The Lie By Sir Walter Raleigh

Peter Singer is a man who believes in compassion, as well as giving to those who are suffering from a lack of food, shelter, and suitable health care wherever they may be. Another writer, John Arthur communicates his view more along the lines of integrity with reserve. Arthur explains how he is not against helping others, he believes that what we have worked hard for is ours and he does not believe that the poor should have the right to our resources. Samuel Johnson composes his thoughts about self-deception and examines its true meaning. Initially, Samuel Johnson writes about how humans, tell ourselves lies about our behavior in order to see ourselves as superior to what we actually are. These three writers all have strong viewpoints in regards to how individuals work and what is valued as the greatest perspective. Is it compassion for others, integrity for ones self, or self-deception?

The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer consists of frame narratives were a group of pilgrims that are traveling from Southwark to the shire of St. Becker in the Canterbury Cathedral, tell each other to pass time until they arrive at their destination. During The Canterbury Tales the reader is exposed to many characters that represent all of the social classes of medieval England and the reader gets to know them from the general prologue to each individual tale. One of these characters is the Pardoner, when the Pardoners is introduced he is described as the stereotypical pardoner of the Fourteen Century. The pardoner is describe as a crafty and a corrupt individual that will do anything to sell his pardons and relics. Nevertheless one of the most important characteristics that the Pardoner exhibits is his frankness about his own hypocrisy and sins. The pardoner accuses himself of fraud, avarice, and gluttony (the very things that he preaches against). During the Pardoners prologue, but most noticeable during his tale, the pardoners preach about how “Greed is the root of all evil”, and how our sins can lead cause our dismay.

““There was witchcraft in little Pearl’s eyes, and her face, as she glanced upward at the minister, wore that naughty smile which made its expression frequently so elvish.” (Hawthorne 145) This, is a misleading description that Nathaniel Hawthorne depicts of Pearl, the daughter of Hester Prynne, in his classic novel The Scarlet Letter. Pearl is the living product of sin for her mother. Born out of wedlock, Pearl is a unique child that tends to be very moody and unpredictable. However, Pearl, at such a young age, demonstrates outstanding knowledge and exhibits curiosity to her mother’s scarlet letter, and the hypocrisy of Puritan society. Although Pearl portrays devilish characteristics and performs mischievous behaviour, she

The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer can be understood as a text that criticizes glossing and those who gloss. In this case, glossing a text is the comments, explanations, and interpretations one infers from reading the piece of literature and the understanding that can be taken away from it; this is different for every individual who reads the written word. I believe Chaucer wrote some of these tales as a critique of certain figures in his society. The question one should ask when reading, or being read to, is what is the meaning behind the text and where does the meaning lie. When, directly, reading a text one can determine the meaning of the author through one’s own interpretation. When one is being read to, they are being given the information in a biased form; this prevents one from being able to interpret the text for oneself and leads to the audience being glossed, as well as the text, and Chaucer criticizes the crowd’s contentedness to be glossed at and to.

Surveillance can be considered the act of being watched under a close eye and can have either a positive or negative effect on a person. Some individuals feel more at ease knowing that someone is always there watching which is to create a supposedly safe environment. Others feel pressure from society or their peers to live up to their respected positions and morals of the society, much like Dimmesdale, which causes extreme paranoia. In The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Dimmesdale is an example that demonstrates negative effects that surveillance can have on a person. In the romance, Dimmesdale is faced with both his own surveillance and Chillingworth’s surveillance. However, Dimmesdale’s own scrutiny causes more damage to himself than Chillingworth’s does.

To start the book, we find that a young woman has committed adultery and when standing in front of a mocking crowd, she is ashamed of her actions. Continuing through the book we find that the adulteress, Hester Prynne, displays many examples of positive outcomes arising from negative situations. She becomes more and more aware of the faults of society and becomes wiser as she deals with the consequences of her actions. Even though Hester made a terrible decision that came with many extremely negative effects, she gained personality traits, perceptions, and people that rose from her mistake.

The eighteenth-century author, Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on July 4, 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts. He was most famous for his writings The Scarlet Letter, “Young Goodman Brown,” “The Minister’s Black Veil” and an abundant array of other books and short stories. The stories that are mentioned contain a copious amount of symbolism throughout the entirety of each book. All the stories that he ever wrote have an underlying meaning and the symbolism was hidden within in the names, characters, places, and actions that happened in the books and helped the readers to have a greater understanding about the Puritan lifestyle and the Bible. The dictionary definition of symbolism is the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities. A few

Sir Walter Raleigh the explorer was born in 1552, or possibly 1554 and died in 1618. He grew up in a farmhouse near a village called East Budleigh in Devon. He had four older brothers. He was also raised as a strict Protestant.

