In Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel, food and the kitchen is a means of expressing a range of human emotions. Like Water for Chocolate opens with its most important central setting, the kitchen. Onion-induced weeping quite literally sweeps the protagonist, Tita, into the world, as she is born in the kitchen, crying, amidst of flood of her mothers tears. Her mother, Mama Elena, is unable to produce milk (due to shock at the recent death of her husband) and Mama Elena gives Tita almost immediately to the house cook, Nacha, who rears the child in the kitchen. Surrounded by the colours, smells, and routines of Nachas kitchen, Tita grows up understanding the world in terms of food. She enjoys her isolation in the domain of the kitchen. We will write a custom essay sample on An Elephant Vanishes or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page â€Å"Thanks to her unusual birth, Tita felt a deep love for the kitchen where she spent most of her life from the day she was born† page 10, paragraph two. The story of Titas entry into the world marks the first fantastical image of Like Water for Chocolate, initiating the reader into the novels magical realism and illustrating the intensity and improbability that characterise the events of the story. The image of Tita flowing into the world in a flood of tears prefigures the sadness and longing that will pervade her life. After Titas birth, the flood of tears dries to leave ten pounds of salt to be collected and used for cooking. The practical attitude with which the characters greet this surreal happening helps to establish the supernatural as an accepted part of the characters lives. â€Å"Nacha swept aside the residue the tears had left on the red stone floor, There was enough salt to fill a ten-pound-sack- it was used for cooking and lasted a long time† page 10, paragraph two. Outside the kitchen, Tita follows the demanding regime that Mama Elena sets for her daughters. Life is full of cooking, cleaning, sewing, and prayer. This routine is interrupted one day by Titas timid announcement that a suitor, Pedro Muzquiz, would like to pay her a visit. Mama Elena greets this announcement with indignation, invoking the De La Garza family tradition that the youngest daughter is to remain unmarried so that she can care for the matriarch in the matriarchs old age. Tita is dismayed by this rigid tradition. Outwardly, she submits to Mama Elenas wishes, but privately she questions the family tradition and maintains her feelings for Pedro. â€Å" you don’t have an opinion Tita and thats all I want to hear about it. For generations, not a single in my family has ever questioned this tradition and no daughter of mine is going to be the one to start† page 15, paragraph 3 This cold hearted appraoch to Titas yearning for marriage is what makes Tita retreat into the safe realm of the ktichen, I think the reason why magic realism was applied to food is because of how universal it is. Whereas music and art only apply to some of us, food is in all of our lives. Since magic realism is all about mixing the magic with what’s real, food is the ideal choice. We’ve all heard of metaphors exaggerating the taste of food, but Laura Esquivel’s descriptions of the effects of food are much more elaborate. It’s so descriptive that sometimes we doubt our ideals of what’s real by reading the effects of the recipes. By using food as the medium the author was able to smoothly meld together the magical and real aspects of each chapter. Her isolated childhood in the kitchen gives Tita an outlook on life different from that of her sisters, Gertrudis and Rosaura, and she comes to develop different ideals for herself as she matures. As a young woman, Tita rebels against the family tradition that confines her to a life without love. Her insistent questioning (even though she does not petition Mama Elena directly) of her lot in life can be identified as one of the feminist impulses in the novel. This refusal to accept an assigned and undesirable social role marks the beginning of Titas path to self-assertion and freedom. Her love for the kitchen and cooking is a rebelious action against her mother, her realm of the kitchen is the only thing that her mother can not control or do, the kitchen is what keeps her sane from the depressing sitution on the other side of the door. it wasn’t easy for a person whose knowledge of life was based on the kitchen to comprehend the outside world. That world was an endless expanse that began atthe door between the kitchen and the rest of the house, whereas everything on the kitchen side of that door, on through the door leading to the patio and the kitchen and herb gardens was completely hers-it was Tita’s realm. † This quotes proves my point above, the kitchen door acts as a safe guard to the oppressive realm of her mother’s. In an Elephant vanishes one of the major themes of the story is the idea of things being out of balance. This theme is introduced when the narrator tells the editor about the importance of unity in kitchen design, as he states, Even the most beautifully designed item dies if it is out of balance with its surroundings. The narrator later emphasizes the importance of balance between a creature and its environment when he talks about witnessing the change in the elephants size in relation to the keepers size. He states that the balance in size between the two has become more equal, because the elephant has shrunk or the keeper has gotten bigger, or both. Following the disappearance of the elephant and the keeper, the narrator again expresses the idea that things around me have lost their proper balance. He is no longer able to take action on his own behalf, as he is haunted by this sense that the urban world is out of balance, and he feels that a kind of natural balance has broken down inside him. The imbalance between Tita’s kitchen and outside the kitchen can relate to the elephant vanishes. Tita fells safe in the kitchen and at peace with the â€Å"old† kitchen keeps her in balance. Related to the theme of imbalance is the difference between appearances and reality. The narrator points out that the article covering the story of the elephants disappearance is strange, because the reporter tries so hard to maintain