Diana of the Crossways: A Novel
Before reading Diana of the Crossways it is important to understand the facts surrounding the life of George Meredith, as corresponding elements can be found in many of his works. George Meredith was born on February 12, 1828 in Portsmouth. During his early years he faced several accounts of hardship. His mother died when he was hardly five years of age. Shortly after her death, George Meredith's father, Augustus, inherited a failing business and heavy debts from his own father. Augustus was forced to declare bankruptcy and travel to London to earn a living, leaving young Meredith in the care of relatives. At age fifteen, Meredith attended the Moravian school at Neuwied on the Rhine. He remained there for less than two years accounting for his only formal education. Meredith was apprenticed to Richard Stephen Charnock who introduced Meredith to his literary circle of friends. Among them were Edward Peacock and his sister Mary Ellen Nicolls. Mary Ellen Nicolls can be described as having lively intelligence and wit. This seems to characterize many of Meredith's heroines. They married in 1849, but they had very little success as a couple. Since they were both intelligent and demanding they desired more from the relationship. In 1858 Mary Ellen Nicolls eloped with artist Henry Wallis ending her relationship with Meredith. From here, Meredith married his second wife Marie Vulliamy who was the contrast of Mary Ellen Nicolls. She was a very practical, domestic woman who was a good hostess and housekeeper. It is quite ironic that Meredith would desire a helpmeet relationship when all of his works surround the independent, headstrong woman. Meredith was an energetic man who would frequently toss around a weight nicknamed "the beetle" for exercise. In the 1870's Meredith began to develop symptoms of locomotor ataxia, which crippled him. In 1892 Meredith was elected president of The Society of Authors, a position that was previously held by Alfred Lord Tennyson. In 1905 he was awarded the Order of Merit. Over the years, Meredith became increasingly disabled and deaf before passing away on May 18, 1909 (Casal, The Victorian Web).
During his lifetime Meredith produced fifteen novels, eight poetry collections, and countless minor works; most of which are out of print today. His best work is characterized by brilliant insights, carefully chosen diction, and powerful imagery. Diana of the Crossways is rich and interesting with realistic characters that come alive for the reader.
Dante came a long way in reaching the lower part of Hell in the “Inferno” to not be to be highly satisfied with what he experienced from seeing, hearing, reflecting, and questioning. Throughout the journey we can see that Dante had two sides to him the one in which his felt sympathy for the sinners and felt frightened along the way and the other Dante in which he judgment that the sinners should have a more cruel punishment. Dante encountered many challenges as he progressed to each level.
Firstly, Alice’s betrayal centers on her husband, Arden. She betrays Arden in two ways; she plans his murder in a cunning way, and she does not remain faithful to him. She, along with some help, contrives a plan to murder Arden, so that she and Mosby may bring their secret relationship to the surface. Though Alice prefers to be with Mosby, and not to kill Arden, as noted when she states “…Might I without control/Enjoy thee [Mosby] still, then Arden should not die;” Alice understands this is impossible if she truly wants a relationship Mosby (“Arden” 274-275). “It is the fulfillment of Alice’s … desire for Mosby that is most blatantly presented as dependent upon the termination of Arden’s life” (Schutzman 290). Therefore, Alice creates a plan
The Empress Dowager Tzi-his (1835-1908) was a unique ruler unlike any other China had ever seen. She is considered to be one of the most influential people in Chinese history, a rarity in the male dominated Chinese world. The empress dowager exerted great power over the Chinese empire and influenced the political structure in ways it had never been influenced before, making many great reforms that she believed would help the Chinese people.
In Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, the Wife of Bath (Alison) teaches her audience what it is women most desire through her tale. The tale she tells resembles the tale of Dame Ragnell. These stories are analogies, perhaps both arising from a similar folk-tale source. Both stories are set in the magical Arthurian times when the fields and forests teemed with gnomes and unearthly creatures. Although both stories have the same moral and end on similar note, there are some vivid differences that we simply cannot overlook.
