The Wife of Baths Tale :: Canterbury Tales, Chaucer

The wife's life with her first three husbands (lines 193-451) The wife of bath begins this section by giving an account of her first three marriages. She treats her first three marriages as one marriage; talking about how she used the same techniques to control her husbands and does not refer to individual people but a combination of all her first three husbands which she refers to as her husband. The wife begins, with a shockingly cynical statement, by informing her audience that her first three husbands were good, because they were rich and old and easily controlled. "The thre were goode men, and riche, and olde." This is very degrading to her husbands; she did not care about them at all and is more then willing to stand up in front of a crowd and degrade them. "How pitously a-night I made hem swinke!" Her degradation of her husbands continues as she goes on to tell her audience how easily she controlled them by forcing them to give her their worldly possessions, "And sith they hadde me yeven al hir lond." The wife then goes on to tell about how she used to cheat on her husbands and get away with it if anyone told by convincing them that the person who told them was crazy by getting her friends to convince them she didn't. "And take witnesse of hir owene maide." The wife was also able to get her husbands to buy her new clothes and make up and any item she wanted by taking ad vantage of their kind nature. She would tell them that she was not respected like her neighbour was because she has not got so many nice things. "I sitte at hoom, I have no thrifty clooth." The wife is very proud of her achievements at controlling her husbands and goes into great detail about how she makes up stories about her husbands getting drunk and insulting her. "Thou comest hoom as dronken as a mous, and prechest on thy bench, with ivel preef!" she also says they insult marriage to women in general, saying you cant marry a poor woman "To wedde a povre womman, for costage" and you cant marry rich women "And if that she be riche, of heigh parage, thane seistow that it it a tormentrie to soffre hire pride and hire malencolie." The wife also says that her husbands use petty arguments against her "Thow seist that dropping houses, and eek smoke, and chiding wives maken men to flee.

Characteristics of Gothic Literature Essay

The Gothic In 1798 an anonymous author published a commentary that revealed exactly how some writers received the Gothic during this time: â€Å" Take—An old castle, half of it ruinous A long gallery, with a great many doors, some secret ones. Three murdered bodies, quite fresh. As many skeletons, in chests and presses. An old woman hanging by the neck; with her throat cut. Assassins and desperadoes, quant. suff. Noises, whispers, and groans, threescore at least. † (1-7) After reading many of the selections in the anthology, I found this poem on a Gothic’s â€Å"recipe† to be quite true (602). However, in the case of this anonymous writer, he considers all of these characteristics to be negative. I, on the other hand, find it very intriguing that this type of novel developed in a time ruled by writers whose main focus was politics and poetry. Many influential writers including Coleridge and Wordsworth criticized the characteristics, morality, purpose, and significance of these novels; however, I believe many of the features they disliked actually broadened the scope of literature. The Gothic novel was often attacked for being too formulaic. Although the specifics of the plot changed from novel to novel, the characteristics were often similar, which is something that is pointed out repeatedly by the Gothic’s critics. The similarities encountered in the characteristics of these novels include the setting, mystery, and characters to name a few. The setting of this type of novel is usually in a castle of sorts, or in some other mysterious place that produces suspense and terror within the reader. Although these settings were often alike, they â€Å"exist to convey the atmosphere† and are used â€Å"for ends that are fundamentally psychological† (Hume 286). This characteristic is one that set up the entire feeling of the novel, one of suspense, horror, and mystery. The setting of various novels was not uniform because it was the easy or obvious choice like many critics believed, but because it created a certain atmosphere that was needed for the plot. If the story had been set on a sunny beach, the atmosphere would have been much different and the reader would not get the same affect. Like the settings, the mysteries that develop within Gothic novels are usually somewhat similar. From what I have come across, many include a murder or deep, dark secret that is unraveled by an ordinary person. While this may support Wordsworth’s claim that these novels are â€Å"sickly and stupid German tragedies† because of their straightforward plot, I find them to be quite interesting (266). These mysteries create suspense, and were the first â€Å"page-turners† that were ever written. Readers no longer had to decipher long and complicated meanings from pieces such as the â€Å"Lucy Gray† poems; instead, they could sit