Historical fictions have become a way for modern readers to connect with a time long since gone, in a format that stirs their passion for the romanticized depictions created on the pages. Hayden White notes that, “historical discourse wages everything on the true, while fictional discourse is interested in the real—which it approaches by way of an effort to fill out the domain of the possible or imaginable” (White 147). This essay will articulate an analysis of the narrative structure of Maxine Shore’s The Captive Princess, along with the character development of the protagonist Princess Gwladys Ruffyd, the antagonist, the Holy Roman Emperor Claudius, and the motivations behind some of their more notable characteristics. There are three basic components to the structure of any narrative; conflict, crisis, and resolution. Brian Upton, author of The Aesthetic of Play, expressed, “A play field structured by the intersection of the reader and the text will inevitably be idiosyncratic and unique” (Upton 239). Meaning every reader draws a different conclusion of what constitutes a major narrative apparatuses of The Captive Princess. The conflict was identified as the moment that the world of nine-year-old Princess Gwladys Ruffyd was changed forever when the Romans attacked her homeland. “The Romans have invaded Britain” (Shore 26). This action by the Romans plunged the royal family and their subjects into a world of uncertainty, tragedy, death, and loss instantaneously while
Plot Summary: “Candide” is a tale told in a fast-paced series of episodic adventures. The opening chapter establishes the Edenic innocence of the background in which the protagonist, Candide, is raised. Leading a privileged, isolated existence in a Westphalian castle, Candide finds himself in love with Cunegonde, daughter of the Baron of the castle. He is also eagerly indoctrinated with Leibnizian optimism by his tutor, Pangloss, who, in turn, is in love with Paquette, the chambermaid of the castle. After openly showing his affection for Cunegonde, Candide, not being of noble enough blood, is promptly expelled by the Baron, and involuntarily sets out upon his own into the world. Candide’s first major adventure is his unintentional recruitment into the Bulgar army, which exposes him to the terrors of physical and sexual abuse, as well as the shocking violence of warfare. After managing to escape the army, Candide comes across a kind Anabaptist, Jacques, as well as Pangloss, who has been rendered
A short play is usually filled with a theatrical energy of diverse anthologies. The time allotted may be only ten or fifteen minutes, so it must be able to capture and engage the audience with some dramatic tension, exciting action, or witty humor. Just as in a short story, a great deal of the explanation and background is left for the reader or viewer to discover on their own. Because all the details are not explicitly stated, each viewer interprets the action in their own way and each experience is unique from someone else viewing the same play. Conflict is the main aspect that drives any work of literature, and plays usually consist of some form of conflict. In “Playwriting 101:
In British oral tradition, storytelling mainly serves to instill patriotic zeal within citizens. The advent of literacy results in the transcription of these stories, which predominantly take the form of the epic: an origin story in which an epic hero displays heroic acts in a setting with few temporal cues, disconnecting the story from any specific point in history. Beowulf, one such epic, exhibits these properties, with events transpiring without indication of the relative passage of time. One literary device which lends itself to the manifestation of this quality, the frame narrative, muddles the reader’s perspective of time by constantly by jumping between events in the main
Secondly, stereotypes surrounding the aggressive male and the helpless female are a predominant factor unfolding in the narrative. Thirdly, however, the counter-stereotype of the iron-willed woman defeating the violent male antagonist notably prevails within Carter’s piece. The Heroine is forced to consummate the marriage and have painful and bloody sex with her new husband. Soon after the consummation The Marquis is forced to travel away to attend a business endeavor. This is when the Heroine is left in the castle to figure out what type of murderous secrets her new husband is hiding. The narrator’s language within the text regarding her relationship with The Marquis leaks a sense of constraint. The stereotypes regarding the dominant male and the submissive female are observable. The Marquis manipulatively courts the Heroine into his den. The Marquis lures the Heroine in by giving her everything she has ever wanted. His castle is secluded far away from the village where the Heroine’s mother lives. The Heroine is conventionally defenseless and trapped in the hands of the male
Through layers of narrators, The Canterbury Tales frequently critique meaningless conventions and abusive uses of authority. The Clerk’s Tale struggles with the subversive power inherent to passive submission, showing how it enables an inferior to exert control over those who cannot be dominated through direct means because of their complete and unquestioned authority. In the context of The Clerk’s Tale, Griselda and Walter have a very strange relationship in which a confusing power struggle develops out of Griselda’s complete submission. In her “goodness” she is able to force Walter into damaging his own honor and proving his own faults. Ultimately, her submission is able to strip Walter of his power and manhood just as he strips from
Sometimes people are unsure of what decisions that they should make in an impasse, but oftentimes, instinct proves to be the most reliable source to follow. This situation can be found in the book The Exiled Queen by Cinda Williams Chima. In the book, Han Alister travels to Mystwerk House to began his education to fully evolve as a wizard. Meanwhile, Princess Raisa escapes from a forced marriage, using the alias Rebecca Morley to attend Wien House, a military school, in order to hide under the prying eyes of those who were ordered to find her and bring her back to her kingdom, the Fells. Despite all the complications that the characters faced in the story, anyone who reads the books can easily identify with the character Raisa.
