Thematic Irony In Joan Bumlik's 'Guigemar'

Marie de France, supposed author of the series of Lais, recounts her stories through short texts, which are centered on women and their place in the 12th century. There are several supernatural elements throughout her work, which are mainly and explicitly present in ‘Guigemar’ and ‘Yonec’. This can be defined as ‘events or things that cannot be explained by nature or science and that are assumed to come from beyond or to originate from otherworldly forces.’ It is not however the only narrative device she has used in her written pieces. It is with the combination of the supernatural with the self-propelled ship or the transformation of the hawk into a knight, and the natural, the symoblisation of the stick and the rossignol, that Marie de France explores human relations between her characters.

The use of irony is prevalent in literature throughout time. A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, exhibits a first hand experience as a child soldier in the Sierra Leone Civil War and the events experienced by those who lived through it. The novel has an ironic undertone when analyzing his actions not subjectively but objectively. When looking at his actions in comparison to normal society it reveals the irony that is written in the lines of the novel. Although he was raised in this environment, objectively, any justification of his actions predicated off an emotional perspective is not only unjust, but unethical. We, as a society, hold ourselves to a humane standard of living, and is undoubtedly true for any person of origin.

Some people keep secrets in order to keep the peace, to keep the happiness, and to keep others safe. There are many people in the world who feel that keeping a secret is wrong or may feel disrespected because a person is not being open and honest with them. Everyone has a different perspective of the influence secrets have on people. Medieval author, Marie De France, wrote the story of Lanval which tells the story of a knight who must keep his love with the woman of his dreams a secret or he will lose her forever. Secrecy is the central theme of Marie De France’s story. The theme of secrecy in this story adds to the dramatic effect of passion that the characters share with one another. This essay will examine how the theme of secrecy in Marie De France’s Lanval was an essential component to the story, how the choices made by the characters affected the plot, and how secrecy contributes to the entire meaning of the work.

The Holocaust was a horrific time period when over six million Jewish people were systematically exterminated by the Nazi government. Throughout this period, the Jews were treated particularly inhumane because the Nazi viewed their ethnicities as a disease to humanity. Dehumanization is a featured theme in Elie Wiesel’s novel about the Holocaust since he demonstrated numerous examples of the severe conditions endured by the Jewish people. The nonfiction story Night by Elie Wiesel focuses on inhumanity and reveals human beings are capable of committing great atrocities and behaving cruelly, when such actions are condoned by society, peer pressure, and ethical beliefs. Elie Wiesel uses literary devices to produce a consistent theme of inhumanity.

Guiard paints her dress in a bright blue color that emphasizes all the attention and focus on herself. By painting her dress a bold and bright color in contrast to the dark and dull background, she highlights the subject of her art piece, which are women. Not only does the color of her dress bring the attention to her, but the emerald green chair she sits on also captivates the attention of the viewers. In this self portrait, the only bright and bold color used are the blue on her dress, the green on the chair and red on the chair on the right. These colors are used in areas surrounding the three women in the painting. She is presenting the idea of women empowerment, through her selective choice of putting color only around the three

1. “Villefort started in spite of himself. The coincidence shook his usual impassivity and struck a chord of sympathy in the depths of his soul. He, too, was about to be married; and he had now been called upon to destroy the joy of a man who, like himself, was on the point of attaining his supreme happiness”(Dumas 25).

Often times in literature the body becomes a symbolic part of the story. The body may come to define the character, emphasize a certain motif of the story, or symbolize the author’s or society’s mindset. The representation of the body becomes significant for the story. In the representation of their body in the works of Marie de France’s lais “Lanval” and “Yonec,” the body is represented in opposing views. In “Lanval,” France clearly emphasizes the pure beauty of the body and the power the ideal beauty holds, which Lanval’s Fairy Queen portrays. In France’s “Yonec,” she diverts the reader’s attention from the image of the ideal body and emphasizes a body without a specific form and fluidity between the forms. “Yonec” focuses on a love not

Nevertheless, she is married to another man, who is the King. The husband of the lady makes this discovery and wishes to have Guigemar murdered. The King ships Guigemar off to his homeland and locks his wife up in a tower to suffer. However, suddenly and unexpectedly, by some force of magic she is able to leave the tower and go on a quest to find Guigemar. She eventually finds him.

