Twelfth Night - Analysis Of Fools Essays (1272 words) -

Twelfth Night - Analysis Of Fools Twelfth Night - Analysis of Fools A fool can be defined in many meanings according to the Oxford English Dictionary On Historical Principles. The word could mean a silly person, or one who professionally counterfeits folly for the entertainment of others, a jester, clown or one who has little or no reason or intellect or one who is made to appear to be a fool (word originated from North Frisian). In english literature, the two main ways which the fool could enter imaginative literature is that He could provide a topic, a theme for mediation, or he could turn into a stock character on the stage, a stylized comic figure. In William Shakespeare's comedy, Twelfth Night, Feste the clown is not the only fool who is subject to foolery. He and many other characters combine their silly acts and wits to invade other characters that evade reality or rather realize a dream, while our sympathies go out to those. It is natural that the fool should be a prominent & attractive figure and make an important contribution to the action in forming the confusion and the humor in an Elizabethan drama. In Twelfth Night, the clown and the fools are the ones who combine humor & wit to make the comedy work. Clowns, jesters, and Buffoons are usually regarded as fools. Their differences could be of how they dress, act or portrayed in society. A clown for example, was understood to be a country bumpkin or 'cloun'. In Elizabethan usage, the word 'clown' is ambiguous meaning both countryman and principal comedian. Another meaning given to it in the 1600 is a fool or jester. As for a buffoon, it is defined as a man whose profession is to make low jests and antics postures; a clown, jester, fool. The buffoon is a fool because although he exploits his own weaknesses instead of being exploited by others....he resembles other comic fools. This is similar to the definition of a 'Jester' who is also known as a buffoon, or a merry andrew. One maintained in a prince's court or nobleman's household. As you can see, the buffoon, jester and the clown are all depicted as fools and are related & tied to each other in some sort of way. They relatively have the same objectives in their roles but in appearance wise (clothes, physical features) they may be different. In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, Feste's role in this Illyrian comedy is significant because Illyria is a country permeated with the spirit of the Feast of Fools, where identities are confused, 'uncivil rule' applauded...and no harm is done. In Illyria therefore the fool is not so much a critic of his environment as a ringleader, a merry-companion, a Lord of Misrule. Being equally welcome above and below stairs.. makes Feste significant as a character. In Twelfth Night, Feste plays the role of a humble clown employed by Olivia's father playing the licensed fool of their household. We learn this in Olivia's statement stating that Feste is an allowed fool(I.v.93) meaning he is licensed, privileged critic to speak the truth of the people around him. We also learn in a statement by Curio to the Duke that Feste is employed by Olivia's father. Feste the jester... a fool that the Lady Olivia's father took much pleasure in(II.iv.11). Feste is more of the comic truth of the comedy. Although he does not make any profound remarks, he seems to be the wisest person within all the characters in the comedy. Viola remarks this by saying This fellow's wise enough to play the fool(III.i.61). Since Feste is a licensed fool, his main role in Twelfth Night is to speak the truth. This is where the humor lies, his truthfulness. In one example he proves Olivia to be a true fool by asking her what she was mourning about. The point Feste tried to make was why was Olivia mourning for a person who's soul is in heaven? CLOWN Good madonna, why mourn'st thou? OLIVIA Good Fool, for my brother's death. CLOWN I think his soul is in hell, madonna. OLIVIA I know his soul is in heaven, fool. CLOWN The more fool, madonna, to mourn for your brother's soul, being in heaven. Take away the fool, gentlemen. Adding to the humor of the comedy, Feste, dresses up as Sir Topaz, the curate and visits the imprisoned Malvolio with Maria and Sir Toby. There he uses his humor to abuse Malvolio who is still unaware that he is actually talking to the clown than

