The Lady of Shallot
"The Lady of Shallot," by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, acts as a voice for people struggling with materialism of the industrial age. Tennyson became famous for reflecting the "idealism of an industrious society that was nonetheless racked by deep doubts about its materialism" (The Longman Anthology Of British Literature p. 1908). The curse of the mysterious lady of the poem could be thought of as the curse of the people subcombing to the dreaded materialism and giving up the Victorian innocent ideals. Furthermore, the lady represents Tennyson himself as he suffered from a personal battle between the desire for glamour's fame, and the need to stay an innocent poet. In Looking at the viewpoint of Tennyson towards Victorian tailed by an industrial society, we can both get a glance at the curse of the poet and the lady of his poem.
Before Tennyson became rich and famous, the poet lived in desolation both financially and socially. Tennyson embodied the "Victorian gospel of hard work", as evidenced in the way he "labored patiently, in poverty, w...
After her mother committed suicide, her father died and her brothers fought until they killed each other, Antigone projects her strong character with interesting ways of showing it. As the main character with strong values and a stubborn way, she follows the laws of god, without minding the consequences. Antigone is a strong willed woman who wins the respect of the audience by the inner strength and resistance of manipulation she has, showing the potential of human kind. She becomes a heroine with noble qualities of mind, heart and soul because she is willing to sacrifice her life, doing what she believes it is right. With a sense of family ties, she is an ideal for humanity, the issue is that she must burry her brother Polynices with an appropriate ceremony since she believes it is the last right for every human being.
In the beginning of the story Antigone went to Ismene to warn her about the new decree of King Creon. King Creon had sworn that no one was to bury him or even mourn for him. Antigone then told Ismene of her intentions of going against the new law and giving their brother the burial he deserved. Antigone then gave Ismene the choice to prove herself loyal to her family or betray it. Ismene stated that she could not go against the law of Creon. She felt that they could not go against Creon because they were only women and she was afraid of what their deaths would be like. At this point in the story Ismene was not willing to sacrifice her life for her brothers honor. She still wanted to help, but she was too afraid of what the punishment would be. For example Ismene stated, “I beg the Dead to forgive me, but I am helpless: I must yield to those in authority.”
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In the book, Antigone, written by Sophocles, Antigone, the protagonist, faces a decision that questions her loyalty to her family and King Creon. When she learns that both of her brothers have died in battle, but only Eteocles had received the proper burial, Antigone makes it a mission to give her dead sibling, Polyneices, a proper farewell. Due to Creon’s decree, the citizens of Thebes were forbidden to bury him. Antigone’s confident, honorable, and upstanding yet secretive personality clashes (or come in conflict) with Creon’s rule and edict, that later results in the deaths of multiple protagonists.
"The Lady of Shalot" tells the story of a woman who lives in a tower in Shalott, which is an island on a river that runs, along with the road beside it, to Camelot, the setting of the legends about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Every day, the woman weaves a tapestry picture of the landscape that is visible from her window, including Camelot. There is, however, a curse on her; the woman does not know the cause of the curse, but she knows that she cannot look directly out of the window, so she views the subjects of her artwork through a mirror that is beside her. The woman is happy to weave, but is tired of looking at life only as a reflection. One day, Sir Lancelot rides by, looking bold and handsome in his shining armor, and singing. The woman goes to the windo...
Shaw, Marion. “The Contours of Manliness and the Nature of Woman.” Critical Essays on Alfred Lord Tennyson. Ed. Herbert F. Tucker. New York: G. K. Hall, 1993. 219-233.
The Lady of Shallot was not depicted as an actual character in the land of Camelot. “Only reapers, reaping early/ In among the bearded barley/ Hear a song that echoes clearly/ From the river winding clearly (“The Lady of Shalott” 28).” Only those who venture to the fields early in the morning are reluctant enough to hear the beautiful voice of the Lady. With an aesthetic voice, no such assumption is made to presume her unhappiness. “There she weaves by night and day/ A magic web with colours gay. / She has heard a whisper say, / To look down to Camelot. / She knows not what the curse may be, / And so she weaveth steadily, / And little other care hath she, / The Lady of Shalott (“The Lady of Shalott” 38).” As she weaves her picture in happy, gay colors, she alludes to having no other care in the world. She will be cursed if she looks to Camelot. Her weaving substitutes for human involvement, due to her confinement to the tower.
