Friday, January 24, 2020
Violence, Hatred, and Pain in Fyodor Dostoevskys The Idiot :: Fyodor Dostoevsky The Idiot
Violence, Hatred, and Pain in Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Idiot "There was a look of unbounded pride and contempt, almost hatred, in that face, and at the same time something confiding, something wonderfully simplehearted." There began Prince Myshkin's curiosity of and infatuation with the complex Nastasya Filippovna as he sat in awe of this woman's picture in Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Idiot . This story, set in Russia during the late 1860's, is one of continuous love rivalries which describe the life of the Russian aristocracy during that time period. Prince Myshkin is described as the "ideal" man due to his compassion for everyone and his firm belief that there is a good side to all people. The story begins as Myshkin returns to Petersburg after a stay in a Swiss mental hospital for his epilepsy. Upon arrival in Russia, he visits distant relatives who are quite receptive to him and he ends up staying for a while. While there, he believes he has fallen in love with Nastasya Filippovna and prematurely proposes to her. She first accepts, but then rejects him. Nastasya is the driving force behind the novel and carries the reader, as well as the characters, from scene to scene. The duration of the book consists of Myshkin's quest for happiness and love through which he encounters jealousy for his love and for the love of those who love him. Unfortunately, the tragic end to this book, including the predicted death of Nastasya, causes Myshkin to regress to his former epileptic state. The time directly following Myshkin's first proposal to Nastasya stands out as an extremely memorable moment in the book. At Nastasya's birthday party, several men bring money and begin bidding on her hand in marriage. Eventually, she announces to everyone that she wants to alter her lifestyle and start over as a poor woman. Any man who cannot accept her for who she is, she decides, is not the right man for her. She feels that all men are motivated by greed and that the men will not want her for love, only greed. Myshkin feels that he can love Nastasya for who she is and not for her money and so he proposes to her. She immediately accepts and shocks the rest of the party. One of the other suitors, Rogozhin, offers to give up everything he has for Nastasya and Myshkin encourages her to accept his offer because this sacrifice shows that he truly loves Nastasya.
Thursday, January 16, 2020
Feminist views in the Canterbury Tales Essay
The book The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer holds a collection of stories based in medieval times of several people undergoing a journey. Along the way each character stops to tell a story that teaches a moral. These stories all have their own protagonists that share the storyteller’s beliefs and each tale is told with a unique viewpoint on the changing world. At the end of each tale, the main character faces their judgment or reckoning and a lesson imparts itself upon them. The Wife of Bath’s tale and the Nun’s Priest tale both exemplify this idea clearly and share conflicting views on the role of women during the time period. In the pro-feminist tale of the Wife of Bath the young knight faces his judgment at the end when he allows his wife to choose her appearance and, in the antifeminist Nun’s Priest tale, the rooster, known as Chanticleer, faces his judgment when the fox kidnaps him. The first character that faces his reckoning is the young knight in the tale told by the Wife of Bath. The Wife of Bath presents a pro-feminist view in a time when women were seen as objects and the dilemma the knight faces relates to the theme of the story of how trusting in women always results in happiness. The knight rapes a maiden and is punished by the queen and forced to find what women want the most. Just as the knight is about to give up his search, he stumbles upon a ragged old woman that tells him that she has the answer he seeks but will only reveal it to him if he promises to complete a task for her in the future. He says yes and she tells him that women want dominion over their husbands. He faces his reckoning at the end of the story, after he has married the old woman, when his wife allows him to choose her appearance. He responds, â€Å"My lady and my love, and wif so dere, I putte me in youre wise governaunce†(p234 lines 1236-1237). He is then rewarded for giving supremacy to his wife and she chooses to be beautiful and faithful. The knight reaches this epiphany through his journey, as he had to treat women with respect and give them dominion over himself in order to save his life. This reckoning is appropriate for the knight because, at the beginning of the story, he did not respect women but, throughout his search, he learns that treating women equally and being submissive to them leads to happiness. The second character that faces his reckoning is Chanticleer from the Nun Priest’s tale. Chanticleer is the best rooster in all the land but one day he has a bad