Immodest Acts tells the story of Benedetta Carallini who is sent to a convent and experiences visions from the lord. She is extremely pious and does everything in her power to stay in God's light as she struggles to not be tricked by Satan. Her lesbianism comes in near the end of her story and is what condemns her as a victim of Satan. Judith Brown's telling of the story shows that Carallini's strong religious background and her possible cause for her visions as the idea of stress induced hallucinations did not yet exist.
Brown's main source for this event seems to be the cases when Carallini is under investigation. She notes how Bartolomea's testimony was so disturbing that the scribe for the trial lost his usual composer. That means that
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Brown talks about the idea that Carallini may have originally seen visions, believing them from Jesus, but the power of being chosen by God got to her and she abused her new found power. Like most people, power corrupts, and a high place in a convent was quite an honorable position.
With Carallini’s “immodest act” of having sexual relations with a fellow nun, Brown writes about the idea Carallini and Bartolomea's was more willing as Bartolomea changes her testimony of the account over time. She believes that the ambiguity of her statements reflects inner turmoil of the deeds. A mix of attraction and fear of sin.
Brown’s conclusion of the case is the most interesting part of the trial. Brown concludes that Carallini’s visions were made up and that her immodest act was an act of God because a saint acted through her, making her sin a normal act. This got her a lesser sentence as the courts ruled that Carallini was a victim to Satan and was a victim as well. A major aspect to her being so sinful was that she a leader of a convent, in most cases such as Granada, cases of lesbianism was not extremely punished, usually banishment. Carallini was not a normal case, and thus needed a harsher punishment. Brown ends her book stating that Carallini won and left her mark on the world as imprisonment and death could not silence
The pain she causes herself is Mariette being the vessel of God’s grace. Mariette’s intention to suffer displays a severe ambition and pride that she has a calling for a higher purpose. This purpose is also explored through Mariette’s experience with the stigmata. Mariette suddenly appears with the wounds of Jesus Christ, and Hansen creates a disturbance of power between female and male relationships to Christ. Mariette has been chosen above the male figures of the Church, and she shares in the appearance and bleeding of Christ wounds. Hansen connects female reproduction to Christ suffering. This ideology fits with Mariette because she has the capacity to perform the transfiguration of Christ, bringing the Grace of God to the World. This feminization of Christ allows Mariette to have a deeper connection with Him and reinforces the idea she has been chosen. Mariette’s intimacy in Christ’s pain is her desire to be more than just a sister, and even more than a Saint. Mariette associates His wounds with her own wounds, thus taking His ability to redeem as her having this capability too. Hansen uses Mariette’s relationship with Christ to draw on the theological formulation of Christ’s wounds as female reproduction. This idea challenges the notion of power within the priory and Roman
... If anyone is being accused of molesting a child, the reputation that they’ve got will be ruined forever. There’s no going back, she leaves him with nothing, other than a dirty slate, whether or not he is guilty. This nun gets her way, and her certainty drove her to believe something that was never proved to be true. Her authority and the wall she’s created between herself and everyone else makes her credible. His compassion was mistaken for something that he didn’t do. She had the upper hand, with her manipulation skills. The Sisters are her puppets as she remained in control of her parish. Father Flynn’s leave does affect Sister Aloysius, her certainty vanishes but the only thing that somewhat puts her at ease, is that she wants to believe that his leave, was his confession. Sister Aloysius has doubts that crush her in the ending scene. She caused her own demise
Additionally, the detail with which the writer describes Christina’s visions and physical illnesses during her trials left room for critical analysis of what were likely undiagnosed medical conditions (31-33). Even still, the manuscript does not overtly paint her as more than a very religious woman. In fact, no one is free of the writer’s criticism of their behavior, not even Christina, whose dialogue is at times quite
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is the story of a woman spiralling into madness whilst her physician husband refuses to acknowledge that she has a "real" problem. On the other hand The Black Cat by Edgar Alan Poe is about a man who is initially fond of cats however as the plot progresses he becomes an alcoholic making him moody and violent, which lead him to torture and kills the animals and eventually also his wife. In Edgar Allan Poe’s "The Black Cat," symbolism is used to show the narrator’s capacity for violence, madness, and guilt .The recurring theme present in both these stories is that the main protagonists claim that they suffer or have been taken over by a form of madness. In this essay I shall examine the various symbolism used by the writer's to represent madness.
Every year, the statue of the Infant King “is carried into the cell of every Carmelite on Christmas.” A decree of the National Assembly confiscated all church goods, including the crown and the scepter of the Infant King. Regardless, the Carmelites carried on the tradition. The statue came to Blanche’s room, and she was moved to tears as she saw the poor Infant King, clad only in a handmade cape. She held the statue and said, “Oh so small and so weak”, Sister Marie corrected her saying, “No, so small and so powerful.” Blanche’s misconception was that the Infant King was only powerful if he was wearing his crown, and as she bent over to kiss it, she noticed his crown was missing. At the same moment, she heard Carmogle being sung in the streets. She immediately dropped the statue and its head broke off. She cried, “Oh, the Infant King of Glory is dead!” From that moment on, Blanche’s demeanor changed, as her hope was shattered, like the Infant King. She now realizes that the good Infant King was not protected from suffering. In fact he embraced suffering to sacrifice for the good of others. She began to accept her condition. Mother Teresa asked Blanche if she still hoped to overcome her weakness, and Blanche replied, “No Reverend Mother… Consider the secret of my name.” Blanche was referring to her religious name bestowed on her by the bishop: “Jesus in the
Another instance of Hermia’s dedication to her chastity and purity as a demonstration of comes in II.