Farai Chideya essays

Farai Chideya essays Farai Chideya has accomplished many things at 28 years old that many journalists can only hope to achieve. She began her career as an intern at Newsweek while studying at Harvard. After her graduation, she was hired at Newsweek as a reporter and stayed on from 1990-1994. Chideya covered news in Newsweek's New York and Chicago bureaus, as well as in the Washington bureau, where she covered national politics, from an article titled "Skewering Congressional Pork," to following President Clinton as a pool reporter on Air Force One. Soon afterward, Chideya made her transition to newswriting at MTV from 1994-1996. During this short period of time, Chideya also completed a fellowship at the Freedom Forum Media Studies Center, examining why young Americans are tuning out the news. She published a book in 1995 called Don't Believe the Hype: Cultural Misinformation About African-Americans, which is now in its eigth printing. Using statistics largely from government sources, she attempted to undercut the argument that African-Americans are at the roots of problems such as crime, welfare and drugs. Chideya spent time as a CNN Political Analyst during the 1996 presidential campaign. It was at this time that she was named to the New York Daily News' "Dream Team" of political reporters and commentators. She appeared on programming such as "TalkBack Live" and "CNN She saw the publishing of her new book, The Color of our Future: How the Nation's Most Diverse Generation is Reshaping American Culture., in 1997. That was also the year that she began her two current positions as an ABC News Correspondent and Editor of National Affairs at VIBE magazine. During same period, Newsweek named her to its "Century Club of 100 people to watch as we approach the year 2000." As a freelance journalist, she has wri...

Self leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Self leadership - Essay Example The intention of this study is self-leadership as a process in the course of which people influence themselves to attain the self-direction and self-motivation required to perform. Self-leadership engrosses behavioral as well as cognitive strategies that are imagined to positively manipulate consequences. Self-assessment can direct to the recognition of behaviors that ought to be changed, enhanced, or eliminated. This foundation of self-assessment empowers the individual to become more effective in outlining personal goals that may show the way to improved performance. Self-rewards, however, can be used to strengthen desirable behaviors and goal accomplishment. Desired behaviors can be shaped by self-rewards and self-punishment predominantly when used cautiously and reserved for critically negative behaviors. Finally, the continuous practice of desired behaviors prior to actual performance can permit the correction of problems and the prevention of pricey miscues. In short, self lead ership allows encouraging constructive, desirable behaviors that lead to winning outcomes, while holding back negative, unwanted behaviors that go ahead to unsuccessful results. A lot of individual performance tribulations result from dysfunctional thinking. Such vague and distorted thoughts usually result from underlying dysfunctional assumptions and beliefs that are repeatedly prompted by stressful or traumatic situations. Thought self-leadership implies that a self-analysis procedure one can not only identify dysfunctional beliefs and assumptions but can also confront and replaced them with more rational ones (Burns, 1992). What we stealthily tell ourselves can be defined as Self-talk or self-dialogue (Manz, 1992). Since individuals assess, tutor, and react to themselves mentally therefore this self-talk more often than not takes place at unnoticeable stages (Manz, 1992). In the course of the effectual employment of self-talk strategies, individual can find out to suppress and de ject pessimistic and negative self-talk while encouraging optimistic self-dialogues (Seligman, 1991). Replacing dysfunctional and negative self-talk patterns with constructive inner dialogues can enhance the performance (Manz & Neck, 1999). Optimism has a positive relation with physical and mental health, and at the same time it grants one the ability to muddle through stressful situations (Fahey, 1998). According to Scheier and Carver (1992) an optimistic point of view bequeath benefits on what people accomplish and what people are competent to pull off in times of adversity. In short, self-leadership suggests that an individual’s performance levels can be improved if he possesses optimistic, opportunity-focused and constructive though patters rather than pessimistic, obstacle focused and dysfunctional thought patterns. To sum up self-leadership theory asserts that behavioral and cognitive strategies tend to have a

