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Hugh Latimer Research Paper

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In allusion to Hugh Latimer’s famous quote, the old woman says “Play the man, Master Ridley,” before she strikes a match, setting herself and her books on fire. In the mid 1500s Queen Mary of England attempted to convert the newly rising Protestant ways back to traditional Roman Catholicism. People convicted of heresy were tried and burned at the stake. However, brave and courageous Protestants continued to practice and preach their religion despite the potential consequences. Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley were “heretics” who stood beside their beliefs and against Queen Mary’s intolerance of the Protestant religion, calling the attention of others that were being oppressed. This act had an influential impact on many others standing …show more content…

While being coerced out of the building, the woman stood her ground and made a statement, a call for the attention of the people of society. As the fireman entered the building, she referenced Latimer and struck the match, as if the act of self-immolation was planned. The old woman set herself on fire for the moving effect it would have on others, not as an act of destruction. Her message became more powerful and had a greater impact on people, such as Montag, when the act was drastic. In a letter Thich Nhat Hanh wrote he states, “To burn oneself by fire is to prove that what one is saying is of utmost importance.” This helps show as to why the severity of her act changed the way it impacted Montag. Montag has been burning books for years and has not hesitated until he met the old woman. The painful and inspiring act expresses the old woman’s views with great seriousness and …show more content…

Belief in the importance of books and the knowledge and wisdom they contain motivated the old woman to take a stand against the problems in their society. The common enemy of man is not man itself, but is within mankind. These negative traits displayed by man are intolerance, fanaticism, cupidity, discrimination, hatred, and dictatorship. In both the society of Latimer and the old woman, the prominent enemy is intolerance. Queen Mary was intolerant of the Protestant views and Latimer and Ridley’s unwillingness to convert to Roman Catholicism. The society of the old woman was intolerant of books and learning or knowledge held by a civilian. Like Latimer and Ridley’s act, the old woman sacrifices herself for her beliefs and the awakening of the people in society; to construct tolerance, wisdom and freedom within a

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