The fifteenth century was a gruesome era in world history. Church and state were not separated which caused many problems because the Church officials were often corrupt. The story of Joan of Arc, portrayed by George Bernard Shaw, impeccably reflects the Church of the 1400’s. Joan, a French native, fought for her country and won many battles against England. But Joan’s imminent demise came knocking at her door when she was captured by the English. She was charged with heresy because the armor she wore was deemed for men only but she justified her actions by stating that God told her to do it. Today, Joan of Arc would be diagnosed schizophrenic because of the voices in her head but she would still be respected for serving in the military. But in the fifteenth century, she was labeled as nothing more than a deviant. She was tried and the Inquisitor characterized her as a beast that will harm society. Through his sophistic reasoning, loaded diction, and appeals to pathos and ethos, the Inquisitor coaxed the court into believing Joan was a threat to society and she had to pay the ultimate price.
The aims of Boccaccio in his original 1370 version of 'Lisabetta' are far different from those of Keats who wrote 'Isabella' 500 years later. Keats has carefully analysed the original story, and selected various aspects that he thinks are important to develop into his 63-stanza poem, and has also omitted information that he sees as not important and not relevant to the core plot. The foremost topic that Keats' elaborates is the love affair between Lorenzo and Isabella. He tries to evoke many more emotions from the reader than Boccaccio does, as he believes that this is an important aspect of the story that needs to be developed. In Boccaccios story, the love between the two grows rapidly - almost instantly.
The story of Lucretia begins with men boasting about their wives, trying to determine who is the best of them all. It is clear to them that Lucretia is the winner when she is found “hard at work by lamplight upon her spinning” (Livy, 100). She then moves on to be a gracious host to all of these men, again showing success in her womanly duties. Later that night one of the visitors, Sextus Tarquinis, comes into her room, and forces himself upon her, telling her that if she does not comply he will make it look like she had an affair with on of the servants (Livy, 101). She yields to him because she does not want it to seem as if she had an affair and n...
Being a nun she is dependent on her faith in God. In order for Sister Aloysius to prove Father Flynn deceit she has to “take a step to address wrongdoing, you are taking a step away from God, but in His service.” (32). This explains the lengths she is willing to go. This is also the moment Sister Aloysius accepts her call to adventure.
A man sprints through a dense forest, escaping an unknown terror pursuing him through the darkness from the treetops. As he keeps looking back, he cannot see what is chasing him, but he assumes it must be close behind him. Suddenly, his foot is snared by a protruding tree trunk and he lands face first on the tiled floor of his mental-care facility. His nurse helps him up and regrets mentioning to the man that she just recently adopted a child from Vietnam, which caused him to lash out. Obviously, the man suffered through a hallucination of his past in the Vietnam War, triggered through the nurse’s mere comment. He has done this and will continue to do this for years to come. This is because society forces the individual, through the aid of
... smell and she finally realizes she is “in the presence of God” (247). These effects make her calm down and start to pray and confess her “sins” although “mechanically”: “Hep me not to be so mean…Hep me not to give her so much sass. Hep me not to talk like I do.” When the priest finally raises the monstrance “with the Host shining ivory-colored in the center of it” she is in turn reminded of the freak at the fair and what he said and the religious world and the world of the fair are mixed together in her mind.
In analyzing this story, there are several other interesting facts that merit further exploration. For instance, throughout the story all references to the little convent girl use black or dark references. But, when plunging to her death, the author describes the little convent girl as a "flutter of white petticoats, a show of white stockings". What is the significance of the sudden color change? Also, Since the reader must assume that the little convent girl is Catholic, what can be concluded about a proper catholic committing suicide?
Many short story writers have written about the gender and role of woman in society. Some of these stories express what Barbara Walter calls, “The Cult of True Womanhood” meaning the separation of both man and woman in social, political and economic spheres. In order to be considered a “true woman” woman were to abide by the set of standards that were given to her. Women were expected to live by the four main principal virtues - piety, purity, submissiveness, and domestication. In Kate Chopin’s short story, “The Storm,” Calixta the main female character breaks away from “The Cult of True Womanhood” when she has a sexual encounter with her past lover Alcée. The storm goes through many twists and turns that tie with their adulterous actions. Although she breaks away from the four main principal virtues, she in the end is considered to be pure innocent of heart because the action in which occurred happened instantly, and as white as she was, she was taken away from her innocence.
St. Augustine's sordid lifestyle as a young man, revealed in Confessions, serves as a logical explanation for his limited view of the purpose of sexuality in marriage. His life from adolescence to age thirty-one was so united to passionate desire and sensual pleasure, that he later avoided approval of such emotions even within the sanctity of holy union. From the age of sixteen until he was freed of promiscuity fifteen years later, Augustine's life was woven with a growing desire for illicit acts, until that desire finally became necessity and controlled his will. His lust for sex began in the bath houses of Tagaste, where he was idle without schooling and "was tossed about…and boiling over in…fornications" (2.2). Also during that time, young Augustine displayed his preoccupation with sexual experience by fabricating vulgarities simply to impress his peers. In descript...