This quote of humility and the truth of one’s insignificance in the sands of time is idolized by Mr. William Hundert, a teacher of St. Benedict’s School, in his teachings. The story “The Palace Thief” by Ethan Canin follows Mr. Hundert during his time as a teacher at this prestigious school, from the appearance of a rambunctious new student that disrupted the order of his class, to forty-one years later, at a reunion celebration. Mr. Hundert is a passionate and proud man when it comes to his teaching and history, but his character faults are what the story actually focuses on. The conflict of the “The Palace Thief” surrounds the events of a St. Benedict’s tradition; the “Mr. Julius Caesar” competition, a competition in which a young and charismatic new-student Sedgewick Bell becomes a competitor, an event that challenged and haunts Hundert for decades. Forty-one years, later, a much older Sedgewick Bell calls the retired teacher to host a reunion and re-do of the “Mr. Julius Caesar” competition that ends up mirroring the first, highlighting the central idea of Hundert not changing nor learning from the mistakes of the past.
Through the reading of the book, The Natural, the character of the protagonist (Roy Hobbs) has a surreal change when undergoing different and challenging circumstances that are seen through examples of Memo Paris as well as through Iris Lemon. While going through this book carefully while analyzing the context presented, a reader can see that Roy Hobbs faces much difficulty with the overcoming of the Seven Deadly Sins throughout his journey to become "one of the greats. " Each of the seven deadly sins (Wrath, Lust, Greed, Envy, Pride, Sloth, and Gluttony) can be directly intertwined with mainly one woman, Memo Paris. Through her devious ways of forcing Roy to become lustful with her, Memo manipulates the once innocent mind of Hobbs to invoke the deadly ways in which Roy is eventually crushed down by. As foreseen throughout Roy's lifetime, the unrelenting grasp of three main of the seven deadly sins (lust, pride, and wrath) plague Roy till realization is come upon him.
The Stablemaster and Its Comparison to other Literary Works Classic Italian literature within the Renaissance has often included a central idea embodied within a well thought out and biting prank to serve some form of justice or provide entertainment. Also, the common incidence of mimicry in the sixteenth century’s literal works produced large numbers of similar characters, plots, conflicts, and resolutions. The jokes within these literary works often employed the assistance of characters that found themselves encompassed within the prank during their daily lives. These individuals were swayed into aiding the joke by Fortune herself, whether aware of the trick or not. For example, Pietro Aretino’s play, The Stablemaster, was one of the most intriguing, well known, and detail oriented works that focused on the central idea of a prank, carried out to perfection because of the trick’s guidance by Fortune through Aretino’s use of imagery and satire in dialogue.
Prior to the French Revolution, French society was divided into three distinct estates: the First Estate, the Second Estate, and the Third Estate. Each estate was represented by individuals of a certain repute who had different roles in 17th century French society. In his written play, Cyrano de Bergerac, Edmond Rostand portrays this class division through his many characters and their place in society. In the 17th century, Roman Catholicism was at its prime in French society.
The story, The Count of Monte Cristo, displays that once vengeance has been stowed inside a man, the new feeling of revenge will only dissipate when his revenge has been carried out fully. Edmond Dantes, known as the Count of Monte Cristo, was arrested and taken to jail, and while he was in the Chateau d’If he was transformed from an innocent young man into an omniscient man continuously seeking vengeance, which, in the end, he does achieve. In The Count of Monte Cristo, the author uses Monte Cristo’s actions along with rhetorical strategies including detail, tone, and diction, to create the vengeful tone demonstrating that after one makes the decision to carry out his revenge, it won’t stop until it has been completed. By the use of Dumas’
Marie de France’s romance, Bisclavret, is based on the story of a noble baron who lives in twelfth century Brittany with his beautiful wife. He is loved by everyone in the kingdom. Everything is all right between the two except that Bisclavret disappears from his house for three days and nobody knows where he goes. His wife declares “My lord, I’m in terror everyday, those days you have gone away, My heart is so full of fear” (Wilke, pg. 1336 lines 40-50).
