The Friar's Tale

Margaret Atwood's, The Handmaids Tale is a dystopian style novel published originally in 1985. Set in a city in what used to be in the United States, now called the Republic of Gilead, this alternative future state had the democratic government overthrown and replaced by a theocratic fundamentalist governing force. In this society of declining fertility rates, fertile women are elected to become Handmaids; 'ambulatory wombs' that reproduce for the 'infertile' wives of privileged couples that…

Shrek is a comedy that is well known for breaking stereotypes. Scary ogres are not so scary. Princes are not always good people. The female lead, Princess Fiona, is no different. In the beginning of the film, she is waiting for a charming prince to save her from her tower and kiss her. It is easy to classify her as a damsel in distress, however as the movie progresses you learn more about her character. Fiona only acts delicate and in order to break a curse, though she could save herself. In…

recognized all around the world. The plotline is as follows: the girl or princess is cursed by an evil source to fall into deep slumber, and is only awoken through true love’s kiss, which is usually performed by a prince. Every rendition of the fairy tale delineates a male adopting the savior role and the vulnerable female in need of saving. All the versions I’m familiar with consists of pleasant events until I unearthed Giambattista Basile’s “Sun, Moon, Talia.” Within encompasses violence,…

Morgan’s narrative in her piece approaches death, something that traditional taxidermy avoids. This is so that the death of the taxidermied animal is not in the forefront of the viewer’s mind. Instead, traditional taxidermists, such as Akeley and Potter, approach life through lively content and visuals. Potter approaches human qualities of life through anthropomorphic kittens lined up for a wedding, an event that humans consider the “beginning of a new life.” His diorama “The Kitten Wedding,” is…

In the Hobbit the elves, dwarfs, and the goblins all sing a song in the story. In the book they all sing in different tone, content, and structure it will also describe the characters that sing them. With this I can determine how each song is different. This is how I will determine the differences in the songs in this book. The first song is the one the dwarfs sung at at Bilbo's house at the beginning of the book. In the book the dwarfs sung the song in a playful tone, this tells you the dwarfs…

Draft - Sin of Pride in the Canterbury Tale Back to the fourteenth century, numbers do not only contain numerical values, but also symbolic meanings. Numerological symbolism plays an important role in medieval literature. Lucas Scott points out the significance of medieval people’s belief in numbers: “[medieval reader’s] treatment of numerological prognostication would be incomplete without a discussion of the link between letters and numbers. Medieval Christians explained many of their symbols…

One of the earliest memory I have as a child was seeing Beauty and the Beast for the first time. That, for whatever reason, enchanted me. It was then I decided that I wanted to be an artist in some way, shape or form. I originally wanted to be a Disney animator because my affinity for drawing. I remember that I would recreate Glen Keane's animation in "The Little Mermaid" and I would, as hard as possible, to imitate his and many of the Disney artists' drawing styles. As I became a teenager, my…

Cinderella is an all time classic tale kept alive by tradition passed it down from generation to generation. Older versions of Cinderella come as a surprise to many since it does not always have a happy ending. Modern children's literature does not compare to older revisions as it leaves traces from other cultures, provide invaluable lessons, the writers were great storytellers, and the ability for children to dream. Older people have a beloved book that has touched them in some way whether…

Through the collection of fragments from “Great Expectations”, Matilda develops an overwhelming curiosity for white culture despite being taught a skewed perspective by her mother. Matilda’s identity is a social construct shaped by the interactions with the locals of Bougainville and the white world taught by Mr. Watts— a cultural hybridity (Nakatsuma, 2010). Although “Great Expectations” provides an escape from Matilda’s dreadful reality through the incorporation of fictional characters such as…

Gregory Maguire’s, Egg and Spoon, is a magical story told from the perspective of a monk. Elena Rudina is the youngest of three living in a poor village. Luka, the oldest is whisked away to serve in the army for the Tsar and Alexei serves a local merchant who left the poor village. At 13, Elena is left alone with her dying mother and a set of marystosha dolls. Mademoiselle Ekaterina Ivanovna de Robichaux or Cat is drawn by her Great-Aunt Sophia to St.Petersburg. There she is to meet the Tsar and…