The Hierophant: The Archetype Of The Old Wise Man

This can be seen through a comparison of parallel protagonists Palamon and Ferdinand, as well as parallel antagonists Arcite and Caliban. Their many similarities reveal an insight to each author’s view of love and how it is gained. Palamon and Ferdinand are men of the heart who do not have the girl initially, nor do they claim her. Instead, they wish the best for her and are willing to work for and serve her, regardless of the outcome. In contrast, Arcite and Caliban are men of the physical who take the woman they love by force and physically serve her in order to fulfill their prideful desires, completely disregarding the wishes of their beloved. Strikingly, all four of these men are of noble birth, and all four willingly lower themselves from a position of power to a position of service in order to gain a woman’s love; however, only the men who also serve her selflessly succeed in winning her love. Both men of the heart end up “getting the girl” in the metaphorical sense, although it takes time and they must be patient. In contrast, the men who have the girl initially –Arcite and Caliban – begin by taking her by force and have her in the literal sense, but lose her in the end. All of these elements show that Chaucer and Shakespeare believe the selfless and humble approach to be the most effective way to gain

From the first great work of literature to Egyptian Mythology to present day TV shows, the danger of hubris is a common theme. In a Mesopotamian saga, a character named Gilgamesh, showed great hubris when he ruled ruthlessly over his subjects as king. At one point, he goes on an adventure to find the secret to immortality, so he will never die like his best friend Enkidu. On the way to the secret of immortality he found the wise words of Saduri and found out instead of helping the people of Uruk, he was hurting the people around him.

Since the moon is the polar opposite of the sun we can say that, in the human element of the story there is Grandma Luna which is currently at the ending of her “moon life” and at the beginning of her rebirth towards a new day as the “sun”, the light bulb, as a symbol of rebirth representing the sun, appears one more time in the story, where in the wake of her Grandmothers death, the narrator is watching the moths “fluttering to light”, carrying her Grandmother’s soul to a place were it can become reborn. I believe that the author’s carefully chosen name of “Luna” for the Grandmother was in fact to show the reader that our death is inevitable but our rebirth in terms of happiness is changeable.

Shakespeare’s King Lear and Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus are two examples of early modern texts, one a tragedy and the other a morality play respectively, which deal with the theme of power at the crux of its narrative. Between both texts it is evident that different characters utilize their power or authority differently – some ‘unwisely’ whilst some ‘maliciously’. In either case, the use of power progresses the plays and drives the majority of main characters.

The moon has now become ominous as it forewarns of the child’s death. Spanish culture is once again brought into the poem as the moon becomes deathly. The moon has always been a figure of death in Spanish history and continues to be represented in that matter by this poem. The moon’s sensual appeal balances its foreboding nature. The boy is enticed by the mystery of the moon and does not heed her warning. Once again the boy warns the moon, “flee, moon, moon, moon” (17), as he shows his continued persistence to save the moon he has been draw into. He warns that the gypsies are coming, but the moon will not leave its dance. The moon says, “young boy, leave me, don’t step on / my starched whiteness” (19-20). This shows her lack of concern for the boy, which exemplifies her task to only attract him to her. Her starched whiteness once again contradicts her true mission to lead him to his demise. “Beating the drum of the plain” (22) stresses the intensity of the moment leading up to the point that “within the forge the young man has closed eyes” (23).

The imagery in the poem, specifically natural imagery, helps use the reader’s senses to develop a vivid depiction of the speaker’s connection to nature and dissatisfaction with the surrounding reality. The speaker’s continued use of the “moon” reflects her attribution of feminine identity and idolistic character to the moon. As opposed to referencing herself and her personal insomnia, she uses the imagery of the moon “beyond sleep” to convey her internal struggles with insomnia and her reality. Throughout the poem, the speaker also refers to shining, reflective surfaces, such as “a body of water or a mirror”, to describe the inverted reality in which the speaker experiences reciprocated love. Reflective surfaces often invert the image that is projected into them, seemingly distorting the true nature and reality of the projected image. The speaker’s reference to this reflective imagery highlights her desire to escape the burden of a patriarchal society and assume an independent and free feminine identity. Specifically, the use of natural imagery from the references to the “moon” and “a body of water” convey the speaker’s desire to take refuge within the Earth or in the feminine identity of the Earth, Mother Earth. Feminine identities are often related and associated with aspects of nature due to the natural cycle of the menstrual period and the natural process of procreation. The speaker takes advantage of these connotations to suggest Earth and natural imagery as an escape from the man-made terrors of male dominated society. In the second stanza, the speaker uses extensive imagery to develop metaphors conveying the speaker’s experience of jealousy of the moon

