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- 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)
- Title
- Reconstruction: photography and history in E.L. Doctorow's The March.
- Creator
- Seymour, Eric., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
-
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
- Inviting but frustrating over-simplification: (re)reading Tess of the d'Urbervilles.
- Creator
- Smith, Kathryn M., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
-
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
- "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
-
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
- 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
- The painful state of pleasure in Charlotte Brontèe's Jane Eyre.
- Creator
- Cannon, Michelle., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
-
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
- Religious faith within the scientific revolution: a struggle throughout Baconian literature.
- Creator
- D'Arrigo, Amanda Noelle, Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
-
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
- 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
- "You are the one fixed point in a changing age": the immortality of Sherlock Holmes in Japan.
- Creator
- Chick, Amanda., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
-
Sherlock Holmes has been popular in Japan since the Meiji Restoration (1868-1912), but no critic has yet connected Holmes and the protagonist of the recent graphic novel Death Note (2003-2006). While American detective fiction has defined itself somewhat in opposition to Arthur Conan Doyle, Japan embraced Sherlock Holmes and created a series of detectives modeled on the English icon. These characters live and work in Japan, but they are never more than Japanese versions of an English original...
Show moreSherlock Holmes has been popular in Japan since the Meiji Restoration (1868-1912), but no critic has yet connected Holmes and the protagonist of the recent graphic novel Death Note (2003-2006). While American detective fiction has defined itself somewhat in opposition to Arthur Conan Doyle, Japan embraced Sherlock Holmes and created a series of detectives modeled on the English icon. These characters live and work in Japan, but they are never more than Japanese versions of an English original. Although Japan has a long history of adaptations and translations of Doyle's writings, no Japanese character has exemplified Holmes as fully as L, the protagonist of Death Note. While L is clearly similar to Holmes, he also blends English and Japanese characteristics in a way that no Japanese detective figure before him managed to do, and thus becomes the first quintessentially Japanese Sherlock Holmes.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2010
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3334249
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, Immortality in literature, Detective and mystery stories, Japanese, Criticism and interpretation, Detective and mystery stories, English, Appreciation, Holmes, Sherlock (Fictitious character), Appreciation
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- The Alspach norm in classifying complemented subspaces of L[p], p > 2.
- Creator
- DeFrain, Isaac., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
-
Identifying and classifying the complemented subspaces of L p , p > 2, has provided much insight into the geometric structure of Lp . In 1981, Bourgain, Rosenthal, and Schechtman proved the existence of uncountably many isomorphically distinct complemented subspaces of L p , p > 2. In 1999, Dale Alspach introduced a systematic method of studying the complemented subspaces of Lp , p > 2. In this thesis, the theory of Lp spaces is developed with a concentration on techniques used to study the...
Show moreIdentifying and classifying the complemented subspaces of L p , p > 2, has provided much insight into the geometric structure of Lp . In 1981, Bourgain, Rosenthal, and Schechtman proved the existence of uncountably many isomorphically distinct complemented subspaces of L p , p > 2. In 1999, Dale Alspach introduced a systematic method of studying the complemented subspaces of Lp , p > 2. In this thesis, the theory of Lp spaces is developed with a concentration on techniques used to study the complemented subspaces. We define the Alspach norm and show that the possible complemented subspaces of Lp , p > 2, generated by two compatible partitions and weights are £2, £p, £2 EB £p, and(2.:EfJ £2)ep ' We have not discovered any previously unknown complemented subspaces of Lp , but this method has reduced the study and classification of these subspaces to a study of partitions of N.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2010
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3334256, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FADT3334256
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, L[p] spaces, Banach spaces, Multipliers (Mathematical analysis), Functional analysis
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Quine and Peirce on counterfactual conditionals.
- Creator
- Bailey, Mary Allison., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
-
Willard Van Orman Quine and Charles Sanders Peirce each create systems in which counterfactual conditionals can be meaningful. A counterfactual conditional is a statement whose antecedent is known to be contrary to fact. Counterfactual conditionals are important in making predictions. It would be irresponsible to implement any major change in the current state of affairs without first assessing the consequences. Quine's work seems to undermine the use of counterfactual conditionals, but I...
