Vanitas paintings are works of art that are worried with the delicacy of man and his universe of yearnings and joys despite the certainty and
When looking closer, the women near the saint are angelic looking, and as they dissipate in the background, the forms of women seem to vanish. None of the female figures touch the monk, but one offers a glass of amber liquid. The Tassaerts painting could be an allegory in the personal struggle with alcoholism, seeing the monk as sobriety and the women the darkness of alcohol use. The painting “Temptation of Saint Hilarion” is a mixture or Realism and Romanticism and the combination of the two create the depth of emotion of this painting. Baudelaire mentions “that Romanticism is precisely situated neither in choice of subject in exact truth, but in feeling.”
As a novelist, Flannery O’Conner dedicated her life to revealing mysteries of the world by intertwining many examples of sacramentality, mediation, and communion in her stories and essays. Presently focusing on two of her essays, “Catholic Novelists and Their Readers” and “The Catholic Novelist in the Protestant South”, O’Conner dives deep in to the realm of spiritual understanding and enlightenment. “Catholic Novelists and Their Readers” portrays a clear example of sacramentality through her belief of the incarnation of Jesus into human flesh. O’Conner believes that the vocation of the Catholic fiction writer is that mystery ought to be incarnated into human life through the words she places on paper. “Whatever the novelist sees in the way
It could be considered that at first look, Merry Wiesner-Hanks investigates an alternative view of the early modern world in terms of the history behind Christianity and Sexuality in the Early Modern World. Wiesner-Hank’s viewpoint moves on from her earlier studies in women and gender in Europe and instead investigates Latin America, Asia, Africa and North America within her renaissance studies of “how Christian ideas and institutions shaped sexual attitudes and activities from roughly 1500-1750”. This in depth examination of the concept of sexuality and the way that it is underpinned by religious life and institutions is divided into six chapters. Her chapters explore the context of sexuality within history, including women’s history, legal
In Flannery O’Connor's short story, “The Temple of the Holy Ghost,” the main character, a young girl referred to only as “the child,” comes to a realization about herself by the story's end. Throughout the story, the child is fascinated by the carnival freaks, particularly the two-headed boy and the hermaphrodite. She views them as extraordinary and even admires their unique physical characteristics. However, as the story progresses and the child is confronted with the reality of their existence, she begins to understand the beauty and value of her own body. This realization is related to the sacrament of the Eucharist, which represents the body and blood of Christ.
Stephanie Camberos Mrs. Ybarra Phil 1C 21 October 2016 Unnatural by society or Nature? Being in favor of homosexuality, John Corvino brings up several arguments and counter arguments as to why homosexual sex is deemed as unnatural in our society. Is it unnatural because majority of society chooses to portray it in such a way or is it unnatural for nature related reasons? John Corvino in this reading discussed both sides when viewing homosexual sex as “unnatural”.
Due to a powerful message on a controversial topic, Andrew Hozier’s song “Take Me To Church” has become one of the most popular songs of 2015. Hozier’s song is entirely a metaphor comparing a romantic partner to religion: “I should’ve worshipped her [his lover as God] sooner” (4). Though there is an underlying purpose of promoting love, Hozier also contemplates sin while comparing his love to the Catholic Church’s values: “‘we were born sick’ you heard them say it” (9) refers to teachings of sin and he repeats “I was born sick” throughout the song. The repetition puts great emphasis on how love, specifically sex before marriage, is a sin in the eyes of the church. Hozier’s comparisons and criticisms of love to religion are unexpected because
Rather than this preparation being a spiritual concern, it was physical for Marie, she used her body as vellum on which she wrote the final chapter of her mystical story. In Marie’s case it is clear that “mysticism for these early medieval women was described as closely related to their physicality and that their encounter with the divine was often portrayed in erotic terms” (Brown 76). With the promise of an erotic encounter nearing, and with sex having been an unspeakable act for some time, she physically shuts down. Marie’s body was “shriveled from illness and fasting that her spine touched her belly button and the bones in her back seemed to be lying under her stomach as if under a thin linens cloth” (183). The fact that Marie chose not to eat for weeks, is her final example of how important her physical appearance was to her entire life.
Of Mice and Men is a novella by John Steinbeck about the price that one may have to pay in order to pursue the American dream, especially when one is a woman. The American dream drives a woman to success causing a lack in sense of belonging. When a woman pursues a dream of the unordinary society is taken back and is quick to root against them. Steinbeck shows a women chasing the American dream often results in dragging personal relationships. Curley's wife is the loneliest character in the story, not only was it a challenge to be taken seriously as a woman back then, but she was also stuck in an unhealthy marriage.
The sculpture image “The Kiss” displays another way love can be written out. Love can be presented in words or letters and it can also be expressed in action. The meaning of love is stronger than any art could show, and the way it is chose to be represented can be stronger. The image shows a couple kissing and showing affection. It does not grab much attention, because it is not very colorful and deranged.
The Flea by John Donne, published in 1633, is an erotic metaphysical poem in which the concept of a flea serves as an extended metaphor for the relationship between the speaker and his beloved. In comparison George Herbert’s The Altar, also published in 1633, demonstrates through the conceit of an altar how one should offer himself as a sacrifice to the Lord. This essay will compare and contrast; the poetic techniques, the shape of the poems and the use of meter. This essay will also highlight how these features link in with the main themes of sexual desires, religion and repetition to evoke the meaning of each poem. Both poets present the speaker differently through the use of poetic devices.
This he plunged into my heart several times so that it penetrated my entrails. When he pulled it out, I felt that he took them with it, and left me utterly consumed by the Great love of God” (The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila). This description could be compared to the life that many lived during the baroque period. The point of fire could be compared to the spectacular parties and social life and it being plunged in over and over as the appearance had to be kept up. This life style was all consuming and filled so many people with
Artwork is a form of self-expression from an artist based on life experience, or on something that the artist feels strongly about (Berenson, 87). The product of art can help others with similar experiences but not able to express the same feeling themselves. From the product of art, people can start drawing excitement, purpose as well as encouragement about the real thing being expressed. Through a piece of art, the artist can communicate a purpose, an emotion or an idea in their work. In this research paper, I compare two pieces of artwork; Madonna and child with the saints by Giovanni Bellini and Madonna and child with the two angels done by Fra Filippo Lippi.
Many humans struggle with the misconception that being tempted and having doubts about their faith are unacceptable. Moreover, when Kenneth is tempted to look at explicit images in a magazine, “he closed the magazine and raised his eyes to the ceiling, then closed them and said three Hail Mary’s” (Dubus 278). By putting the magazine down and deciding to pray, he conveys to the reader that it is not wrong to have doubts or face temptation . Kenneth’s devotion to his religion results in him having the instinctual reaction to pray in the face of temptation.
“Pastor, I am a girl of 18 years old, and I do masturbate myself. I want to know; is it bad?” The purpose of this chapter is not to establish if masturbation is sinful or not, rather to explain why masturbation can be detrimental to our spiritual life and to encourage people to abandon the practice of it particularly Christians. Masturbation is the self-stimulation of the sex organs and other erogenous body parts for the purpose of pleasure, usually leading to or targeting org.asm.
