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.