ENGLISH NEED ASAP Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

ENGLISH NEED ASAP - Essay Example The way Capote places the murder facts in order, and the way he manipulates with the starting and ending of the novel, is what makes this novel unique. Suspense is there, as Capote has made the opening of the novel very interesting by hiding the reasons Perry and Dick were driving to Holcomb, Kansas. Capote shows Floyd Wells, in the Kansas State Penitentiary, listening to the radio news about the Clutter murders. The reader finds it exciting that Floyd was shocked to hear the news because he had been acquainted with the Clutters for many years. The bodies had been discovered by one of Nancy’s friends who went to the Clutters’ house to check why they had not yet got prepared for church. She had found an eerie silence inside the house, and had shockingly discovered the four bodies in different parts of the house. Capote has told the reader about the Clutters’ death before depicting the actual scene, which increases the reader’s interest. This is how Capote h as colored the opening with a sense of impending doom. Prompt 2 Throughout the novel, Truman talks about the backgrounds of different characters, especially the victims, and the murderers, Perry Smith and Dick Hickock. Capote has described the life summaries of the criminals, to let the readers know about the bad times they had been through. Although the reader feels a little sympathetic toward them, but that does not justify their morose deed of taking other people’s lives (Capote 77–91). Perry is shown to have had a miserable life, with his siblings, without parental care. Dick was a mental patient. When they were caught, and were shown the evidence of the case, the reader feels some sympathy for Perry, who wanted to take the responsibility of all four murders when actually Dick had killed two of them, but Perry wanted so because according to him, he was sorry for Dick’s mother. According to him, â€Å"I didn’t realize what I’d done till I heard the sound. Like somebody drowning. Screaming under the water† (Capote 244). Perry changes his confession to take responsibility for Dick’s murders too. This means, by one way or another, that criminals are also human beings, who feel for each other, especially of their own kind. They also possess a feeling of sympathy and sacrifice, though they cannot be supported in any way. Moreover, both Dick and Perry were patients of mental illness. This makes the readers think as to whether the same laws of punishment should have applied to them, or they should have been given some relaxation. Prompt 3 The protagonist is a character that rules the story, and whose character develops throughout the novel without regard to whether his character was based on good or evil. This definition goes against human conception of a protagonist being a good person always. However, the realistic realm of life has it that evil persons dominate the good ones, no matter their ending is doomed. Bas ed on this fact, this novel also highlights the characters of Perry Smith and Dick Hickock, who are actually the murderers of the Clutter family. We read Capote talking about and highlighting their course of actions throughout the novel, right from the beginning till the end. The reader can easily understand that Perry and Dick are the protagonists of Capote’s novel. The reader reads that Dick and Perry had tried to steal a car but had failed. Finally, they succeeded in stealing a car, and went to the Kansas City. They

