British Literature
Anglo-Saxon Culture
Man murders many innocent people
with plastic wrap! This is the kind of statement that can be seen in popular
news articles in today’s American society, but it has not always been that way.
The culture of the Anglo- Saxon time compared to modern American culture shows
a large difference in traits that are highly valued or written about. Anglo-
Saxon society regarded; honor, loyalty, courage, intelligence, and personal
reputation as being valued qualities. In
modern American society the focus is on abandonment, temptation, sexuality,
betrayal, and dishonesty. Modern American society which puts a spotlight on the
bad in some people for which they are rewarded with fame. The Beowulf epic
movie is no longer a reflection of Anglo- Saxon culture and society of the
original epic. This modern movie is more reflective of modern American culture.
The modern movie of Beowulf has changed its focus from personal reputation to temptation and betrayal. In the Movie there is sexual tension between Beowulf and Hrothgar’s wife. This tension did not occur in the epic. In Anglo- Saxon time this would not have been acceptable. Beowulf would have lost his reputation and honor. If such an affair happened now nothing would be thought of it the Hrothgar and his wife could get divorced and move on with their lives. Modern American society sees a divorce as something that is now part of life; marriages are not lasting as long as they once were. As soon as Hrothgar died Beowulf married his wife.
In the epic Beowulf was seen as honorable, courageous, and intelligent. In the modern movie Beowulf is untrustworthy and seducible. The epic depicts a scene where the mighty Beowulf kills the she-beast otherwise known as Grendel’s mother. He fought her with his bare hands and kills her using a sword made for a giant. This makes him look courageous for going in by himself, honorable for living up to his word, and intelligent for outsmarting her in her own territory. In the movie however Beowulf does none of these actions. Grendel’s mother seduces Beowulf with her beauty. She says since you killed my only son you should give me a new one. Beowulf agreed being promised he would forever be the king. When Beowulf returned to the palace he told the people he killed Grendel’s mother he even brought back Grendel’s head as proof. In Anglo- Saxon culture those who lied to the people would be
The modern movie of Beowulf has changed its focus from personal reputation to temptation and betrayal. In the Movie there is sexual tension between Beowulf and Hrothgar’s wife. This tension did not occur in the epic. In Anglo- Saxon time this would not have been acceptable. Beowulf would have lost his reputation and honor. If such an affair happened now nothing would be thought of it the Hrothgar and his wife could get divorced and move on with their lives. Modern American society sees a divorce as something that is now part of life; marriages are not lasting as long as they once were. As soon as Hrothgar died Beowulf married his wife.
In the epic Beowulf was seen as honorable, courageous, and intelligent. In the modern movie Beowulf is untrustworthy and seducible. The epic depicts a scene where the mighty Beowulf kills the she-beast otherwise known as Grendel’s mother. He fought her with his bare hands and kills her using a sword made for a giant. This makes him look courageous for going in by himself, honorable for living up to his word, and intelligent for outsmarting her in her own territory. In the movie however Beowulf does none of these actions. Grendel’s mother seduces Beowulf with her beauty. She says since you killed my only son you should give me a new one. Beowulf agreed being promised he would forever be the king. When Beowulf returned to the palace he told the people he killed Grendel’s mother he even brought back Grendel’s head as proof. In Anglo- Saxon culture those who lied to the people would be
Term 2
Canterbury Tales
Name
Description
Type of person
Knight
Distinguished
Squire
Young solider, attractive, curly hair, 20, tall, smells nice
Ladies’ man, courteous, high spirited, vain
Yeoman
Young slave, helps master
Strong and loyal
Nun
Attractive, long cloak, jewelry, veil, preferred facial features
Nice, strong, well mannered, elitist
Monk
Bald, fat, fine fur, gold pins
Lives lavishly, promiscuous
Friar
Short cloak
Happy, quiet
Merchant
Plucked bearded, multicolored clothing, hat
Intelligent, trickery
Oxford Cleric
Student, thin, overcoat, hollow face, sober stare,
Sergeant at law
Homely coat with pinstripes
Wise, good at job
Franklin
White beard, high colored, begign
Lived for pleasure,
Haberdasher
Trim in fresh gear
Cook
Ulcer in his knee
Good at his job
Skipper
Woolen gown, dagger around neck, tan, beard
Doesn’t trust, hardwroking
Doctor
Cored about his patients
Women
Well dressed, red stockings, nice shoes.
