The Lais of Marie de France offers an inquisitive perspective on the nature of love and the sacrifices one must make in relationships and marriage. While reading, I encountered many examples of a man and woman in love who must suffer for one another. This collection of narratives contains characters in relationships in which each partner suffers equally for one another and characters in which one partner sacrifices more than the other.…
On May 2, 1892 Manfred von Richthofen was born. This was the man who would become the Red Baron. He became an important part of Germany’s war effort and a national hero. He was an integral part of Germany’s success in the air, and an inspiration to many.…
Because of the apparent issues generated by the above two accounts, a new account is brought forward to focus on the relationship between the lover and the beloved. And stump defines relationship as on-going connections with a history of interactions between the connected people. On the relational account Stump tells us that, “Love consists in valuing a person and one's relationship with that person and in seeing that relationship as an appropriate reason for such valuing.” But to show an issue with the relational account Stump brings up Dante’s love story. There was virtually no interaction at all between Dante and Beatrice, and Dante's attitude towards his wife meets the conditions for love on the relational account. But he did not desire his wife like he did Beatrice. Stump clearly shows that love cannot be clearly explained with using just the relational…
The Lais of Marie de France are a collection of short stories that depict situations where love arises. The author presents love as a complex emotion and demonizes it and praises it in certain instances. She is not always in favor of love as is described by the outcomes by some of the lovers in the story, such as when they either end up dead in the end or banished because of their love. The author presents this notion of love because she believes it is not always justified to love someone. In the book, two distinct types of love are shown. There is selfless love and selfish love which are compared throughout the multiple stories in The Lais of Marie de France. By comparing the two distinct types of love, a universal truth about love can be derived to explain when love is and is not justified.…
In The Lais of Marie de France, poet Marie de France illustrates many different kinds of love. The main themes being marriage and extramarital affairs. From reading the lais, Guigemar and Bisclavret, I believe that Marie has a traditional view of marriage. I can assume that Marie believes a marriage takes two to work. I also can assume that Marie believes that either partner can cause a marriage to fail. In her stories she does not put the blame of a failed marriage on just the husband or the wife, instead she creates different scenarios that causes the audience to recognize that it is not just one gender that possesses certain characteristics. She plays with what society would consider masculine or feminine by giving the characters opposite…
“Against Love”: immediately controversy is conveyed by the title of Laura Kipnis’ article on modern relationships. The reader is put on the defensive as Kipnis starts her argument with strong metaphors attacking one of the most basic human interactions that we see as natural and embrace without question. Namely, love, a word held in superposition between complex and simple. Kipnis argues it has been overrated and too much is sacrificed in the pursuit of making it last. Defining her own terms that apply to most relationships such as “advanced intimacy” and “mutuality” she provides a new perspective on old notions. Her tone throughout is consistently sarcastic but make no mistake, Kipnis is addressing a real issue on what we value as a society. Descriptive language is Kipnis’ fishing line that keeps you reading, often creating vivid and objectionable images that no one can avoid cringing at. Concepts surrounding love and the ideal couple change from age to age and from culture to culture but Kipnis doesn’t disregard this. She compares today’s norms to historical precedence as she identifies the shift from focusing on the convenience of financially organized marriages to the achievement of unending life-long love. Kipnis’ article presents a fascinating argument by proposing an idea…
The collection of texts presented in this essay depicts an underlying theme of love. The texts have been examined and explored in order to note the similarities or differences in various categories. To compare two texts by the length of their stanza would be to diminish the value of its words; indeed a comparison of texts must come from the connotation.…
Love is defined by dictionary.com as “an intense feeling of deep emotion.†Love is not something that should be forced, because of common interests, intelligence, or good weather. Love is much more natural, it is not an equation to be solved; it is an emotion to be felt. Who one decides to marry is one of, if not the biggest decision one has to make in his or her life, it should not be taken lightly. In Mavis Gallant’s short story, The Other Paris, Gallant mocks humanity’s modern day over analyzing of love through narrative voice and characterization to prove that love is not something that should be forced or solved, but something that should happen naturally on its own.…
In the following paragraphs, I’m going to explain Boethius’s (the author’s) point in including the discourse on the nature of love right after lady philosophy educate Boethius (the prisoner) on what true fortune is. Then, I will critically compare his view of love with that of Plato.…
It is my intention to compare the book, Dangerous Liaisons by Choderlos de Laclos, to its modern movie version, Cruel Intentions starring Sarah Michelle Gellar. I intend to examine how the original French text was modified in reference to plot, character, morals/values, and themes. I also plan to discuss how these transformations change the meaning of the story and reflect different cultural/historical contexts. There are some major differences between these two works, if only because of when they were written.…
In David Malouf’s poignant novella Ransom, the role of love is explored through some captivating and unique perspectives. Throughout the novel, Malouf alludes that losing loved ones is both powerful and influential on an individual’s mindset, as shown through the protagonists’ reflection and feelings. Malouf also uses different characters’ actions to depict the sacrifices which love is able cause. Furthermore, by using Priam’s reflections, Malouf accentuates that love can make an individual to self-meditate. Finally, Malouf uses the events surrounding different characters to propose that love plays a fundamental role in one’s life, because love is often catalyst of one’s actions.…
Coontz’ article explains that as far back as the 1100s love was not present at the start of a marriage; it was either factored in or developed afterwards. In the thirteenth century, adultery was widely accepted as a form of love which is very different from today’s world. In the 1500s and 1600s, marriages were arranged by parents and if their “loyalty was not paramount…they were sometimes beaten” (Coontz 383). During the 1700s thru the late 1800s sexual loyalty was not even considered important; in fact many cultures have allowed mates to seek sexual gratification outside of marriage. It was not until recently in the late 1900s that people began to marry because of their love for each other. Coontz shows the comparisons of different cultures and their reasons to marry.…
Compare the views of relationships in ‘The Unequal Fetters’ with those in ‘To his Coy Mistress’. What is suggested about the different ways in which men and women view love?…
Wolfgang Keller, managing director of Konigsbrau-Krayina, the Ukrainian subsidiary of the German beer company Konigsbrau, faces a complicated managerial dilemma. His subordinate, Bohdan Khmelnytsky, is a talented and experienced commercial director who is not meeting his goals appropriately. Keller is an action-oriented manager who likes to use a hands-on approach when dealing with problems. He has the potential to be a great leader as evidence by his drive and people skills. But his lack of experience running a multinational company gives him difficulty in dealing with one of his directors with a different management style. Khmelnytsky’s introvert and highly formal personality had major problems to adjust to the desired organizational culture and getting in touch with customers. Keller must decide the best course of action to take with this difficult employee in an environment in which the industry is rapidly changing and growing and the war for talent is strong. He must also consider what comprises an effective performance review and how his own leadership style impacts Khmelnytsky 's poor performance.…
Honour, loyalty, and vows are all associated with duty but they are also associated with love In, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, by william Shakespeare, one of the prominent themes is, that love after the initial attraction, is only a duty due to the obligations of relationships. This kind relationship can be seen between Demetrius and Helena, between Oberon and a Titania and between Egeus and Helena.…