How does Thomas Hardy create and maintain Essay Example for Free

How does Thomas Hardy create and maintain Essay How does Thomas Hardy create and maintain a sense of mystery and malignant, uncontrollable forces in The withered arm Thomas Hardy creates and maintains mystery and malignant, underlying forces by using symbolic descriptions of the setting, the atmosphere and the strange unguessable plot. Thomas Hardy sets the story in the fictional village of Holmstoke. Holm means home and stoke means fire. This gives two impressions, one of a nice cosy warm story, but it also gives the impression that fire is also connected with bad things like Hell and witchcraft. This makes you start to wonder what the story will be like. Thomas Hardy uses natural settings to contrast with unnatural events or behaviour. The heath is used a lot because of this. He also uses the heath because it helps create atmosphere and because it is outside he also uses the weather to reflect the characters mood. An example of this is when Rhoda and Gertrude cross the heath to see Conjuror Trendle and Rhoda does not want to and would have done anything to escape this enquiry, the weather and the atmosphere reflect her dread of what will happen. The thick clouds made the atmosphere dark and it was only early after noon and the wind howled dismally. Hardy also uses the weather to help him describe the changing of time like at the beginning of a paragraph. All the gossip was going on in winter and by the end of the paragraph its in the spring I think Hardy also uses the changing of the seasons as a sort of metaphor to symbolize the changing of the characters. An example is when Gertrude changes from a very beautiful, perfect, kind and caring girl to a scarred irritable superstitious woman. Hardy also has such large gap in time so the changes in Gertrude are more noticeable. Thomas Hardy also uses characters to help him create mystery and underlying forces especially Rhoda Brook. Rhoda is an outsider and she lives out of the village by herself with her son. Shes a little weird because she never mixes with people. People dont really mix with her because of her sleeping with Lodge and having a baby. People think she is a witch. I think this is because people associate her with Trendle. When Gertrude needed to find Trendle the villagers told her to ask Rhoda and she realized that they thought a sorceress would know the whereabouts of the exorcist. But the mystery really begins when she has her vision and next day Gertrude shows her the mark from the vision which is on her arm. The vision is an important part of the story as it is the start of everything and caused everything. Rhoda can not control what is happening to so it helps maintain the uncontrollable forces which are all through this book. Thomas Hardy uses Conjuror Trendle a lot to help create mystery and uncontrollable forces. Just the fact that conjuror Trendle lives on the heath starts to make the reader feel a sense of mystery because the heath represents the weirdness or the story. Trendle also helps create mystery by doing magic in secret and not openly He did not profess his remedial practises openly and it also helps that he was in disguise. He was disguised as a dealer in furze , turf sharp sand and other local products. He had to be disguised because people in that time were very superstitious. I think Thomas Hardy uses Gertrude to help create a sense of uncontrollable forces, this is because things are happening to her mentally and physically which she has no control over. Also because the things that are happening to her are unexplainable, it helps create and maintain malignant uncontrollable forces. Hardy illustrates this physically when her incredible beauty is which is described as the light under a heap of rose petals becomes ruined and scarred by her withered arm; and mentally when she turns from a very nice person to an irritable, superstitious woman Farmer Lodge is not in the story much but none the less is a very important character, because he is the main reason the whole story happens. He is the center of the love triangle of him Rhoda and Gertrude which is why everything happens. As we dont see him much in the story this makes him more important as it helps add to the mystery. Hardy uses imagery to help the reader mentally see whats happening and also to symbolise things. An example of this at the beginning of the booking the lorn milkmaid Hardy paint us the picture of a lot of milkmaids all sitting together gossiping. This gives the impression that the village is quite a close knit place and that one Rhoda Brooke is all by herself on the side not joining in this gossiping. This gives the impression that she is a sort of outsider which no one wants to be friends with which adds to the mystery. A very important image in the story is the withered arm. It creates mystery because the reader will wonder how it happened and malignant uncontrollable forces because the reader will wonder if Rhoda really is a witch. The main themes of the story are witch craft and passion. The passion is in the love triangle between Farmer Lodge, Gertrude and Rhoda. The witch craft is in the vision Rhoda sees and the physical and mental change in Gertrude. Passion and witch craft are the uncontrollable forces in the withered arm. I think one of the things Hardy is trying to say in this book is that life cant always be explained. Thomas Hardy uses many different languages effects. He uses similes and metaphors, to describe Gertrude her face as comely as a live dolls and her face like the light under a heap of rose petals. Hardy also uses extended imagery when he uses the river outside the executioners house to link him to the village, it stood close to the same stream. He also uses personification in describing the river the waters of which emitted a steady roar. Thomas Hardy shows us which characters are common and which arent by having the common ones use dialect. The only person not to use dialect is Gertrude. Another important factor in creating and maintaining a sense of mystery and malignant uncontrollable forces was the plot. The vision coming true and Rhoda beginning to doubt herself really draws the reader in to the story. I think it was a very effective ending giving no clear answers like yes, Rhoda was a witch or not or no, it was all a coincidence and leaving it up to the reader. That really helps maintain mystery In conclusion I think that by using the characters, settings and a strange plot, Thomas Hardy successfully creates and maintains mystery and malignant forces in the withered arm.

Gossip Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar :: essays research papers

