During Voltaire 's lifetime, traditional social institutions and government systems held power. Arguably the most influential of those was the Catholic Church, which was considered sacred and above the state in authority and importance. Although Voltaire was a deist, he despised the Church clergy for its corruption, impiousness, and hypocrisy. Having been sexually used by teachers while attending a Jesuit school, he harbored a special hatred towards the Jesuits. Yet his abhorrence of religion extended past Catholicism. Voltaire condemned Protestant clergy in much the same way as Catholic priests. Furthermore, although in theory Voltaire believed in religious equality, he held strongly anti-Semitic views, even calling Jews "abominable" in his Dictionary of Philosophy. Muslim clerics were described in much the same way. Clearly, Voltaire hated all religious institutions and customs. In his most satirical and important work, Candide, he incessantly mocks not only the Catholic Church, but also Protestants, Jews, and Muslims.…
The texts, Othello by William Shakespeare, Big World by Tim Winton and my visual appropriation, have enriched my understanding of the outsider through a variety of language and visual techniques. Through the portrayal of Othello and Roderigo in Othello, the author in Big World and the outsider in my visual appropriation, the authors have conveyed the notion that outsiders will forever and always be outsiders. No matter how hard the outsider tries to fit in or deny their otherness, at times seemingly part of the group, they will, in the end, still be considered an outsider.…
François-Marie Arouet, better known by the name of Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment writer who believed that everyone had the freedom of speech, religion, and expression.…
In the time of Kafka the division between Czech and German speaking people in Czechoslovakia was big.…
he is the right height, five feet five inches. In the army he is subjected to…
As I stated in one of the discussion forums, Gregor might have always been an insect, and this occurred long before he was introduced to the reader. Is it absurdity or irony that Gregor is not showing any concern about his so-called transformation? In fact, everyone else within the story seems to change. His sister grows from a child to a young woman that is ready to be married. Gregor’s parents adapt and change their roles to accommodate their son’s situation.…
Prima ab origine mundi, ad mea perpetuum tempora carmen, "from the very beginning of the world, in an unbroken poem, to my own time" (Metamorphoses 1.3-4). Publius Ovidius Naso also known as Ovid wrote Metamorphoses, which combines hundreds of stories from Greek mythology and Roman traditions. He stitched many of them together in a very peculiar epic poem in fifteen books. The central theme of the book is transformation "from the earliest beginnings of the world, down to my own times." Ovid sweeps down from the creation to the Augustan era.…
Have you ever read a book where the title left you completely perplexed? Authors pick the titles of their books with great care, taking into consideration both their target audience and, the content of their newly created masterpiece. The title usually reflects the general theme of the book and seeks to appeal to any probing eyes that may grace its humble cover. Metamorphosis, the translated title of one of Frank Kafkas books, is about a man who wakes up to find he has been transformed into an oversized beetle. Metamorphosis, literally translated from its mother language, Latin, means a change in physical form, structure, or substance, especially by supernatural means (Merriam-Webster). Metamorphosis can also be used to describe a gradual mental…
For the most part, Ovid portrays love in a highly positive way, as something natural that arises on its own between two people. One of the typical signs of love in The Metamorphoses is when the two lovers can't stand to be apart from each other; thus Deucalion and Pyrrha, as well as Baucis and Philemon, each express the wish to die if their partner dies. Pyramus and Thisbe take this to an extreme extent when a misunderstanding makes them each commit suicide (their situation is kind of a precursor to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet). Even though Pyramus and Thisbe are otherwise portrayed as normal, loving people, their story hints at a darker side of love that Ovid also explores. This can be seen in the extreme possessiveness that makes Apollo…
Frank Kafka’s disease, unsupportive and insensitive parents influence his abnormal literature. Born on July 3, 1883, in Prague, capital of what is now the Czech Republic, writer Franz Kafka grew up in a middle-class Jewish family with five other siblings. Tragedy soon struck him and his family when his two brothers died in infancy. Kafka was an intelligent individual who excelled in writing while also having a law degree in 1906. He did all of this while suffering from tuberculosis.…
The book Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka was published in 1915 and is about a traveling salesman who is transformed into a creature. The reason one may consider choosing this book and attempting to convert it into a kids book is how mysterious and open ended some of the aspects of the novel is. The process of creating this book took a fair enough of time, planning , and a lot of trial and error in order to get it the way I felt was acceptable The hardest part of creating this kids book was condensing the plot into only a few pages all while keeping it short and simple enough for a child to comprehend.…
Franz Kafka’s short story, The Metamorphosis, illustrates the struggle of a family trying to manage with the insect transformation of the main character, Gregor Samsa. Although most readers might argue that the focus of the metamorphosis is based around Gregor due to his transformation; however, from the moment we meet Gregor, his reality insignificantly changes in spite of his drastic physical change. Gregor’s physical change introduces an altercation in Grete’s life that we see over the course of the story. Grete undergoes a drastic change from being described as a ‘useless’ daughter and later on becoming a ‘beautiful and marriageable’ women. Thus indicating that Grete’s development into adulthood is the central transformation in the story. From the moment we are introduced to Grete, she is nothing but a mere voice behind Gregor’s bedroom door. Her first words to Gregor are tender and compassionate: “Gregor? Are you all right? Do you need anything?” (ABC8). Which suggests that they had a close and loving…
Critique of Literary Elements and the Psychological Analysis of Symbolism in Franz Kafka’s ‘The Metamorphosis’…
The Existentialist school of thought poses that humans live in an irrational universe and try, to no avail, to forge meaning out of the chaos and stress. Franz Kafka expresses this sentiment in his novella, Metamorphosis, in which Gregor Samsa awakes to find he has transformed into a human-sized dung beetle and struggles to maintain that which makes him human. Through Kafka’s expression of Existential ideas of living-for-others and isolation, the author encapsulates Gregor’s descent into animalistic surrender.…
Transformation is changing a text, in this instance, a play so it can be adapted to a modern day setting to better suit the new context. With the change in context, comes a shift in values. Composers are conscious of the fact that they need to entertain an audience which has a different outlook on the world. I believe that William Shakespeare’s text ‘Othello’ performed in 1603 can be transformed to suit the modern day audience. Davies transformed Shakespeare’s play of the Jacobean era into a film. This film relates to the modern audience and I will discuss how Davies has successfully transformed Shakespeare’s play through his presentation of the character Othello and the theme of jealousy.…