Throughout his journey Dante the pilgrims meets different souls who share their gruesome stories, and Dante the pilgrim does initially sympathize with them. Eventually as he gets lower into hell he does not pity the souls anymore. In Canto three Dante states "Inscribed on the lintel of an archway, master I said, this saying 's hard for me."(Inferno, III; 11-12). The claim can be made that Dante is very different from the dammed souls he sees in hell, and he is aware of that. In a way Dante sort of separates himself from those souls he meets. A single minded mentality is born unlike in Beowulf where his pride helps him to solve a problem that will help his
He had meticulously described it to illuminate the Bible’s interpretation, especially for the degrees of sin. For instance, during his journey through Hell, he had traveled through nine rings, each containing different forms of sin. Within the rings, Dante had met individuals who were cast into Hell for adultery and heretical beliefs. However, Dante had not only described who he saw, but also the quality of their lives in Hell. D’Epiro states, “The poet’s most famous portrait of flawed grandeur is that of Ulysses, whose sins as a false counselor have caused him to be enveloped in flames like a human torch.” (99) Dante had wanted to put an emphasis on how perilous Hell was because of the time period’s grasp on religion in 1320.
On the 27th of December 2013 the New Orleans Saints played the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at the Mercedes Benz Superdome. In front of thousands of screaming fans, the Saints claimed victory over the Buccaneers, beating them by twenty-five points. The game was played on the Saint’s field, which gives them the upper hand. But the commenters, who praised almost every play they made, favoured the Saints ever so slightly. The televised event also discriminates with their adverts. Although football has male and female fans alike, the ads discriminate against the women, only airing adverts aimed at men. The sexist nature of the adverts is an example of the male dominated football community.
Most history books has recorded that between the years 1701-1760, millions of Africans were literally stolen away from their native lands leaving behind their families, work, heritage, and everything that was familiar to them. Robbed of their independence and ‘humanness’; they were reduced to cargo. This was what ‘the Middle Passage’ also known, as the ‘Slave Triangle’ was all about; the trading of goods and commodities among continents including the trading of black men, women and children who were treated like property.
Women play an influential role in The Odyssey. Women appear throughout the story, as goddesses, wives, princesses, or servants. The nymph Calypso enslaves Odysseus for many years. Odysseus desires to reach home and his wife Penelope. It is the goddess Athena who sets the action of The Odyssey rolling; she also guides and orchestrates everything to Odysseus’ good. Women in The Odyssey are divided into two classes: seductresses and helpmeets. By doing so, Homer demonstrates that women have the power to either hinder of help men. Only one woman is able to successfully combine elements of both classes: Penelope. She serves as a role model of virtue and craftiness. All the other women are compared to and contrasted with Penelope.
William Dean Howells' opinion of romanticism is his novel "Editha" by having the character of Editha symbolize his views on romanticism. When George announces that there is war, Editha surprises her lover and audience by saying "how glorious." She romanticizes the war by calling "any war glorious that is for the liberation of the people who have been struggling for years against the cruelest oppression." It's hard to figure out if Editha truly loves George, or if she is overtaken by the thought of having someone heroic to love. One of the ways Editha views life is that to have good things one must prove himself or herself worthy of it, for instance her love. In the story when she's thinking about George, she says George, "had simply asked for her love... and she gave her love... but if he could do something worthy to have her, be her hero- it would be grander." What better way to prove his love to Editha by doing something he was not favorable towards for Editha's sake and allowing himself named captain of Company A for her amusement. Her true feelings for George come to light when she writes him a goodbye letter saying why she was breaking her engagement with him since the man she marries "must love his country first." She wrote that letter as soon as he left, it's quite unfair and she even realizes it yet still writes it to satisfy herself. Even when he enlisted, she knew that he was not for him but for her. Editha noticed he became a different person after enlisting, " he made her feel as if she had lost her old lover and found a stranger in his place," if she had truly loved him she would not have felt giddy at the thought of kissing a stranger after losing her true love.
