Tristan And Isolde

Does being a female put every woman at a disadvantage in a patriarchal society? In The Marquise of O, Heinrich von Kleist tells the story of a woman named Giulietta who lost her husband, but continues to take care of her children. This almost perfect life of hers came to an end when she was raped and found out she was pregnant without any knowledge of the incident. As a woman living in the 18th century, she was put at a disadvantage because she now had to now find a father for the child in order for her and the child to avoid public scrutiny in the patriarchal society where having a father figure or more so his name was crucial. In this paper, I will be looking at the problem of feminine passivity in the Marquise of O and how this is shown

Of the many great composers during this era, Wagner stood out to me because of the intensity of his composition from 1851 in “The Ride.” The song pulls at my emotions in a theatrical telling of a battle scene from which warrior maidens emerge. These women are attendants to Odin, who sought out the souls of those heroes lost in battle. The Norse myths story is told through the feelings I experience when I hear this composition. The tempo is fast and amped. It pulls me into the sounds and I want to hear what happens next. I feel the announcement of these heroic soldiers and the challenges they fought through. It starts fast, lightens up, and then comes back with stronger build up. I feel the drama in the battle as if it’s happening in front of me. There are moments while listening where I caught myself holding my breath. This draws out feelings of enthusiastic anticipation which reminds me of the music written for a screenplay. The song finishes with a final, proud, horn blast and then leave me with some tension in the fast-paced ending of thrills. I’m drawn in and

Ralph P. Locke’s theory of musical exoticism takes form through a spectrum that ranges from pure musical exoticism to transcultural composing. However the main requirement of exoticism is the notion of conjuring up a specific place or group of people as being perceived as different from the audience culture. In terms of pure exoticism, the composer willingly incorporates exotic sounding elements in order to mark a specific group or place as foreign. Transcultural composing is the other facet of exoticism. It is different in that it is not intended to marginalize any exotic group, rather it is a mix of Western and non-western styles. While both George Bizet’s Carmen and Benjamin Britten’s Death In Venice incorporate exoticism, they each take on an opposite form of exoticism. Bizet’s use of stereotypical gypsy music, as well as the portrayal of Carmen, explicitly marginalize and construct Carmen as different. Carmen’s lack of Spanish descent and her Gypsy ethnicity are constructed as different via musical and performative aspects of the opera. Within the exoticism framework, Bizet’s carmen is an example of pure exoticism. In contrast, Britten's Death In Venice is an example of transcultural composing because the “other” being marginalized is homosexuality, which is an identity that Britten is apart of and is not exclusive to any one group.

In Elizabethan Society during the time in which William Shakespeare wrote The Merchant of Venice, many marriages were arranged by the parents of the betrothed couple to ensure the transfer of wealth as opposed to assuring true love. Once married, the woman was expected to be subservient to her husband and not control any matters of the estate. Although not necessarily written as a stance on women’s position in society, it is from this perspective that Shakespeare wrote The Merchant of Venice laying down an underlying theme of marriage for wealth within the play. Love in William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice is bartered like a tradable commodity in order to gain money, status, and resources.

The medieval church taught that women were inferior to men and that they should be compliant and obedient to their fathers and husbands. Men look down to women as their respect for their ladies are limited as in Canterbury Tales were these women start out as beneath men. These same men who feel the need to arrogate women of their dignity find their fate is later put into the women’s hands. Although a women is taciturn and does not speak out to the men and talk of their animadversion toward the men’s behavior, these same ladies have the power to then decide how these men should serve their punishment for their sacrileges and unruly decisions as in the “Wife of Bath’s Tale”, were after his life was saved by an old lady, in return this old women requested to him to “take me as your wife” (p.138). A women’s love and passion should be approached with appreciation and admiration otherwise being inconsiderate and impassionate will turn a women against a man.

In the primary source, it talks about women from the upper class who gain prestige and power through widowhood. While lower class women had more freedom in their early life with work and marriage, upper class women were pressured to keep the wealth going throughout generations which led to a great deal of pressure to marry a rich man and benefit from that in any way that they could. The source focuses on a woman named Alessandra, who lived in the years between 1450-1465; married a wealthy merchant, named Matteo Strozzi, who then died of the plague thus leaving her with branches of businesses all across Europe and a sudden new access to these things that her husband previously took charge of. She talked to her sons about their role in the family with political, marital, and economical issues and duties for the family. She talked to her daughters about the men they should strive to marry and the duties they have at home that they should learn and do to

