English 2008 Spring 08 Review

Front 1

Explain:
La Belle Dame San's Merci

Back 1

The poem describes the encounter between an unnamed knight and a mysterious fairy. It opens with a description of the knight in a barren landscape, "haggard" and "woe-begone". He tells the reader how he met a beautiful lady whose "eyes were wild"; he set her on his horse and she took him to her "elfin grot", where she "wept, and sigh'd full sore". Falling asleep, the knight had a vision of "pale kings and princes", who cried, "La Belle Dame sans Merci hath thee in thrall!" He awoke to find himself on the same "cold hill's side" where he is now "palely loitering".

Although "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" is short (only twelve stanzas of four lines each, with an ABCB rhyme scheme), it is full of enigmas. Because the knight is associated with images of death—a lily (a symbol of death in Western culture), paleness, "fading", "wither[ing]"—he may well be dead himself at the time of the story. He is clearly doomed to remain on the hillside, but the cause of this fate is unknown. A straightforward reading suggests that the Belle Dame entraps him, along the lines of tales like Thomas the Rhymer or Tam Lin. To continue, as knights are usually bound to vows of sexual chasteness, the poem may imply that this knight is doubly compromised — and, actually, now enchanted — as he dallies here with an ethereal creature. More recent feminist commentators have suggested[citation needed]. that the knight in fact raped the Belle Dame, and is being justly punished — this is based on textual hints like "she wept, and sigh'd full sore". But this may be an unreasonable view, as the text indicates quite clearly that after assuring the knight of her love for him she brings him to a secluded site. The phrase, "she wept, and sigh'd full sore," may be, then, a comment on the occasion of the "fairy's child" losing her virginity. Ultimately, the decision comes down to whether Keats wrote the poem as a simple story, or as a story with a moral: given his other work, this may be more an evocation of feeling than an intellectual attempt at moralising.

Front 2

The Castle of Otranto:

Back 2

Mandred wants his son Conrad to take over for him. He dies because he gets hit in the head with a helmet. Conrad was supposed to marry Isabella but now Manfred was going to marry her, she runs away. He sends his wife, Hippolyta to a convent. Isabella is duaghter of Frederic (a crusader) . Tehodore wants tom arry Matilda but hem arrys Isabella. Matilda dies too

Manfred ends @ the convent too

Front 3

Matilda by Mary Shelley

Back 3

Mutuality of Incent
A gril whose mom dies and her aunt took care of her (aunt didnt care for her much)

Dad comes back after 16 years and he becomes emotionally attached
He falls off a cliff and dies
She getwsick and dies
She loves dad but dad cant love her

Front 4

The Monk by Matthew Lewis

Back 4

The story concerns Ambrosio - a pious, well-respected monk in Spain - and his violent downfall. He is undone by carnal lust for his pupil, a woman disguised as a monk (Matilda), who tempts him to transgress, and, once satisfied by her, is overcome with desire for the innocent Antonia. Using magic spells Matilda aids him in seducing Antonia, whom he later rapes and kills. Matilda is eventually revealed as an instrument of Satan in female form, who has orchestrated Ambrosio's downfall from the start. In the middle of telling this story Lewis frequently makes further digressions, which serve to heighten the Gothic atmosphere of the tale while doing little to move along the main plot. A lengthy story about a "Bleeding Nun" is told, and many incidental verses are introduced. A second romance, between Lorenzo and Antonia, also gives way to a tale of Lorenzo's sister being tortured by hypocritical nuns (as a result of a third romantic plot). Eventually, the story catches back up with Ambrosio, and in several pages of impassioned prose, Ambrosio is delivered into the hands of the Inquisition; he escapes by selling his soul to the devil for his deliverance from the death sentence which awaits him. The story ends with the devil preventing Ambrosio's attempted final repentance, and the sinful monk's prolonged torturous death.

Front 5

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Back 5

It concerns the way in which an individual is made up of contrary emotions and desires: some good and some evil. Through the curiosity of Utterson, a lawyer, we learn of the ugly and violent Mr Hyde and his odd connection to the respectable Dr Jekyll who pays out a cheque for Hyde’s despicable behaviour. A brutal murder follows. The dead man is one of Utterson’s clients, Sir Danvers Carew. The murder weapon was, unbelievably a cane Utterson had given to Jekyll. As such, the lawyer becomes entangled in the strange world of the physician Jekyll who it transpires has created a drug that separates his good and evil natures - purifying the doctor himself but with the ghastly side effect of periods spent as the monstrous Hyde. We follow Utterson as he investigates with Poole, Jekyll’s butler, the seeming contradictions in the doctor’s actions and his increasingly hermit-like existence in his laboratory

