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- Title
- Satan's imprisoning words: examining the value of language in John Milton's Paradise Lost.
- Creator
- Ryan, Victoria., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
-
Through a critique of Satan's misuse of language, John Milton's Paradise Lost makes the greater argument that language should coincide with God's creation narrative. The poem proposes a theory of how language should be used: to connect the mutable world of humans to the immutable world of God. I propose that Milton uses Satan to portray both a fear and a faith in the power of language. Satan makes language the accomplice to his sin, attempting to use language, which has the power of creating...
Show moreThrough a critique of Satan's misuse of language, John Milton's Paradise Lost makes the greater argument that language should coincide with God's creation narrative. The poem proposes a theory of how language should be used: to connect the mutable world of humans to the immutable world of God. I propose that Milton uses Satan to portray both a fear and a faith in the power of language. Satan makes language the accomplice to his sin, attempting to use language, which has the power of creating a world that seems true, to replace God's Truth. Milton's poem neither solely endorses the theory that language points directly to absolute Truth, nor does it endorse the theory that language is an arbitrary system of signs which impose meaning the world. Milton blends these two theories of language, connecting the Idealist system to what will be Friedrich Nietzsche's.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2009
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/209999
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, Language, Devil in literature, Narration (Rhetoric)
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Religious faith within the scientific revolution: a struggle throughout Baconian literature.
- Creator
- D'Arrigo, Amanda Noelle, Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
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This project considers the dual nature of early English thinker Francis Bacon as both a man of science and a devout Christian, through the texts Advancement of Learning, A Confession of Faith, and Of Gardens. Regardless of Bacon's preaching that the progression of scientific knowledge brings one closer to God, in fact human dominance over the natural world undermines religious faith. In particular, Bacon's own interest in early English gardening is used to illustrate the degradation of...
Show moreThis project considers the dual nature of early English thinker Francis Bacon as both a man of science and a devout Christian, through the texts Advancement of Learning, A Confession of Faith, and Of Gardens. Regardless of Bacon's preaching that the progression of scientific knowledge brings one closer to God, in fact human dominance over the natural world undermines religious faith. In particular, Bacon's own interest in early English gardening is used to illustrate the degradation of religious mysticism due to the rise of scientific discovery. Historically, Bacon has been credited as the catalyst of the scientific revolution due to his proposition of a new system of scientific inquiry based on empirical and inductive principles and the development of new arts and inventions. However, Bacon's embrace of the physical sciences and support for human advancement contradicts his alignment with religion. This tension is at the heart of the paper.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2009
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/209989
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, Influence, Religion and science, Nature (Aesthetics), Intellectual life
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- " Merely to officiate light": the subordination and glorification of God the Son in Paradise Lost.
- Creator
- Cruikshank, Kathryn H., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
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This thesis considers the role and function of God the Son within the anti-Trinitarian system John Milton envisions in his epic poem, Paradise Lost. In the poem, God the Father frequently acts independently of His Son, and the divine attributes that traditionally describe the Son, including His timelessness, no longer apply to the character Milton constructs. Despite this apparent degradation, Milton still elevates the Son and considers Him to be a character worthy of our respect. To account...
Show moreThis thesis considers the role and function of God the Son within the anti-Trinitarian system John Milton envisions in his epic poem, Paradise Lost. In the poem, God the Father frequently acts independently of His Son, and the divine attributes that traditionally describe the Son, including His timelessness, no longer apply to the character Milton constructs. Despite this apparent degradation, Milton still elevates the Son and considers Him to be a character worthy of our respect. To account for this seeming paradox, I propose a reading of Paradise Lost that does not dismiss Milton's heretical belief in a subjected Son, but rather uses it as a way envision a new form of power. To do so, I compare the relationship between God the Father and His Son in terms of light and sun imagery, to demonstrate how power is divided and distributed between the two, according to the scientific principles of Milton's day. In addition, I consider how Michel Foucault's concept of the docile body both applies to the Son and explains His deference to the Father. Through these analyses, I hope to demonstrate that the Son's power exists as the result of properly exercising His free will, a will that would not have been His own had He been one with His Father.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2009
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/209988
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, Religion, Symbolism in literature, God in literature, Religion and literature, Criticism and interpretation
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- The celebration of uncertainty through gothic moments in Emily Brontèe's Wuthering Heights.
- Creator
- Copeland, Kimberly., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
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While critics have argued that the Gothic moments in Emily Brontèe's Wuthering Heights merely illuminate the psyches of her characters, I show that these moments allow Brontèe to reveal a unique tension and overflow of emotion that arises between her two main protagonists. Blurring the lines between fantasy and reality, these displays --scenes of ghostly hauntings, bloody violence, and excessive emotion--create a desirable uncertainty about the limits of life and love in this novel. This...
