Two of Katherine Mansfield’s most famous stories are "Prelude" and "At the Bay"‚ both of them portraying a New Zealand family. Both stories‚ are revolving around the female characters‚ but the one link that connects all of them is Stanley Burnell‚ member and provider of the family. The New Zealand critic Carl Stead affirms that Stanley Burnell is a ’benevolent despot’ meaning that he is a kind person‚ and a tyrant in the same time. I agree with Stead affirmation‚ but as it seems somewhat incomplete
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granting equal rights. “But when a long train of abuses and usurpations‚ pursuing invariably the same object‚ evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism‚ it is their duty to throw off such government‚ and to provide new guards for their future security” The author is comparing the treatment given to women with a type of despotism and she is reminding the government that its main duty is to protect the people and if they fail to do so they must be remove from power. It shows that the
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When individualism deteriorates into “general apathy‚” Tocqueville claims that “anarchy and despotism” will follow (Tocqueville 704). In these two possible dystopian democracies‚ either tyranny of the majority or tyranny of the executive power reigns. Both the executive and the majority are “in a position to oppress” when apathy conquers the populace (Tocqueville 704). Furthermore‚ anarchy and despotism seem to combine in this dystopian democracy‚ also as a consequence of general apathy. When citizens
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3. Why is Romanticism described as a reaction against the Enlightenment? What factors represent a change in perception and understanding? In the book‚ The Beginning of the English Romantic Movement‚ William Lyon Phelps asserted that “the romantic movement‚ while it followed its own genius‚ was not altogether unguided.” Put differently‚ he claimed that new movements‚ like Romanticism‚ were a reaction of some elements of the movement that preceded it‚ and a consequence of the progressions made by previous
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Dangers of Despotism in a Democratic Age In his book‚ Democracy in America‚ Alexis de Tocqueville expresses his concerns regarding the emergence of despotism in the new democratic age of New England. For Tocqueville‚ despotism does not solely reside in one man. Despotism is a form of power that does not abide by the laws or rules. According to Tocqueville‚ despotism is not the rule of a single person; it does not lead to the rise of a single tyrant. Rather‚ despotism is an arbitrary form of power
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When men are no longer bound together by caste‚ class‚ corporate or family ties‚ they are only too prone to give their whole thoughts to their private interest‚ and to wrap themselves up in a narrow individuality in which public virtue is stifled. Despotism does not combat this tendency; on the contrary‚ it renders it irresistible‚ for it deprives citizens of all common passions‚ [ix] mutual necessities‚ need of a common understanding‚ opportunity for combined action: it ripens them‚ so to speak‚ in
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Louis XIV was the outcome of the despotism convention that was insinuated into him from childhood. Right from his early years he was taught to follow the changes that took place in French monarchy from earliest times to the present and was accustomed about various individuals‚ procurements and non-fulfilment of his antecedents. French monarchy could be mustered of a rich and varied heritage as it had substantial aid at his conveyance‚ some ambrosial in inception while others ascend from the rights
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One of the fundamental propositions provided by Orwell’s classic 1984 is the convoluted relationship between “oppression” and “repression”. His literary devices go into explicit detail in describing how such despotism affects the human apparatus‚ causing an organized chaos amongst society. Winston Smith is used as a living transition to display the influence of this societal pressure and how it’s usage of fear for controlling a population will ultimately veer
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Insights on De Tocqueville’s Democracy In America It has been said that a French aristocrat Alexis de Tocqueville‚ who visited the United States in the 1830’s‚ "understood us" in a way that few observers (foreign and domestic) have. Furthermore‚ Tocqueville’s Democracy in America is often cited by present-day critics because so many of the observations in it seem extraordinarily suitable even more than one hundred and fifty years later. Alexis de Tocqueville was born 1805 into a minor noble
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The Renaissance developed a new and unique form of politics referred to as Despotism. Despotism is a form of government in which a single entity rules with absolute power. The single ruling entity may be an individual‚ as in an autocracy‚ or it may be a group‚ as in an oligarchy. The great Renaissance historian John Addington Symonds refers to the 14th and 15th Centuries in Italy as the “Age of the Despots.” It was under the tyrannies‚ in the midst of all the wars and revolutions‚ that the Italians
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