dream. He tells his wife of his dream and she lashes out at him saying, â€Å"I can nat love a coward, by my faith. For certes, what so any womman saith, we alle desiren, if it might be, to han a housbondes hardy wise and free†(p252 lines 91-94). This idea contrasts greatly with that of the Wife of Bath’s, which said that women only want dominion over their husbands. Chanticleer chooses to ignore his dream, against his own wishes, in order to please his wife. However, he comes to face his judgment when a fox comes and steals him from the coup. Chanticleer is almost killed for listening to his wife but manages to escape the fox’s grip and get away. This judgment is appropriate for Chanticleer as he represents male supremacy in society. When he listens to his wife above his own intuition he is nearly killed. This tales shows a strong antifeminist viewpoint, in contrast with that of the Wife of Bath, and portrays women as the downfall of man. The narrator even says, â€Å"Wommenes conseils broughte us first to wo, and made Adam fro paradis to go, there as he was ful merye and wel at ese. But for I noot to whom it might displese if I conseil of women wolde blame, pass over†(p259 lines 436-442). The Wife of Bath and the Nun’s Priest tale both show how the characters faced their reckoning after listening to the women in their lives. In the Wife of Bath’s tale the knight is rewarded for treating women with respect while, in the Nun’s Priest tale, Chanticleer is punished. Chaucer wrote these two stories because they show the clash of views on women’s roles in society at that time. While the Wife of Bath supports women’s rights, the Nun’s priest tale condemns them and says women are nothing but pure evil. This clash still exists today and one might wonder if people today could learn a lesson from these two characters.
Wednesday, January 8, 2020
Understanding Object Pronoun Verb Order in French
Mistakes will always be made in French, and now you can learn from them. There are two kinds of object pronouns, direct and indirect. Beginning students of French tend to misplace them and the result can be nonsense to the French ear. The rule of thumb: Place object pronouns before the verb, with the indirect going before the direct object pronoun. When the verb is in the passà © composà © or another compound verb that includes an auxiliary verb, the pronoun precedes the entire verb; in other words, before the auxiliary verb, which is the conjugated avoir or à ªtre. The Correct Format Its never correct to say Jai lui dit. The pronoun lui goes before ai, which begins the compound verb, like this: Je lui ai dit (Im telling him). The major exception is the imperative mood (limperatif), when object pronouns follow the verb: Donne-le-lui (Give it to him/her). Here are some examples of the correct format: Tu las vu? Have you seen it?Je lui ai dit la và ©rità ©. I told him/her the truth.Il leur achà ¨te des livres.  He buys books for them. Elle ma à ©crit.  She wrote to me. *Je te lavais bien dit! I told you so! *In this example, there is both an indirect (te) and direct (le) object. Remember, the indirect object always comes first. The verb is still compound, but now the tense is plus-que-parfait (pluperfect) with the auxiliary verb in the imparfait (imperfect). So the object pronouns precede avais, which is the auxiliary verb here. Indirect Object Pronouns For indirect objects, the verbs action occurs to or for a person or other animate noun. Im talking to Pierre. Je parle à  Pierre.To whom am I talking? To Pierre. Indirect object pronouns are the words that replace the name of the indirect object. They include:    me / m   me   te / t   you   lui   him, her   nous   us   vous   you   leur   them Me and te change to m and t, respectively, in front of a vowel or mute H. Direct Object Pronouns Direct objects are the people or things in a sentence that receive the action of the verb. To find the direct object in a sentence, ask who or what. I see Pierre. Je vois Pierre.Who do I see? Pierre. Direct object pronouns are the words that replace the direct object, so that we can avoid endlessly repeating the name of the object. They include:    me / m   me   te / t   you   le / l   him, it   la / l   her, it   nous   us   vous   you   les   them Me and te change to m and t, respectively, in front of a vowel or mute H. Le and la both change to l. Remember that both indirect object pronouns and direct object pronouns precede the verb, with the indirect object pronoun going first. When deciding between direct and indirect objects, the general rule is that if the object is preceded by the preposition à  or pour, that object is an indirect object. If its not preceded by a preposition, its a direct object. If its preceded by any other preposition, it cant be replaced by an object pronoun. If you have an indirect object thats not a person or animal, it can only be replaced with the adverbial pronouns y and en. Y stands in for à  a noun and usually means there or to it. En replaces de a noun and usually means some, any, one, or of it/them.
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