Show moreWhile critics have argued that the Gothic moments in Emily Brontèe's Wuthering Heights merely illuminate the psyches of her characters, I show that these moments allow Brontèe to reveal a unique tension and overflow of emotion that arises between her two main protagonists. Blurring the lines between fantasy and reality, these displays --scenes of ghostly hauntings, bloody violence, and excessive emotion--create a desirable uncertainty about the limits of life and love in this novel. This uncertainty constitutes an escape from and an alternative to the conventional romantic relationship prescribed by social and narrative standards in which two people fall in love, get married, have children and die. In my thesis, I argue that the revelation of this desired uncertainty is made possible by Brontèe's use of Gothic devices and could not have been as successfully achieved by any other literary mode.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2009
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/209987
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, Symbolism in literature, Gothic revival (Literature), English fiction, History and criticism
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- The painful state of pleasure in Charlotte Brontèe's Jane Eyre.
- Creator
- Cannon, Michelle., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
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The heroine of Charlotte Brontèe's Jane Eyre is torn between her physical desire to remain close to Mr. Rochester and her psychological need for distance from him. Jane's need for distance tends to dominate her desire for closeness, and this internal conflict is reproduced externally in her relationship with Rochester, with Rochester's desire for physical proximity conflicting with Jane's desire for distance. These internal and external power struggles create a healthy sense of tension...
Show moreThe heroine of Charlotte Brontèe's Jane Eyre is torn between her physical desire to remain close to Mr. Rochester and her psychological need for distance from him. Jane's need for distance tends to dominate her desire for closeness, and this internal conflict is reproduced externally in her relationship with Rochester, with Rochester's desire for physical proximity conflicting with Jane's desire for distance. These internal and external power struggles create a healthy sense of tension necessary both to Jane, and to her relationship with Rochester because it prevents either of them from being fully satisfied, and ensures that both remain in a perpetual state of self-inflicted suffering. The suffering these characters impose on themselves and each other is necessary for the preservation of desires, which would be destroyed by fulfillment. Through my reading of the novel we gain a greater understanding of how the pain of unfulfilled desires becomes synonymous with pleasure, and the beneficial role pain, tension and unfulfilled desires plays in the text.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2008
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/209985
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, Self in literature, Criticism and interpretation, Desire in literature, Criticism and interpretation
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Collective memory of Japanese naming rituals through the incorporation of anime and manga.
- Creator
- Kirk, LauraLynn., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
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In this paper, I ask how members of Japanese society are able to remember naming practices in which some of the traditions are no longer in use. Members of Japanese society perpetuate their collective memory through the utilization of Japanese media to include past and present Japanese name alterations. I explain the reasons behind name alterations, and how knowledge and use of the naming rituals continue through the collective agency of contemporary Japanese media such as anime and manga....
Show moreIn this paper, I ask how members of Japanese society are able to remember naming practices in which some of the traditions are no longer in use. Members of Japanese society perpetuate their collective memory through the utilization of Japanese media to include past and present Japanese name alterations. I explain the reasons behind name alterations, and how knowledge and use of the naming rituals continue through the collective agency of contemporary Japanese media such as anime and manga. Each anime and manga example correlates to past and present naming rituals. Social name alterations occur at birth, genpuku, marriage, and changes in levels of skill. Political alterations occur from hostage exchange or adoption, change in ideologies, occupational change, or the assumption of new roles from a higher-ranking member of society. While members of Japanese society learn naming traditions from daily interactions with other people, media such as anime and manga reinforce expected behavior and customs.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2008
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/165337
- Subject Headings
- Memory, Social aspects, Rites and ceremonies, Psychological aspects, Comic books, strips, etc, Criticism and interpretation, Animated films, Criticism and interpretation
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- "Is the world, then, so narrow?": the simultaneous need for home and travel in Hawthorne's The scarlet letter.
- Creator
- McGrath, Derek., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
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In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter and its preface, "The Custom- House," the author himself and Pearl Prynne are characters who engage in travel, escaping the restrictiveness imposed onto them by their hometowns and finding greater creative freedom elsewhere. Their journey, however, is not necessarily physical but rather creative. Hawthorne and Pearl employ writing and imaginative thinking, respectively, in order to characterize Salem and Boston as foreign locations through which...
Show moreIn Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter and its preface, "The Custom- House," the author himself and Pearl Prynne are characters who engage in travel, escaping the restrictiveness imposed onto them by their hometowns and finding greater creative freedom elsewhere. Their journey, however, is not necessarily physical but rather creative. Hawthorne and Pearl employ writing and imaginative thinking, respectively, in order to characterize Salem and Boston as foreign locations through which they may tour. The two are what Hawthorne calls "citizen[s] of somewhere else," although they have not departed from their homes yet. By considering how "The Custom-House" relates to The Scarlet Letter based on the themes of travel and home, a new interpretation arises about Hawthorne's book as well as his definition of the American romance, which posits that a person may use creativity in order to find his or her place both within and away from the community.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2007
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/11605
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Inviting but frustrating over-simplification: (re)reading Tess of the d'Urbervilles.