This book is basically following the gossip of the privileged, beautiful, and filthy rich teens. While many novels have a one-person view of their story, this one allows you to understand each character’s thoughts. Welcome to New York City’s Upper East Side, where teenagers have unlimited access to money and whatever else they could ask. This book begins when the girl everyone loved to hate, Serena van der Woodsen is back from boarding school. Everyone claims she was kicked out. Blair Waldorf and Serena were best friends until Blair knew what it was like to be in the light Serena used to take up. Blair’s mother, Eleanor Waldorf, and her soon to be step-father, Cyrus Rose, threw a dinner party when Blair met the her nightmare. This was the first time Blair had seen Serena in two years. Blair knows that if Serena is around Nate, her boyfriend, she’ll end up stealing his heart. The rest of the book follows Blair’s parties and new gossip heard over Serena. Blair is on the organizing committee for the Kiss on the Lips party, when she can’t seem to find someone to print the invitations. Jenny Humphrey agrees to make them if she can have invitations for herself and her brother, Dan. Serena tries to straighten up her life by doing more extracurricular classes at Constance school for girls. She decides she might join the Interschool Drama Club where they are doing a modern version of Gone With The Wind. She later blows that off and joins another drama group. A girl named Vanessa Abram is the director of her version of War and Peace. Serena was the best person for the part Natasha, but Vanessa doesn’t want Dan, as Prince Andrei, to swoon over Serena during the play. Jenny finally convinces her brother to take her to the Kiss on the Lips party. Serena blew off the party and called Vanessa to see if she would help her make her own movie. Vanessa agrees to help and invites Serena to a bar called The Five and Dime where her sister’s band would be playing.

Important lessons about West African history Essay

In light of current events – the resurgence of racism in the U. S. , the political and social upheavals in Africa, and other sad legacies of 300 years of slave trade and colonialism – it is easy to forget that in many ways, Africans brought these evils upon themselves. In the historical novel Segu by Afro-French Caribbean scholar Maryse Conde, we are presented with a vivid portrait of the political struggles and infighting, as well as social and cultural conflicts that put enough stress on traditional African societies so as to allow their exploitation by European powers as well as Arabs and Ottoman Turks. These sweeping events are presented in miniature through the story of Dousika Traore, advisor to the King of Bambara in the city of Segu (located in present-day Mali on the Niger River). His four sons represent the major forces that were tearing at the fabric of traditional African society during the late eighteenth century; Islam, Christianity, the slave trade and Western-style capitalism. Tiekoro, the eldest turns his back on tradition and embraces Islam, a rigidly patriarchal faith with harsh, ascetic demands. It requires that he turn his back on the ancestors, â€Å"protectors of his clan,† (Conde, 35), and required that a man give up many pleasures: â€Å"Monzon, even though he made use of the services of Muslim marabouts, had feelings of the greatest repugnance against Islam, which castrated men, reduced the number of wives they might have, and forbade dolo [an alcoholic beverage] . Could a man live without dolo? Without it, where was he to find the strength to face each succeeding day? † (131). Tiekoro soon learns some hard facts, however, especially in Part I, Chapter 8, as his natural physical drives come between him and his desire to become a devout Muslim. Naba, the youngest, is captured and sold into slavery. While the popular TV mini-series, Roots depicted this sort of kidnapping as perpetrated by white â€Å"slave-catchers,† the reality is this was rarely done. Most often – as depicted in Segu – this happened as the result of kidnapping or capture by other black Africans (typically of a rival nation or clan) or Muslim traders. In fact, it is noteworthy that Conde depicts the aristocracy of the kingdom as more than willing to finance their traditionally hedonistic lifestyles by means of the slave trade. Malobali embraces Christianity, another influence of white Europeans. In part, he appears to be driven to this, being pressured by his elder brother Tiekoro, who thinks what is good for him is good for the others (165). Eventually, he embraces Christianity (252), which involves losing his name and his language as he is renamed â€Å"Samuel† and taught the French language. Yet cultural and family issues (251-292) come between him and his full acceptance of what, like Islam, is a patriarchal and restrictive faith at odds with the cultural values with which he is raised. Siga is the son who attempts to hold on to the traditions of his father. Dousika’s death fairly early in the novel (135) is symbolic of a culture and a society that is dying all around him. As a younger son, Siga is not in a position of power, yet resists Tiekoro’s authority and attempts to force the family to accept Islam. Nonetheless, the forces tearing apart traditional society and culture are too powerful for him; ultimately, Siga adopts the life and occupation of a merchant of wares, enabling him to live in some degree of comfort, but stripping him of what status he might have enjoyed as Dousika’s son. In Segu, the reader has an excellent opportunity to see the slave trade and the exploitive colonization of Africa from the African perspective, gaining a greater understanding of the fact that no people in history have even been conquered without inside help. Work Cited Conde, Maryse. Segu. English ed. (New York: Penguin Books, 1987)Ã'Ž