Book Analysis 1: Magdalena AND Balthasar
Steven Ozment examines the marriage between a sixteenth century German merchant and his wife. The publication illustrates the adversities of a long distance marriage, the Black Plague that passed through Germany, the passing of little Balthasar, their only child, as well as the trade of business that assists the binding of the two and their union together. Magdalena and Balthasar write letters back and forth to one another in an attempt to keep each other sane. The disposition of their marriage held a robust love for one another. Their letters were exchanged during the time of Balthasar's business travels. The numerous amount of diverse emotions, misfortunes, and affection that Magdalena and Balthasar exuded within their relationship embodied who they were as a couple.
The first place he wrote to his wife was from Lucca. Magdalena would receive his letter about three to four weeks later in their hometown of Nuremberg. Among the letters exchanged between the two, eight were written by Balthasar and three by Magdalena. Magdalena's first letter was received from Lucca. “...longing and heartfelt joy” is how Magdalena feels as she collected Balthasar's letters. Impressions of love, allegiance, and affection is clearly displayed within their letters to each other.
Although their undoubted love is apparent, apprehensions were very well existent as well. Instances such as when Magdalena became indignant towards Balthasar for not writing back to her as soon as he received her new letter. A preeminent reason for Magdalena being as upset as she was for not getting a response back as soon as she hoped was due to her awareness of the conditions and diseases that were ever so prevalent. Th...
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...atters of their relationship. While her husband was away, she took on an authoritative role within her husbands business affairs while he was absent. Having access to male clients, helped her in deciding what needed to be done and delivered. It started to play out as a partnership, in which they each had their own individual roles in terms of livelihood. They began to overlap within their affairs, where they would have not been successful in their trade without each other in order to attain a successful business and home. Magdalena was trusted with all that was included within their business matters.
Overall, Magdalena and Balthasar had what seemed to be the “ideal” relationship all the while obtaining a marriage that was fitting for their own contentment. Although dealing with personal burdens and hardships, their overall comprehensive relationship held love.
Mrs. Ames from “The Astronomer’s Wife” and Elisa Allen from “The Chrysanthemums”, two women in their best ages, did share similar lives. They were loyal wives, of decent beauty and good manners. They were married for some time, without any children and they were fighting the dullness of their marriages. At first, it looked like they were just caught in marriage monotony, but after the surface has been scratched deeper, it was clear that these two women were crying for attention: but they had different reasons.
“The Buergermeister’s Daughter” is a book written by Steven Ozment about the life of a family that entered a path of public gossip and yearlong court hearings in the early 16th century in Hall, Germany. Anna Bueschler is the daughter of Hermann Bueschler, a powerful councilman and the city’s mayor. His family has invested in real estate and selling wine which made him the richest man in town and he owned the grandest house on the market square (Ozment, 8). Due to his success his family was viewed as a role model, someone to look up to. But often Anna did not act how she should have based on their family’s reputation. Witnesses thought Anna dressed immodesty and beyond what was proper. She liked fine jewelry and loved to call attention on her. People recalled a custom-made be...
A History of Marriage by Stephanie Coontz speaks of the recent idealization of marriage based solely on love. Coontz doesn’t defame love, but touches on the many profound aspects that have created and bonded marriages through time. While love is still a large aspect Coontz wants us to see that a marriage needs more solid and less fickle aspects than just love. The first chapter begins with an exploration of love and marriage in many ancient and current cultures.
From the information written in her letters, Magdalena’s responsibilities as a merchant’s wife revolves around overseeing and taking care of various items. For example, at the beginning of her first letter she speaks of having to reserve a barrel of wine from shipping to a customer, going into detail about the amount she has already sent to others who have requested the service. Really, it seems that in her husband’s absence, Magdalena has taken control over the duties he’d usually be in charge of if he were home. She juggles both a man’s responsibilities and a wife’s; it’s read that aside from her regular obligations pertaining to cleaning, scrubbing, and cooking, she must pay the tailor and oversee the securing of a loan. She reports the health of horses meant for her husband’s purchase, as an instance, and explains the arrival of new wine, the bill, and who has bought and refused it. Interactions, exact to
This story represents the suffering induced by the isolation. In the time period on which this history was reflected, it was socially tolerable for wives to be
“There was considerable intermarriage amongst the Bathory family, with some of the usual problems of this practice produced as a result. Unfortunately, beyond the ‘usual problems’ some extraordinary difficulties arose (namely hideous psychoses) and several “evil geniuses” appeared, the notorious and sadistic Erzsebet the most prominent of them.” (Krause).
