Ambiguity in Language If everything we know is viewed as a transition from something else, every experience must have a double meaning or for every meaning there must be two aspects. All meaning is only meaningful in reference to, and in distinction from, other meanings; there is no meaning in any stable or absolute sense. Meanings are multiple, changing, and contextual. SIGMUND FREUD Language, being a system of communication, has a very delicate job
Female Ambiguity: Kirke from The Odyssey vs. Bianca from The Taming of the Shrew Women are ambiguous characters throughout texts such as The Odyssey and The Taming of the Shrew. In these two stories, there are female characters that are deceitful and beguiling towards men. Kirke and Bianca are two comparable characters that display such behavior. I will explain how both characters display ambiguity by hiding their true nature behind actions that they wouldn’t normally take; therefore these female
The Ambiguity of Plato For hundreds of years, Plato has been admired as a writer, a master rhetorician, an artist, and above all, a philosopher; however, Plato's backlashes against sophistry and art have led to much confusion concerning his ideas and beliefs. John Poulakos says of Plato, "[F]or most rhetoricians Plato has always played the same role he assigned to the sophists--the enemy" (Nienkamp 1). Plato will always appear to be the skilled rhetorician or artist who speaks out against rhetoric
Ambiguity in Macbeth The reader is not totally at ease in William Shakespeare's tragic drama Macbeth. The play contains numerous instances which lack clear import or meaning. Let's examine these in this paper. In his book, On the Design of Shakespearean Tragedy, H. S. Wilson comments on the ambiguities surrounding the Weird Sisters: Scholars have been much exercised to determine the status of the Weird Sisters; but again theirs seems to be a case like that of the Ghost of Hamlet's
It is undeniable that Andre Gide's The Immoralist, first published in 1902 in an edition of 300 copies, is at the very least, a novel predominantly dealing with Michel, the protagonist, and his search for his true authentic self amidst social and moral conventions and the subsequent consequences of deviating from these principles. It is also undeniable that it is a novel unfolding Michel's journey from a married heterosexual to a widowed homosexual. Throughout the novel Gide uses ambiguous homoerotic
Complexity and Ambiguity of Haircut Many critical commentators have pointed out that Ring Lardner's best work was done in the field of satiric comedy. Sometimes his work was more satirical than comic, and sometimes vice versa. His short story, "Haircut," is definitely an exponent of the former, because within the satire of Haircut are some undoubtedly repulsive and tragic elements. The story concerns the events in a small unnamed Michigan town as told by a barber while he is cutting a
wrote immensely in their stories about how events affected people in negative ways. Using moral ambiguities, writers were able to express the wide range of personality traits that people had. The characters that will be described in this essay include Julian, from the short story “Everything That Rises Must Converge”, Harold Krebs, from “Soldier’s Home”, and Emily, from “A Rose for Emily”. The ambiguities described in these stories, which includes thoughtfulness and obliviousness, self-sufficiency
Has there ever existed a person that has not judged someone else over their lifetime? Judging by reality as well as literature it seems that no person like that has ever existed. It appears that it is human nature to want to pronounce others as either purely good or evil. But does everyone fit into the mold of good or evil? In Albert Camus's The Stranger, Meursault is a morally ambiguous character, and this ethical indistinctness plays a major part in the novel as a whole and the theme that Camus
Ambiguity of “The Minister’s Black Veil” There is no end to the ambiguity in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil”; this essay hopes to explore this problem within the tale. In New England Men of Letters Wilson Sullivan relates the purpose of Hawthorne’s veiled image: He sought, in Hamlet’s telling words to his palace players, “to hold the mirror up to nature,” and to report what he saw in that mirror – even his own veiled image – without distortion. “Life is made up
A story that uses a decent amount of ambiguity is like reading half of a story, in the sense that the reader can "fill in the blanks". The author leaves several details out in order for the reader to make his or her own interpretations. Heart of Darkness, written by Joseph Conrad, expresses ambiguity in a variety of ways. These include several details throughout the story, themes such as dark and light, and in characters including both Marlow and Kurtz. Conrad was one of the first writers to use
