Superficial charm

The Importance of Being Earnest Oscar Wilde, ca. 1894 “Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about.” - Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere's Fan Oscar Wilde liked to write plays that pointed at the aristocracy and nouveau riche in a critical way, but of course, written in a funny way so that his work became satirical. Oscar Wilde was therefore a brilliant writer of comedies of manners, the entertainment form that satirizes the manners of a social class, in Wilde’s case, the high…

In the 15th century, the search for the trade route between Europe and Asia led to the Age of Discovery, a rise in global trade, in which European empires were exploring oversea lands and expanding Western European influence. This was the starting point of European colonial empires that followed for the next six centuries. Eventually, it was believed that without proper knowledge of the people they ruled, the colonial rulers were at a disadvantage, which led to the study of the Orient and the…

Oscar Wilde 's The Picture of Dorian Gray, is a story almost solely infused with the Victorian era 's obsession with appearances. Epigrams pierce through this shallow pool of perfection and offer slight glimmers of the harsh reality behind this vanity. Lord Henry, the main source of epigrams, acts as a magnifying glass for the Victorian culture 's deep and dark problems lying just below the calm, mellow surface. Many of Wilde 's epigrams concentrate on the morality of how one deals with one 's…

Gatsby made sure he would never again be without it. Although this seems lovely and admirable, Gatsby had always claimed that his money was inherited, but it was from organized crime. Similarly, Tate made himself out to be delightful with his superficial charm but in reality, he was a sadistic psychopath. The traumas and other outside influences he endured in life made him into his self-image – which was attributed to his psychopathy. As far as Tate was concerned, the world can be wrong and…

Haley Hauck Ms. Hanna English 9 Honors 1 June 2016 Love or Lust? ROUGH DRAFT Being a teenager coincides with the escapade and heartbreak of one’s first love. (add) Love is a deep, emotional affection with a intense, heartfelt connection. Such an engrossing emotion takes time to fully develop. Lust, however, is a purely physical attraction. It is not love. Love can be lustful, however this sexual desire does not always equate to love, yet it is easily and often mistaken for it. This is the…

decorative sex. They never have anything to say, but they say it charmingly” (Wilde 54). This expresses Wilde’s sexist belief that women cannot be equal to men in terms of intellect, and it conveys that all females are only useful for their looks and charm. This belief may seem outdated today in America, but according to Nasrin Albohassani’s review on Haifaa Jawad’s book, “The Rights of Women in Islam: an authentic approach”, “Women in Arabia had no…

Achieving the American Dream has been the ideal vision for Americans for decades. The goal of achieving the dream goes as far back as the 1920s, when The Great Gatsby was written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. In the literary classic novel, Fitzgerald explores themes of resistance to change, decadence, and tainted love. All of which are characteristics of the American Dream. Through symbols such as the green light, East Egg and West Egg, and Daisy Buchanan, F. Scott Fitzgerald illustrates that the…

When Aylmer asks her to remove the birthmark, she blushes, and says, “To tell you the truth, it has been so often called a charm that I was simple enough to imagine it might be so” (Hawthorne 334). From the detail given about how she responds to Aylmer’s question about her birthmark, Georgiana would rather keep it, but deep down, she knows that her decision would disappoint…

I personally tell you with confidence that I never agreed others sadness from unbearable loss of a valued person. On behalf of my part it used to be compassion. As soon as this happened to me, when my valued aunt died, I understood all individuals who lost someone they valued. There are definitely no appropriate words to label this pain, at least none used on this world. This intolerable pain which discouraged you apart, which is like a gap on your heart. And which create tears run down your…

In the early 19th century, women were often thought as inferior to men due to their sentiment and irrationality. However, emerging feminist advocate Mary Wollstonecraft argued that women were not treated as rational beings because men would not allow them to have an education. She believed that women should have equal rights as men to prove that they were rational beings and not prone to sentiment. She wrote many works demonstrating her beliefs in hopes to evoke change for women’s rights.…