Tales of the Abyss

In Canterbury Tales, pilgrims were making pilgrimages to visit the shrine of Thomas Becket. This pilgrimage started in a place called Southwart. The narrator of this story is Geoffrey Chaucer, who was born into the middle class and considered to be the greatest English poet of his lifetime. He spoke many languages including French and Italian. Chaucer was part of the government, so money was not an issue for him. Society had three levels at this time: clergy, nobles, and traders or general labor workers. The merchants and tradesmen were rising and becoming higher than lower class. These segments of society are breaking down because the middle classes are emerging into society. Chaucer depicts abuse of social classes, especially the clergy.…

The Southwestern tales, which are also known as Hispanic folktales, were first told around the early nineteenth century and are still told today. Presently, the folktales are used to instill moral lessons and the meanings of religions to people of different ages, especially young children. Jose Griego y Maestas collected and presented the tales “Los tres hermanos (The Three Brothers)” and “La comadre Sebastiana (Dona Sebastiana)” in Tales from the Hispanic Southwest. The tale of “Los tres…

little more human. As Blanchot Wrote: There was something marvelous about the song: it actually existed, it was ordinary and at the same time secret, a simple, everyday song which there were suddenly forced to recognize, sung in an unreal way by strange power, powers which were, in a word, imaginary; it was a song from the abyss and once heard it opened an abyss in every utterance and powerfully enticed whoever heard it to disappear into that abyss. In Blanchot’s story, the sirens are the…

as the eleventh century, offers an important literary example of this longstanding human fear of both the known and unknown aspects of the ocean's abyss, a fear that still plagues many individuals today, nearly ten centuries later. Throughout the Epic of Beowulf, the narrator often…

This focus on the supernatural is an element of gothic literature, a popular form of writing during the 19th century and formed part of Emily Bronte’s own reading. Gothic literature included several literary devises like motifs which usually took form in the exploration of madness and the supernatural, dark scenic imagery and characters, as well as harrowing plots which were all designed to manipulate the readers’ fears- particularly the fear of the unknown. Przybylowicz argues that “after…

Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities remains the most popular cautionary tale of the Realistic time period. Written to warn against the dangers of the Industrial Revolution, Dickens’ novel uses strong characterization and historical context to demonstrate the cycle of oppression that occurs throughout any social reformation. Sydney Carton, one of his most complex characters, represents Dickens’s desire to break this cycle; a desire explicitly expressed in Sydney’s final speech. Sydney Carton…

What are the characteristics of a tale that make it epic? Some factors make some epic poems stand out from other stories. To make a poem epic it needs a universal theme such as good vs evil, supernatural events, and the actions of one person determine the fate of a nation. All of these recurring events happen in the book The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. The theme that is constantly present is good vs evil, an example of this is Gandalf against the Balrog. A supernatural event happens…

this door lies a series of events that will change Jules’ life dramatically. And, in dramatic fashion, Jules and Vincent hesitate for a long period of time before entering, which builds suspense. It is after they enter the apartment that Tarantino brings in supernatural aid. After they kill Brett, a previously hidden assailant emerges from the bathroom and fires multiple times upon Jules and Vincent at point-blank range, missing completely. Jules attributes this event to “divine intervention”.…

identified him. High-born and common folk alike feared Burton because of the tales told about his ‘gifts’, the supernatural abilities that had scorched the sky. But he had morphed his face into an unrecognizable visage. And once Montague realized, he played along. “The wild folk have come,” said Burton. “Mages carrying deadly spells are murdering everyone in sight and burning homes to the ground. I believe the invaders are influenced and led by a supernatural force. A force so evil, its…

In the winter of 1995 a video game, titled Tales of Phantasia, was released for the Super Famicon. What seemed like a trivial game to be played by small children started with a profound quote: “Truly, if there is evil in this world, it lurks within the hearts of men.” Many masterpieces of literature focus on the evil of the world and its relations with humans. One such work is Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Conrad uses the cultural, physical, and geographic surroundings to shift the moral…