Exploring the Allegorical Nature of the Faerie Queen Essay Example for Free

Exploring the Allegorical Nature of the Faerie Queen Essay An allegory – a form of extended metaphor in which objects, persons and actions in a narrative, in this case, The Faerie Queen, are equated with meanings lying outside the narrative itself – represent an abstraction in the guise of a concrete image, with characters often personifying abstract qualities. One way of looking at The Faerie Queen is that it is allegorical in a complex manner. As a mode of writing in a still largely religious society (15th century England), viewing The Faerie Queen as an allegory allows the reader to perceive nature and history as in possession of hidden divine meanings capable of being revealed to the diligent, worthy seeker. Similar to the concept of a â€Å"sugar-coated pill† The Faerie Queen’s allegorical nature allows the author (Edmund Spenser) to conceal (largely moral) ideas from his readers and reveals them only to a deserving few who are able to go beyond appearances and recognize the truth for what it is. One needs to work hard in unlocking the hidden meanings for comprehension brought about by diligence would be valued more by the human mind than one that is easily understood, i. e. Una had veiled herself until the Red Cross Knight had proven himself worthy of seeing her face at their betrothal. In the case of Duessa, the name itself seems to represent duality, duplicity in contrast to the one (Una) truth, as her role varies from one book to another. In Book I she embodies religious falsehood while in Book V it is political falsehood, appearing in the guise of fair creatures until the facts of her foulness are uncovered much like literature’s Circe the witch and her cup of poison capable of altering her shape in her aim to entice and imprison her lovers. Spenser’s Duessa is distinctly English as she appears to be the fusion of the enchantress Circe with the biblical Whore of Babylon, i. e. Catholicism in the eyes of Protestant (Elizabethan) England. Her role is largely limited to deceiving appearances and seducing the Red Cross Knight, supposedly representing the â€Å"false† religion of the Roman Catholic Church. As for Una, her identity is clarified with vices parodying â€Å"true† religion as she appears to represent the one, noble truth among the wilderness, a ‘woman clothed with the sun’ and whose beauty is a manifestation of Christ’s alluring grace. As the personification of the â€Å"true† Church (the Church of England), she travels with the Red Cross Knight (supposedly representing England as its patron Saint George was said to have been a dragon slayer) in order to save her parents from a dragon. In keeping with the work’s religious tone, Una’s wanderings in the wilderness could be viewed in the biblical tradition as the Church fleeing the antichrist. Upon meeting her, the character of Abessa flees in terror of Una and her lion, which likely represents the justice wielded by Christ through the earthly executors of His will. Una plays the role of the romantic heroine in need of a brave knight to rescue her from a moral and fickle fortune. She is the â€Å"truth† to the Red Cross Knight’s â€Å"nobility† yet they are separated, until such a time when they overcome their respective obstacles and prove themselves worthy of a blessed union. Her character is made to wander, and in Cantos 3 and 6 it is made clear that her progress through the natural world is upward. Her encounter with Arthur helps her better understand her plight and what needs to be done for her to be able to transcend her suffering and misery. In a way, one could argue that Arthur represents divine intervention or simply providence lending a hand to strengthen our moral resolve at the time of darkest human frailty. Whereas Una represents the one truth, Duessa is the living, breathing duplicity in Faerie Queen. The Red Cross Knight as he descends the world of society (Cantos 4 and 5) in the company of Duessa is capable of seeing only surfaces. She is deceptive, but does that make her necessarily evil? There is no doubt that Una personifies the good yet though Duessa might be her antithesis, it is harder to ascertain whether she is out rightly evil or merely duplicitous. After all, human beings certainly err from time to time, we are both deceived and deceivers in our own way, yet we are not condemned so easily as evil personified or offspring of Satan. But since we are talking of allegories in The Faerie Queen written to glorify the reign of Elizabeth I of England, one has to note the seeming need to vilify Catholicism, symbolized by Duessa, as the deceptive enemy to England’s Anglican Church symbolized by Una. Representing truth, Una remains veiled for most of the poem, uncovering herself only when the Red Cross Knight is finally betrothed to her (Canto 12) and when she is all by herself ‘farre from all mens sight’ (3:4). In the same way as that of the House of Holiness, her ‘gates’ remain closed for fear of being raped for her beauty. The rationale for this is that truth as a prize of great worth remains vulnerable to exploitation, epitomized in the image of Una’s virginity, ‘that stubborn forte’ (6:3) which needs to be safeguarded until such time when she is ready to relinquish it to someone worthy of her. When she is finally unveiled, her beauty is described as blinding – ‘The blazing brightness of her beauties beame’ (12:23) – to lend credence that truth is not for the faint-hearted, and in the occasion that it appears to the common people is needs to wear a veil as truth cannot be conveyed directly for it tends to blind its audience. Finally, for all its power truth is clothed in simplicity and naturalness. In contrast to Duessa’s garb of garments ‘gilt and gorgeous gold arayd’ (5: 26), Una enters ‘under a vele, that wimpled was full low. ’ Duplicity is fond of shows and of parading itself – Duessa is set upon a seven-headed beast – yet truth does not need fancy outer garments to conceal its natural splendor. She is able to tame the lion, which recognizes Una’s beauty and goodness and responds to her overtures accordingly, while it seems to be able to discern Duessa’s true nature despite her lovely appearance. 15th century Elizabethan England placed great value on a woman’s virtues, e. g. chastity, fidelity, etc. and this is appropriately manifested by Una who steadfastly safeguards her virginity, in contrast to Duessa who takes great pleasure in seducing men with her feminine wiles. Una represents chaste love which waits for the right time, that is, in the context of marriage, before engaging in sexual liaisons. Duessa is an entirely different matter she takes pleasure in her power over men through her sexuality. Of course for the conservative sexual mores of the time this was despicable in a woman – she would easily be labeled as a whore. A woman during those times was viewed slightly better than property, first as belonging to her father, then to her husband, and her worth in the marriage market was often viewed in relation to her maidenhood, aside from the size of her dowry. Nowadays though, society has a more liberal view on the roles of women, their functions in society and how they are expected to act, and it would be harder to categorically generalize women as simply being the marriageable kind or those whom men should only dally with. Also, the influence of religion has significantly waned – it no longer plays such a central role in the lives of most people. Thus, modern-day interpretations of The Faerie Queen would not necessarily take a kind view of Spencer’s illustration of women, particularly if one utilizes the feminist perspective in critically analyzing the said work. Work Cited: Spencer, Edmund. The Faerie Queen. London: Penguin Classics, 1979.

