Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Essay Example for Free

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Essay Charles Darwin once said that, â€Å"A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.† In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Sir Gawain is an honest and chivalrous knight, as seen in his pentangle, â€Å"The fifth five I find the famous man practiced Were – Liberality and Lovingkindness leading the rest; Then his Continence and Courtesy, which were never corrupted; And Piety, the surpassing virtue† (Gawain, 651-654). Sir Gawain’s chivalrous character seems superficial and wasted to some individuals because it means he cannot live a fulfilled life. In the words of Darwin, this would mean that Sir Gawain does not understand what the value of life is. Certain green objects, such as the green girdle, the Green Knight’s accoutrement, and the Green Chapel, represent the quest of truth in Gawain’s character and the understanding of the value of life, which is the ability to learn from mistakes and continuously grow as life goes on. The story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight begins with a mythical creature, the Green Knight, interrupting a New Year’s feast in King Arthur’s court. We can see that this green knight is the symbol for corruption and dangerousness, in comparison to the symbolism of Arthur’s court, including Sir Gawain, being orderliness and safety. He is clothed in all green garments, â€Å"And garments of green girt the fellow about—A two-third length tunic, tight at the waist† (Gawain, 151-152). The green in his appearance is the symbol for evil because he becomes the adversary of Sir Gawain, the one who challenges Gawain’s morality. The Green Knight’s weapons are also decorated in green, â€Å"The head of that axe was an ell-rod long. Of green hammered gold and steel was the socket, And the blade was burnished bright, with a broad edge† (Gawain, 211-212). The abundance of the color of green is important because it represents Gawain’s instability and uncertainty. The Green Knight uses the weapons to take three blows at Sir Gawain, but Gawain flinches before he is able to strike him. The creature leaves a scar Gawain’s neck when they finally clash; the wound is symbolic for the deterioration of Gawain’s knighthood. Sir Gawain was a person full of virtue and believed in the goodness of the world, as the poet describes him as â€Å"like gold well refined, He was devoid of all villainy, every virtue displaying In the field† (Gawain 633-635). He is called up to fight this  Green Knight. Before he starts his quest to encounter the knight, he is welcomed as a guest at Lord Bertilak’s castle to stay and rest easily for a couple of days. As a knight of King Arthur’s court, the Lord expects Gawain to be courteous and do whatever action the Lady performs on Gawain to the Lord himself. While the Lord is out hunting deer, boars, and foxes in the forest, the Lady sneaks into Gawain’s bedroom, closes the door shut, and attempts to seduce him like how her husband is hunting the animals. Following the code of the knights, Gawain tries to politely push the Lady away by dancing around the conversation and letting her down easy as he says, â€Å"‘Indeed, dear lady, you did better,’ said the knight, And solemnly as your servant say you are my sovereign. May Christ requite it you: I have become your knight’† (Gawain, 1276-1278). The knightliness forbids Gawain from growing as a person because chivalry is all he follows. When the Lady doesn’t get what she wants, she decides to takes another approach and challenges Gawain’s knighthood with a gift of the green girdle that contains magical powers such as immortality. Gawain finally commits an error by taking this gift from the Lady; the green girdle gives a hint at Gawain’s instability and uncertainty to be an honest knight. He is supposed to do what the Lady does to him back to the Lord, which means that Gawain is expected to give this girdle back to the Lord. Instead, Gawain ends up not doing so and tries to avoid telling the Lord what happened while he was out hunting animals. By sinning, Gawain loses all his virtues as a knight and finally begins to learn the value of life. The other prominent green object in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is the green chapel, where Sir Gawain and the Green Knight were supposed to meet for battle. His guide warns Gawain that no one has successfully defeated the mythical creature before. This doesn’t change his decision to fight the green knight. When Gawain finally reaches the Green Chapel, it is described as chaotic just like when the Green Knight interrupts King Arthur’s court. The poet describes it by saying, â€Å"It had a hole in each end and on either side, And was overgrown by grass in great patches. All hollow it was within, only an old cavern† (Gawain, 2180-2184). It outlines the true messiness and disorderliness of the place in great detail. The poet also describes the chapel’s satanic characteristics when he says, â€Å"‘O God, is the Chapel Green This mound?’ said the noble knight. ‘At such might Satan be seen Saying matins at midnight’†Ã‚  (Gawain, 2187-2189). These corruptive characteristics of the Green Chapel foreshadow the outcome of the duel between Gawain and the Green Knight. When the two of them finally encounter each other at the Green Chapel, the Green Knight claims that Gawain isn’t acting like himself, â€Å"‘You’re not Gawain,’ said the gallant, ‘whose greatness is such That by hill or hollow no army ever frightened him; For now you flinch for fear before you feel harm† (Gawain, 2270-2272). With his unique weapons, the Green Knight strikes three blows at Gawain, but only one of them has any impact on him. This scar on his neck is an example of Memento Mori, a keepsake that helps Gawain remember his mortality and ability to commit human error. Sir Gawain learns the true value of life through a convoluted process. He is no longer the chivalrous knight that he originally was because he makes the mistake of not telling Lord Bertilak, who turns out to be the corrupted Green Knight in disguise, about the gift of the magical green girdle. The Lord eventually finds out because he is actually testing Gawain’s ability to be a true knight. As a consequence of his lie, Gawain ultimately loses his perfectness and virtues. In the denouement of the poem, Gawain continues to wear the green girdle in Arthur’s court also as a Memento Mori, as a reminder of his mistake of lying, which signifies that he is finally learning from it and progressing altogether as a person.

