Rewriting Canonical Portrayals of Women In her collection of short stories, Good Bones (O. W. Toad, 1992), Margaret Atwood (1939 - ) has included Gertrude Talks Back, a piece that rewrites the famous closet scene in Shakespeare´s Hamlet. The character of Hamlet´s mother has posed problems of interpretation to readers, critics and performers, past and present, and has been variously or simultaneosly appraised as a symbol of female wantonness, the object of Hamlet´s Oedipus complex, and an example
A post-colonial canonical and cultural revision of Conan Doyle's Holmes narratives Redefining the British literary canon as imperial construct and influence 'A canon,' Ashcroft, Griffiths and Tiffiin argue, 'is not a body of texts per se, but rather a set of reading practices....' (189). They define 'reading practices' as 'the enactment of innumerable individual and community assumptions, for example about genre, about literature, and even about writing....' (189). The purpose of the following
representative sampling of what various scholars have contributed relative to the ongoing debate over the literary canon, I will attempt to highlight three distinct positions which are all informed by John Guillory's critical contributions to the canonical debate. First, I will discuss the concept of ideology and canon formation as Guillory first articulated it in his 1983 essay, "The Ideology of Canon Formation: T. S. Eliot and Cleanth Brooks," and which he subsequently thoroughly revised and included
Tennyson's Poetry and Views Alfred Lord Tennyson and his works have been an important part of canonical literature for over a century. He is as important as he is because his work is exceptional in many ways. One of these exceptional differences, in my opinion, is the conflicting view of women Tennyson portrays in his poetry, especially his poem "Locksley Hall." Tennyson's "Locksley Hall" is, in my opinion, a poem that would benefit greatly from an ideological discussion concerning Tennyson's
identify a few key commonalities between the three plays, and, more generally, in the cycle of work that includes Hamlet and Othello. The sheer carnality of each of these plays is difficult to ignore. Taken as a whole, whether or not one accepts the canonical chronology, these plays represent the evolution of a coherent view of female sexuality that contributes not only to the dramatic action of each play, but to a larger underlying thematic concern. Thus book-ended by two great tragedies, with which
without substance, they are accompanied in some instances by assertions that the members of the group in question are the “real” heroes of the culture’s history. Perhaps the most noteworthy efforts to revise or completely disrupt the traditional/canonical notion of intellectual history (and by extension, that of Western Culture) come from a segment of the intelligentsia known as the Afrocentric scholars. In its most radical form (such as that practiced by such scholars as Leonard Jeffries), Afrocentric
or the Church’s official interpretation of scripture. For these reasons the Church suppressed helio-centric thinking to the point of making it a hiss and a byword. However, this did not keep brave men from exploring scientific reason outside the canonical doctrine of the papal throne, sometimes at the risk of losing their own lives. While the Vatican was able to control the universities and even most of the professors, it could not control the mind of one man known to the modern world as Galileo Galilei
example of the interaction between the ideas of home and the exotic. These ideas are not only displayed in setting, but also represented by many of the main characters in the play. The study of this play can be considered a re-interpretation of a canonical text in light of post-colonial themes. The story is one of intrigue that explores the personalities of individual characters and their role in relation to what they consider as home and foreign. The characters that are most important in explaining
Authors developed the canon in order to set a standard of literature that most people needed to have read or to have been familiar with. The works included in the canon used words such as beautiful, lovely, fair, and innocent to describe women. The canonical works also used conventional symbols to compare the women to flowers such as the rose and the lily. Thomas Campion depicts the typical description of women in his poem, "There is a Garden in Her Face." He describes the women by stating, "There is
The Apostle Paul was a traveling man. One must simply look at the various places where he preached and established churches to confirm this fact. The letters of Paul found in the canonical Bible establish connections with Rome, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, Colossae, and Thessalonica. Paul was heavily involved with the formation of the church in the final location, a city now known as Thessalonki, and continued to support it through his letters. The church in Thessalonica dealt with much oppression
