...First, you have to know a few things about the Arabian Nights. They are not that Arabian and they were written for a courtly culture in the Abbasid Empire that was heavily Persianate. The Arabian Nights, called simply The Book of 1001 Nights in Arabic, are comprised of various stories taken from an international culture that developed in the Abbasid Caliphate around Baghdad in the 8th-10th century and the stories come from Indian, Persian, Greek, and Arab sources. One of the largest sources was, in fact, a Persian book called Hazar Afsad. It is not necessarily reflective of the broader culture. It reflects the culture of the court which was a mixture of Persian and Hellenistic influences but at a time when the ruling class who produced this...
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...Tales from Arabian Nights The Arabian Nights tales started out from a king’s history. The king distrusted women and thought that all women are unfaithful and bitter, so the king marries a virgin and after one night has the woman executed. However, one of the virgins was bright enough that on the first day she started to tell a story, which will be the tales in the Arabian Nights, to the king. Instead of finishing the story, the virgin left it unfinished therefore the king postponed the execution to hear the ending of the story. The next night, the virgin finished the story, but she then started another one but also left it unfinished again. This lead the king to postpone the execution once again. This pattern went on for one thousand and one nights, and that is how the virgin was able to keep herself alive. The tales from Arabian Nights gives...
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...Themes in Canterbury Tales Throughout an author’s literature, many times we find common themes; this is definitely true in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. The reader can find common themes through many of the tales. In the Wife of Bath tale, The Miller’s tale, and the Pardoner’s tale, it is easy to see that one of the main themes through the book is that women are the downfall of men. In the tale of The Wife of Bath, the reader sees the main theme in Chaucer’s work. In The Wife of Bath’s prologue, she tells a story about a night when she and one of her husbands spent a night at home. Her husband would read to her from a book. On this particular night, the Wife of Bath was subjected to more of this book, and the reader is told of how the book explains that women are men’s downfall. The Miller’s Tale is another that supports the theme. The Miller’s Tale speaks of a man who is totally devoted to an unfaithful wife. In the tale this beautiful woman is having an affair with a friend of her husband. To have some time alone they made a plan to get him away. They tell her devoted and gullible husband that there will be a flood like Noah’s, and to make boats to save them. In an attempt to save his wife, the husband goes to the roof and makes the boats. He died, and again, the actions of an unfaithful wife lead to the death of an innocently man. In the Pardoner’s Tale, a male traveler, the characters in his tale give examples as to why women are the downfall of men. The characters...
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...201 Arabian Nights Universal Themes Images and Techniques Used Arabian Nights, also known as One Thousand and One Nights is a story which revolves around a Persian king who just married a new bride. However, he discovers that his wife was unfaithful and has her executed. As a result, all the women in the kingdom are declared unfaithful. Shahryar (the king) begins to marry a sequence of virgins from the kingdom and has them executed the next morning. In due course, the vizier, who is entitled with the responsibility of providing the virgins, can no longer find any more virgins in the kingdom other than his daughter Scheherazade. She offers herself to be a bride to the king despite objections from her father. On the night of their consummation Scheherazade starts to tell the king a story but does not get to finish it. The king is therefore forced to delay her execution in order to hear the conclusion. On the next night, she tells the king another story and this turns into a series of stories that go on for one thousand and one nights (Haddawy 16). Universal Theme Immortality The Arabian Nights comprises of a sequence of stories which do not have an ending. The passing on of the tales is universally seen as a means of preservation. Scheherazade used the narration of stories as a way to preserve her life she further interwove the endings of the stories with the beginnings of the new stories thus giving them a sense of infinity. She told the stories night after night and thus...
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...to compete with the knight’s tale, he volunteers to tell a tale regardless of what others request of him. Once the miller explains what his tale is about, the Reeve quickly protests and claims that the tale is somewhat unethical and morally wrong. The Miller begins his tale by mentioning a young, poor Oxford student named Nicholas and how he lives with an older man, named John. Nicholas pays John to live with him and his young, and stunning eighteen-year-old wife named Alison. Since John frequently goes out of town, Nicholas and Alison develop a strong liking for one another and agree to go behind Johns back and eventually sleep together one night. This task would prove to be very difficult since all three characters live under the same roof. Beside John, Nicholas and Alison have another blockade to overcome in the perish clerk, Absolon, who also has a strong affinity for Alison. Nicholas realizes that a complex plan has to be constructed and perfectly executed in order for him and Alison to get a night to sleep together. Nicholas crafts a plan that he will pretend to be very sick for a weekend, and then tell John he has seen a vision from God. In this vision, Nicholas will claim that God told him that there will be a massive flood, even bigger than the one with Noah, and wash out all life and that everyone needs to prepare. In order to prepare, John gets rafts and ties them to the roof of the house to sleep in the night before the flood. The night before the flood, all three...