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is often renowned as his best work. The novel tells about the rigid ideas of 19th century Puritan New England through the story of Hester Prynne, Minister Dimmesdale, and Pearl. Hawthorne points out that the Puritans are often more ready to judge, punish, and damn someone than to forgive them. He is very critical of this idea, and goes against it by ending the novel with Hester Prynne becoming a respected individual that other women often look to for advice, and by changing the perception many people have of the Scarlet Letter from, “Adultery” to “Able”. Throughout the novel Hawthorne refutes the harsh ideals of the Puritans through the

Children have sponge-like mindsets that are full of curiosity and through each negative and positive encounter, they are able to learn from their experiences. Through their experiences, they are able to be more perceptive about their surroundings and are more honest than adults because they do not know what they say is either right or wrong. Children differ from adults in their potential for expressing these perceptions because they are not afraid to say or express anything but the truth. The children in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, are presented as more perceptive and honest than adults due to their actions of perceiving Hester’s scarlet letter, expressing their opinions without knowing if it is right or wrong, and their willingness to ask questions. In the Scarlet Letter, Hester’s daughter, Pearl, has a willingness to ask questions about the scarlet letter on Hesters chest to help her have a better understanding of why her mother wears it. Pearl shows how different a childs mind is from an adults since she does not understand the mark on her mother 's chest is a punishment. Children are able to be more perceptive and honest than adults because they express their ideas out loud without knowing if it is either correct or incorrect; despite how rude it might be. The ideas that children pick up are usually picked up by the action of their parents. Children are shown to be blunt and innocent because they are young and curious about everything leading them

In The Awakening, Edna is constantly looking for the approval and attention of someone. Although she has a husband and kids of her own to console her in her solitude, she strives for the attention of someone else. It seems that although she wants the attention of others, she represses the idea of a man to tell her what to do. The idea of a man taking control of her life would be the reason for the transformation that she undergoes. Throughout the novel, there are varies examples of the men that want to dominate the way Edna lives her life. Edna would be a reminder of the depiction of gender roles that women face. While the men in her life try to suppress the identity that she is discovering, she finds herself straying away from the person they want her to be.

Why are human beings tempted to conceal their transgressions? Is it for the fear of punishment or the loss of one’s standing with the public? In the insightful novel The Scarlet Letter, a seventeenth-century Boston minister named Arthur Dimmesdale committed, in the eyes of the townsfolk, the most evil of sins: adultery. Unlike his partner in this offense, Hester Prynne, he did not accept responsibility for his crime; instead he veiled his infraction of the Puritan law from the populace of Boston. As a consequence of his attempt to hide the truth, Minister Dimmesdale felt the guilt course through him, and that inner feeling of remorse caused his health to decline, his speeches to feel hypocritical, and his belief in the Lord’s mercy to

In Nathaniel Hawthorne 's book The Scarlet Letter he exhibits how committing sin can entirely consume a person through the three characters Chillingworth, Dimmesdale, and Hester and how they change from the sin.

Nathaniel Hawthorne constructs the plot of his novel The Scarlet Letter around two sinners and traces their journeys towards acceptance and belonging as they experience the effects of sin and guilt their individual ways, especially Arthur Dimmesdale who becomes increasingly guilt wrought throughout the novel. Dimmesdale’s steep decline under the weight of his sin essentially causes him to become trapped in a prison of guilt, his own “desert places,” that he spends the majority of the novel attempting to escape. As Dimmesdale attempts to gauge the advantages and disadvantages of a full confession he finds himself in the midst of an intense internal battle over between his immense guilt and his crippling cowardice. On one hand, confessing would allow Dimmesdale to be freed from his guilt and be authentic with his actions, but on the other hand, confessing would also destroy his reputation among the strict Puritans. Hawthorne follows Dimmesdale’s path as he attempts battle his guilt and transitions from a stance of passivity, his indecision, to an attitude of action with his final decision to confess. In The Scarlet Letter, Arthur Dimmesdale is trapped between his cowardice and his guilt, his “desert places,” which ultimately leads to his downfall.

The unlawful use of a person’s position while in power leads to multiple problems with today’s government. The corrupt methods politicians use are ideas that are strictly in place for personal gain. Present throughout history and still prevalent within today’s world, government corruption has consisted of a number of negative issues including bribery, economic and social impacts, and the misuse of power. Government’s role within daily life has been shown to have negative effects as seen in many aspects of life as well as in literature.