Abstract This paper takes a look at the themes in the two stories, "Othello" and "The Diamond Necklace" focusing on price, avarice, greed, and jealousy.
From the Paper "On a deeper level, De Maupassant is arguing that all that glitters is not gold. He is saying that we humans need to learn the difference between the excellence and superiority of the quality life, and the glittery flash of fake values and appearances. In the play "Othello" by William Shakespeare, the main character goes through a similar loss because his pride and vanity blind him to the reality of the world around him. "
Abstract Was avarice the overriding facet of Henry VII's character ? Did he have virtues to obscure, and if so, what were they ? The discussions still go on among historians, and this paper sheds light on the character of the king, what drove him, his need for security and to establish his family following the turbulence of the Wars of the Roses.
From the Paper ""He cherished justice above all things". Polydore Vergil made this statement and the statement about Henry's alleged avarice. Not only did he make them both, but he made them in the same piece of writing. What this shows is the difficulty faced when attempting to form a view of a historical character based on personal, and often subjective, judgements. The debate about Henry's rapacity and the extent to which avarice overrode all his other accomplishments and virtues, of which more later, still goes on. For example, Elton put forward a defence of Henry in which he tried to defend Henry from the charges of avarice levelled at him. This was subject to counter argument, and the discussion still continues."
This paper explores the question:Are Geoffrey Chaucer's 'The Prioress' Tale?, Christopher Marlowe's "The Jew of Malta", and William Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" Christian texts?
4,045 words (approx. 16.2 pages), 4 sources, 1997, $ 109.95
Abstract The paper states that all three works are a critique of Christian behavior and decadence in their contemporary Christian societies. The author feels that the key to understanding the sense in which these texts are Christian involves understanding the function and portrayal of the Jew, which are more functional props than human characters.
Table of Contents
Introduction
The Prioress? Tale
The Ecclesia
The Christian Masses
Who They Judge
What they Judge
The Positive Model
The Jew of Malta
Murder
Avarice and Theft
Lack Of Chastity
Trickery and Deceit
The Positive Model
The Merchant of Venice
The Court Scene
The Corruption of the Positive Model
Significant Names
Shylock
Jessica
Tubal
Chus
Conclusion
From the Paper ""I Stand here for Law" (The Merchant of Venice IV I 142) declares Shylock. While he literally means that he is awaiting the judgment according to the law of Venice, it is also metaphorically true within the religious framework of the text. As a Jew, Shylock is representative of the outlook which (in Christian thinking) demands strict adherence to the law as opposed to the Christian stand for mercy. But here, as in the other works we have examined, the sole significance of the Jew is to provide a standard by which to measure the Christian by comparison and contrast. From a Christian point of view, Shylock and his religion are presumed corrupt; Judaism itself is beyond saving; the best one can do for its members is to convert them individually to Christianity."
Abstract This paper reviews two medieval books " The Canterbury Tales" by Geoffrey Chaucer and "Piers the Plowman" by William Langland and examines how the "Deadly Sins" are presented in the texts. It discusses the portrayal by each author of each of the sins in turn and how both describe a pilgrimage and both try to make people better by depicting virtues and vices. Langland chose to use for this purpose abstract characters while Chaucer on the opposite side used very true to life characters with human faces.
From the Paper "Pride is first to confess her "swaggering airs" and to admit that to take "a humble place" would be "something new" for her. Her confession is rather short, but this description of how pride is reflected in people's behavior helps to recognize those guilty of pride in General Prologue. Prioress is supposed to call herself humbly "a sister", "was cleped madame Eglentyne"(121), she sings the services "entuned in hir nose" trying to imitate French in order not to look as a nun but more as a noble lady. Friar is also proud, he prefers to socialize "with frankeleyns over-al in his contree,/ and eek with worthy wommen of the toun" and avoids poor and his fellow beggars."
Tags:avarice, general, gluttony, lechery, merchant, monk, pride, prioress
Abstract This paper discusses William Shakespeare's play "Macbeth", about the tyranny of an ambitious nobleman who is informed of his future. It analyzes how Macbeth is the definate protagonist of this play by the percentage of the dialogue of the major characters. It examines the three witches' influence on Macbeth's actions and Lady Macbeth's avarice that drills the Scottish Lord into treason and kinghood. It evaluates the role of fate in the tragedy, as well as the state of Macbeth's conscience and possibilites in Shakespeare's ambiguity.