back, relax, and enjoy these novels that created an escape into a mysterious world. Another piece of the â€Å"formula† that was important to the genre were the characters that were used throughout the novels. The characters were often simple people who were thrown into a situation that required extraordinary actions. While the simplicity of the characters was often criticized by writers who considered themselves to be â€Å"high culture,† these characters had the ability to â€Å"involve the reader in special circumstances† (Hume 286). Unlike the pieces that came before them, the Gothic novel had the capacity to draw the reader in, and put them in the shoes of the main character. For me, it was very hard to feel for the personas in earlier poems that we came across. I think the main reason for this is that the characters tended to be somewhat generic, but interesting. They allowed for anyone to understand the character and immerse themselves within the character’s thoughts. They also allowed for people to sink in to a particular character and feel the terror that they were feeling. Another aspect of the Gothic that was often called into question was the morality of the characters and authors. There are many instances in which these novels incorporated grotesque scenes that included rape and murder among many other things. In The Monk by Matthew Lewis the main character, Ambrosia, is a virtuous and ethical man who seduced by the demon Matilda. In one scene â€Å"his desires were raised to that frantic height by which brutes are agitated†¦ and [he] hastily proceeded to tear off those garments which impeded the gratification of his lust† (598). Ambrosia is obviously an immoral character, and he is criticized for not being so. To me, it seems like critics were getting to the point where they were trying to find anything and everything to criticize about the Gothic novel. While this genre may involve some unseemly characters, they are needed in order to create an interesting plot. Having some sort of villain is necessary in any type of writing that has a mystery or murder involved. Without villains, we cannot have heroes, and both are very important aspects of literature. Coleridge, for example, not only attacked The Monk as a novel but also attacked Lewis as a person for having the ability to create such an immoral character. He believed that â€Å"the merit of a novelist is in proportion†¦ to the pleasurable effect which he produces (604). I highly disagree with this statement because I believe controversy affects change, and change is needed in order to forward society. Novelists and poets were no longer writing poems that had the sole purpose of making a person feel good or empowered; instead, they were writing for entertainment. Also, many of the writers before The Monk addressed political issues that were not considered pleasurable, but controversial and hard to confront. Coleridge’s statement seems to contradict everything that literature stands for. Authors and the literature they create are unpleasant at times, and that is not wrong—it is merely a necessity for the forward movement of society and evolution of literature. Another important issue to address when it comes to these novels is their specific purpose. It seems that every literary movement in history had some sort of motive or driving force behind them. For the Gothic, this driving force or purpose seems to be to induce terror while entertaining. Before this movement, we never really encountered works of literature that were straightforward, suspenseful, and enjoyable all at the same time. In an essay by Aikin and Aikin, they claimed that people would â€Å"rather chuse to suffer the smart pang of a violent emotion than the uneasy craving of an unsatisfied desire† (584). By this, they mean that terror is pleasurable, and that is exactly what these novels delivered to their readers. It was not an emotion that was regularly produced when readers came into contact with the typical works of this time. For a piece of literature to induce such error was something novel and interesting that affected many of their readers. Because terror is an emotion that is hard to come by, these novels were, like I said, an escape for readers. Terror is not something that a person wants to encounter in their real life, but is something they can enjoy and acquire through reading these novels. Their purpose was not to confuse the reader with complicated meanings full of allusions. Instead, these terrifying novels have the ability to â€Å"render the poorest and most insipid narrative interesting when once we get fairly into it† (584). Although many of the authors of Gothic novels may not have been the best composers compared to standards during this time, they were still able to draw in a huge audience because they gave the people what they wanted. I would not consider the narratives â€Å"insipid,† but compared to the works that came before them, they were much simpler and used language that was not considered to be as articulate. This simplicity that is encountered when reading a piece of Gothic work, though criticized, says much about how society was changing during this time. These novels significantly