Arthur Symons

In The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer based each character off all the various kinds of people from the Middle Ages. He makes most of the pilgrims very true to what they were stereotyped as at the time, but he also gave each one of them very distinct personalities and idiosyncrasies, such as the knight having a rust stain on his undergarment. Chaucer’s version of a Middle-Age innkeeper, Harry Bailly, was very accurate to what a good innkeeper would have been like at the time, as was his inn,…

“The American dream is having financial security and prosperity. It is having a nice house, good quality of life, plenty of food to eat, and more.” That is what Arthur Miller tries to convey with his character, Willy Loman, a salesman man who is past his sixty’s in his book “Death of a Salesman”. This book begins with Willy Loman’s wife coming in after she notices how he enters the kitchen, with him rubbing his sore body and letting down his burden of a strenuous day of work. However, there is a…

During the High Middle Ages there was an influx of expression through the means of literature, painting, and architecture that encompassed the religious Christian values along with the secular chivalric code. This flowering of the High Middle Ages, during the approximate years 1050-1300, is the direct result of the economic successes from agricultural and commercial advances that greatly benefitted all of the social classes. With such stimulation amongst European economy the feudal and manorial…

In Salem, Massachusetts, resided a town of people stricken by the panic of witchcraft, cruel injustices, centered around sexism, social hierarchy and the cries of young women. Tom Robinson from To kill a Mockingbird, is a prime example of the inequity surrounding one’s social status, gender and the leverage given to deceiving so called victims. Historically injustice has been topic of great distinction, as opinions regulate based on experience often leading to a greater movement. A stunning…

Death of a Salesman, a tragedy written by Arthur Miller, tells the tale of Willy Loman, an ordinary man that is haunted by his missteps. The play details the downward spiral that Willy falls into as a result of his own failure and the failure of his son. Even though Willy is the main character, he is defined by the people that surround him in his everyday life. Willy’s entire life is defined by the fact that he never has the opportunity to receive advice from a fatherly figure. Ben, Willy’s…

Throughout Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman constantly reminds those around him that in order to be successful in life you must be well liked. Early in the play Willy remarks that his sales have been slow and so he says, “[he] will go to Hartford. [Because he] is very well liked in Hartford” (36). When Willy struggles with his sales he believes the answer to resolving his problems is by selling where he is well liked, being that he is sure if he is selling where people like him…

knight of the Round Table can be seen as an epitome of chivalry. At the beginning of the poem, he is an eager, optimistic, and loyal knight, obeying the “Rules of Courtly Love and Chivalry” as he undertakes the Green Knight’s challenge to protect Arthur and preserve the reputation of Camelot. However,…

Investigators still cannot figure out whether or not it was completely a coincidence, or that Gary Stewart’s dad was the Zodiac. The chilling side to the story is that even if Earl Van Best jr. is the killer, he was deceased in 1994 so they cannot take him into questioning and further the investigation on whether or not he was the Zodiac Killer. To this day people are fascinated by this notorious killer and watch movies and read books on him. A well known movie based on this mass hysteria is…

“Where an excess of power prevails, property of no sort is duly respected. No man is safe in his opinions, his person, his faculties, or his possessions.” This quote from James Madison embodies “The Crucible” as a whole, because it basically says that if too much power exists within a society, not one person is safe if they are accused of wrongdoing. The Puritans live in a theocratic society which allows the church to possess immense power over the inhabitants of Salem, because they all live by…

Lying to some people can be filled with an overwhelming guilt. This is how John Proctor felt when Reverend Hale and the judges wished him to create a false confession to witchcraft. It was important to the judges that Proctor created the false confession. Reverend Hale believes God would be more forgiving to Proctor for lying; however, Goody Proctor believes the Devil may say the same thing. If John agrees to composing the false confession, he subjects his further kin to ridicule and shame, and…