In “Guigemar”, the son of Hoel, is a noble man immune to the feelings of love, basically having no romantic interests in the women who come his way. His remaining indifference continues until he wounds a doe, who places a curse on him after he, himself is injured by his own hand. The curse placed upon a man who shows indifference to love causes Guigemar to be quite pessimistic that any woman could love him enough to not only heal him, but suffer for him as well. However, he seeks refuge aboard a ship at the harbor to rest which leads him to the castle of an aged lord and his wife, who fled from the room she was locked inside within the castle. Discovering the nearly dead Guigemar, the lady vows to nurse him back to health with the help of her female companion, but it is under her care that Guigemar is struck with love, overwhelmed with his newly found emotions towards the woman who has his heart. The two lovebirds, confess their feelings and embrace in their love until they are

Fredrick Douglass said that “Once you learn to read you will forever be free”. Nothing could be truer, although it may seem to be false to those who dislike reading. Imagine a world where books are ban, sounds pretty cool. But when reading a story solely on such a concept, reading a book seems to be the only thing that would save humanity. In 1950 Ray Bradbury wrote a short story titled The Firemen for galaxy Science Fiction, which later he turned it into the novel titled Fahrenheit 451 in 1953. Ray Bradbury wrote an amazing book displaying a world in the absence of books which to this day still draws readers in, because he shows what life would be like if we continue in a society of censorship. Which is illustrated by his choice to include

La Farce de Maitre Pierre Pathelin has been called "a little masterpiece". In comparison to most earlier works of French medieval literature, it is highly complex in many aspects. In the words of Cazamian, "a high level of artistic creation is reached." This essay will focus on Guillemette and study both her role in the play, and the complex nature of this character. Such a study should give the reader an idea of the plays "high level of artistic creation", and also illustrate some of the many witty double meanings and underlying messages that are present right throughout the Farce.

Once Upon a Social Issue Fairy tales have always been told to us as children; whether to comfort or entertain us, they always seem to be a part of everyone’s childhood. “Once Upon A Time”, the title is a characteristic of a fairy tale, but she leads the story to an ending that is anything other than “happily ever after” (Gordimer 12). Although Nadine Gordimer’s title is typical in a fairy tale in the story “One upon a time”, the story she writes is anything but typical. Instead of dealing with characteristics and synonymous with fairy tales, the author uses irony to reflect the idea of humans

This wound acts as a physical manifestation of the incompleteness of Guigemar’s life. He is “wounded” with lack of romantic love, and fulfilling that need is the only way for him to become whole again. The stag also introduces an important aspect of courtly love. Both parties must willingly suffer for each other. The true virtue of love is a balance of power and equality in the relationship, something that Marie de France emphasizes throughout the story.

“Once Upon a Time” In the story “Once Upon a Time” I feel that the author Nadine Gordimer uses irony in the story to show off the main idea of the story. Irony is used throughout the story and to me I feel it makes the story itself seem a lot better and adds a little different way to look about the story. In the story the way Nadine Gordimer uses irony are in the most obvious way like the first example of irony is the title of the story “Once Upon a Time” that is a sense of irony to the story. When you think of the line once upon a time you would think about this happy fairytale kind of story where everything is peaceful and calm and everyone in the story is happy. Once upon a time is just a very traditional way to start a fairytale type of

With each letter in Les Liaisons dangereuses, Choderlos de Laclos advances a great many games of chess being played simultaneously. In each, the pieces—women of the eighteenth-century Parisian aristocracy—are tossed about mercilessly but with great precision on the part of the author. One is a pawn: a convent girl pulled out of a world of simplicity and offered as an entree to a public impossible to sate; another is a queen: a calculating monument to debauchery with fissures from a struggle with true love. By examining their similarities and differences, Laclos explores women’s constitutions in a world that promises ruin for even the most formidable among them. Presenting the reader glimpses of femininity from a young innocent’s daunting debut to a faithful woman’s conflicted quest for heavenly virtue to another’s ruthless pursuit of vengeance and earthly pleasures, he insinuates the harrowing journey undertaken by every girl as she is forced to make a name for herself as a woman amongst the tumult of a community that machinates at every turn her downfall at the hands of the opposite sex. In his careful presentation of the novel’s female characters, Laclos condemns this unrelenting subjugation of women by making clear that every woman’s fate in such a society is a definitive and resounding checkmate.