the flaw in the Cosmogony Cycle. This cycle is an integral part of every hero’s journey. An important step in the cycle, the second step in fact, is finding a guide, either spiritual or tangible. If one were to look hard enough in most works of canonical literature, he would find all the necessary components of the Cosmogonic Cycle on the protagonist’s journey, the travel into the underworld, confronting the father figure, meeting, and saving, a female prisoner, then the journey back into the conscious
classical ideas result in the formation of the English canon, yet as Chaucer indicates, the "fame" of these works can easily become annihilated. The arrival of new readers with different ideals and thereby changing tradition, can reject classical or "canonical" work and their "fame" will melt into nothingness. Most stories, histories and legends that emerge from oral heroic poetry are to herald the achievement of the powerful and wealthy so that their histories will not fade from the memories of the population
raised by this European universality is the fact that many post-colonial authors use English as the means to express or disassemble notions of these supposed commonly held mores, thereby creating a hybridized literature. Tiffin notes that in a "canonical counter-discourse . . . [the] post-colo... ... middle of paper ... ...Victory, an Island Tale, 1915. Within the Tides, 1915 (contents: "The Partner," 1911; "The Inn of the Two Witches," 1913; "Because of the Dollars," 1914; "The Planter
author becomes an author and what writings that he produces should become known as his work. The example he gives refers to items such as letters of correspondence or even simple lists that although might have been constructed by the same author of a canonical text, are not recognised as works of literature. What makes works of literature stand out is the content. Indeed, if one can recognise some basic principles of an authors works that may be used to relate previously anonymously published work, does
old high school library, I was ready to join the crowd of experts and decry the decay of our culture, the inevitable devolution to a monosyllabic, non- print bunch of video heads. This was culture at its lowest brow, with no concept of canonical values or the means to access them. Media shaped these minds and what a mess had been made. Such doom and gloom scenarios are common enough. Fortunately, I paused and took a slightly deeper look at what I was really seeing. The room
will devote herself soul and body to evil. (62) Lily B. Campbell in her volume of criticism, Shakespeare's Tragic Heroes: Slaves of Passion, explains the very evil intentions of the weird sisters: If we accept Scene v of Act III as canonical, we must accept it as a prologue to Act IV, and if we accept it, much of the mystery of the witches is gone. We are not allowed to be in doubt concerning the evil intention of Hecate, and we hear the ideas of King James re-echoed in her proposal
transfinite entity and that such an entity has many levels of being, among which are cognitive processes, imaginative processes and physical processes. A person is ‘not other than’ these without being ‘nothing but’ any of these. Descartes is a canonical figure in the philosophy curriculum of the West. Yet his writings embody a kind of paradox or contradiction, a paradox which infects both philosophical research and the teaching of philosophy to this day. Briefly stated, after exhorting us to "wake
non-existent." Capital punishment ironically stands at the beginning of Christianity. The Lord Jesus, Founder of Christianity, was Himself a victim of capital punishment, as were most of the Apostles and a great many of the early martyrs. The canonical Scriptures were rarely invoked to question capi... ... middle of paper ... ... unique dignity of each person, the truth that God is the Lord of Life not us, and the example and teaching of Jesus on mercy and forgiveness. This debate
In ancient times, people learned of the past and of morals/consequences through word of mouth and stories which influenced their daily lives and how they conducted themselves, and today's times are no exception. Through reading canonical literature, generation after generation can read the same story and gain crucial insight to human actions that have affected life currently. Through reading literature, the reader learns of a legacy set by the people of the past and their decisions. One of the biggest
Bible that the gathering and the selection of information included in the final compilation was an extensive and controversial process. Specifically, the events and movements that were influential in the recognition of the canonical books. According to Britannica, the canonical books are recognized as the quintessential corner stone of the New Testament, which also means that they are a foundational part of the current beliefs and practices of most of today’s Christians. Even more important is the