The Character of Helena in All's Well that Ends Well
Helena
There is an underlying ambiguity in Helena 's character. Spreading the illustration over the four most disputed moments in All's Well, the virginity repartee, the miraculous cure of the King, the accomplishment of conditions and the bed - trick, one can detect the ''different shades'' of in her character - honourable, passionate, discreet, audacious, romantic, rational, tenacious, forgiving ... She can be sampled out to be basically an idiosyncratic person with her good and bad, positioned within the ''clever wench'' tradition and the ''fulfilling of tasks'' folk tales ( W. W. Lawrence ) which necessitates that she should behave with a determination. The whole ambiguity in Helena ensues from unrealistic dramaturgy and realistic conception of women. Throughout the play, one sees Helena jostling ingenuousness with sexuality and at times there seems to be two Helenas, one who is conventionally tame and the other who is actively all out ... a love - sick Juliet that is ready at the end to expose her darling 's ill practices. One could compare Helena with Isabella in Measure for Measure, since the characters are engulfed by different circumstances that demand each of them to act differently. Isabella is a religious figure while Helena is only love-driven.
Helen ... virtue in action ?
All other characters contribute to the promotion of Helena as a virtuous character and though in Act. II Sc. v Bertram addresses her with ''here comes my clog'' he does not diminish her already cultivated uprightness which forgoes inherited wealth and nobility. The Countess is convinced that she has a noble virtue that her son cannot achieve through his valour in war. Her virtues were assigned to her by her father and by Heaven to whose intervention she ascribes all her ability to cure the King. Somehow, she is that ''semi-divine person or some type of new saint'' in fighting for what is genuine and lawful and personifies virtue in action. This Christ projection with which W. Knights endows her could have been further sustained by showing that it is rooted in what Lefaw says in Act II Sc. iii :-
They say miracles are past; and we have our philosophical persons to make modern and familiar, things supernatural and causeless. Hence it is that we make trifles of terrors, ensconcing ourselves into seeming knowledge when we should submit ourselves to an unknown fear.
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In today’s rational and scientifically explainable world, it would be hard for us to believe in supernatural intervention in our every day lives unlike during the times of the Shakespearean plays. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, there are three examples of this kind of thing: one with the witches, one with a ghost of a best friend, and one with the a few apparitions.
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The unknown has fascinated mankind for generations. It binds humans together, on a morally “higher” level. Yet, across continents and parted by oceans, each civilization has taken on its own interpretations of deities and monsters, but still, are bound together by the same thread of suspended disbelief to bring worship to the all-powerful forces working for or against them. Mysticism connects us, on a level of unexplainable and profound connections, chiefly by using its most powerful tool of all: storytelling.
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During much of the play, Helena relentlessly chases Demetrius, giving him love no matter how many times he spurns her. While in pursuit of him in the woods, where he tells her that he will never reciprocate her feelings, she tells him, “I am your spaniel; and, Demetrius,/The more you beat me, I will fawn on you” (II.i.203-204). She is so desperate to win him over that she lowers her own status, calling herself his dog; no matter how many times he may abuse her, she will always adore him. Out of love, Helena is willing to swallow her pride to prove her devotion to him. More evidence of Helena’s blind love towards Demetrius can be found in her overlooking the flaws in Demetrius’ character. For example, he proves himself to be quite insensitive towards Helena: when they are in the woods, he says he will “leave [her] to the mercy of the wild beasts” (II.i.228) if she doesn’t stop following him. He also says to her, “…I am sick when I do look on thee” (II.i.212). Lastly, he threatens her, saying “…if thou follow me, do not believe/But I shall do thee mischief in the wood” (II.i.237). Helena acknowledges this aspect of his character, though choos...
As long as one can remember, paranormal beliefs have always existed in human society. They are living in every man’s childhood and in every corner of human’s life. From the burning belief about Santa Claus’s gifts under a Christmas’s tree in the morning to a scary game about Bloody Mary and her coming back from the dead, it seems that people cannot help but draw themselves to these stories. Even when these beliefs fade, there would be a new one that eventually shows up. No matter how much science has progressed, the belief in paranormal phenomena still remains in society. Eventually, the question about paranormal phenomena seems pale in comparison to the human’s undying belief about such things. It is really hard to pinpoint an exact cause for human’s belief in the paranormal for only one cause is not enough; however, it is sure that psychological, sociological, and biological factors play an enormous role that contributes to this belief.