Show moreWillard Van Orman Quine and Charles Sanders Peirce each create systems in which counterfactual conditionals can be meaningful. A counterfactual conditional is a statement whose antecedent is known to be contrary to fact. Counterfactual conditionals are important in making predictions. It would be irresponsible to implement any major change in the current state of affairs without first assessing the consequences. Quine's work seems to undermine the use of counterfactual conditionals, but I show that his system does allow for certain types of counterfactual conditionals to be meaningful. I conclude that counterfactual conditionals are more meaningful in Peirce's system because the ability to make predictions is a primary concern for him. Although Peirce's system gets more meaning out of counterfactual conditionals than Quine's system, Quine's system aids in the understanding of science.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2010
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3334257
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Metaphysics, Philosophy, Modern, Conditionals (Logic)
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Entre Nebrija y Valdâes: un diâalogo gramatical sobre el castellano renacentista.
- Creator
- Lewis, Ron., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
-
The two earliest grammars of the Castilian language are the Grammar of the Castilian Language by Antonio de Nebrija and the Dialogue of the Language by Juan de Valdâes. The former was published in 1492, a historically paramount year for Spain, while the latter was completed in 1535 but not published until two centuries later. Working with edited texts of both grammars, secondary sources regarding the lives of Nebrija and Valdâes, and information about the history of Spain, this thesis...
Show moreThe two earliest grammars of the Castilian language are the Grammar of the Castilian Language by Antonio de Nebrija and the Dialogue of the Language by Juan de Valdâes. The former was published in 1492, a historically paramount year for Spain, while the latter was completed in 1535 but not published until two centuries later. Working with edited texts of both grammars, secondary sources regarding the lives of Nebrija and Valdâes, and information about the history of Spain, this thesis explores the linguistic substance of both works, evidence of the authors' personal attitudes and dispositions that influenced their works, and the political and social context surrounding all of these factors. The purpose of this investigation is to gain further insight into the Grammar and the Dialogue, as well as the history of Spain and the historical development of Castilian.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2010
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3335108
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Spanish literature, Criticism and interpretation, Language and culture, History
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Employing cultural landscapes in community preservation: the case of Druid Hills, Atlanta.
- Creator
- Blythe, Rachel, Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
-
Druid Hills is a historic suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, that was initially designed by landscape architech Frederick Law Olmsted in 1893. As one of Atlanta's first suburbs, Druid Hills has faced the consequences of sprawl, particularly in the 1980s when the Georgia Department of Transportation proposed construction of the Presidential Parkway, an expressway that would have cut through the middle of the neighborhood. In opposition to the expressway, members of the surrounding communities...
Show moreDruid Hills is a historic suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, that was initially designed by landscape architech Frederick Law Olmsted in 1893. As one of Atlanta's first suburbs, Druid Hills has faced the consequences of sprawl, particularly in the 1980s when the Georgia Department of Transportation proposed construction of the Presidential Parkway, an expressway that would have cut through the middle of the neighborhood. In opposition to the expressway, members of the surrounding communities organized Citizens Against Unnecessary Thoroughfares In Older Neighborhoods (CAUTION). The strategic rhetoric of CAUTION's campaign emphasized Druid Hills' significance as "Olmsted's Vision of Atlanta," yet their use of this iconic figure did not capture the complete cultural landscape of Druid Hills. Although Olmsted designed the initial layout of the suburb, the suburb's form departed from his design during its development. I argue that preserving the community requires a comprehensive portrait of its varied history.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3359291
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, Ethnic neighborhoods, History, Historic preservation, Social life and customs, History and criticism
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Establishing Hyrule: analyzing the construction of the world and levels in Shigeru Miyamoto's Ocarina of Time.