Cared about appearance, mean
Parson
Religious, educated, cared about the people
Plowman
Honest man, hard worker, loved god
Reeve
Old, choleric, thin, shaven beared, shorn hair, lean legs,
Miller
Stout, big boned, strong, wart, big nose
Took advantage of costomers
Manciple
Summoner
Red face, narrow eyes, thin beard
Drunk, not smart,
Pardoner
Greasy hair, no beard
Cared about appearence
Host
Caring, served only the best,
Description
Type of person
Knight
Distinguished
Squire
Young solider, attractive, curly hair, 20, tall, smells nice
Ladies’ man, courteous, high spirited, vain
Yeoman
Young slave, helps master
Strong and loyal
Nun
Attractive, long cloak, jewelry, veil, preferred facial features
Nice, strong, well mannered, elitist
Monk
Bald, fat, fine fur, gold pins
Lives lavishly, promiscuous
Friar
Short cloak
Happy, quiet
Merchant
Plucked bearded, multicolored clothing, hat
Intelligent, trickery
Oxford Cleric
Student, thin, overcoat, hollow face, sober stare,
Sergeant at law
Homely coat with pinstripes
Wise, good at job
Franklin
White beard, high colored, begign
Lived for pleasure,
Haberdasher
Trim in fresh gear
Cook
Ulcer in his knee
Good at his job
Skipper
Woolen gown, dagger around neck, tan, beard
Doesn’t trust, hardwroking
Doctor
Cored about his patients
Women
Well dressed, red stockings, nice shoes.
Cared about appearance, mean
Parson
Religious, educated, cared about the people
Plowman
Honest man, hard worker, loved god
Reeve
Old, choleric, thin, shaven beared, shorn hair, lean legs,
Miller
Stout, big boned, strong, wart, big nose
Took advantage of costomers
Manciple
Summoner
Red face, narrow eyes, thin beard
Drunk, not smart,
Pardoner
Greasy hair, no beard
Cared about appearence
Host
Caring, served only the best,
Research Paper Final Copy
Kate Wins the Game
Taming of the Shrew is the tale of an independent woman named Kate who learns to live with others. Kate is an intelligent woman who is not afraid to speak her mind. Many of those in the play believed the only way to get through to Kate was to tame her. She was too smart for them however. Based on Kate’s reactions toward Petruchio the one who was chosen to tame her she was always one step ahead. Kate is a strong intelligent woman who is capable of seeing through Petruchio’s game.
The women of today have strayed from the old ways. “Elizabethan women were expected to bring a dowry to the marriage. A dowry was an amount of money, goods, and property that the bride would bring to the marriage. It was also referred to as her marriage portion. After marriage Elizabethan women were expected to run the households and provide children. Large families were the norm as the mortality rate for children and babies was so high. Many Elizabethan woman made arrangement for the care of their children in case they themselves died during childbirth.”( Linda Alchin). The women had no say in who they marry then they’d have to have a dowry to be married to a man with a decent amount of money. I find it ironic that the man was the one who was supposed to be proving but the wife must bring goods with her. These women were basically paying for the men to marry them. “There was little dispute over such arrangements as Elizabethan woman were raised to believe that they were inferior to men and that men knew better. Disobedience was seen as a crime against their religion. The Church firmly believed this and quoted the Bible in order to ensure the continued adherence to this principle. The Scottish protestant leader John Knox wrote: "Women in her greatest perfection was made to serve and obey man." The fabric of Elizabethan society was built with this belief and Elizabethan women could not be heirs to their father's titles. All titles would pass from father to son or brother to brother, depending on the circumstances. The only exception was the monarchy.” (Achlin). Women were seen as the lesser gender. They were meant to be submissive towards the men in their life. The women did everything for the men in their lives yet they get nothing in return. Everything went from one male to another.