During the hurricane Tea Cake asks Janie if she regrets leaving Eatonville to which she replies, “Naw, We been tuhgether round two years. If you kin see de light at daybreak, you don’t keer if you die at dusk. It’s so many people never seen de light at all.” At daybreak there is a horizon- this connects to the situation as Janie implies that she has seen and captured her horizon, she has obtained her dream. Dusk happens after sunset, it’s the coming of darkness. Janie does not care if she has to die in the terrible hurricane. Janie notes that there are people who never “seen the light”- meaning they’ve never seen or captured their own horizon and dreams. Just by being with Tea Cake Janie believes she has a part of her horizon. This is expressed as a point that Tea Cake is expressed as “the sun of the Evening Sun.” During sunset in the evening, the evening sun is part of the horizon. This symbolizes that Tea Cake is part of the dream of Janie in becoming free and being able to love. After trial, Janie thinks “The sun was almost down and Janie had seen the sun rise on her troubled love and then she had shot Tea Cake and had been in jail and had been tried for her life and now she was free. Nothing to do with the little that was left of the day but to visit the kind white friends who had realized her feelings and thank them. So the sun went down.” This quote represents more than that given day- it represents the life of Janie. In the end, Janie had gone through 2 marriages as the sun rose on her “troubled love”, Janie had to kill her lover and be tried in court. Now, the sun would go down and the horizon would arise. This shows how Janie had to go through all her struggles and sacrifices in order to reach her horizon. Now Janie is free- she is free from having to be in pursuit of her

This metaphor of the stars goes from showing us the envy the narrator had to possibly just being her feeling left out, not necessarily a bitter feeling towards her sister. The metaphor continues by explaining that stars are corruptible, “Stars are not made of heavenly ether, but of the same corruptible elements that comprise earth” (357). This piece of the metaphor is in reference to the sister and how her beauty is waning and she isn’t treated as beautifully as she “should be” as we see the abuse she endured when she was raped, and from there she seems to cycle in and out of harmful relationships. In addition, the stars being corruptible show us the transformation of how the narrator from being childishly jealous of her sister to now her view of her sister is corrupted, she now feels bad and pities her sister. To conclude the essay the metaphor finalizes by stating, “You want to spin back light years from today, hold your sister on your lap, rock her luminous beauty in your arms until it stops hurting” (359). This metaphor brings the essay to a close and helps the reader realize that the author just cares for her sister, no longer envying her or wanting to be the star- but only wishing that all the wrongdoing she endured for being such a “luminous beauty” would dissipate.

The Terrible Old Man is a short story written in 1920 by H.P. Lovecraft, who was a famous author of sciene fiction, fantasy and last but not least horrer. I will, by analysing the characters, the setting and the ending, try to interpret and find the main theme of this story.

Power inevitably instills vanity in those who hold it, and thus, chaos and negligence in government cannot be avoided. However, despite this corruption in leadership, civilization can continue to function with morality from where it is least expected. The lowly Dogberry and watchmen provide the evidence that enables everyone to have a happy ending, and Hal, whom everyone regarded as a total disgrace, heroically saves the king from death. Without this unanticipated honor though, society does fall to tragedy as seen in the demise of nearly every character in the greedy, power hungry world of King Lear. Therefore, because of this great importance of unexpected integrity, everyone, regardless of class, holds a responsibility to act with the dignity that once solely belonged to the privileged. While typically, only those who hold no power understand society’s problems and live virtuously, these people, though lacking in status, actually hold the most honor and power to influence positive

In the third stanza there is heavy personification of the objects in her room and the moon. The room ‘it seemed, had missed her’ (10), by bringing inanimate objects to life the author draws parallels to the child missing her parent silently, silent like the items in her room. The moon has also begun to become characterized and has been framed as inconsiderate, ‘she pretended an interest in the bookcase’. This metaphor conveys how the child feels: overlooked, as if items in her room are more fascinating.

Ethnographic analogies seem to be useful, although it does not gives a complete picture of how Archaic Man lived. The reason it does not give a complete picture is that the populations that still forage today actually vary significantly in how their day-to-day lives function. For instance mortality rates between different groups today differ, how they are killed differ, and in how much time they spent foraging differs as well. Essentially they differ therefore archaic man could differ as well (New World Hunter-Gatherers (PDF). However, even though they differ today, they are still useful for us to see the many different ways ancient man could have lived in the past. The analogues will help us figure out, how ancient forage societies cared for

The speaker refers to the night as his acquaintance. This implies that the speaker has a lot of experience with the night, but has not become friends with it. Thus, because even the night, which has been alongside the speaker in comparison to anything or anyone else, is not a companion to the speaker, the idea of loneliness is enhanced. In addition, “rain” (2) is used to symbolize the speaker’s feelings of gloom and grief, because there is continuous pouring of the rain, which is unlikely to stop. In line 3, “city light” is used to convey the emotional distance between the speaker and society. Although the speaker has walked extensively, he has not yet interacted with anyone – thus distancing himself even further from society. Moreover, the moon, in lines 11 to 12, is used as a metaphor of the speaker’s feelings. The speaker feels extremely distant from society that he feels “unearthly.” The idea of isolation and loneliness in this poem is used as the theme of the poem; and the use of the setting and metaphors underscores the idea that the speaker feels abandoned from society.

Both Sun and Moon play significant roles in this old poem, in a symbolic and supernatural way, in order to reinforce the mood that Samuel Taylor Coleridge has attempted to create in his use of old legends and superstitions. The role that the sun and moon play in this tale of cursed sailors is an old one, retold over and over the years that Coleridge adapted for his own.

Again, the author selects a new set of imagery, such as stars, moon, sun, ocean, and wood to remind of the heaven in which the speaker used to live, and then to sweep it off right away. The last statement “For nothing now can ever come to any good” (16) finally reinforces the speaker’s loss and unhappiness. In loneliness, the speaker’s love becomes fiercer and more truthful. It is the fierceness and truthfulness that lead the speaker to the last stair of hopelessness. The end of the poem is also the hopeless end of the speaker’s life because of “nothing …good.”