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...“superego.” In the short story “The Tell-Tale Heart,” by Edgar Alan Poe, a man cannot choose between right and wrong. Through the psychological theory I can prove how a man is torn between his “id,” “ego,” and “superego” and to proud to show his true identity of being a psychopath. The man is portrayed as the narrator and has taken on two identities one as a loving and caring man and the other is a psychopath. The “id” will take over his “ego” only to be taken over by his “superego” and eventually taken back over by his “ego.” Our journey starts with the young man, the narrator, telling us his story. The young man is a caretaker of an old man who is really old and has a diseased eye. In “The Tell-Tale Heart” the young man starts out by loving the old man very deeply. He takes care of his every need, until one day “ the old man’s eye fell upon him and his blood ran cold”(Poe 2). The young man then turned to his narcissistic ways and it changed the way he felt about the old man whom “he loved so dearly” (Poe 1). In “ Explanation of: ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ by Edgar Alan Poe,” which was rewritten by an unknown author, it explains how the narrator is a “paranoid schizophrenic”(pg. 1). The article explains how Edgar Alan Poe was obsessed with “death, madness, and troubled human relationships” (pg. 1). The narrator is definitely a man caught between normality and psychopath. Further more the young man goes on to “spy on the old man every night for a week” (Poe 3). In doing this, the...
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...Codie O’Neil Ms. Sampson English 11 December 4th 2015 The Guilty Conscience of Lady Macbeth vs. the Narrator of “The Tell-Tale Heart” One in five people have mental health issues, but five in five people have mental health. William Shakespeare’s character Lady Macbeth from the play Macbeth and the narrator of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart.” both are examples of mental health issues. Lady Macbeth’s mental illness was brought on by the guilt she felt after committing a murder, but for the narrator of “The Tell-Tale Heart.” the mental illness was present before the murder. This showing that it was not a result of guilt. Before the murder of Duncan in the play Macbeth, Lady Macbeth seemed happy and showed little to no signs of mental health issues. After the death of the king and guards, you can see the change in Lady Macbeth. She starts to sleep walk, she mumbles about feeling guilt and she no longer wants to be in the dark. In the play when murders happen it is always a dark stormy night, this is to set the mood of it being dark and scary. (Enter Lady Macbeth with a taper) DOCTOR. How came she by that light? GENTLEWOMEN. Why, it stood by her. She has light by her con- / tinually, tis’ her command. (5.1.133). Lady Macbeth doesn’t want to be in the dark anymore so she carries a candle with her everywhere she goes, even sleep walking. Another sign that the guilt of the murder sent Lady Macbeth into a mentally ill state...
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...Canterbury Tales The Canterbury Tales written by Geoffrey Chaucer is a book filled with tales and prologues during the late medieval time period. Chaucer was born in 1342 in Paris. Chaucer lived the majority of his life privileged and on the kings’ (Richard II until 1399 then Henry IV) payroll. Chaucer began writing The Canterbury Tales in 1387, and worked on it throughout the 90’s. Of the few tales that I read (“The Prologue”, “The Miler’s Prologue”, “The Miller’s Tale”, “The Wife of Bath’s Tale Prologue”, and “The Wife of Bath’s Tale”), it seems clear that love and marriage are underlying themes throughout. But, love and marriage are two separate things during this time period. What the characters perceive to be love is actually lust. This will become evident throughout the tales. “The Prologue” is where Chaucer introduces all of the characters that will be prevalent throughout The Canterbury Tales. Chaucer describes the season as being April, and goes into detail about each character. It should be noted that the 29 characters that Chaucer mentioned were brought together by chance and did not plan this meeting. Each character had stopped at Tabard Inn, while waiting to embark on the pilgrimage to Canterbury. The night before the pilgrimage was to begin, the host offered a proposition to the pilgrims. He suggested a simple task: Now listen for your good, And please don’t treat my notion with disdain. This is the point. I’ll make it short and plain. Each one...
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...Turning the Screw: Analysing Douglas’s Tale In this essay I will be exploring the narrative style present in “Turn of the Screw” by Henry James and discussing the character called Douglas as a frame narrator for the governess’s tale. I will explore the reliability of Douglas and his relationship with the governess and look at any bias caused by this relationship. I will be analysing the narrative style of the novella, and discussing how this style contributes to the development of the story. Along with this, I will be comparing “Turn of the Screw” to traditional ghost stories, and discussing whether there are differences between the two. Douglas is presented from the outset of the story as a frame narrator in that he begins his tale by offering to recite a manuscript written by his sister’s former governess, who is a person who Douglas holds in high esteem. This act of recounting another person’s story, or presenting a story within a story, is a clear indication that the type of narrative present in the book is frame narrative (Frame Story - Wikipedia, n.d.). If we look at this fact in terms of the quote presented within the study material, we notice that Douglas places particular emphasis on his story, proclaiming to be “quite too horrible” (pg 1). Due to the fact that Douglas is a frame narrator rather than an omnipresent narrator, he comes complete with a range of human faults, including exaggeration and bias. The introduction of the story adds to this idea, as Douglas betrays...