The role of the male figure has changed much as well. “The men were expected to support the family from a whole variety of occupations. And they were expected to improve the positions of all members of the family through influence and patronage from wealthier people and families than their own.” (Achlin). The men gave out all he orders for the members of the home. They in return supported the family and help other family members do better for themselves and their family. “The men made the decisions and the women were expected to obey them.” (Achlin). Men were the source of all power in life. They believed it was the women’s duty to obey every instruction they were given by the main male in their life.
Katherine doesn’t believe in marrying someone just for the sake of getting married. She is much more rational than that. “In many ways Kate is her own woman. Yet, even a woman as headstrong and determined as she must allow herself in Elizabethan society to be “given” in marriage to a man she has not chosen for herself–and her more docile sister Bianca consents to waiting, perhaps forever, until Katherina is wed before she can have a husband of her own.” (Were Shakespeare’s Heroines ‘Liberated’?) Kate is proving to be an independent woman who does not like to be told what to do. She doesn’t care that Bianca must wait for her to get married so she can.
For a women of the time Kate was very intelligent and shared her own opinion often. Petruchio brought her wit out of her:
Petruchio: Come, you wasp, I’faith you are too angry.
Katherine: if I be waspish, best beware my sting.
Petruchio: My remedy is to pluck it out.
Katherine: Ay, if the fool could find it where it lies.
Petruchio: Who knows not where a wasp does wear his sting? In his tail?
Katherine: In his tongue
Petruchio: Whose tongue?
Katherine: Yours, if you talk of tales, and so farewell
Petruchio: What, with my tongue in your tail?
(II.i,234-247) (Shakespeare)
Kate and Petruchio have witty banter going back and forth. This proves that she is highly educated. Kate is able to reply with enthusiasm and speed the Petruchio.
Petruchio possesses a contrary view of marriage to Kate. Petruchio: Signior Hortensio, 'twixt such friends as we Few words suffice; and therefore, if thou know One rich enough to be Petruchio's wife, As wealth is burden of my wooing dance, Be she as foul as was Florentius' love, As old as Sibyl and as curst and shrewd As Socrates' Xanthippe, or a worse, She moves me not, or not removes, at least, Affection's edge in me, were she as rough As are the swelling Adriatic seas: I come to wive it wealthily in Padua; If wealthily, then happily in Padua” (I,ii,66-77) (Shakespeare). Petruchio sees marriage as another way of gaining money. He sees himself as the ultimate bachelor. Marriage is more about how much wealth one can gain rather than about a connection between two people.
Petruchio’s intelligence is different to those of Padua. He unlike the other men have found a way of talking to Kate. Petruchio has found a way of not allowing Kate to walk all over him and make him seem like a fool:
“You lie, in faith, for you are called plain Kate,
And bonny Kate, and sometimes Kate the curst,
But Kate, the prettiest Kate in Christendom,
Kate of Kate Hall, my super-dainty Kate--
For dainties are all Kates—and therefore, Kate,
Take this of me, Kate of my consolation:
Hearing thy mildness praised in every town,
Thy virtues spoke of, and thy beauty sounded--
Yet not so deeply as to thee belongs--
Myself am moved to woo thee for my wife.”
(II,i,204-214) (Shakespeare)
Petruchio has barely met Kate yet he already knows how to talk to her and handle her wit. He’s making her believe he knows nothing of her. In a way he’s already beginning his game to tame her.
The Taming of the Shrew was very similar to the time period. In the play women were seen as being lesser than men. The play also shows how men were meant to be the dominant ones in the relationship. Although very similar to the time period Kate was the contradiction to tradition. She was strong minded and independent. She unlike the normal tradition had a good education. She made her own decisions and if someone tried to make a decision for her she defended herself.
In my opinion the play was meant to entertain. I feel as though Shakespeare is also hinting and making fun of things that may need to change in society. His depiction of Kate as an independent woman of the time did not fit the normal expectations. The play not can be used to teach newer generations of the societies of the past. It can show the ideas and reasons for the way they thought about certain parts of life. It allows the generations of the time to compare how society has changed over time.
Taming of the Shrew is the tale of an independent woman named Kate who learns to live with others. Kate is an intelligent woman who is not afraid to speak her mind. Many of those in the play believed the only way to get through to Kate was to tame her. She was too smart for them however. Based on Kate’s reactions toward Petruchio the one who was chosen to tame her she was always one step ahead. Kate is a strong intelligent woman who is capable of seeing through Petruchio’s game.