- Creator
- Hollingsworth, Douglas A., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
-
Shigeru Miyamoto's The Legend of Zelda : Ocarina of Time pushed the boundaries of video game design in 1998 by introducting players to one of the first virtual worlds fully-rendered in three-dimensions. The shift from rendering game worlds in two-dimensions to rendering them in three-dimensions required the development of new techniques for constructing virtual worlds. This thesis focuses on the construction of the virtual realm in Ocarina of Time, particularly the ways by which players are...
Show moreShigeru Miyamoto's The Legend of Zelda : Ocarina of Time pushed the boundaries of video game design in 1998 by introducting players to one of the first virtual worlds fully-rendered in three-dimensions. The shift from rendering game worlds in two-dimensions to rendering them in three-dimensions required the development of new techniques for constructing virtual worlds. This thesis focuses on the construction of the virtual realm in Ocarina of Time, particularly the ways by which players are presented with cosmology of the virtual world and the divine ordering of the races that dwell there. In addition, this thesis explores how the process of building the virtual worldof Hyrule is mimicked in the design of the game's individual levels, in terms of the spaces that players explore, the rules they are bound by, and the goals that they must reach while progressing through the central plot.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3359295
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, Video games (Philosophy), Legend of Zelda (Game), Computer games, Psychological aspects
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- What are words worth?: Thomas Malthus and political economy in William Wordsworth's poetry and prose.
- Creator
- Kirchner, Christina R., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
-
The works of Romantic poet William Wordsworth are generally regarded as idealistic nature poems. However, Wordsworth was writing in a turbulent era, between the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution. Contrary to conventional labels, Wordsworth's prose and poetry of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries strongly critiques social and economic affairs, similar to the ways Thomas Malthus comments on the same subjects. In 1798, political and economic theorist Thomas Robert...
Show moreThe works of Romantic poet William Wordsworth are generally regarded as idealistic nature poems. However, Wordsworth was writing in a turbulent era, between the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution. Contrary to conventional labels, Wordsworth's prose and poetry of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries strongly critiques social and economic affairs, similar to the ways Thomas Malthus comments on the same subjects. In 1798, political and economic theorist Thomas Robert Malthus published his infamous Essay on the Principle of Population, in which he devotes considerable thought to the subjects of poverty and England's Old Poor Law system. This thesis explores the connections between Wordsworth and Malthus, establishing Wordsworth as an amateur political economic theorist, who was concerned with the contemporary treatment of poverty and the morals of the legislators of the Poor Laws. I further claim that Wordsworth was a parable-poet, who sought to provide moral guidance regarding poor relief through affective poetry.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3359307
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Poetry, Psychological aspects, Economics
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- William Shakespeare and Herman Melville: emotional manipulation through verbal performance.
- Creator
- Murphy, Nicole E., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
-
This thesis considers the role of two rhetoricians, Petruchio from William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew and Captain Ahab from Herman Melville's Moby-DIck, and analyzes their use of verbal performances. BOth Petruchio and Captain Ahab use pathologically manipulative rhetoric to manipulate others emotionally. Through this manipulation, they attempt to gain control, power, and authority. While both Petrucio and Ahab appear to succeed in manipulating others, they actually fail. Petruchio...
Show moreThis thesis considers the role of two rhetoricians, Petruchio from William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew and Captain Ahab from Herman Melville's Moby-DIck, and analyzes their use of verbal performances. BOth Petruchio and Captain Ahab use pathologically manipulative rhetoric to manipulate others emotionally. Through this manipulation, they attempt to gain control, power, and authority. While both Petrucio and Ahab appear to succeed in manipulating others, they actually fail. Petruchio attempts to manipulate Katherine, but fails to attain mental submission from her, and Captain Ahab attempts to manipulate the crew to pursue hunting the whale, but as the narrative progresses, the crew becomes too disillusioned with the hunt to be persuaded by Ahab's rhetoric. In conclusion, both Petruchio and Captain Ahab are unable to sustain rhetorical control, and they both fall into demagoguery, therby suggesting that while they are alike as rhetoricians, they both fail similarly as rhetoricians.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3359309
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Rhetoric, Oral communication
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- "The Voice of society": Dickens' surprising lesson in diplomacy spoken by the "innocent" table in Our Mutual Friend.