The Representation of Racial Tension in Baraka’s Dutchman Essay

In the 1964 play Dutchman by Amiri Baraka, formally known as Le Roi Jones, an enigma of themes and racial conflicts are blatantly exemplified within the short duration of the play. Baraka attacks the issue of racial stereotype symbolically through the relationship of the play’s only subjects, Lula and Clay. Baraka uses theatricality and dynamic characters as a metaphor to portray an honest representation of racist stereotypes in America through both physical and psychological acts of discrimination. Dutchman shows Clay, an innocent African-American man enraged after he is tormented by the representation of an insane, illogical and explicit ideal of white supremacy known as Lula. Their encounter turns from sexual to lethal as the two along with others are all confined inside of one urban subway cart. Baraka uses character traits, symbolism and metaphor to exhibit the legacy of racial tension in America. The subway cart setting is an example of American symbolism. The eerie underground cart is an element of the play’s title; the flying Dutchman’s haunted ship, however, it can also be seen as the illustration of American society. The subway cart is a representation of an enclosed space where people are forced to interact. Regardless of race, gender and social class the urban subway cart is an area of social stimulation. Passengers often enter and ride anonymously, we see in the list of characters â€Å"Riders of Coach, white and black† are included in the dynamics of the subway cart set. It is a tight and confined space trapped with a random sampling of people at any given time. Baraka uses this setting as the perfect environment for two strangers to openly interact. A perfectly natural place to meet someone new, like Clay and Lula. A ... ... generations. Racial tensions have resulted in tragedies; Clay’s murder in the end of the play is a symbolic portrayal of an innocent man attacked for the color of his skin and nothing more. The art of theatre attacks the audience to consider these social issues. At the end of Dutchman the audience is left uncomfortable, shocked and left to piece together the role of Lula, Clay and the flying Dutchman subway cart are metaphors for problems greater than the play’s conflict. Works Cited Baraka, Amiri. Dutchman. New York, New York: Marrow, 1964. Print. 766-774 Du Bois, W.E.B. The Souls of Black Folk. Rockville, Maryland: Arc Manor, 2008. Print. Kumar, Nita N. "The Logic of Retribution: Amiri Baraka's 'Dutchman.'" African American Review 37.2/3 (2003): 271-279. JSTOR. Web. 2 May 2012. .