Dante’s experiences in Inferno reflect the battles that everyone of Christian faith faces in their everyday life. We are all challenged by these sins daily. Dante mentions the” journey of our life” on page one; he means everyone’s journey in life to find God. Dante teaches us that we must face sin in order to live a virtuous, proper life. Sin is represented as the dark forest that surrounds Dante when he has lost his path. Virgil is the light of God guiding him through the dark forest. Virgil also represents your significant others in life, as they are the ones who keep you on the correct path. No one can find the path alone.
Among the followers of Christianity, questions arise in order to find the righteous path to Heaven’s gate. On the contrary, there are those who seek answers for what is forsaken. Dante Alighieri fully expresses himself on this dilemma in his written work, The Divine Comedy. The first part of the epic poem is Inferno; Dante defines and constructs Hell, based on the morals and judgments set by common beliefs during his time. Dante also uses Aristotle’s philosophical work to shape the structure of Hell. Undergoing a journey through Hell as himself, Dante places famous literary icons to assist in questioning the acts of justice. Dante builds and contrast between the sinners who are innocent, and those who deliberately perform evil deeds. Virgil, a fellow poet and pagan, exemplifies wisdom and clarity that which Dante must learn through his endeavor. Virgil’s guidance will provide contrast and the necessary guidance to reach Paradise. The change of character Dante experience, is dreadful; pity and remorse must be exempted to honor retribution for the sinners’ defiance against God. All the answers regarding Hell, lies upon meeting the primal sinner, Lucifer, the Fallen Angel. Dante’s journey unfolds a critical analysis in which portrays the human struggle in every individual. There are several implications of the four functions of myth that can be derived from Dante’s Inferno. Dante divides Hell into three dispositions: incontinence, malice and brutality. (Alighieri, Dante, and Longfellow 6.79-82)
The Inferno written by Dante Alighieri is an epic about his journey through Hell. In Dante’s representation of Hell contains nine circles containing different sins each with a more severe punishment than the last. In these increasingly terrifying scenarios, he encounters many ironic punishments and often has discussions with a person amidst the torment. Dante is accompanied by a guide (Virgil) who acts as the mentor. The two travel through hell in hopes of reaching Heaven. While Dante walks as a bystander in the terrors of hell, he begins to commit sins himself, although towards the sinners which he encounters he still is admitted into heaven. While Dante occasionally sins throughout his journey, he usually meets the sinners with compassion and pity, but Virgil meets them with the opposite and views them in disgust. While they may treat them any way they want, the one which causes them the most torment is God, which Dante himself views cruel at times.These incongruities and travesties, bring the morality of the Catholic system of condemnation into question.
... without someone Heavenly to guide them. Dante shows that Virgil usually gets what he wants throughout the Inferno, but is now restricted by his lack of faith. He shows that even though Virgil is one of the greatest poets and a huge role model for Dante, Virgil can also fail. Dante has Virgil illustrate his imperfections to the character of Dante, because it is vital for Dante to understand that he must be mindful of God and sin to avoid the fate of Virgil. Virgil cannot ever move on to Heaven from Limbo as he cannot completely put his faith in God, so he guides Dante to do so. This growing faith in God allows Dante to grow more judgmental of sinners as they progress on their journey, as opposed to his sympathy for sinners before. By having his hero fail, Dante learns that he must avoid the mistakes of his guide, Virgil, by understanding the divine justice of God.
In the Inferno, Dante gives his audience the clear view as to what he believes as a Christian follower, that hell has to offer. He shows that worldly sin every single sin has a fair punishment. An example in Dante would be when Cocytus was frozen because he committed the cold crime of fraud. The deeper that Virgil and Dante go into hell, the greater volume of sin is committed. In each level of hell, the criminals are punished equally depending on what their crime was. Dante learns that God's punishment is just and that his power is divine. He sets forth one of the most fully developed Christian understanding of justice on this earth. He describes this justice as what we do as human beings will determine what happens to us when it is our time to go based on Gods judgment. An example of this divine power would be when the Furies will not let Dante and Virgil get past the Gate of Dis.