Throughout the entire story, the theme of order and chaos reigns. Order is defined as everything working in a methodical and beneficial way (Oxford). Disorder then causes a state of confusion and chaos which harms everything around it (Oxford). One who creates disorder to the Medieval is a sinner. For to the Medievals doing the right thing is to be orderly. Unlike modern day in the Middle Ages, the people would have understood the world is naturally an orderly place. Throughout the story, it can be seen that love is so powerful that it can conquer fear,self-preservation, will and reason. Thus, when chaos is created it affects them and the people around them. For chaos snowballs and leads to the creation of more chaos. All of the chaos in
This begs the question is a thing that is believed to be good relative to the situation. For does love cause chaos or does its path merely lead through chaos to temper to person passing through to strengthen him for what is to come? For the purest gold is tempered in the hottest flame. Then should one fear love because of the chaos or run towards it. In this story love conquered honour reason and self preservation. This leads to chaos but for Palamon the ends probably justified the means and chaos created. In the end time ends all chaos and restores order to the world. For with Archita’s story ending Palamon story of love has just begun. The Knight probably told this tale to try to understand why there was so much chaos and war in God 's perfect and orderly earth. Also how good things such as love can be so destructive. This could possible parallel the knight in wars in which chaos is made in pursuit of passion and love. Love would have generally been considered a good thing in the Medieval context yet like in the tale of Troy it can be extremely destructive. If one watches the world one would be depressed because it seems that it is a series of chaos and destruction,as one thing is solved and two more rise up. Perhaps he wondered if there was ever an ending to chaos if not perhaps it was his role to contain it. Some may see stopping chaos like a man on a beach throwing a bucket of water into the ocean in the face of an oncoming tsunami. The gods resolving it once and for all in the end could parallel that in the end God controls all and has a plan for everything. In the end God makes everything work out for good and restores
Information from this site will be beneficial when explaining the reference of love as a way to combat evil. This theme is quite strong throughout the series.
The Knight's tale of love, loyalty, and battle is placed in the chivalric romance genre. The courtly romance concerns the mythical kingdom of Theseus, wealthy rulers, and pagan (mythical) gods. Throughout the tale, the Knight and the other characters refer to the concept of the "wheel of fortune." In the beginning of the tale, weeping, broken women plead to Theseus to help them avenge their husbands. Although impoverished, they tell Theseus that they were all at one point wealthy and of high rank. Even though Theseus is glorified and powerful now, the goddess will spin the "wheel of fortune" and he will one day be low. The concept of destiny and the wheel of fortune represents the Knight's acceptance of an incomprehensible world. His inclusion of the mythical gods, Mars, Venus, Mercury, and Diana furthers this idea. Emily, Arcite, and Palamon each pray to a diety, asking for help and their unattainable wish. In the end, father Saturn decrees Arcite's death. Thus, paradoxical human emotions and senseless tragedy are safely distanced; they are attributed to the will of the pagan gods. Similarly the love triangle between Arcite, Palamon, and Emily stresses tha...
In his account of the situation, the brother first clearly makes a note that these confused and suspicious students comprise not one of his elementary classes, but rather his only non-remedial class. From this he is evidently implying that one would expect a heightened ability to understand and more accurately analyze the power and beauty of great literature on the part of the students. Thus from the beginning, the reader is alerted to the fact that their confusion is not due to the difficulty of the material, but rather is the product of some underlying factor. In this way the students perceive this Shakespearean tragedy as a horror story, the mere thought of it shadowed in their minds by fear. They see the Montagues and Capulets as families driven mad; Verona as a plague-infested country where killing and marriage take place in dark regions alike. They infer from it that young love is dangerous, and by reading of a suicide made possible by a potion that was initially intended to preserve tender love instead of stealing it, their notions that there is evil in everything seem to be confirmed.
Order and chaos are two events that inhabit the world that surrounds us. Natural events, such as gravity, create order where our world has laws and principles. One the other hand, war, fighting, and disasters make up the chaotic aspect of our world. How both are found in this world we live in, the same two ideas of order and chaos, are found in Eamon Grennan’s “One Morning.”
Abstract: I will show how chaos is can be found in art, specifically in literature, and analyze John Hawkes's Travesty to show the similarities between literature and chaos.
Can a simple emotion such as love be regarded as one of the greatest weapons to create or attain power? It’s a renowned fact that human beings are by nature designed to need, crave, and even require love as part of their survival mechanisms. It comes to no surprise that one of the first accounts of antique poetry maintains love and the craving for it as its main theme; thereby, reinforcing the deep importance that it upholds in the lives of many individuals. Sappho’s “Deathless Aphrodite” clearly epitomizes the suffering and bitterness that arises from an unrequited love. In Sappho’s case, which portrays the case of many, she constantly finds herself in loneliness and despair for though she tries repeatedly, she is only let down recurrently as no one reciprocates the love she gives. It is only the Greek goddess Aphrodite, who holds
Love is often misconstrued as an overwhelming force that characters have very little control over, but only because it is often mistaken for the sum of infatuation and greed. Love and greed tread a blurred line, with grey areas such as lust. In simplest terms, love is selfless and greed is selfish. From the agglomeration of mythological tales, people deduce that love overpowers characters, even that it drives them mad. However, they would be wrong as they would not have analyzed the instances in depth to discern whether or not the said instance revolves around true love. Alone, true love help characters to act with sound reasoning and logic, as shown by the tales of Zeus with his lovers Io and Europa in Edith Hamilton’s Mythology.