altered the way in which literature was composed and whom it was available to. Instead of being read by the elite few, it was accessible to pretty much anyone who could read. During this time, the percent of literate people was rising rapidly, especially in the middle class. These books appealed to these people, and sold millions upon millions of copies because of this. I think that much of the distaste that so-called â€Å"high culture† writers had for these novels is because of their success. They were extremely popular, more so than the most popular of the poets during this time. For example, Wordsworth was said to be a commercialized version of â€Å"real† poetry because it was easier to understand than many other pieces out during this time. However, he never even came close to selling as many copies of Lyrical Ballads as the Gothic writers did with their own works. For Wordsworth to criticize a genre that feeds off of the readers’ ability to comprehend seems to be extremely hypocritical of him. Also, I think that when something appeals to the masses, it is a good thing. Change cannot occur unless everyone is on the same page, and that is what the Gothic provided to the people. Finally, I would like to confront just how significant this movement is to the literature we have today. This was the first time we encounter a genre that is similar to the types of genres we see today. The Gothic genre was criticized because the novels were too alike—but that is exactly what a genre is, according to today’s standards. One could argue that the novels that are published today are not of the same caliber as novels published 50, 100, or 200 years ago. And maybe that is true, but is it necessarily bad? In my opinion, having novels that are more accessible to more people makes for a better, more unified society. Having works of literature that are too complicated, wordy, or abstract leads to more ambiguity, and eventually creates a divide among social classes. I am not saying that all written works should be easy to understand, but I do think that the Gothic novel was the first in a wave of works of literature that helped society grow more literate. Finally, scholars and everyday people were able to read and talk about the same kinds of things. Although scholars who thought they were better writers were constantly criticizing it, they could not appeal to the masses. Gothic literature had the ability to do this, and you can still see its influence in novels on shelves today. It has a definite place in literary history, and should not be overlooked. It may not have had the deepest plots or the most complicated characters, but the genre had an impact during the 18th century, and continues to have an impact today.

Example Convention Proposal - 1147 Words

Holy Cross of Davao College Sta. Ana Avenue, Davao City College of Business Bachelor of Science Hotel and Restaurant Management Convention Management (MWF 1:00-2:00pm) Convention Planner In a Partial Fulfillment a Project of Convention Management Submitted By: Angel Lee G. Inojales BSHRM III Submitted To: Mr. Raul Gempesaw Instructor February 20, 2012 Table of Content * Executive Summary * Acknowledgement * Preliminary Task List * Planning Process * Event Preparation * Details About Convention Training * Introduction * Agenda * Objectives * Convention Protocol * Set Up Arrangement * Convention Schedule of the event * Date†¦show more content†¦3 2 1 * How satisfied were you with the conference material provider? 3 2 1 * Over all how satisfied were you with speaker? 3 2 1 * How satisfied were you with venue facilities? 3 2 1 * Over all how you satisfied the food? 3 2 1 * How satisfied were you with the program? 3 2 1 SUMMARY Personality development is the development of the organized pattern of behaviors and attitudes that makes a person distinctive. Personality development occurs by the ongoing interaction of temperament, character, and environment. Personality is what makes a person a unique person, and it is recognizable soon after birth. A childs personality has several components: temperament, environment, and character. Temperament is the set of genetically determined traits that determine the childs approach to the world and how the child learns about the world. There are no genes that specify personality traits, but some genes do control the development of the nervous system, which in turn controls behavior. A second component of personality comes from adaptive patterns related to a childs specific environment. Most psychologists agree that these two factors—temperament and environment—influence the development of aShow MoreRelatedPolitics Essay754 Words   |  4 Pagesthe term conventions as used in the extract. (5 marks)! The United Kingdom has an uncodiï ¬ ed constitution; meaning no single, comprehensive document exists in order to outline the structure and workings of government institutions and relationships between them, and between the government institutions and the private citizen. Constitutional experts argue that this is not to say that our constitution is non-existent, rather it exists in various sources. Conventions are an example of one ofRead More How the Novel Rebecca Reflects and Subverts the Conventions of the Romance Genre1201 Words   |  5 Pagesor something? No, Im asking you to marry me, you little fool. