Contes à rire en vers:Une comparaison des fabliaux à des paraboles en termes de littérature didactique

La littérature didactique se présente sous plusieurs formes, des paraboles de Jésus à àl'exemplum religieux du Moyen Âge. Les fabliaux sont une partie intéressante de cette histoire, parce que elles comprennent un « message moral, » le contenu comprend des concepts immorales, de l'infidélité ou « prêtres lubriques , égoïstes et chevaliers qui ne sont pas courageux, paysans grossiers et paresseux , les femmes trompeuses » (Bloch, 3) et les péchés capitaux, en particulier la cupidité. Lorsque ces autres documents illustre la vertu, les fabliaux semblent illustrer le vice. Un bon exemple d'un fabliaux qui inclut ces éléments est Brunain, la vache du prêtre. Mon argument est que l'humour et l'amoralité du les fabliaux sont ce qui le distinguent et de faire une leçon plus réussie.

“Self-tempted, self-deprav’d”: Free Will and Mindless Servitude in John Milton’s Paradise Lost

It is a common argument that what separates human beings from animals is our ability to reason. This is a concept that Milton mentions multiple times throughout his epic poem Paradise Lost in reference to the characters of Adam and Eve. Their free will is what is supposed to enable them to make the conscious decision to worship God, but their ignorance and lack of experience is what ultimately leads to their downfall.  In Areopagitica, Milton argues that one must know evil to know good, and this rhetoric is supported by Comus, another work by Milton, when it is contrasted with the temptation scene in Paradise Lost. My argument is that despite God giving Adam and Eve “free will,” without giving them knowledge of what is good and what is evil, he sets them up to fail when their faith is tested by Satan.

“Sun-clad power of Chastity”: Feminism and Milton’s Comus

Milton’s mask A Mask Presented at Ludlow Castle, more popularly known today as Comus, was written by Milton along with Henry Lawes for the Earl of Bridgewater’s appointment to the Lord Presidency of Wales. Knowing that the Earl’s children would play the lead roles in the mask, Milton created characters that are  strong in conviction and uphold the values of the society for which they were created. The mask’s central character of the Lady was played by the Earl’s daughter Alice, who was of marriageable age, so it is appropriate that Milton would give the character the particular virtue of chastity. Many critics have viewed the Lady through a feminist lens and have applauded Milton for his ability to create such a strong female character. However, the purpose of my essay is to question the idea of the Lady, and Comus as a whole, as feminist, specifically through the representation of femininity and masculinity in the mask and the final scene of the Lady’s rescue.

Love and Adventure: Chivalric Emphasis in “Lanval” and “Sir Launfal”

The Breton Lai is a short, episodic poem that was typically intended to be accompanied by music. Lais are generally considered by critics to be a sub-genre of the romance, their content dealing most often with the romanticized ideals of courtly love, the supernatural or the world of the fae, and knighthood or chivalry. Marie de France’s “Lanval” was written during the twelfth century and Thomas Chestre’s “Sir Launfal” was written in the fourteenth century. Both are considered Breton Lai’s because of their length and content. According to William Stokoe in his article “The Sources of Sir Launfal,” the origins of Chestre’s story are both Marie’s lai and another anonymous lai titled “Graelent” (392). However, despite Marie being the source for Chestre’s piece, the two works have different focuses in terms of chivalry. Marie focuses most on love and loyalty whereas Chestre focuses on bravery in battle, prowess, and generosity, though both the themes mostly through the characters of Lanval and Sir Launfal. My argument is that even though these stories are essentially the same in plot, what shaped the chivalric emphasis was their respective historical and social constructs.

Lost in Adaptation: Presence of Illusion and Reality in the 1966 Film Adaptation of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

In many ways drama is the most similar medium to film: both use actors in dramatic situations and take advantage of visual and verbal composition to portray themes and meaning. In Edward Albee’s play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? there are very few stage directions especially in terms of setting: there are stairs, a bar, a front door leading into the living room, and even wind chimes that hang near the door, but all of the action takes place in one room: the living room. However, in Mike Nichols’ 1966 film adaptation of the play, the camera follows characters in the house (in the closet, kitchen, and bedroom), around the house (in the yard, on the porch, through the college campus), and even on a car ride to a desolate roadhouse. Desmond and Hawkes state in their book Adaptation: Studying Film & Literature, “film audiences expect realism, stage audiences will accept artificial sets and illusion” (162). It is clear that Nichols and his production team had this thought in mind while filming Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? because through the changes in setting and character in an attempt to make it more realistic, the film loses the play’s absurdist qualities that exist to enhance the conflict of reality and illusion. I am defining reality as what is verifiable fact and illusion as false creation of the mind.

“Ice and silence”: Motherhood in Anaïs Nin’s “Birth”

The short fiction piece “Birth” by Anaïs Nin can be found in a larger collection of her works titled Under a Glass Bell. However, the story can also be found, practically word for word, in Nin’s book Incest: From “A Journal of Love” - The Unexpurgated Diary of Anaïs Nin. This is because it is a true story, so technically the piece should be considered creative nonfiction. In the introduction to Nin in the Norton Anthology of Literature by Women, it states that Nin intended to “capture the living moments of her emotional reactions to experience” (588), and she is more than successful in doing so within this short piece through both language and imagery.  I want to analyze the historical influences on Nin as a woman living in 1930’s France and how, by utilizing the contrasting images of both fire and ice throughout the story, Nin has successfully captured the contradictory emotions of a woman who both loves and hates the thing she has created.

“She’s discontent.”: The Nuclear Family and The Cold War in Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Edward Albee wrote his famous play, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, during the peak of the Cold War. There is much symbolism of patriotism in Albee’s play, from George and Martha’s names alluding to George Washington and his wife Martha and George’s speech against altering chromosomes could be seen as a metaphor for the popular fear that communism would take over the world: “There will be a certain… loss of liberty...diversity will no longer be the goal. Cultures and races will eventually vanish...the ants will take over the world” (Albee 73). In her book Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era, Elaine Tyler May explores the direct link between “the suburban American dream and the international dynamics of the cold war” (153). In this book, she reveals that the idea of the “nuclear family” and the “American dream” were government tactics created to sway international voters away from the Communist party and to keep Americans “preoccupied with procurement” as a “safeguard against the threat of class warfare and communism” (157). My theory is that the big bad Virginia Woolf's metaphor in Albee’s play is infact the illusion of the American dream and displays this predominantly through the baby symbolism, focusing specifically on Martha.