- Creator
- Hernandez, Patricia., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
-
In Our Mutual Friend Dickens plays with the idea of people becoming things and things becoming people. One such person, who is initially introduced as a table, is Melvin Twemlow. This member of the aristocracy plays an almost comical, minor role within one sub-plot of the novel, but over the course of the novel progresses from a "feeble" character into a strong, morally authoritative voice. Dickens concludes his novel with a debate concerning who is, or should be, "the voice of society" and...
Show moreIn Our Mutual Friend Dickens plays with the idea of people becoming things and things becoming people. One such person, who is initially introduced as a table, is Melvin Twemlow. This member of the aristocracy plays an almost comical, minor role within one sub-plot of the novel, but over the course of the novel progresses from a "feeble" character into a strong, morally authoritative voice. Dickens concludes his novel with a debate concerning who is, or should be, "the voice of society" and the last word of the debate is given to the mysterious table-man character. Rather than allowing a central protagonist to champion his thoughts, Dickens surprises his readers by making an exemplary moral figure of a mild, minor character from among the ranks of the pompous aristocracy. Twemlow's speech makes a familiar Dickensian point about the need for social reform in a strange, politically incorrect way.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2007
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/40950
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, English fiction, Criticism and interpretation, Literature and society, History, Class consciousness in literature
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Media voyeurs in Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita.
- Creator
- Krupski, Maureen P., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
-
Vladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita, most often noted for its critique on consumerism in post-war America and the conflict between Old World European values with New World American ones, contains an equally strong critique on consumerism of media. Lolita's narrative style, the memoir of a pedophile and murderer simultaneously seeking absolution and applause, investigates the relationship between a seductive mass media and its prurient and Puritanical audience. Implicit in the narrative technique...
Show moreVladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita, most often noted for its critique on consumerism in post-war America and the conflict between Old World European values with New World American ones, contains an equally strong critique on consumerism of media. Lolita's narrative style, the memoir of a pedophile and murderer simultaneously seeking absolution and applause, investigates the relationship between a seductive mass media and its prurient and Puritanical audience. Implicit in the narrative technique is the audience's own participation in the mediation of reality.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2007
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/40971
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, Mass media and culture, Postmodernism
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- The search for order in the face of impermanence: movement and meaning in Woolf.
- Creator
- Hall, Maria., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
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The two main characters of Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse interpret and find meaning in the world around them in two different ways. Mrs. Ramsey seeks a form of meaning that exists independent of her in the world. Lily, on the other hand, won't rely on meaning that is predetermined or inherent in the world outside of her own perception of it. Both of these positions are problematic because neither one of them actually allows the characters to establish a way in which to understand their...
Show moreThe two main characters of Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse interpret and find meaning in the world around them in two different ways. Mrs. Ramsey seeks a form of meaning that exists independent of her in the world. Lily, on the other hand, won't rely on meaning that is predetermined or inherent in the world outside of her own perception of it. Both of these positions are problematic because neither one of them actually allows the characters to establish a way in which to understand their world. It is only when Lily gains insight from Mrs. Ramsey's position that she is finally able to form a new, third strategy, represented in the act of painting, which allows her to create a kind of meaning that succeeds where her and Mrs. Ramsey's original strategies had failed. In the completion of her work of art she has both represented her vision and established her own way of relating to and understanding her world.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2007
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/41005
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, Impressionism in literature, Modernism (Literature)
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- The cities, crowds, and masks of James Ensor: a critique of urbanization and modern city space.
- Creator
- Carney, Jeanette., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
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James Ensor's depictions of Belgian cities and their inhabitants offer a derisive critique of modern urban space, and the resulting societal transformations, that developed during the nineteenth century. His illustrations of the contemporary urban societies of Brussels and Ostend generally always include images of crowds and masks, elements which represent the horror and emptiness of the modern city.
- Date Issued
- 2007
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/41006
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, Modernism (Literature), Sociology, Urban, Cities and towns, Effect of technological innovations on
- Format
- Document (PDF)