George Orwells Coming Up for Air Essays -- George Orwell Coming Air E

George Orwell's Coming Up for Air George Orwell’s novel, Coming Up for Air, portrays England at two different times. The story is based around George Bowling in 1939 and his life in the suburbs of London on Ellesmere Road, where all the houses are the same. He is very cynical of the world around him and dreams of his times as a child in Lower Binfield when things were not perfect, but not yet ruined by the Great War. The vision of 1900 England versus England in 1939 creates a sharp contrast in life for George Bowling. In 1939 England is on the verge of another war, and life is impersonal, harsh, and industrial. The reality of 1939 is only accentuated by George’s trip to his childhood home of Lower Binfield, where nothing is the same as he left before the Great War. George Bowling’s first glimpse of Lower Binfield in 1939 leaves him baffled. He does not even recognize his childhood home. The small town of two thousand has turned into a city of twenty five thousand. Upon seeing his old home he exclaims, â€Å"But where was Lower Binfield? Where was the town I used to know? It might have been anywhere. All I knew it was buried somewhere in the middle of that sea of bricks.† The town is fundamentally different then when George left it. The old brewery is gone and the main manufacturing in the city was bombs for the RAF. People in the streets are preparing for impending war with Germany. They are practicing for air raids and bombers are constantly flying overhead. The marketplace where all the shops were during his childhood is now called the â€Å"Old Market†. George could not even find his way around town because of all the new streets. He recognized many of the shops but they all had different names and owners. This differenc e startles George but also shows an important difference between England in 1900 and 1939 England. Towns were becoming cities, the war had industrialized the entire nation very quickly, and a small town like Lower Binfield quickly became a manufacturing center. The city no longer housed the smaller family owned businesses that had once dominated Lower Binfield. These smaller shops had been bought out by national businesses that were expanding across England closing smaller shops in all the towns. Shopkeepers like George’s dad who refused to innovate and carry different merchandise were left to slowly die as stores like Sarazins, â€Å"big retail ... ...o have conversations with strangers. The development of England and the industrialization brought with the war has made life even more impersonal. George’s post war euphoria of getting a great job and becoming very successful was shattered by the reality that England did not have jobs for everyone and England’s familiar face had changed. Coming Up for Air illustrates the changes in England during the twentieth century. George Bowling is George Orwell’s tragic character trying to hold on to England’s fading past. What he ultimately realizes is that England has changed forever. The Great War has demolished the old simple way of life that Lower Binfield held for George when he was a child. The new England is one with cars, suburbs, trash dumps, assembly lines, and war. The quiet serenity George found when he was fishing is not available to him in 1939. He is stuck with his job, his false teeth, his nickname â€Å"fatty†, family, his house on Ellesmere Road, the impending war with Germany, and the post-war period. The reality that George lives in is the harsh, impersonal England of 1939. Bibliography Orwell, George. Coming Up for Air. New York: Harcourt Brace and Company, 1950.