From the Paper "Because the "weird sisters" (Macbeth, I, iii, 32) ambiguously inform Macbeth of his future, they give him a disadvantage. Alas, he no longer has a clean bias for his major decisions, therefore making him less responsible for his decisions. Indeed, he shares responsibility with the fact that he knows his future. Nevertheless he ultimately has to recompense for his atrocious judgments regarding others? lives. Macbeth learns of his future from the witches. He knows that he shall become the Thane of Cawdor: one step above his present status in Scottish hierarchy."
Abstract Confucianism, the dominant worldview in Imperial China, placed tremendous value on social order and hierarchical relationships. It envisaged an order society with the Emperor at the top and his authority expressed through a Confucian bureaucracy administering Confucian laws. The realities of daily life contradicted this model. Periodic rebellions, banditry, human avarice and a host of other factors undermined the Confucian ideals. This paper examines a variety of primary sources to identify countercurrents to the dominant Confucian ideology in Imperial China.
Abstract Pride, anger, avarice, gluttony, sloth, lust, and envy all manifest themselves in Dr. Faustus throughout the play. Not only do they manifest themselves within the psychological understanding of the play, but the seven deadly sins also appear as characters in the plot. Through his use of the seven deadly sins, then, Marlowe is demonstrating the path to damnation in relation to the developing Christian theology of his day.
Abstract Sexuality is not a central theme in Frank Norris's novel "McTeague". So although sexuality does have a role to play in "McTeague", it is a comparatively minor one. The most important part for sexuality and the way Norris portrays it is as a sort of signpost or illumination to the grander passions of avarice and revenge that drives the central narrative.
Abstract Though child labor is most dramatically seen on the Indian subcontinent, it exists in the United States as well. The illegal alien and child labor persist because the capital savings they represent are irresistible to those short on ethics and prone to avarice. This paper will explore both phenomena with an eye toward understanding the economic impact.
Abstract This paper examines how, in his book, "Amazing Grace", Kozol focuses on the children of the South Bronx, children who struggle to survive, thrive, to find joy and spiritual connections amid the turmoil of the ghetto. It shows how, although nihilism, hopelessness, anger, and violence run rampant through the neighborhood, the children with whom Kozol speaks and befriends exhibit an ?amazing grace.? It looks at how Kozol allows the residents of the South Bronx to speak for themselves through interviews and to demonstrate with their own examples why racial segregation, ghettoization, gang violence, and poverty are symptoms of a national problem rooted in avarice and racism.
From the Paper "Ironically, the "founding father" of the community, Richard Morris, built the South Bronx on profits gleaned from slavery: he had owned a plantation in the Caribbean. The local high school is named after Morris. The South Bronx can?t seem to escape its historical roots: racism pervades the district and there is a sense that its residents still live as slaves. A local teenage girl tells Kozol that the outside, white-dominated world looks toward people in their community as ?obstacles to moving forward,? as disposable and irrelevant. Moreover, Kozol notes that the mass media and the government fails to capture the raw emotionality of this harsh reality. Streets named after Black heroes like Martin Luther King stand basically as mockeries of racial justice and equality. "
Abstract This paper examines how, in "The London Merchant," George Lillo's character, Sarah Millwood, is unique and how, in Darah, the reader sees a combination of Lady Macbeth, the Marquise de Merteuil, and Mrs. Marwood. It looks at how Millwood possesses strength, cunning, artifice, parasitical avarice, and a keen ability to read other people. It also explores how Millwood can discover their weaknesses, play upon those weaknesses deftly and without remorse, and uses her feminine beauty and sexual prowess to squeeze riches and tribute from gullible men.
From the Paper "Millwood uses her artifice and parasitical avarice to manipulate Barnwell into embezzling funds from his employer Thorowgood and giving the money to her. Millwood's servant Lucy states, "Tis true the youth has scruples; but she'll soon teach him to answer them, by stifling his conscience" (278). Such is the Millwood's power to subjugate her victim's scruples and replace it with lustful passion. But eventually Barnwell's inherent honesty and remorse for embezzling his master's funds overcome his obsession for Millwood and he attempts to break with her; but his escape is not successful."