- Creator
- Smith, Kathryn M., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
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Many critics and readers assume that Tess of the d'Urbervilles is simply the tragedy of a ruined country maiden and that the sexually-driven scenes are the most important aspects of the novel. In my thesis, however, I argue that Thomas Hardy created a novel centered on his complex heroine, Tess, not on simplistic notions of sexual ruination and sensational plot developments. In other words, Tess is an autonomous, detailed character who cannot be relegated to the usual stereotypes of Virgin,...
Show moreMany critics and readers assume that Tess of the d'Urbervilles is simply the tragedy of a ruined country maiden and that the sexually-driven scenes are the most important aspects of the novel. In my thesis, however, I argue that Thomas Hardy created a novel centered on his complex heroine, Tess, not on simplistic notions of sexual ruination and sensational plot developments. In other words, Tess is an autonomous, detailed character who cannot be relegated to the usual stereotypes of Virgin, Whore, Mother, etc. Through my reading, we gain a greater understanding of the novel as a whole, instead of as a fractured, deterministic, and plot-driven tragedy. I begin my argument by examining Hardy's subtitle, "A Pure Woman," asserting that our focus should be on the word "Woman" and Tess's subjectivity, not reductive concepts of "purity" or chastity. In Chapter Two, I examine two significant scenes that occur in Alec's carriage, showing how many critics' readings underestimate Tess as helpless, and arguing that she fights against her oppressor in covert ways. My third chapter continues this defense of Tess by critiquing the critical debate surrounding the sexual encounter in "The Chase". I posit that the entire debate is flawed and that Tess should be defined based upon her actions and not simply her sexuality. Lastly, in my conclusion I present a broader defense of Tess of the d'Urbervilles, in which I assert that the ambiguous plot scenes in Tess are conscious attempts by Hardy to subvert traditional assumptions about what is important in a novel. My goal in this thesis is to critique popular but simplistic interpretations of Tess of the d'Urbervilles which diminish Tess's role; instead, I emphasize the way her character, in the words of critic Kathleen Blake, "invites but frustrates oversimplification."
Show less - Date Issued
- 2007
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/11601
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, Social change in literature, Literature and society
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Reconstruction: photography and history in E.L. Doctorow's The March.
- Creator
- Seymour, Eric., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
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This thesis presents an examination of the trope of photography in E. L. Doctorow's latest novel, The March, which takes General Sherman's march through Georgia and the Carolinas as its subject matter. The Civil War, as the first major American military conflict to be photographed, is the perfect vehicle for the novel's meditation upon the representation of significant political and cultural events. As this paper argues, photography functions in the novel as a metaphor for visual culture in...
Show moreThis thesis presents an examination of the trope of photography in E. L. Doctorow's latest novel, The March, which takes General Sherman's march through Georgia and the Carolinas as its subject matter. The Civil War, as the first major American military conflict to be photographed, is the perfect vehicle for the novel's meditation upon the representation of significant political and cultural events. As this paper argues, photography functions in the novel as a metaphor for visual culture in general. In particular, I argue that the discrepancies which the novel posits between the photographic record and lived experience function to trouble notions of media transparency. As the novel suggests, the popular conception of photography, which constructs it is an irreproachable and infallible medium, has lent itself to political manipulation. Thus, through photography, the novel depicts history as the conventional framing of events for posterity, not as a comprehensive record of events.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2007
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/11600
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877), History, Criticism and interpretation
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Paradise impaired: duality in Paradise lost.
- Creator
- Bernhard, Katherine Joy., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
-
This thesis examines the duality of meaning conveyed by John Milton's use of language in the epic poem, Paradise Lost, specifically repetition, pairing, alliteration and puns. Following a long tradition of close readings, especially critics RA. Shoaf and Christopher Ricks, I argue that Milton conceives the Fall of Adam and Eve as a falling into polysemy, or multiplicity of signification. Very few critics have undertaken a close reading of words that signal coupling in the poem, and their...
Show moreThis thesis examines the duality of meaning conveyed by John Milton's use of language in the epic poem, Paradise Lost, specifically repetition, pairing, alliteration and puns. Following a long tradition of close readings, especially critics RA. Shoaf and Christopher Ricks, I argue that Milton conceives the Fall of Adam and Eve as a falling into polysemy, or multiplicity of signification. Very few critics have undertaken a close reading of words that signal coupling in the poem, and their relationship to pairs and oppositions relevant to Genesis. Shoaf identifies pairs and oppositions in the poem as duals and duels, and connects them to binaries in the theology. However, he overlooks a great deal of evidence which supports his theory of the dual and the duel, and also disregards many significant examples of duality in Milton's wordplay that other critics identify, including alliterative pairs and words that convey ancient etymologies.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2006
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/11595
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, Milton, John, 1608-1674, Language, Narration (Rhetoric), Discourse analysis, Narrative, Semiotics
- Format
- Document (PDF)