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier is a fine example of the romantic genre as it reflects certain conventions such as the hero and heroine?s characteristics. It also subverts many romantic conventions for example, the journey to happy ever after. Conventions of the gothic/horror genre are also found in the novel. The conventions that Rebecca reflects of the romantic genre are those of the characteristics of the hero and heroine (as mentionedRead MoreExplain the Factors Which Make It Difficult to Amend the Us Constitution740 Words   |  3 Pagestwo-stage process: proposal and ratification. The proposal stage has to have two thirds majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Every successful amendment has started this way and even the failed ones. A proposal can also be made by a Constitutional convention, which is a one-off body which is put together for a specific purpose, and this is called by Congress on petition by two thirds of the states. This method has never been used. The problem with this proposal method is thatRead MoreThe Articles Of Confederation And The New Constitution874 Words   |  4 Pagesthe national government. The articles, allowed the states to remain independent and the Congress acted as the last resort on appeal of disputes. Between May and Septem ber of 1787, The Constitutional Convention took place to discuss the frail central government currently in place. From this convention a federal government was established with a more specific role within the country; this role included powers in conducting relations with foreign governments. The Constitution has served as the basisRead MoreEuropean Commission Of The European Union1714 Words   |  7 PagesThis is the part of the EU which is designed to uphold the interests of the EU as a whole, not an EU member state individually. Each member must not be biased to their national state. It as many responsibilities that include; - To draft laws and proposals for the parliament and council to consider - To implement European laws - Works alongside the court of justice to make sure that the EU laws are followed - Represents the EU international area Court of Justice This court has the task of ensuringRead MoreSources Of Law And European Convention On Human Rights Essay1160 Words   |  5 Pages Starting with the fact that sources of law in Wales and England are similar, there are 4 sources of law, which are: Statute Law, Common Law, European Law and European Convention on Human Rights. First of all, Statute law is a written law passed by a legislature on the state of federal level. An example of it would be  «Theft Act 1968 ». It is the first and primary source of law and it is created by proposing a Bill in Parliament. After three readings of the bill in House of Commons and House of LordsRead MoreConflict, Looting and the Law Essay1293 Words   |  6 Pagesantiquities in museums and the mantelpieces of London, New York and Tokyo. When Saddam Hussein became president of Iraq in 1973 (Bio 2013) he used nationalistic parallels with Babylonian history to stimulate a national unity (Cuno 2011:54) - for example Nebuchadnezzar II’s palace at Babylon was rebuilt with great fanfare (Zettler 2002:1). Looting was severely punished and it was relatively unknown. I lived i n Iraq up-until the outbreak of the Persian Gulf War and the majority of the archaeologicalRead MoreThe Constitution Of The Texas Constitution948 Words   |  4 Pagesfederalism. Texans have an enormous distrust toward government and political officials. Federalism has divided the power of the government, and limited government has placed severe constraints within the Texas Constitution on the government. For example, stated in the Texas Constitution is the salary of legislatures should be low, which is still part of the current Texas government. The current Texas Constitution has been amended 483 times since 1876, being the fourth most amended state ConstitutionRead MoreThe State Of The Texas Constitution1241 Words   |  5 Pagesin 1876. Since the adoption of the Texas Constitution, the Legislature has proposed 662 amendments. Out of these amendments, the electorate has approved 483 while the voters majority has defeated 179. From the many modifications and many more proposals pending or that are yet to come, it is evident that the Texas Constitution is not a perfect one as many other constitutions of individual states. As argued by Maxwell, Crain, and Santos, there is enough evidence to assert that constitutions haveRead MoreRules On How It Could Be Connected867 Words   |  4 Pagesi.e. not connected to any convention. Conventions and proposals are drawn up by agents of governments, bosses, and specialists and are received at the ILO s yearly International Labor Conference. Once a standard is embraced, part states are required under the ILO Constitution to submit them to their skilled power (regularly the parliament) for thought (Hughes Haworth, 2011). On account of traditions, this implies thought for sanction. If it is confirmed, a convention, for the most part, comes