Front 6

Goblin Market

Back 6

This is about 2 girls.
Lizzy (older sister) tries to protect Laura (younger). She gets tempted by the goblins. She wants their fruit. She trades her hair for fruit.
Having brought coin currency with her, she is greeted by the goblins at the stream; their arguably friendly attitudes turn malicious, however, when she informs them that she wishes to pay with coin, and to take their fruits with her. They then physically assault her in an unsuccessful attempt to make her consume the fruits, in the process coating her with fruit juice and pulp. Lizzie afterwards runs home and directs Laura to eat/drink these substances off her body, who having done so undergoes a transformation which initially seems to foretell her death. In the morning, however, Laura has returned to her "old self" physically and mentally, and, as the last stanza attests, both she and Lizzie live to tell their children of the evils of the goblin fruits – and the awesome powers of sisterly love

Front 7

Apocalypse Now
Important Ideas

Back 7

Surf Board-
represent how young the people were. they should be surfing but they fought a war
Captian and Napalm in the AM-
victory, obessed with war

Front 8

Bluebeard

Back 8

Bluebeard was a wealthy aristocrat, feared because of his "frightfully ugly" blue beard. He had been married three times, but no one knew what had become of his wives. He was therefore avoided by the local girls. When Bluebeard visited one of his neighbours and asked to marry one of her daughters, they were terrified, and each tried to pass him on to the other. Eventually he persuaded the younger daughter to marry him, and after the ceremony she went to live with him in his château.

Very shortly after, however, Bluebeard announced that he had to leave the country for a while; he gave over all the keys of the chateau to his new wife, including the key to one small room that she was forbidden to enter. He then went away and left the house in her hands. Almost immediately she was overcome with the desire to see what the forbidden room held, and finally her visiting sister convinced her to satisfy her curiosity and open the room.

However, the wife immediately discovered the room's horrible secret: Its floor reeked of blood, and the dead bodies of her husband's former wives hung on the walls. Horrified, she locked the door, but blood had come onto the key which would not wash off. Bluebeard returned unexpectedly and immediately knew what his wife had done. In a blind rage he threatened to behead her on the spot, and so she locked herself in the highest tower with her sister. While Bluebeard, sword in hand, tried to break down the door, the sisters waited for their two brothers to arrive. At the last moment, as Bluebeard was about to deliver the fatal blow, the brothers broke into the castle, and as he attempted to flee, they killed him.


"In rushed the brothers with their swords..." woodcut by Walter CraneHe left no heirs but his wife, who inherited all his great fortune. She used part of it for a dowry to marry her sister to the one that loved her, another part for her brothers' captains commissions, and the rest to marry a worthy gentleman who made her forget her ill treatment by Bluebeard

Front 9

The Tell-tale Heart

Back 9

"The Tell-Tale Heart" is a first-person narrative of an unnamed narrator who insists he is sane but suffering from a disease which causes "over-acuteness of the senses." The old man with whom he lives has a clouded, pale, blue "vulture-like" eye which so distresses the narrator that he plots to murder the old man. The narrator insists that his careful precision in committing the murder shows that he cannot possibly be insane. For seven nights, the narrator opens the door of the old man's room, a process which takes him a full hour. However, the old man's vulture eye is always closed, making it impossible to do the deed.

On the eighth night, the old man awakens and sits up in his bed while the narrator performs his nightly ritual. The narrator does not draw back and, after some time, decides to open his lantern. A single ray of light shines out and lands precisely on the old man's eye, revealing that it is wide open. Thinking he hears the old man's heartbeat beating unusually loudly from terror, the narrator decides to strike, smothering the old man with his own bed. The narrator proceeds to chop up the body and conceal the pieces under the floorboards. The narrator makes certain to hide all signs of the crime. Even so, the old man's scream during the night causes a neighbor to call the police. The narrator invites the three officers to look around, confident that they will not find any evidence of the murder. The narrator brings chairs for them and they sit in the old man's room, right on the very spot where the body was concealed, yet they suspect nothing, as the narrator has a pleasant and easy manner about him.

The narrator, however, begins to hear a faint noise. As the noise grows louder, the narrator comes to the conclusion that it is the heartbeat of the old man coming from under the floorboards. The sound increases, though the officers seem to pay no attention to it. Shocked by the constant beating of the heart and a feeling that the officers must be aware of the sound, the narrator confesses to killing the old man and tells them to tear up the floorboards to reveal the body.

Front 10

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Back 10

The novel begins with Lord Henry Wotton observing the artist Basil Hallward painting the portrait of a handsome young man named Dorian Gray. Dorian arrives later, meeting Wotton. After hearing Lord Henry's world view, Dorian begins to think that beauty is the only worthwhile aspect of life, and the only thing left to pursue. He wishes that the portrait of him which Basil is painting would grow old instead of him. Under the influence of Lord Henry, Dorian begins an exploration of his senses. He discovers an actress, Sibyl Vane, who performs Shakespeare in a dingy theatre. Dorian approaches her, and very soon, proposes marriage. Sibyl, who refers to him as "Prince Charming", rushes home to tell her sceptical mother and brother. Her protective brother, James, tells her that if "Prince Charming" ever harms her, he will kill him.