Language Teaching and Translation

LANGUAGE TEACHING AND TRANSLATION The use of translation as an inherent part of FLT was prevalent until early in the present century. The Grammar-Translation method, dominant during the first half of the century, stressed translation and grammatical analysis, and put greater emphasis on accuracy than on fluency, preferring academic erudition to communicative competence (Titone& Danesi 1985).At the turn of the century, the Grammar-Translation method gradually gave way to the Direct Method (more characteristic of ELT in Europe than in America (Rivers 1991)), which advocated maximum exposure to the target language, with no recourse either to L1 or to translation. During this period, â€Å"Translation used to be regarded as a necessary evil† (Levenston 1985a). The Direct Method made its way very prominently into the field of ELT in the east during the British Mandate (Bamberger 1958).The American behaviorist school (Skinner 1938; Watson 1913) of language teaching ushered in the Au dio-lingual Method, which concentrated on patterns and structure with an emphasis on drill and technique. The product, not the process, was important; there was to be minimal explanation of rules and no recourse to translation (Larsen-Free-man 1962). The reaction to the audio-lingual method, grounded in the Chomskian Revolution, was the Communicative Approach (Ministry of Education 1988; Savignon 1987).Communicative competence â€Å"has come to be used in language teaching contexts to refer to the ability to negotiate meaning, to successfully combine a knowledge of linguistic and sociolinguistic rules in communicative interactions†(Savignon 1987: 16). At the same time, the advance of cognitive psychology, which was also influenced by the Chomskian revolution, made an impact on ELT (Titone & Danesi 1985). The findings of cognitive psychology indicated that â€Å"deductive, or rule-based, strategies play a prominent role in language learning.Deductive teaching methods are ther efore based on the learning principles of cognitive psychology and its linguistic counterpart, transformationalism, and are generally known as cognitive-code procedures† (Titone & Danesi 1985: 110). â€Å"The role of the teacher is to recognize the importance of mental activity in learning† (Chastain 1971:92). Teachers of FLT were now called upon to address the problems of consciousness raising. (Bialystok 1986, 1988; Carrel 1989; Castillo 1991; Cohen 1986; Gerloff 1986; Hosenfeld 1978; Kern 1989; Rivers 1991; Rubin 1975; Templeton 1989; Thomas 1988; Vieira 1991; Wenden & Rubin 1987).It came to be realized that the study of translation skills might have value as a means of raising the learner's linguistic awareness with regard to his or her native as well as to the foreign language (Boersch 1986; Carton 1966, cited by Rubin 1986; Faerch ; Kasper 1986; Hosenfeld 1978; Lehmann 1986; Levenston 1985b; Loerscher 1986; Ministry of Education 1990; Naiman 1978, quoted by Levens ton 1985a; Rosenblith, stated in Ackerman 1992; Sharwood Smith 1981; Titford 1983).The contrastive analysis of the two languages, L1 and L2, which accompanies the translation process, is presumed to heighten the learner's metalinguistic awareness of both languages and to facilitate their perception as abstract language systems.

