Lewis Carroll Essay -- Lewis Carroll Biography Biographies Essays

Lewis Carroll Lewis Carroll is a well known and talked about author, whose writings have stirred up much controversy. His work has inspired ballot, puppet shows, and even music videos. (Vink). Lewis Carroll is an outstanding English writer because of his background, his position in English literature, and his many works, such as his novel, â€Å"Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.† â€Å"‘Lewis Carroll,’ as he was to become known, was born on January 27, 1832 (Leach 1). He was raised on a parsonage that was located in the middle of a cornfield. The family even raised livestock to supplement their income. Carroll was the oldest of four boys and seven girls. He referred to his mother as â€Å"‘one of the sweetest and gentlest women that ever lived,’ and was notable for the energy with which she ran the household.† ( Carpenter and Prichard 97). She taught all her children at home while they were young. His father was an ordained priest. It was in 1843 when Carroll was eleven, the family moved to Yorkshire. This was a much more lucrative living arrangement; in fact, the house was â€Å"... so big that Mr. Dodgson was able to find room on the grounds for a school holding about [sixty] children† (97). At twelve, Carroll was sent to grammar school at Richmond where he was happy and hard- working. However, two years later he was sent on to a small private school at Rugby, where he was apparently bullied. Something he wrote a few years later aroused the suspicion that he may have suffered from some form of sexual abuse while at Rugby, but this is only a speculation. â€Å"He left Rugby at the end of 1849 and ...went on in January 1851 to Oxford: to his father’s old college, Christ Church† (Leach 2). After only two days, he had to return home because â€Å"his mother had died of ‘Inflammation of the Brain’– perhaps meningitis or a stroke – at the age of forty- seven† (2) This did not seem to distract Carroll much or if it did it did not show, for he returned right back to Oxford where â€Å"the following year he achieved a first in Honour Moderations, and was nominated to a Studentship (2). He later won the Christ Church Mathematical Lectureship that he held for twenty-six years. â€Å"The income was good but the work bored him† (2). â€Å"He became deacon of the Church of England in 1861 but chose not to go further† ( Bla... ...e in which many pages from his diary were missing. Years later after Alice was married, Carroll sent her a letter that read, â€Å"I’ve had scores of child friends but they have been quite a different thing† (Vink). It was six years after Carroll wrote Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland that he decided to write the sequel to it called Through the Looking Glass. â€Å"The story was based on a chess game which is believed by some that is represents Alice becoming as adult and when Alice wins the chess game, Carroll loses Alice† (Vink). Without a doubt, Lewis Carroll is truly an outstanding English writer as a result of his background, his position in English literature, and his many writings, including his novel, â€Å"Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.† One critic had this to say about Lewis Carroll: He had a knack for being able to make the oldest person feel as if he/she was seven and a half, and following a rabbit, or any other animal that people think of when they see, or hear the words, â€Å"Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.† What they do not think of are the oddities Lewis Carroll put so much thought into while writing the book (www.studyworld.com).

