Letters Of Abelard And Heloise Essay

     Jonathan Swift is one of the best known satirists in the history of literature. When one reads his works, especially something like Gulliver’s Travels, it is easy for one to spot the misanthropic themes, which emerge within his characterization. Lamuel Gulliver is an excellent protagonist: a keen observer, and a good representative of his native England, but one who loses faith in mankind as his story progresses. He ends up in remote areas of the world all by accidents in his voyages. In each trip, he is shipwrecked and mysteriously arrives to lands never before seen by men. This forms an interesting rhythm in the novel: as Gulliver is given more and more responsibility, he tends to be less

The Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina of Tuscany was written by Galileo Galilei in 1615. Galileo was an Italian scientist that began making new discoveries in the heavens in 1609. He discovered many things that did not coincide with the teaching of the church.

Franz Marc was a German artist and printmaker, and also one of the key statistics of the German Expressionist movement. Franz Marc was born in February 8, 1880 in Munich and past away in March 4, 1916, eventually Marc was only 36 years old. Wilhelm, the father, was an expert landscape painter; his mother, Sophie, was a strict Calvinist. Marc began to study at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich in 1900. In 1903 and 1907, he spent time in France, intensely in Paris, visiting the city’s museums and copying many paintings, a conventional way for artists to study and improve technique.

     Auguste Escoffier was born on October 28, 1846, in the village of Villeneuve-Loubet, France. He was the son of Jean-Baptiste Escoffier and his wife Madeleine Civatte. His father was the villages blacksmith, farrier, locksmith, and maker of agricultural tools. Escoffier's childhood dream was to become a sculptor. Unfortunately he was forced to give up that dream at the age of thirteen, just after he celebrated his first Holy Communion Escoffier was told he was going to be a cook.

Hedy Lamarr was born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler, November 9, 1914, Vienna, Austria. She was born to Gertrud (Lichtwitz), from Budapest, and Emil Kiesler, a banker from Lviv. Lamarr had three kids in her lifetime; Anthony Loder, Denise Loder, and James Lamarr Markey.

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).

While Abelard’s focus is the relationship between the individual and God, Heloise’s focus is on people’s relationships with each other and how we act right or wrong with regards to other people, not God.

Heloise was a noble girl under the care of her uncle, when Abelard heard of her. He decided he wanted to be her teacher and her lover, because she was the "best one to bring to my [his] bed." He believed that the" philosophical discussion" that the two could engage in would "provide added intimacy," rather than just finding someone to have a sexual relationship with. Abelard and Heloise became lovers, Heloise became pregnant with Abelard's child, the two married, and then, on Abelard's command, separated to live out monastic lives. The letters written by Heloise are extremely important to the history of the Middle Ages because, according to historian, Barbara Tuchman, women of the Middle Ages are known "through the pens

Their relationship started when Abelard was hired by Heloise’s uncle to be her teacher and live in his home with Heloise and himself. In the beginning of their relationship, Abelard was just Heloise’s teacher and mentor, but he had another plan for the relationship. He put his plan into action and the relationship turned extremely sexual. When Heloise’s uncle

Because of this, scholars are bombarded with the male view of the female existence. This can lead to warped ideas of how women thought and behaved during the Middle Ages. With Heloise's letters, people can get a true sense of how a woman thought, felt, and behaved during this era. Some would argue that because Heloise was a noblewoman that she could not represent most women. While this may be true, what she can do, is represent the ideals and expectations that were expected of all women, regardless of social stature. According to historian, Katherine Clark, women were valued as "virgins, holy widows, and faithful wives." Although she could not be valued as a virgin, Heloise fell somewhere in between a holy widow and a faithful wife. Abelard

By establishing this relationship on a lustful foundation, Abelard and Heloise were creating a relationship leading to a sinful life. As stated by Abelard, “My love, which brought us both to sin, should be called lust, not love” (Letter 5, Abelard to Heloise 86). When two people are actually in love, the relationship built is symbiotic and mutualistic. Part of that establishment is for the sole purpose that it, in some way, benefits both party members. In the case of Abelard and Heloise, the relationship was not symbiotic; it led both Abelard and Heloise to live a life with one another built on lust. Even Heloise shows how the relationship is not entirely out of true love for Abelard. She states, “…we enjoyed the pleasures of an uneasy love and abandoned ourselves to fornication” (Letter 4, Heloise to Abelard 65-66). This facet directly relates to how the relationship between the two is not based on love, if it were then both Abelard and Heloise would not resort to unfaithfulness and strained love, neither shows pure commitment to the other.

In the excerpt “Fourth Day, Story 32 [The Woman Who Drank from Her Lover’s Skull]”, Marguerite de Navarre tells the polarizing story of an adulterous wife and her husband. The story follows the journey of Bernage Signeur, who was sent on a mission by King Charles VIII. Upon his expedition, he seeks lodging at a castle and is introduced to the castle’s master. The master invites him to dinner.

Throughout the letters, Abelard and Heloise’s perspectives on gender roles were strictly based upon the traditional views on sexuality. For instance, in the egotistical mind of Abelard, women in the medieval society were viewed as a weaker sex who need help of the a stronger male since there were certainly things that “cannot be carried out by women”5. Moreover, Heloise, despite her being a woman, did not seem to be shocked at the idea that men are superior to women. Instead, she instinctively acknowledged the weaker nature of women indicated by her discussion of her abbey which she called “feminine”; she also described it as weak, frail, and needing a more careful attention6. Throughout the first four letters from Abelard and Heloise, they both held congruent views regarding masculinity and femininity, and this dichotomous way of looking at gender indeed did not deviate much from the conventional thinking of the medieval society.

In the literary `movements' of neo-classicism and romanticism, Voltaire's Candide and Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther represent the literary age in which they were written. In the following composition, textual evidence will be provided to demonstrate how each book accurately represents either the neo-classicism age or the romanticism age. Candide and The Sorrows of Young Werther will be examined separately, and then examined together. After, a discussion about how each age seems to view the nature of man and the significance of moral and spiritual values will be presented. Also, a personal interpretation of the conclusion of each book will be given. Lastly, quotes

. I will provide examples and analyses of those who judge this composition on an aesthetic basis and those that judge it on its moral tones and their purpose behind these choices. Depending on what side an academic falls, there is also controversy for what this means for the physical painting; is it then historically important but aesthetically immoral in modern society? Is the narrative so complex that it needs further research and appreciation? I will attempt to answer, or provide options, for not only what the potential moral tone of the painting is, but also what the composition means for future viewings.