The Rise Of The Roman Empire - 735 Words

Question2: Travel started to develop as a business many years ago. This industry began, when the ancient and rich inhabitants of Phoenicia, Rome, Egypt, Greece, and China; out of curiosity and a sense of adventure, about their surroundings, began to travel. Today tourism is a billionaire industry that serves the needs and wants of millions of domestic and international tourists. There is no doubt, that capitalism has played an active role in the developing of this powerful enterprise. However, when this business began, only the rich populations were able to enjoy their summers on the coasts and countryside. As these powerful people continue traveling, their servants have to cater for their patrons travel and accommodations needs and wants. As the Roman Empire decline, this business endured a backlash. In Central America the Incas had to travel to trade with the different racial groups, which were part of their empires to trade and collect taxes from their peasants. It was not until t he Medieval Times, when the pilgrimages began, creating the need of having accommodations, itineraries, and lodging places, throughout the roads that guided them to their sacred places. There is evidence that many wealthy citizens made a tradition to travel several times during the year, to enjoy and relax, while they were visiting their holy shrines. Soon some business opened spring waters and fresh air â€Å"spas,† which wealthy men and women used as a center of social gatherings. Later on,Show MoreRelatedThe Rise Of The Roman Empire973 Words   |  4 Pagessee how empires grew and became successful. Many empires were so successful because of their leaders and their philosophies. Empires often had good runs and would be running successful until a stronger and more powerful empire would bring them down. One empire that was known as the most advanced both socially and politically in the western civilization was the Roman Empire. At about 285 CE the empire was so greatly adva nced that the Roman central government could no longer rule the empire on its ownRead MoreThe Rise Of The Roman Empire2740 Words   |  11 Pagesone thing comes to mind, the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire was one of the greatest empires of all time. The span of the Roman Empire grew from itself outward to the countries of England, Africa, Spain, and even Syria. The Roman Empire covered a vast area of land, with ambitions of continued growth. The Roman Empire rose to glory in 27 BC. The rise of the Roman Empire began with its military forces and its many emperor’s reign. The society and life of Romans were also affected by the empire’sRead MoreThe Rise Of The Roman Empire Essay1875 Words   |  8 PagesConstantine was the first Roman Emperor to convert to Christianity. He started his reign in 307 AD. During this time the Roman Empire was still composed mainly of pagans. Although the population of Christians was on the rise, in the beginning of the fourth century, Christians made up only 10 percent of the population in the Roman Empire. There were approximately five million Christians in the Roman Empire meaning that they were still the minority (Waldron). His conversion was an important turningRead MoreThe Rise Of The Roman Empire1494 Words   |  6 Pagescentral Europe and occupied by several Celtic tribes in pre-Roman times. The land was claimed by the Roman Empire once the Celtic tribe Noricum fell to the Empire and became a providence. Once the Roman Empire gained control of the area, it soon set up a Military camp on the eastern side of the providence calling it the Upper Pannonia providence which was the home for 50,000 people for nearly 400 years. After the fall of the Roman Empire; Charlemagne, King of the Franks, had control of the land atRead MoreThe Rise Of The Roman Empire2506 Words   |  11 PagesOne of the greatest empires to have existed in ancient human history is undoubtedly the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire maintained very sophisticated governmental policies. Not only were they responsible for groundbreaking political systems, Rome was very technologically advanced as well. Rome would lay a foundation for civilizations to come with the innovative political and technological breakthroughs they experienced. Unfortunately for Rome, the higher the rise also meant the harder the fall. RomeRead MoreThe Rise Of The Roman Empire2137 Words   |  9 Pagesas the Roman Empire was nearly compromised after the German Visigoths and their leader, Alaric, invaded it in 410 AD. This invasion of the newly Christian Empire that was supposed to be invincible shattered the confidence of the Romans and subsequently led them to question the power of their new single God. The Roman Empire has previously been a Pagan empire, but Constantine the Great converted the empire to Christianity less than a century before the Visigoths captured Rome. Many Romans were skepticalRead MoreThe Rise Of The Roman Empire1864 Words   |  8 PagesJulius Caesar , a Roman general and statesman he turned the Roman republic into a powerful Roman Empire. A coup ended his reign , and his powerful life , on the Ides Of March. He played a critical role in the events that led to the demise of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire. In 60 BC, Caesar, Cr assus, and Pompey formed a political alliance that was to dominate Roman politics for several years. Their attempts to amass power through populist tactics were opposed by the conservativeRead MoreThe Rise Of The Roman Empire1428 Words   |  6 PagesThe Roman Empire is widely regarded as one of, if not the most dominant government to ever exist. Early civilization in Europe was dominated by the Romans, and their constantly growing empire. With the help of Greek political ideas, the Romans adopted one very similar where supreme power is held by the people from their elected representatives. These representatives were a part of the Senate, where all political laws were made and enforced, very similar idea to the type of Senate that existsRead MoreThe Rise Of The Roman Empire1224 Words   |  5 Pagesinfluence to affect the Roman world. Constantine came to power in the Western provinces of the Roman Empire as an advocate of religious toleration. Constantine’s advocacy for religious toleration alongside his conversion marks a turning point of the Roman world and drives the spread Christianity. With Diocletian’s abdication in 305 A.D., Constantine’s troops acclaimed him as Caesar. The age of persecution began in 303 A.D. under Diocletian as an effort to rid the Roman Empire of Christians. It wasRead MoreThe Rise Of The Roman Empire863 Words   |  4 Pagesanyone who did not speak Greek. During the decline of the Roman Empire, many barbaric tribes took the opportunity to attack. The migration of barbarians closer to Rome put stress on an already stressed Roman government. The increased tension eventually lead to an outbreak of wars. In 410 Rome was sacked by the Visigoths—lead by Alaric—and was attacked again in 455 but the Vandals (â€Å"Dining With Attila the Hun, 448†). Attacks on the Roman Empire by the Huns did not start until the middle of the 5th century