As a woman in both Elizabethan and Victorian eras, not only do they face being a man’s property, but it is also evident that they are only necessary in order to benefit a man’s social standing. Women in Othello, such as Desdemona, are praised for being the ideal Elizabethan women, beautiful, fair and reticent. Which is why Othello, a man of colour, one that many do not consider part of society quickly manages to elope with Desdemona without permission. Furthermore proving that besides treating her like a possession, he understands Desdemona is a high class women and so if he marries her many will respect him even further now. This is why Brabantio questions the roots of the relationship when he states “Of years, of country, credit, everything-/to fall in love with what she fear’d to look on!” (1.3.97-98). This is evident in proving that Desdemona marriage with Othello is extremely questionable, and it happened only to benefit Othello's social standing. Thus making the fact that men not only wanting women is important, but them being desired for beauty and class makes one women better than another. In Frankenstein, it is conspicuous that men marry women for a better social standard, as Elizabeth is already

Modris Eksteins presented a tour-de-force interpretation of the political, social and cultural climate of the early twentieth century. His sources were not merely the more traditional sources of the historian: political, military and economic accounts; rather, he drew from the rich, heady brew of art, music, dance, literature and philosophy as well. Eksteins examined ways in which life influenced, imitated, and even became art. Eksteins argues that life and art, as well as death, became so intermeshed as to be indistinguishable from one another.

Vanita, Ruth. “‘Proper’ Men and ‘Fallen’ Women: The Unprotectedness of Wives in Othello.” Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, vol. 34, no. 2, 1994, p. 341. MLA International Bibliography EBSCOhost, doi:10.2307/450905. Accessed 12 Mar. 2017.

To this effect, I shall explore this text’s connections to Nietzsche's key intellectual influences. First, I shall address the impact of the Schopenhauerian view of the world on The Birth of Tragedy, in particular as regards the opposition between Apollo and Dionysus and the nature and goal of tragic art. Subsequently, I shall refer to the influence of Richard Wagner's thought in order to explore the relationship between metaphysics and art as humanity's "true metaphysical

“Helft mir, ihr Schwestern” is song number five from Robert Schumann’s song cycle Frauenliebe und –leben. The song cycle was set to the text of a poem cycle of the same name by Adelbert von Chamisso. Each poem in the cycle provides a glimpse into the story of a woman falling in love with a man, getting engaged and married to him, getting pregnant and having a child, becoming a widow and finally sharing her life story with her granddaughter. At the time that Schumann wrote this song cycle, he was going through a legal battle with his future wife’s father over the right to marry her. This poem cycle contains themes of love, devotion, and longing that Schumann could personally relate with his feelings for Clara Wieck, who would soon become Clara Schumann. In this essay, I will demonstrate how Frauenliebe und-leben is directly reflective of Robert Schumann’s own life experiences. In so doing, I will be analyzing the ways in which Schumann set the music in a fashion that emphasized the structure and emotional content of the poetry.

This turn of events in his life prompted Wagner to stop writing another one of his most highly-regarded pieces, “Der Ring des Nibelungen”, to begin writing “Tristan und Isolde”. One of the more notable pieces of inspiration of his libretto resulted after meeting philosopher, Arthur Schopenhauer. Many of Schopenhauer’s ideas were eye opening and impactful on Wagner’s general perception. His first form

Music is a very powerful tool. It has the power to bring happiness or sorrow. It can stir up old memories that someone has forgotten. In Berlioz’s case he uses one of his most famous pieces, Symphonie Fantastique to tell a story. Berlioz combines the use of instrumentation, rhythm and dynamics in a stunningly effective way that conveys to the listener a tragic tale of an artist, whose true love didn’t reciprocate his feelings leading him down a path of self destruction.

They say what’s old is new again. There is nothing new under the sun. What goes around comes around. History repeats itself. These may be just a few banal sayings, but they might hold true for classical music as well. Maurice Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin is one such example. Written during the neo-classical and neo-baroque movements of the early 1900s, this clever piece ties together French musical traditions, baroque styles, and World War I in just six short pieces. This essay will detail the origins of the suite form and the neo-classical neo-baroque movement, and compare Le Tombeau de Couperin with Bach’s French Suite no. 5 in G Major, BWV 816.

It is when the artist begins to add nuances and harmonies to the melody that the work becomes inaccessible to the unlearned ear, thus isolating a portion of the audience. When works of art are created to express the universality of humankind they are more beneficial to it. As an example, this view is dissimilar to the view if Dante, who believed that the language of a work should be elevated. Tolstoy argues the more details that are given in the work the more opportunities for disconnection from its message the audience has (391).