Dorian then invites Basil and Lord Henry to see Sibyl perform in Romeo and Juliet. Sibyl, whose only previous knowledge of love was through the love of theatre, suddenly loses her acting abilities through the experience of true love with Dorian, and performs very badly. Dorian rejects her, saying that her beauty was in her art, and if she could no longer act, he was no longer interested in her. Once he returns home, Dorian notices that Basil's portrait of him has changed. After examining the painting, Dorian realizes that his wish has come true - the portrait's expression now bears a subtle sneer, and later ages with each grave sin committed, while his own outward appearance remains unchanged. He decides to reconcile with Sibyl, but Lord Henry arrives in the morning to say that Sibyl has killed herself by swallowing prussic acid. Over the next eighteen years he experiments with every vice, mostly under the influence of a "poisonous" French novel, a present from Lord Henry. Wilde never reveals the title but his inspiration was likely drawn from Joris-Karl Huysmans's À rebours (Against Nature) due to the likenesses that exist between The Picture of Dorian Gray and À rebours.[5]

One night before he leaves for Paris, Basil arrives to question Dorian about the rumours of his indulgences. Dorian does not deny the debauchery. He takes Basil to the portrait which is revealed to have become ugly under Dorian's sins. In a fit of anger, Dorian blames the artist for his fate, and stabs him to death. He then blackmails an old friend named Alan Cambell, who happened to be a chemist, into destroying the body. Wishing to escape his crime, Dorian travels to an opium den. James Vane happens to be nearby, and hears someone refer to Dorian as "Prince Charming". He follows Dorian out and attempts to shoot him, but he is deceived when Dorian asks James to look at him in the lane, saying that he is too young to have been involved with his sister eighteen years ago. James releases Dorian, but is approached by a woman from the opium den, who chastises him for not killing Dorian and tells him that Dorian has not aged for the past eighteen years.

While at dinner one night, Dorian sees Sibyl Vane's brother stalking the grounds and fears for his life. However, during a game-shooting party the next day James is accidentally shot and killed by one of the hunters. After returning to London, Dorian informs Lord Henry that he will be good from now on, and has started by not breaking the heart of his latest innocent conquest, a vicar's daughter in a country town, named Hetty Merton. At his apartment, he wonders if the portrait would have begun to change back, losing its senile, sinful appearance, now that he has changed his immoral ways. He unveils the portrait to find that it has become worse. Seeing this he begins to question the motives behind his act, whether it was merely vanity, curiosity, or seeking new emotional excess. Deciding that only a full confession would truly absolve him, but lacking any guilt and fearing the consequences, he decides to destroy the last vestige of his conscience. In a fit of rage, he picks up the knife that killed Basil Hallward, and plunges it into the painting. Hearing his cry from inside the locked room, his servants send for the police, who find Dorian's body, suddenly aged and withered, beside the portrait, which has reverted to its original form; it is only through his rings that the corpse can be identified.


Dorian Gray - an extremely handsome young man who becomes enthralled with Lord Henry's idea of a new hedonism. He begins to indulge in every kind of pleasure, moral and immoral.
Basil Hallward - an artist who becomes infatuated with Dorian's beauty. Dorian helps Basil to realise his artistic potential, as Basil's portrait of Dorian proves to be his finest work.
Lord Henry Wotton - a nobleman who is a friend to Basil initially, but later becomes more intrigued with Dorian's beauty and naivete. Extremely witty, Lord Henry is seen as a critique of late Victorian culture espousing a view of indulgent hedonism. He corrupts Dorian with his world view, as Dorian attempts to emulate him. Basil calls him "Harry".
Sibyl Vane - An extremely poor but beautiful actress with whom Dorian falls in love. Her love for Dorian destroys her acting career, as she no longer finds pleasure in portraying fictional love when she has a true love in reality.
James Vane - Sibyl's brother who is to become a sailor and leave for Australia. He is extremely protective of his sister, especially as his mother is useless and concerned only with Dorian's money. He is hesitant to leave his sister, believing Dorian will harm her.
Mrs. Vane - Sibyl and James's mother, an old and faded actress. She has consigned herself and Sibyl to a poor theatre house to pay her debts. She is extremely pleased when Sibyl meets Dorian, being impressed by the promise of his status and wealth.
Alan Campbell - once a good friend of Dorian, he ended their friendship when Dorian's reputation began to come into question.
Lady Agatha - Lord Henry’s aunt. Lady Agatha is active in charity work in the London slums.
Lord Fermor - Lord Henry's uncle. He informs Lord Henry about Dorian's lineage.
Victoria, Lady Henry Wotton - Lord Henry's wife, who only appears once in the novel while Dorian waits for Lord Henry. She later divorces Lord Henry in exchange for a pianist.
Victor - a loyal servant to Dorian. Dorian's increasing paranoia, however, leads him to use Victor to complete pointless errands in an attempt to dissuade him from entering the room that houses Dorian's portrait