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Through the years there has been many ideas to what goes bump in the night. Mysterious, unsolved happenings blamed on the so-called supernatural. There are many myths, legends and lore based on these so called mysterious happenings. Through this research paper I am going to help to explain the biggest threats, conspiracies, and misunderstandings of aforementioned legends, myths, and lore.
Infatuation causes Helena to lose all sense of dignity, as can be seen when in the woods, she desperately pleads with Demetrius to ?but treat me as your spaniel?. Here, Helena also becomes irrational, obsessed with pursuing Demetrius, though it is obvious that Demetrius is fixated on winning Hermia?s hand in marriage. Helena?s infatuation also causes her to see things from a skewed perspective, for she falsely believes that when she divulges Hermia?s plans for eloping with Lysander, Demetrius? love for Helena will rekindle. As the audience, we know that the most probable course of action for Demetrius upon hearing such news is to pursue Lysander and Hermia, or to report them to Theseus or Egeus. Clearly, infatuation has clouded Helena?s ability to think clearly, and she sees things in her own idealistic way.
It seems rare in a Shakespearean play to find a female character to whom women in this new millennium can relate. Modern women are expected to be strong, independent, educated and intelligent, and in control of their own destinies. Women are also considered to be on equal footing with their male counterparts in regards to abilities, privileges, and rights. Although these ideals may not be completely realistic in the real world, in general, these are the ways in which a twenty-first century woman is perceived. In the time period Shakespeare was writing in the abilities and roles expected of women were very different. For women in Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, there are extremely limited roles women can fulfill and all of them centre around sexuality and serving men sexually. A woman is either chaste or unchaste, a wife or a whore, and there is very little differentiating the two. A wife is subservient to, and dependent upon, her husband for her care and well-being. A prostitute relies on a man's lascivious appetites and good will to survive. Even a virginal maid is only so long enough to secure a respectable marriage or to fall into the disreputable world of prostitution. As a nun, promised to God, and with no male figure directing her life, Isabella exists outside society's narrow boundaries and creates conflict for the male characters of the play. In act 2 scene 2 Isabella demonstrates just how independent and strong she is and the reader can see how her failure to fall neatly into one of Angelo's expected categories for women creates problems for him. This scene demonstrates how clearly comfortable and confident Isabella is in herself and how uncomfortable Angelo is with her.
Portia and Helena demonstrate cleverness, love, and grace in their purest forms. Despite coming from different social classes and different plays, these two women could be easily seen as sisters on paper with their strong, self-determining attitudes. They know how to get the right husband without being too forward and unfair. Each demonstrates love in the most ideal form, as God would have it. Grace pours from their hearts into the lives of those around them that affect others in a positive and lasting manner making these two the ideal women in Shakespearean characters as well as in life.
In the play,Hermia and Helena are the main female protagonists and 2 of the four lovers. They have some similarities in their personalities as they are both girls that are headstrong people that want things to go their way and won’t give up until it happens. Even though it is inevitable that they share some common personality traits that are interchangeable between them,However, that is not true. While they both do some similar personalities,they actually have very different personalities.
The differences between women and men are not solely biological. Our society’s culture has established a set of unwritten cultural laws of how each gender should act, or in other words society has ascribed a stereotype. Men’s gender identity has been one of masculinity, and masculinity is defined as referring to a man or things described as manly. What does manly mean though? Is a male manly if he is “Mr. Fix-it”, or the jock, or if he sits on the couch on Sunday watching football? This latter statement is a stereotype of men, that has been around for decades, and is current as well, but starting with the 1960’s a man’s role started to change, despite the stereotype not changing to accommodate it. For the past 40 years one can see how men have taken on roles stereotypically ascribed to women, such roles including being the “stay-at-home mom”, which we can find an excellent example of in the 1980’s film “Mr.