that the elephant escaped, when the facts indicate that the elephant had to have almost magically vanished. The characters in the story try to maintain an appearance of normality in the face of an event that defies logic, leading to pointless acts that do not address the nature of the situation. The discrepancy between reality and appearances also arises in the narrators job as he basically just goes through the motions, trying to maintain a professional, pragmatic approach although he does not personally believe that a kitchen has to have unity or any of the other maxims his company invokes to sell its products. The narrator finds that he cannot reconcile the differences between appearances and reality, and as he questions his own perceptions, he experiences a sense of disorientation and confusion. Throughout the story, Murakami subtly reveals how the vanishing of the old ways leaves people feeling disoriented and how the new ways of being create a sense of disconnection and unease. This can be said about Mama in â€Å" Like water for chocolate† as she is does not like the idea of Tita marrying . She is scared of modern society perhaps, and is insecure about her future. Mamas death The narrator, for example, performs his job as a public relations executive successfully by espousing the commercial viewpoint that things you cant sell dont count for much. Because in truth he does not necessarily believe this statement, saying it and operating from this pragmatic mode seem to confound the narrator, confusing him about his purpose in life. Like other Murakami characters, he is also a loner, a single person, living alone with no apparent ties to family or friends also this can be said to Mama Elena, she has distanced herself from her loved ones through the death of her grand c hild and of the cruelty committed to Tita . The narrator watches the elephant and the keeper and marvels at their closeness, their special bond. In the wake of the elephants disappearance, the narrator feels despondent, more isolated and alone than ever. As is Tita at the end of the novel after Pedro dies. â€Å" Now it would never again be possible to see that light, because she could no longer feel anything. She would but wander through the shadows for eternity, alone, all alone. †

King Oedipus By Sophocles Essays - Oedipus, Sophocles, Tiresias

King Oedipus by Sophocles Blindness is the downfall of the hero Oedipus in the play ?King Oedipus? by Sophocles. Not only does the blindness appear physically, but also egotistically as he refuses to acknowledge the possibility of him actually being the murderer of Laius, the former King of Thebes. Coincidentally, he is also Oedipus's biological father. The use of light and dark in the play is strategically applied in order to better understand the emotion that lies within the characters. As blame is placed upon Oedipus for the murder of Laius, he blinds himself from the possible reality that he may be the killer. The people of Thebes are informed that there is an impending curse upon them as a result of the murder mystery of their previous king, Laius. In order to quicken the cure, Oedipus calls on Teiresias, the blind prophet to aide them. Excessive pride fuels his inability to believe the prophecy of Teiresias stating Oedipus is the killer, and that he has married his mother. ?Until I came ? I, ignorant Oedipus, came ? and stopped the riddler's mouth, guessing the truth by mother-wit, not bird-love.? Because he continually boasts about how he has saved Thebes from the Sphinx, he believes that no one could know more than he, especially if he is the one to be accused of a crime he ?knows? he didn't commit. In response Teiresias argues, ?You are please to mock my blindness. Have you eyes, and do not see your own damnation? Eyes and cannot see what company you keep.? T his is a pivotal component to the irony behind the idea of blindness throughout the play. Although Teiresias is physically blind, he is able to accept and ?see? the truth, while Oedipus physically being able to see is left in the dark rejecting truth. The blindness of Oedipus leads to the darkness of Thebes also known as The City of Light. ?We cannot believe, we cannot deny; all's dark. We fear, but we cannot see, what is before us? worry the townspeople. Dark, here, symbolizes the confusion that is placed upon the people of Thebes. They are in a chasm trying to decipher what is to be determined as true, the prophecy of Teiresias, or the good word of Oedipus. After several testimonies, Oedipus opens his eyes and accepts the blame. In order to deliver justice for his wrongs in killing his father and marrying his mother, Oedipus chooses to blind himself physically. The Attendant explains the people regarding the Oedipus's self-inflicted injury. ?And thrust, from full arm's length, into his eyes-- eyes that should see no longer his shame, his guilt, no longer see those they should have never seen, nor see, unseeing, those he had longed to see, henceforth seeing nothing but night.? The use of night is similar to that of the use of dark throughout the play. Night is in reference to lies. Everything that he, or his eye, has seen has all resulted in the discovery of a lie. From the parents he thinks he has, to the family that he has, the world he has created centers around a lie. Until the moment he discovers that he has really killed his father, ironically, Oedipus has never known truth. When he finally deduces that he is behind the killing of his biological father, Laius, he cries, ?O Light! May I never look on you again, revealed as I am, sinful in my begetting, sinful in marriage, sinful in shedding of blood.? In this instance his call to ?light? refers to truth. In this, he discovers that lies and sins are the basis lie at the core of his entire life. For this very reason Oedipus blinds himself. His experience with truth is too painful and he no longer wants to ?see? it again. To him there is nothing left for him to see. He explains to his people, ?What should I do with eyes where all is ugliness? ? Where is there any beauty for me to see? Where loveliness of sight or sound? Away!? At one point he believes that he has seen everything, when actually has seen nothing for everything around him has been no more then just