Ambiguity, Inconsistency and Uncertainty in Othello The Bard of Avon has in his tragedy Othello a true masterpiece, but not one without flaws. It contains blemishes, imperfections, and minor negative features which detract in lesser ways from the overall evaluation of the play. H. S. Wilson in his book of literary criticism, On the Design of Shakespearean Tragedy, addresses the arbitrariness and inconsistency in the play: Though the action moves in a single line, with none of the intricate
Pillars of Metaphorical Ambiguity in The Scarlet Letter Among the multiplicity of arcane elements hidden beneath the words in Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter", none is so apparent, yet strikingly subtle to the reader's perception and consumption of characterization than the allegorical play on words within the names of the characters. Both the protagonist and her rival within the plot are blessed with conveniently appropriate, fitting names. The four pillars supporting this novel are all cloaked
Ambiguity and Uncertainty in Young Goodman Brown In "Young Goodman Brown," Nathaniel Hawthorne, through the use of deceptive imagery, creates a sense of uncertainty that illuminates the theme of man's inability to operate within a framework of moral absolutism. Within every man there is an innate difference between good and evil and Hawthorne's deliberate use of ambiguity mirrors this complexity of human nature. Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown, is misled by believing in the perfectibility of
The Young Goodman Brown In this story, we as readers are presented with a seemingly easy narrative to interpret. Closer reading, however, reveals two critical ambiguities that may be interpreted at least two different ways. First, why does young goodman Brown go into the forest, and second, is the trip into the forest reality or an illusion? There are two ways to interpret why goodman Brown went into the forest. First, we can assume he went into the forest as a sort of initiation or kind of religious
Ambiguity and Understanding of Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde One of the aspects of Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde that seemed most confusing at first was the apparent ambiguity or complete lack of motivation that the author provides for the main characters. Chaucer provides little explanation for why his major characters act the way that they do; when he does, his explanations are often ambiguous or contradictory. Pandarus is an excellent example of a character whose motives are ambiguous.
Use of Irony, Ambiguity and Symbolism, in Gulliver's Travels Although it appears simple and straightforward on the surface, a mere travelogue intended solely for the amusement of children, Gulliver's Travels, by Jonathan Swift, proves, upon closer examination, to be a critical and insightful work satirizing the political and social systems of eighteenth-century England. Through frequent and successful employment of irony, ambiguity and symbolism, Swift makes comments addressing
The Ambiguity in “The Rappaccini’s Daughter” The literary critics agree that there is considerable ambiguity in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Rappaccini’s Daughter.” This essay intends to illustrate this statement and to analyze the cause of this ambiguity. Henry James in Hawthorne mentions how Hawthorne’s allegorical meanings should be expressed clearly: I frankly confess that I have, as a general thing, but little enjoyment of it, and that it has never seemed to me to be, as it were
Ambiguities Explored in Heart of Darkness Literature is never interpreted in exactly the same way by two different readers. A prime example of a work of literature that is very ambiguous is Joseph Conrad's, "Heart of Darkness". The Ambiguities that exist in this book are Marlow's relationship to colonialism, Marlow's changing feelings toward Kurtz, and Marlow's lie to the Intended at the end of the story. One interpretation of Marlow's relationship to colonialism is that he does
the rest of her audience” (56). The text is what the reader (and the other characters in the novel) rely on in order to make sense of the tale. Her telling relies on the gothic elements and the reality of the ghosts. In her telling, there exist ambiguities that create suspicion of her to accurately relate the events. In this way, the novel supports simultaneous interpretations. James is able to create “cracks in the façade of her account, without ever destroying its cre... ... middle of paper .
Ambiguities Answered in Derek Jacobi's Richard II The plain text of a script does not live and breathe as a visual performance must. Both director and actors have to make choices in a production, to interpret and make clear the plot and purpose of the play. The Derek Jacobi Richard II uses the capabilities of film to remove many of the ambiguities that plague interpretation of that text. In doing so, it creates a passionate yet ineffective King Richard who, between his own insecurity and Northumberland's