These days, a burlesque show is considered a series of ladies dancing and singing in quite a sensual way, but this idea of burlesque shows has been revisited and revived over the years. In the nineteenth century, for instance, a burlesque was a type of show that parodied popular performers, plays, literature, and whatnot in a comically exaggerated way. Consider today’s modern version: Saturday Night Live. In that day, one of the most popular topics of culture was the Native American culture, due to the considerable conflict ensuing between the Natives and the American settlers pushing west. Americans both feared the so-called savages and were intrigued by their natural way of life. From this intrigue, the legend of Pocahontas became a major icon for literature. John Brougham – an actor, manager, and playwright – took the popular icon of Pocahontas, and created a burlesque afterpiece that would live to become both the most popular burlesque of its kind, and the end-all be-all of the Indian fascination on the American stage. The story less than accurately portrays the story of Pocahontas, including the marriage of Captain John Smith and Pocahontas, but only after he wins her hand in a card game. Originally, Pocahontas’ father, Chief Powatan, had Pocahontas engaged to a Dutchman named Mynheer Rolff, meant to represent the historical character of John Rolfe,
The turn of the nineteenth century for the newly formed United States was a time of nervous apprehension running alongside a giddy sense of adventure. The colonist had shirked the cloak of Britain and was a fledgling country of their own, similar to a young adult trying to figure out their way after leaving home. Nothing spoke of this like the Romantic writings in the early nineteenth century. The works tended to have a lot of good vs. evil and oppressor vs. oppressed. They tended to be optimistic, very democratic in their views, anti-slavery, some even dipped into the early women 's rights movement. The romantics were rebels with a cause, nonconforming individuals that think and stay true to how they see themselves. Along with the lofty language, the authors tended to write their prose they also managed to keep the details of their writings very generic. Such as Edgar Allen Poe, with his location description in Annabel Lee: " In a kingdom by the sea."(Poe) The Romantic author also liked being a master of his or her fate.
In literature, there are many written works which have themes that intermix with one another. While literature contains many themes, this does not mean that other works do not contain the same ideas as presented in written works. In the three stories of “The Princess Bride”, “Diablo 3” and “Billy Budd” Violence and Quests can be seen largely throughout each tale. Violence, while still having the tradition sense of the word, does not always mean fighting someone or physical attacks. Violence thematically is the display of aggressive actions verbally, physically, or even aggression leading to a goal. The other overarching theme in these stories is that of a Quest. Any self-realizing adventure where the protagonist realizes is considered a quest thematically as well as a large set goal for as seen within the story. The main themes of “The Princess Bride”, “Diablo 3” and “Billy Budd” are Quests as well as Violence which show a deep connection on a thematic level.
The current years of television have been overwhelmed by productions playing upon the triumph of the female heroine as the focus story. Most characters seem to have captivated the public courtesy and the exploitation of the female role in fiction has been diversified. Consequently, the purpose of this paper is to explore and analyze cersei Lannister, a female character in HBO’s Game of Thrones and a wretch of a woman. Outwardly, she is everything that is expected: polite, beautiful and regal. She is an ideal woman, wife, mother and a perfect companion. However, that’s not what it seems.
3.) The rising action is when all of the failed attempts were happening, and when the soldier came across the old lady. The climax is when he went into the trap door to follow the princesses, and followed them all night until they came back. The falling action is when he woke up the next morning, to tell the king where they dance. The twelve daughters were listening behind a door. The denouement is when the old soldier chooses to have the eldest daughter to be his wife. The characters all have their daily lives back, the soldier and eldest daughter were the only ones with different lives.
In Aphra Behn’s opening dedication to Oroonoko, Behn affirms that Oroonoko is an “eyewitness history that records truth,” told by the mouth of the hero himself (Nixon 63). The “truth” in Behn’s opening statement alludes to the truth in the story’s plot, removing the possibility of any exotic, unrealistic adventure tales, and also the authenticity of the Royal Slave’s virtue (Nixon 64). In Samuel Richardson’s Pamela, Richardson intertwines the reality of a servant, Pamela, trying to protect her virtue from the licentious Mr. B and the reality of the rigid eighteenth century hierarchy of persons. Richardson constructs Pamela as a moral exemplar that poses virtue as attractive, desirable, and strongly connected to the divine while vice is undesirable, unattractive, and a temptation contrary to purity. Eliza Haywood’s Anti-Pamela or Feigned Innocence Detected rejects Richardson’s definition of virtue rewarded and posits the impossibility of remaining a virtuous woman in eighteenth century society. Haywood’s Syrena mirrors Richardson’s Mrs. Jewkes: both do not find it immoral to lose their virtue for the sake of social advancement. Syrena’s desire to escape poverty pushes her to turn to vice and use other men to gain money and ultimately a marriage contract, but all of her efforts are futile. Richardson, through Pamela, constructs a moral exemplar that challenges Syrena’s rational self-interest for social advancement while Haywood rejects Richardson’s virtuous heroine, depicting
The damsel in distress is a classic figure in literature that is often a young woman placed in a dreadful situation by a villain, requiring a hero to rescue her from evil. Linda and Dewey Dell represent this figure, as both women are left alone in the world and have no one to turn to for help when they are in trouble. Dewey Dell’s loneliness results from her helplessness as a pregnant unmarried girl. Pregnancy to her is “the agony and despair of spreading bones” and “the process of becoming unalone is terrible” (107, 55). Dewey Dell’s realization of the alienation within herself originates from being unable to speak of her unwanted pregnancy. Linda is similarly unable to speak of the abusive environment that Doyle creates. Both women are so involved in their own thoughts that they fail to eliminate the evil that impairs them.
Shen had order all five guards and Zhing to keep their mouth shut about the Empress Dowager’s death and proceed with business as usual.
The Queen from the Uncommon reader was intelligent and well read, “but liking books was something she left to other people.” The overall apathy in life stemmed from the belief, that reading as a hobby involved preferences, and “preferences had to be avoided; preferences excluded people.” Her introduction to the traveling library and Norman Seakins sets her on a lifelong journey of reading. After hiring Norman as her “amanuensis”, the Queen quickly became attached to the “comforting pile of books she had got used to finding on her bedside table” and began exploring the literary world through the eyes of Norman with just some deviation of his proposed readings. Similarly, Menocchio’s reading choices and habits were not cultivated by his own mind, but rather a collective effort of his social