The era of the Middle Ages does not paint a bright picture for many people because it was a dark time in history. The Middle Ages were a terrible time to live in with the grime, debauchery, and disease. The rich were very well off while the poor made it through a hard life. The decline of the Middle Ages was at the end of the fourteenth century because of, “crop failures, famine, population decline, plagues, stagnating production, unemployment, inflation, devastating warfare, abandoned villages, and violent rebellions by the poor and weak of towns and countryside, who were ruthlessly suppressed by the upper classes.”1 Even though the Middle Ages were a time of adversity it did have great growth...
Furthermore in both pieces main characters die; their deaths come about as a result, consequently because of their sinful nature and the pure greed of others around them. Human beings thrive on competition, subsequently such factors can change the way we think, the way we act as humans and how we treat others. In edition these authors use characters, particularly Jack and Macbeth, as examples of man’s self-corruption by letting our natural greedy self-centred self’s come through. Through their works it is shown, likewise their belief that if everybody revealed their true natures, the world would tear itself apart by the unconscious want for power that man will stop at nothing to get. Nevertheless in this game of survival, dishonorable tactics are used to climb the ladder swiftly with the deep craving of attaining the pinnacle of power.
In conclusion, in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare effectively uses the motifs of the seasons, the moon, and dreams to show that love, irrationality, and disobedience directly cause chaos. By calling to mind the seasons in unnatural order, describing the moon behaving strangely, and discussing the dualistic, irrational nature of dreams, Shakespeare effectively evokes a sense of chaos and disorder. Linking each of these motifs to the themes of love, irrationality, and disobedience allows Shakespeare to illustrate the disarray that is bound to result from any romance.
All tragedies eventually end in chaos; however, Othello and The Great Gatsby both begin with innocent characters thinking little about the possibility of disarray. During the climax of both works it becomes evident that the idea of order is doomed, inevitably leading to a bounding spiral of problems. The Great Gatsby and Othello both end in chaos because the protagonists, Othello and Gatsby are outsiders entering an ordered society. The actions of many characters cause confusion in the storyline, and the chaos in both works gradually impact the downfall of every character.
The “Concept of Order” suggests that everything in life has a specific position and plays a certain role in society, spouting utopist ideals. When something, for example, a person, breaks that pattern, the society becomes uncontrolled and causes a chain reaction of disorder leading to chaos. Until that order is once again restored, whether it is through death, heroic actions, or a mixture of both, the society will continue in a disorganized and turbulent manner. Shakespeare focuses on how a chaotic social order prevents the ability of humans to live in peace. In “Hamlet”, it is when both familial and political order is re-established, that social order is restored.
Deeper down, however, the author demonstrated that sometimes when one does not conform to the social norm, but rather follows his own desires, they potentially cause a shift in the norm. Although it may have undesired consequences for the person in the short term, there may be benefits to society in the long run. It is through individuals following their own desires that society can be shaped. Shakespeare displayed this motif when the protagonist attended the Capulet ball, married Juliet, and when he killed Tybalt. The author demonstrates that when one commits an act of non-conformance, others will inevitably follow, though they may cause further repercussions. As these repercussions accumulate, it requires a change in the societal norm to eradicate
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy of an ancient feud where the children of two families at war fall deeply in love with each other. Set in the 16th century William Shakespeare’s play has many different themes running throughout it, which include love, hate, death and conflict. The play opens with a fight but ends with suicide that creates peace between both families who unite from their losses. The conflict, violence and aggression in the play happen from revenge and an ancient family grudge. An audience from the 16th century would have enjoyed Romeo and Juliet because of the real life drama and tragedy the play goes through. The patriarchal society gave women absolutely no rights and they had to obey their man’s ordering a patriarchal system. The theme of conflict is revealed as the characters argue over Juliet’s disobedience.
In the Middle Ages, when The Canterbury Tales was written, society became captivated by love and the thought of courtly and debonair love was the governing part of all relationships and commanded how love should be conducted. These principles changed literature completely and created a new genre dedicated to brave, valorous knights embarking on noble quests with the intention of some reward, whether that be their life, lover, or any other want. The Canterbury Tales, written in the 14th century by Geoffrey Chaucer, accurately portrays and depicts this type of genre. Containing a collection of stories within the main novel, only one of those stories, entitled “The Wife of Bath’s Tale”, truly outlines the 14th century community beliefs on courtly love.