Abstract This paper discusses the fall of the Roman Empire. In order to fully explore the decline and fall of the Roman Empire and how the city-states within the Empire contributed to its downfall, the paper examines the overall scenario of Rome as it related to its early, middle, and later years of existence. The paper contends that the corruption that took place in the city-states related to greed, avarice, and bureaucratic manipulation at the hands of the great landowners and rich merchants. The dissatisfaction and indifference of the citizens of Rome and the influx of Christianity into the Empire were the main catalysts the led to the fall of the great empire.
From the Paper "As one of the greatest and most influential civilizations of ancient times, the Roman Empire was essentially born in the Eastern Mediterranean and after almost a thousand years of complete power and prosperity, it was in the city of Constantinople, founded by Emperor Constantine, that Rome and its political, social and militaristic systems finally died. The process through which Rome eventually came to an end is quite complex, but its early development had much to do with the genius of the Roman citizen and the Roman senators who gave the empire the framework and structure for its various institutions. But the ideals on which it rested had originated in the Middle East where men learned to believe in and support a single universal society where the government provided the sole means for existence. Of course, the Roman Empire was also the result of the fusion of Roman political development and institutional structure with the Hellenistic system of ancient Greece which preceded it by many centuries."
Abstract This paper explains that Adam Hochschild's "King Leopold's Ghost" is a brilliant historical account of how Leopold II, King of the Belgian, carved a personal empire and fortune from the Congo and how Edmund Morel, a clerk for the Elder Dempster shipping company, led an international campaign to expose the monarch's criminal enterprise. The author points out that Leopold's single-minded ambition, adroit diplomacy, skillful corruption and ruthless brutality brought him, already one of Europe's wealthiest men, untold riches, while for the Congolese people it brought only unbelievable suffering. The paper states that the "ghost" in the book's title relates to (1) after Leopold's death, rumors abounded that he had not really died but instead had gone to live in the Congo or (2) a more plausible claim emerged that Leopold's ghost would return to haunt the Congo for more than three decades after independence in the form of Mobutu Sese Seku, also a master criminal driven by vampire avarice.
From the Paper "From the start, Leopold's Congo administration required Congolese labor, at first as portage to carry ivory, then to construct the railway. With the commercial emphasis switching to rubber, the Congo Free State was faced with a problem. Obviously, the state could purchase ivory, or seize it at the point of a gun, but it was impossible to oversee the harvesting of rubber latex, Its collection required going deep into the rain forests to find the rubber vines. So the Congo Free State's militias, the Force Publique, developed a brutal system which involved raiding villages and seizing women and children as hostages, only releasing them when the men brought in quotas of rubber."
Abstract This analysis of Chaucer's "The Pardoner's Tale" from "The Canterbury Tales" focuses on providing an explanation for why Chaucer places the Pardoner at the bottom of his social scale because of his hypocritical nature and his desire to profit off of unsuspecting parsons by being a false prophet.
From the Paper "In Geoffrey Chaucer's The Pardoner's Tale we are treated to a religious pardoner who is pretty much anything but religious. Instead the Pardoner is a man whose rhetoric is designed to instill guilt in the other pilgrims so .."
Tags: greed, avarice, gluttony, drunkenness, gambling, vice, sin, absolution
Abstract In this article, the writer introduces and analyzes the novel "The Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad. Specifically, the writer identifies one possible theme in the novel and explains how Conrad nurtures and presents this theme in the text. The writer discusses that Conrad's novel is a scathing critique on European imperialism in Africa and the evils of this corrupt and abusive practice. The writer concludes that the reader of "The Heart of Darkness" understands just what a horrible practice imperialism was, and how it changed the face of entire continents, seemingly overnight, all in the name of greed, avarice, and political power.
From the Paper "Kurtz is driven to madness by the imperialistic attitudes of those around him, and his own greed for money via the ivory trade. He spends his life in the jungle, searching for ivory and coming to know the natives, who think he is a white God. He represents the very worst of imperialism, because he comes to know and understand the natives, and still he takes advantage of them. He loves their hero worship, and he trades for ivory with them, but he is still using them and leaving them with little or nothing in return, just as the Belgians leave the Congo when they have taken all they can get from the country and the people."