Edmond Dantes was a handsome, promising young sailor, who managed the three-mastered French ship, the Pharaon, in Marseilles after its captain died in route home. Upon the eve of his wedding, Edmond is arrested and taken for questioning by the prosecutor Villefort about a simple dying wish his late captain asked of Dantes. The fading commander asked that Dantes deliver a letter for him to a specific man. Dantes did not know of anything else, but once Villefort came into contact with the letter, his father’s name was present, Monsieur Noirtier. Villefort’s father was a rebel under Napoleon’s lead.
A man's honor, like Claudio, is established by his bravery and accomplishments at war. Claudio was known for being a very honorable man, “Don Pedro hath bestowed much honor on a young Florentine called Claudio” (1.1.9-11). Claudio questioned Hero’s purity; “Is she not a modest young lady?” (1.1.161).
The introduction to the Decameron details Boccaccio’s own experiences during the Black Death in Florence, and he focuses particularly the impact that the plague had on society. We paired this text and image, based on a Florentine saint’s story, and then added as background music to convey the emotional impact of what Boccaccio describes. Since he focuses so much on the plague’s destruction of social bonds, particularly between mothers and their children, we decided to take a later image of a third-century saint being begged by a mother to save her child and transform it to show how the Black Death altered the normal societal structures of Florence. Boccaccio also describes the way servants were seen as taking advantage of the plague and so
France has always been an extraordinary place to visit but we don’t always look at the history behind these perfect landscapes and beautiful language. Even less do we look as far back as a country’s neolithic past. What we don’t realize is that a country’s past is equally, or even more, beautiful as it’s present. France’s plants, animals, and location have been great historical resources and have brought it to be one of the greatest countries there is today. Indigenous plants such as the chestnut and yellow gentian were very important to civilization in France.
The Great Cat Massacre by Robert Darnton is a collection of six essays that examines the cultural history of France in the first half of the eighteenth century. These essays engage an array of documents in order to reconstruct the world views of French society- an attempt at the history of mentality (p. 5). The title refers to the most well-known of these essays which focuses on a set of incidents that occurred within the printing industry during the 1730s. These incidents were a result of poor labor relations between printers who worked and lived on the Rue Saint- Severin in Paris and their apprentices (p. 76). The latter of which were subjected to poor working conditions, beatings, and near starvation at the hands of their teacher.
His awe for them compels him to wish for some of the world’s greatest minds so they could experience the ‘utopia’ better than “They could imagine.” The cannibal’s pure and natural state resonates profoundly with Montaigne. In addition, Montaigne mentions that “The very words that signify lying, treachery, dissimilation, avarice, envy, belittling, pardon-[are] unheard of.” If a society or culture lacks this demeaning structure, it eradicates the hierarchal structure and puts all members on a level playing field. No one is above you, and no one is below you.
Alexandre Dumas’s The Count of Monte Cristo is a classic 19th century story about love, revenge, and betrayal set in the Napoleonic era. Edmond Dantès is a promising young sailor with a bright future ahead. This future is halted when four men arrange for Dantès to be imprisoned in the Château d’If. After spending 14 years trapped in prison, Dantès manages to escape and begins a quest for vengeance on those who had wronged him and to reward those who were kind to him and his family. Dantès’s life experiences result in physical, intellectual, and spiritual growth.
Shouts filled the air as various sellers promoted their goods. The putrid stench of human excrement contaminated the air and the bleak horizon was consumed with smog and tall buildings, rendering any air polluted. These elements came together launching an all-out assault on your senses. Both Paris and Vienna experienced these conditions. Both cities shared the same common health problems, from a lack of fresh air to the rampant spread of disease, as well as over-crowding, which then lead to economical segregation.
During the Middle Ages theatre began a new cycle of development that paralleled the emergence of the theatre from ritual activity in the early Greek period. Whereas the Greek theatre had grown out of Dionysian worship the medieval theatre originated as an expression of the Christian religion. The two cycles would eventually merge during the Renaissance. Between the Classical and early Renaissance periods theatre was kept alive by the slenderest of threads the popular entertainers who had dispersed to wander, alone or in small groups, throughout Europe. These were the mimes, acrobats, dancers, animal trainers, jugglers, wrestlers, minstrels, and storytellers who preserved vital skills that survive in the theatre today.