Gender Communication Essay

Women are continually hammering against a glass ceiling and also their advancement is usually hindered by a promotion bottleneck in the middle management and a sticky floor. According to a recent research on an analysis of careers from a number of employees, it was found out that the rates of promotion for men from the start of their careers to senior management was higher as compared to women who started at the same level. Majority of men were promoted as compared to women who had equivalent experience and education. This has adversely affected gender communication by way of intimidation whereby the women are left feeling inferior (Ivy, 28). I picked this topic so that I can comprehend deeply on the effects of glass ceiling and sticky floors approach to communication, and how it is related to gender communication. Knowledge about this topic would adequately prepare me for the world since I would be knowledgeable on how to handle various aspects of my life which include my workplace and my relationships. I came to discover that the glass ceiling and sticky floors issues had only been studied at a high level especially at the top of the management. Women are only promoted to very top positions only if they have successfully made it through at the middle management level (Wood, 157). From my conclusive research I discovered that there is usually a floor that is men dominated by the men in regards to promotions. Unfortunately for women, it is extremely difficult to penetrate through this floor due to the fact that there is a lot biases towards women promotions. Men are easily promoted whereas for women, they have to demonstrate capabilities beyond reasonable doubt that they deserve a promotion. I learnt that there is also the challenge of a mid- level bottleneck towards women which ideally favored men. This concept ensured that few women were promoted from the mid-level management to senior management. This meant that a lot of women were stuck at the mid-level management and they did not progress further from this level. However, this was not same case with men who had similar credentials to the women regardless of both sexes having similar qualifications academically and  experience (Krolokke and Ann, 58). I was deeply surprised by the aforementioned findings and I had to ask myself various questions about the topic. I still have not understood where there should be that prejudice towards women yet there is an affirmative action regarding women. I am yet to establish effective solutions to the link between challenges of gender communication in relation to the glass ceiling and sticky floors approach to communication. A number of areas need to be researched thoroughly so that the relation of the two aspects are understood and practice to the letter. Challenges that face the two aspects should be dealt with through consensus so that there can be a win- win solution where both parties, that is the male and female live and work in harmony (Wood, 159). In conclusion, I wish to strongly suggest that the gender equality aspect should be practiced and women should effectively be given equal opportunities like their male counterparts. Gender communication needs to be a two way traffic and both the male and female should have equal opportunities to express themselves. The barriers that create the glass ceiling and sticky floors approach to communication should be eradicated. Everyone should be given equal opportunities for harmony between both sexes to prevail. Works Citied Ivy, Diana K. Genderspeak: Personal Effectiveness in Gender Communication. Boston: Pearson Education, 2012. Print. Krolà ¸kke, Charlotte, and Ann S. Sà ¸rensen. Gender Communication Theories & Analyses: From Silence to Performance. Thousand Oaks, Calif. [u.a.: SAGE, 2006. Print. Wood, Julia T. Gendered Lives: Communication, Gender, and Culture. Belmont, CA: Thompson/Wadsworth, 2008. Print. Wood, Julia T. Gendered Lives: Communication, Gender, and Culture. Boston, MA: Wadsworth/Cengage, 2013. Print.

The Influence of Alcohol and Drugs in Edgar Allen Poe Life...

The influence of alcohol and drugs in Edgar Allan Poe’s life â€Å"Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dreamed before† (Edgar Allan Poe). Darkness and sadness are strong characteristics of Edgar Allan Poe’s writing. The tragedies during his life, such as the death of his biological and adoptive moms, followed by the death of his young wife Virginia were important factors which formed his gothic style. Poe is known for his drinking problems and use of drugs. Those habits had a big influence in his life and in his works. Family members, classmates, depression and disasters influenced Poe to use alcohol. The possibilities of Poe been an alcoholic increased†¦show more content†¦1). Poe went so far that he got into a point that he drank absinthe and brandy which is a really dangerous mixture (Poe, Drugs and Alcohol 27). Between the many possible causes of Edgar Allan Poe’s de ath, his problem with alcohol is really considerable as one important reason of his early death (Scharf, Douglas 1). Even though Poe was completely addicted to alcohol, many times, he tried very hard to fight against his alcoholism. Right after his first long drinking experience, during college, he tried to stay away from it (Black, Jamee A. 3). His drinking times were intermittent and he stayed abstain from alcohol for months in some of those periods (Poe, Drugs and Alcohol 8). Promises were made and repeatedly times he said that would never drink again. As one side of Poe tells him that he should stop with alcohol, the other side tells that he should drink to relief his emotional pains and usually he followed this last side once is a lot easier to deal with it (Black, Jamee A. 6). In 1847, Poe’s get extremely hard into drinking, one of the worse times during his whole life, after the death of his young wife Virginia (Hennelly, Mark M. 1). After this event he could stop dr inking alcohol anymore (Poe, Drugs and Alcohol 14). Other important characteristic of his life is the use of drugs. Some evidences show that Poe really used drugs but for medical benefits in which the doctors gave to him as a medicineShow MoreRelatedEssay about The Genius that Was Edgar Allan Poe1799 Words   |  8 Pagesare not recognized for their effect on society until well after their lives have ended. One of the individuals in particular goes by the name of Edgar Allan Poe. Most people when asked what they know of the man conjure up images of horror and darkness that they have learned to associate with the man. 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