While it has traditionally been men who have attached the "ball and chain" philosophy to marriage, Kate Chopin gave readers a woman’s view of how repressive and confining marriage can be for a woman, both spiritually and sexually. While many of her works incorporated the notion of women as repressed beings ready to erupt into a sexual a hurricane, none were as tempestuous as The Storm.
“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.
... This woman suffers a tremendous amount from the commitment of her marriage, and the death of her husband does not affect her for long. A marriage such as this seems so unbelievable, yet a reader can see the realistic elements incorporated into the story. This begs the question of how undesirable marriage was during Chopin’s life. The unhappiness felt by Mrs. Mallard seems to be very extreme, but Chopin creates a beautiful story that reflects upon the idea of marriage as an undesired relationship and bond to some women in the nineteenth century.
All and all, any relationship you get into can greatly affect your life. No matter if it is with a person or an activity. Lucrezia is a very caring wife, who sometimes gets frustrated by her husband’s mental illness. Septimus is a veteran who is facing many of his problems. He is very dependent on Lucrezia and the reader can understand how he dominates her. On the other hand, Clarissa is seen as a hard worker to many of her friends and family, which is very accurate. However, Clarissa is dominated by her husband, because she us unsure if she made the right choice, and by her party planning ability. These dominations focus on how these can affect your everyday life. Love and activities take part in a person’s everyday life. Lucrezia and Clarissa both care about what they do everyday, and that is know because they put up with the men and drama in their life.
The two stories that will be discussed in this paper are “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Black Cat,” which were both published in 1843 in T...
Marriage is a powerful union between two people who vow under oath to love each other for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health. This sacred bond is a complicated union; one that can culminate in absolute joy or in utter disarray. One factor that can differentiate between a journey of harmony or calamity is one’s motives. Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is a novel of manners, where Elizabeth Bennet and her aristocratic suitor Mr. Darcy’s love unfolds as her prejudice and his pride abate. Anton Chekhov’s “Anna on the Neck” explores class distinction, as an impecunious young woman marries a wealthy man. Both Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and Anton Chekhov’s “Anna on the Neck” utilize
“There is no perfect relationship. The idea that there is gets us into so much trouble.”-Maggie Reyes. Kate Chopin reacts to this certain idea that relationships in a marriage during the late 1800’s were a prison for women. Through the main protagonist of her story, Mrs. Mallard, the audience clearly exemplifies with what feelings she had during the process of her husbands assumed death. Chopin demonstrates in “The Story of an Hour” the oppression that women faced in marriage through the understandings of: forbidden joy of independence, the inherent burdens of marriage between men and women and how these two points help the audience to further understand the norms of this time.
As it can be seen from the characteristics of the two servants, they have some differences. These differences not only affect their characteristics but also their relationships with others too. In the book we can see two servants with different relationships with the same person who is Prosp...
My belief on marriage is a sacred vow taken by two people which joins them in union. Most people carry the belief that marriage should occur only when two people are in love; although this belief is common it is not always the case and people marry for a variety of reasons. In the short story "The Story of an Hour" Kate Chopin suggests that in the case of Mrs. Mallard and Mr. Mallard, love was not a deciding factor for their reason to get married. Though the response of three readers, one being myself, we will explore the character of Mrs. Mallard and the idea of love in her marriage. Kate Chopin has given little detail about the Mallards and therefore left much to the imagination of the reader. Although there are similarities in details between readers such as: point of view, setting, and character, each reader brings new perspective and ideas. This type of analysis of the text allows a richer and more knowledgeable outlook; not only by enhancing ones own ideas by introducing new ones.