In this play all Antigone wants to do is give her brother Polyneices a proper burial so his body may lay at rest. Even when the law forbids her from respecting her brother she disregards it and goes on to help her brother lay at rest, because she feels it is the right thing to do. In return Antigone is shown as a hero and Creon, the one defying her right to bury Polyneices, is portrayed as the villain. “This death of mine is of no importance; but if i had left my brother Lying in death unburied, I should have suffered, Now i do not” (Allen, 1083). In addition Antigone is looked upon as the hero when she asks her sister Ismene to help her bury her brother. When Ismene denies she is giving in to the law and not respecting family, in this context it makes her look weak, in return Antigone looks strong and brave. “But think of the Danger! Think what Creon will do!” (Allen, 1070). Furthermore in the end Antigone did die but she was honored by the gods and proven once more that she was the real hero standing by her family and never letting anything or anyone get in the way of her family morals. “Come with me to the tomb. I buried her; I will set her free” (Allen, 1101). Over all Antigone stuck with her beliefs through everything even when it meant death and still came out being the hero, this is how Sophocles voiced his
The physical and social setting in "Mrs. Dalloway" sets the mood for the novel's principal theme: the theme of social oppression. Social oppression was shown in two ways: the oppression of women as English society returned to its traditional norms and customs after the war, and the oppression of the hard realities of life, "concealing" these realities with the elegance of English society. This paper discusses the purpose of the city in mirroring the theme of social oppression, focusing on issues of gender oppression, particularly against women, and the oppression of poverty and class discrimination between London's peasants and the elite class.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote "The Lady of Shalott" around 1830, during what is known as the Victorian Age. Virginia Woolf published "The Lady in the Looking Glass: A Reflection" in 1929, during what is referred to as the Modernist Age. These works of art both deal with women who have important relationships with mirrors. The light in these stories has a great and different effect and meaning for each of these women. The importance and meaning of light are contrasted in these two tales, representing a change in writer's attitudes toward light portrayal.
Blunden, Edmund and Heinemann, Eds. “Tennyson.” Selected Poems. London: Heinemann Educational Books, 1960. p.1. print.
Alfred Tennyson gifted the Victorian Era, and the literary world with two iconic poems. The author explored the themes of personal development and culture clash in one of his most famous poems, “Ulysses”. Tennyson also discovered and analyzed the themes of love and death through his renowned and eminent poem, “Tears Idle, Tears”. The poet was born in Somersby, Lincolnshire in 1809 in the East Lindy district of England. Tennyson experienced numerous amounts of difficulties in his childhood and growing adolescent phases that spilled into his adult life. These trials and tribulations became a foundation and source of inspiration for Tennyson, who used them as a stimulus and catalyst to aide his literary progress and ideas. Two of the most prominent poems that Tennyson wrote were “Ulysses “and “Tears Idle, Tears”. These poems defined the peak of his literary endeavor and symbolized the struggles that Tennyson had experienced in his life. Throughout time readers have been able to distinguish a direct correlation between his life journey and the poems he crafted.
Dylan Thomas was born in 1914 of intellectual parents both being literature professors. Long before he could read, his father would recite poetry from classic authors. Many of his poems can be traced to the illustrated style of D.H Lawrence. The imagery he provides of disparity and death in many of his poems. In the span of Dylan’s life, he witnessed both Great Wars. The first war may have been the main topic of discussion by his parents at childhood. And later at service in the air defense over London. Because of his determined health Thomas was not able to enroll in an active combat role during World War II. Thomas life’s experiences played a major role in influencing his writing...
Margaret Hilda Thatcher is the first woman to have held the office of prime minister in Great Britain. She was born Margaret Hilda Roberts in Grantham, Lincolnshire and educated at the University of Oxford, where she earned degrees in chemistry. After graduation she worked as a research chemist from 1947 to 1951. She married Denis Thatcher in 1951, and in 1953, having studied for the bar, she became a tax lawyer. Thatcher joined the Conservative party, and was elected to the House of Commons in 1959. She defeated Edward Heath for the minority leadership of the party in 1974, and then led the Conservative party to victory in 1979. Thatcher is the only British prime minister in the twentieth century to serve three consecutive terms. In 1990, controversy over Thatcher's tax policy and her reluctance to commit Great Britain to full economic integration with Europe inspired a strong challenge to her leadership. Ms. Thatcher was ousted from leadership, and resigned in November 1990 and was succeeded as party leader and prime minister by her protégée, John Major: who, consequently, only served one short term.
Sophocles formulates a believable plot through Antigone’s social conflict. The conflict in Antigone centers in Antigone needing to bury her brother because of her belief that natural law is higher than the governing law, and does not want to have the god’s fury pointed at her. It also revolves around the fact, that family is significantly greater to Antigone than that of the justice system. Polyneices, her brother, was a traitor and died going to war with his own blood brother. Creon, her uncle and king, has made a decree stating: “I here proclaim to the city that this man shall no one honor with a grave and none shall mourn. You shall leave him without burial...” (222). Opposing the king, she neglects the decree. Since she broke the king’s decree, she is sentenced to die for being disobedient; moreover, Antigone proudly states her crime. There is no sign of remorse shown by Creon as he states, “No, though she were my sister’s child, or closer in blood than all that my hearth god acknowledges as mine. Neither she, nor her sister, should escape the utmost sentence-death” (530-33). Bobrick explains that Creon values the love for his land more than he values family, and this becomes a struggle for Antigone as it becomes a fight between obeying the laws of man, and the laws of the god’s. The second struggle that Antigone faces, comes when she realizes she is alone.