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...Screams and gasps are heard throughout a mysterious Friday night. Rushing in to view late-night movies, crowds witness as a horror movie constructs its debut during its opening weekend. As an aspect of pop culture that is always popping up, especially as the nights begin to chill and the leaves fade away, the horror genre is scary. With aspects that are so apparent in the media, with trailers for the upcoming scary movie always appearing on our televisions and anybody around the block adding a little bit of spooky to their décor, spine-chillingarticles surround us, but are they actually okay for younger children to be watching? No. But what about the ever-changing group of teenagers? Correspondingly, more mature than their youthful counterparts, but unable to handle as much as an adult, the adolescent rang can be quite confusing. However, it appears quite...
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...Study Guides and Literature Essays Editing Services College Application Essays Writing Help Q & A Lesson Plans Home : The Handmaid's Tale : Study Guide : Summary and Analysis of V: Nap - VI: Household The Handmaid's Tale Summary and Analysis by Margaret Atwood Buy PDFBuy Paperback V: Nap - VI: Household Summary This section begins with Offred simply sitting alone, waiting. She had not been prepared for all this stillness, all of this boredom. She thinks about experiments they used to do on animals, how they would give them something to distract them. She wishes she had something to distract her. She lies down on the floor and begins to do her exercises, tilting her pelvis back. She remembers how at the training center they had rest time every day from three to four. Now she thinks it was practice for all of the waiting. She remembers how Moira showed up, after she'd been there for about three weeks. They couldn't talk for a few days, but finally during a walk they were able to plan a meeting in the washroom. The first time was during Testifying, which Aunt Helena came for specially. That day, Janine was talking about how she was gang raped when she was fourteen and had to get an abortion, and the other women respond as they have learned to, chanting that it was her fault. Despite the surroundings, Offred was extremely happy to see Moira. Now Offred thinks about her body. She used to see it as an instrument of her will, but now she sees it only as a container...
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...Wife of Bath’s Tale” showed good and bad qualities when considering the codes of chivalry. The knight in “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” showed loyalty to King Arthur. He showed his loyalty by taking the place of King Arthur’s challenge to the Green Knight: Gawain by Guenevere Toward the king doth now incline: “I beseech, before all here, That...
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...Screams and gasps are heard throughout a mysterious Friday night. Crowds rush in to view late-night movies as a horror movie constructs its debut during its opening weekend. The horror genre is an aspect of pop culture that is always popping up, especially as the nights begin to chill and the leaves fade away. Moreover, these aspects are so apparent in the media, with trailers for the upcoming scary movie always appearing on our televisions and anybody around the block adding a little bit of spooky to their décor, but are they actually okay for younger children to be watching? No. But what about the ever-changing group of teenagers? Correspondingly, more mature then their youthful counterparts, but unable to handle as much as an adult, the...
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...Screams and gasps can be heard throughout a mysterious Friday night. Crowds rush in to see late-night movies as a horror movie debuts during its opening weekend. The horror genre is an aspect of pop culture that always seems to be popping up, especially as the nights begin to chill and the leaves fade away. These aspects are so apparent in the media, with trailers for the upcoming scary movie always appearing on our televisions and everyone around the block adding a little bit of spooky to their décor, but are they really okay for younger children to be seeing? No. But what about the ever-changing group of teenagers? More mature then their youthful counterparts, but unable to handle as much as an adult, the adolescent rang can be quite confusing. However, it seems quite apparent that the horror genre is appropriate for teenagers because they grow up with rather morbid stories ringing through their ears, scary stories really play a big part in humans not turning into a bunch of airheads, and witnessing terrifying...
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...Rip Van Winkle Summary: “Rip Van Winkle” is an American masterpiece of the short story. It is based on local history but is rooted in European myth and legend. Irving reportedly wrote it one night in England, in June, 1818, after having spent the whole day talking with relatives about the happy times spent in Sleepy Hollow. The author drew on his memories and experiences of the Hudson River Valley and blended them with Old World contributions. “Rip Van Winkle” is such a well-known tale that almost every child in the United States has read it or heard it narrated at one time or another. Rip is a simple-minded soul who lives in a village by the Catskill Mountains. Beloved by the village, Rip is an easygoing, henpecked husband whose one cross to bear is a shrewish wife who nags him day and night. One day he wanders into the mountains to go hunting, meets and drinks with English explorer Henry Hudson’s legendary crew, and falls into a deep sleep. He awakens twenty years later and returns to his village to discover that everything has changed. The disturbing news of the dislocation is offset by the discovery that his wife is dead. In time, Rip’s daughter, son, and several villagers identify him, and he is accepted by the others. One of Irving’s major points is the tumultuous change occurring over the twenty years that the story encompasses. Rip’s little Dutch village had remained the same for generations and symbolized rural peace and prosperity. On his return, everything has...
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