Lais of Marie de France Essay

Love and Marie de France According to American mythologist, Joseph Campbell, â€Å"The greatest love was during the Medieval Ages, when noble hearts produced a romantic love that transcended lust† (Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth with Bill Moyers [2001]). The Lais of Marie de France are primarily concerned with this idea of love–specifically, courtly love–between a man and a woman. Courtly love, a union modeled after the feudal relationship between a knight and his liege lord, became a popular convention in the 12th century (â€Å"Backgrounds to Romance: ‘Courtly Love’†). Instead of proving loyalty to a lord, the man would have to prove his love to a woman. Marie de France, however, focuses not just on the idea of love, but also on the differing kinds of love that existed in medieval society. She recognizes love as a force that cannot be avoided and that can be executed correctly or incorrectly; not all love is equal. Marie begins her collection of lais with the story of Guigemar, a noble knight who is cursed with the task of finding true love to heal a physical injury. This lay introduces two types of love: selfish and selfless. Selfish love is not courtly love. It lacks devotion and true loyalty. It lacks suffering and self-denial. Marie de France portrays this kind of love in the old husband of the woman whom Guigemar loves. The man locks his wife away in an enclosure guarded by a castrated man. By doing this, the husband shows a mean, limited devotion to his wife; perhaps even worse, he limits her ability to experience true love. This kind of love does not last; in fact, the husband is cuckolded when his wife has a year-long affair with Guigemar. He is made a fool, the dupe of love. Guigemar, however, in contrast to the old husband, practices selfless love. He is kind and noble, and, although he suffers from his physical wound, the pain of love is keener: â€Å" Love had now pierced him to the quick†¦for the lady had wounded him so deeply†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (De France, Marie. The Lais of Marie de France. Trans. Glyn S. Burgess and Keith Busby [L ondon: Penguin Group, 1986.Print] p.48).† This type of love most closely resembles courtly love. Guigemar endures severe anguish to please his beloved, and his undying love inspires  him to prove himself to her. This lay provides a good example of what Marie de France considers wrong and right in love. We see another selfish love in the story of Bisclavret, a man with a werewolf alter ego who is betrayed by his adulterous wife. Ironically, although her husband is physically a beast, the real beast, as portrayed by Marie de France, is the wife, who not only betrays him, but also marries another man. She is selfishly concerned with her physical desires, something Marie de France considers ignoble and far worse than the jealousy displayed in the story of Guigemar. The selfish love in this story is inspired by sexual desire, a desire that Marie de France sees as a threat to selfless love. Selfish love is again shown in the lay of â€Å"Les Deux Amanz,† in which a young man has to carry his beloved to the top of a mountain without falling in order to prove his worthiness to her father. This seems to be an act of love, but, in fact, when the woman begs her lover to take a potion that will help him reach the top, he reveals another, vainer, motivation: â€Å"These people would shout at us and deafen me their noise†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (Burgess and Busby 84). In other words, his desire to reach the mountaintop is motivated at least in part by a need to prove himself to others, and less by the desire to faithfully perform a trial for his beloved. The noble purity of courtly love is not present. Characters demonstrating pure, selfless—even self-denying–devotion are portrayed throughout the lais as examples of true love. In the story of â€Å"Eliduc,† a brave, loyal knight is forced to find a new lord in another land and temporarily leave his wife, Guildeleuc. Although Eliduc meets a new love (Guilliadun), he remains faithful to his wife, demonstrating loyalty, suffering, and therefore a more pure kind of love. He finally marries Guilliadun, but only after Guildeleuc decides to give herself up to God and leave Eliduc. By letting Eliduc marry his true love, Guildeleuc also shows love in its most giving form, but in this case it is a truly spiritual love. This story thus displays two types of selfless love represented by each of his wives: love of God and the love between a man and a woman. Significantly, at the end of the lay, â€Å"He placed his beloved lady with his former wife, by whom she was received honorably as a sister, . . . â€Å" (Burgess and Busby 126). This suggests that pure love can take both a spiritual and worldly form. Central to the Lais of Marie de France, then, is courtly love. While her lais are idealistic in their portrayal of loyalty  and romantic chivalry, historically, marriages among the nobility were dispassionate and practical (Joseph Campbell). Troubadours began to introduce stories of interpersonal relationships and the possibility of romantic love. Although this kind of love directly contradicted the views of the church, it inspired people to take matters of love and relationships into their own hands (Joseph Campbell). This is what Marie de France wants to inspire–the universal knowledge of love and how imperative an aspect it remains in society. The idea is important enough to her to make her text more accessible to society. She begins her prologue by stating: â€Å"When a truly beneficial thing is heard by many people, it then enjoys its first blossom, but if it is widely praised its flowers are in full bloom†(Burgess and Busby 41). She wishes to share her insights about love to everyone, not simply to write inaccessible stories available only to philosophers or the learned. Works Cited â€Å"Backgrounds to Romance: ‘Courtly Love’† Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth with Bill Moyers [2001]. De France, Marie. The Lais of Marie De France. Trans. Glyn S. Burgess and Keith Busby. London: Penguin Group, 1986. Print.

Ethical Egoism The Nature Philosophy Essay - 2926 Words

After studying many different ethical schools of thought, I have further affirmed, for myself at least, that Ethical Egoism is the best and most natural personal philosophy to follow. While the principles of most other philosophies and ethics are not horrible or absurd, they are not as fitting as the principles and teachings of ethical egoism and Niccolo Machiavelli. As humans, we should accept the realization that we are all pursuing our wants, desires, and pleasures. This is not a shameful or wrong thing, it is only natural. We, as humans, simply wish to lead a good life, and the best component of a good life is achieving our desires and goals. However, I am not saying that we should wildly chase those desires. Indeed, it is important†¦show more content†¦It is wiser to have a reputation as a miser, which brings disdain without hatred, than by seeking reputation for generosity to incur a name for rapacity which begets both disdain and hatred.† When first reading this, one wonders how generosity can bring hatred, but really it seems simple. If someone knows you to be generous, but if for some reason, whether it be inability or something else, you deny someone something that you normally provide them, they will dislike and hate you for it. Yet, if you were known to be miserly, no one would come to you for such things, so you would not be hated for it, only thought of as a miser. A prime example of generosity being taken advantage of would be an encounter that I had with an old friend. In my eyes, Tim was a sort of â€Å"underprivileged kid† in high school. Simply meaning that he did not always have the means to obtain simple pleasures and necessities such as buying lunch when we would all go out. Because of that, I would regularly provide it for him, because I worked in high school and could afford to do so. Tim became accustomed to that practice, and it became expected of me. Once I realized that I had begun to be taken advantage of by him and now others, I stopped doing it. When I would no longer buy his lunch or what have you, he got upset with me and even seemedShow MoreRelatedPsychological vs Ethical Egoism Essay1167 Words   |  5 PagesPsychological Egoism and Ethical Egoism: A Comparison Abstract There is a certain innate desire to help others, just as others will feel that same fulfillment for returning that aid. At the same time, however, there is also an inherent yearning to seek out one’s own best interest. This brings about a discussion regarding the difference between psychological egoism and ethical egoism. 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