Noah's Piety In The Play

In the passage “Noah Count and the Arkansas Ark”, Gary Blackwood demonstrates narrator’s point of view regarding his family’s lack of education changes over the course of the story by showing how the son sees how the father was right about what he was thinking would happen soon. The people of the town thought that the father was crazy because he started building an ark to save his family and animals that were in his possession. The son was embarrassed by his father because he doesn’t think his dad is doing something that matters to them at all.

Evan says, “image is everything” indicating that he doesn’t think he means anything unless he is the “perfect” image in the publics eyes rather than Noah who was the faithful image in Gods eyes (Evan Almighty). God chose Noah to build an ark so that Noah and his family could be saved from the flood that would destroy the unfaithful people that were affected by the mistake that Adam and eve committed in the beginning of time, and to save creation. “So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. So make yourself an ark” (Genesis 6:13-14).

Within Findley's novel, power is established in a pyramid setting in which the highest point is (God) Yaweh, and the second is Noah Noyes. Noah and Yahweh exercise power and control in Not Wanted on the Voyage by forcing beliefs and dictating individual’s actions. However it’s Noah who demonstrates the corruption of power in his actions far more than Yaweh. Noah is an obedient follower of Yahweh which becomes apparent as Noah responds ‘whatever punishment my Lord decrees I shall be only too glad to administer twice over’ (Findley 67).Noah's exaggerated enthusiasm towards Yahweh makes the control of him easy which is why the building of the Arc/ rebuilding of earth is bestowed upon him. The exaggerated worship toward Yahweh is evident during

In The Koran, Noah is the first of many important prophets. The Koran gave emphasis to the prophetic aspect of Noah's tasks given to him by God. In short, Noah's mission as a prophet was to inform the wrongdoers, and to convince them to submit to God. If they refused to do so, Noah threatened them with anguish and suffering. Regardless, the wrongdoers rejected his warning and shrugged off his threats. Consequently, it became evident to Noah that his people would never take note of his word of warning. It was then that Noah ordered down God's destruction of all who did not take heed to his forewarning.

Noah respected God and did every duty that was asked of him. “Noah was kindhearted and followed the rules” (Genesis 6:7).

" If one takes the trouble to examine my comedy in good faith, he will surely see that my intentions are innocent throughout, and tend in no way to make fun of what men revere; that I have presented the subject with all the precautions that its delicacy imposes; and that I have used all the art and skill that I could to distinguish clearly the character of the hypocrite from that of the truly devout man." (Meyer 1509)

Everything on earth will perish. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. 19 You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. 20 Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. 21 You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.” 22 Noah did everything just as God commanded him.” This was God’s command to Noah, unlike Utnapishtim who was told the secret of the flood by one of the gods.

The world before the flood was already in turmoil and ruin, enveloped in sin and chaos; it is in this world that Noah’s faith made him the only righteous man. God had entrusted in Noah to complete a very important task that would test his faithfulness to Him. God’s plan was to destroy the world by way of flood as the result of mankind’s misdeeds. He instructed Noah to construct an ark to save his family and all species of animals, two of each kind - male and female. All of them would survive in the ark while God sent down a watery wrath to be swept across the earth, wiping out everything in its path. Noah was obedient; his life revealed qualities of patience and persistence which made him the perfect candidate for the building of the

The Old Testament God says, that the world which he created was turning evil and knew he had to destroy man and all the living things on the earth. Noah was the only man who “found grace in the Lords eyes” Old Testament pg 57. The lord realized that Noah was full of good and decided to spare him his wife and Noah’s three sons and their wives. God also decided to save a male and a female of each animal that walked the earth. God told Noah to build an Ark that would fit all these animals,

In addition, Noah was told about the flood directly from God showing the relationship between God and Noah is significant. The Lord had chosen Noah to be saved from the effects from the flood because Noah is a righteous man. This shows that God has a strong relationship with Noah as he told him exactly what to do to survive the flood. The Lord says, “Go into the ark, you and all your household; for I have seen that you alone are righteous before me in this generation,”(7:1-2). God commands Noah to build in ark so he can survive the flood showing that God wanted humankind to repopulate, but to have qualities like Noah. Since Noah was directly told how to survive the flood the reader sees the connection between God and Humans to be substantial.

Unlike Gilgamesh, Noah is just a normal human, who willing to give up anything for God, even his son. His faith is like no other. Because of that, God decided to save him. Tired of the wickedness and sinfulness of humanity, God decided to wipeout the human kind, “I will blot out from the earth the men whom i created- men together with beasts, creeping things, and birds of the sky; for I regret that I made them” (171). He want to save Noah and the animals, because he want them to carry on the mankind, Noah was also the man who he trust in, “Noah was a righteous man; he was blameless in his age. Noah walked with God” (171). At the end, God reward Noah with a blessing, God blessed him to have many kids so he can carry on the humanity. “Be fertile and increase, and fill the earth. The fear and the dread of you shall be upon all the beasts of the earth and upon all the birds of the sky- everything with which the earth is astir-and upon all the fish of the sea; they are giving into your hand”

The genre of comedy as it is known today is a genre which has undergone consistent change since its first recorded appearances in ancient Greece around two millennia ago. What began as a humorous structural pattern for songs and stories eventually led to the more ironic and potentially tragic structure of Shakespearean comedy which, despite having been created only 400 years ago, is in many ways already structurally different from the modern comedic genre. There are even plays within the Shakespearean genre itself that are structurally different at times, from the ‘traditional’ comedies such as Much Ado About Nothing to the ‘tragicomedies’ or ‘romances’ such as Pericles. Nonetheless, both Much Ado About Nothing and Pericles employ similar comedic conventions to construct characters, plot structures, and moods that ultimately fit the ideal Shakespearean comedy. It is the goal of this paper to examine the plays Much Ado About Nothing and Pericles in order to explore what connects these opposing ends of the Shakespearean comic spectrum and what separates them so as to gain a deeper understanding of the conventions of Shakespearean comedy.

The Second Shepherd’s Play is a Wakefield cycle play written during the 15th century. The play is set in Bethlehem and is based on the birth of Jesus Christ told from the perspective of the shepherds attending their flock. During the Middle Ages, cycle plays were popular because they allowed the plays to be performed from town-to-town. This was important because people could not read and Bibles were so expensive. Cycle plays allowed Christians to learn about key elements pertaining to Jesus Christ and other Christian figures. The Second Shepherd’s Play is a unique play in that it combines farcical elements and serious lessons.

Unlike Mankind where the vices are arguably more entertaining than either Mercy or Mankind it is likely that the audience would have been more favourable towards the character of Wit despite his foolishness and humorous failings at first. In this play the element of humour is not used solely for the ‘bad’ characters but for those representing ‘good’ as well. Wit is not as apathetic or pious as other leading characters at the time the plays performed were portrayed to be and as such was a more sympathetic character that the audience could have more easily identified with. For example, the downfall of Mankind would have been shocking and his attempted suicide considered blasphemy at the time and wholly inconceivable to audiences at the time whereas the folly of Wit was in a way more realistic to the audience and thus more relatable to those in the audiences. If it were possible for the audience to better relate to a character on a moral journey then the teachings of the plays, the moral messages of the church, could be more easily applied to their own lives and therefore arguably humour was indeed an effective tool for instruction at the time in some

The Comedy of the christening, gossip scene is wrought in obscenities and absurdities. This humour is catalysed by the characters attempts to sustain their social pretences. The Puritan Christians apostle spoon disapproval. The licentious associations of “Sure that was Judas then with the red beard.” The second Puritan continues in a similar vain with “it consumes them much”