The women of today have strayed from the old ways. “Elizabethan women were expected to bring a dowry to the marriage. A dowry was an amount of money, goods, and property that the bride would bring to the marriage. It was also referred to as her marriage portion. After marriage Elizabethan women were expected to run the households and provide children. Large families were the norm as the mortality rate for children and babies was so high. Many Elizabethan woman made arrangement for the care of their children in case they themselves died during childbirth.”( Linda Alchin). The women had no say in who they marry then they’d have to have a dowry to be married to a man with a decent amount of money. I find it ironic that the man was the one who was supposed to be proving but the wife must bring goods with her. These women were basically paying for the men to marry them. “There was little dispute over such arrangements as Elizabethan woman were raised to believe that they were inferior to men and that men knew better. Disobedience was seen as a crime against their religion. The Church firmly believed this and quoted the Bible in order to ensure the continued adherence to this principle. The Scottish protestant leader John Knox wrote: "Women in her greatest perfection was made to serve and obey man." The fabric of Elizabethan society was built with this belief and Elizabethan women could not be heirs to their father's titles. All titles would pass from father to son or brother to brother, depending on the circumstances. The only exception was the monarchy.” (Achlin). Women were seen as the lesser gender. They were meant to be submissive towards the men in their life. The women did everything for the men in their lives yet they get nothing in return. Everything went from one male to another.
The role of the male figure has changed much as well. “The men were expected to support the family from a whole variety of occupations. And they were expected to improve the positions of all members of the family through influence and patronage from wealthier people and families than their own.” (Achlin). The men gave out all he orders for the members of the home. They in return supported the family and help other family members do better for themselves and their family. “The men made the decisions and the women were expected to obey them.” (Achlin). Men were the source of all power in life. They believed it was the women’s duty to obey every instruction they were given by the main male in their life.
Katherine doesn’t believe in marrying someone just for the sake of getting married. She is much more rational than that. “In many ways Kate is her own woman. Yet, even a woman as headstrong and determined as she must allow herself in Elizabethan society to be “given” in marriage to a man she has not chosen for herself–and her more docile sister Bianca consents to waiting, perhaps forever, until Katherina is wed before she can have a husband of her own.” (Were Shakespeare’s Heroines ‘Liberated’?) Kate is proving to be an independent woman who does not like to be told what to do. She doesn’t care that Bianca must wait for her to get married so she can.
For a women of the time Kate was very intelligent and shared her own opinion often. Petruchio brought her wit out of her:
Petruchio: Come, you wasp, I’faith you are too angry.
Katherine: if I be waspish, best beware my sting.
Petruchio: My remedy is to pluck it out.
Katherine: Ay, if the fool could find it where it lies.
Petruchio: Who knows not where a wasp does wear his sting? In his tail?
Katherine: In his tongue
Petruchio: Whose tongue?
Katherine: Yours, if you talk of tales, and so farewell
Petruchio: What, with my tongue in your tail?
(II.i,234-247) (Shakespeare)
Kate and Petruchio have witty banter going back and forth. This proves that she is highly educated. Kate is able to reply with enthusiasm and speed the Petruchio.
Petruchio possesses a contrary view of marriage to Kate. Petruchio: Signior Hortensio, 'twixt such friends as we Few words suffice; and therefore, if thou know One rich enough to be Petruchio's wife, As wealth is burden of my wooing dance, Be she as foul as was Florentius' love, As old as Sibyl and as curst and shrewd As Socrates' Xanthippe, or a worse, She moves me not, or not removes, at least, Affection's edge in me, were she as rough As are the swelling Adriatic seas: I come to wive it wealthily in Padua; If wealthily, then happily in Padua” (I,ii,66-77) (Shakespeare). Petruchio sees marriage as another way of gaining money. He sees himself as the ultimate bachelor. Marriage is more about how much wealth one can gain rather than about a connection between two people.
Petruchio’s intelligence is different to those of Padua. He unlike the other men have found a way of talking to Kate. Petruchio has found a way of not allowing Kate to walk all over him and make him seem like a fool:
“You lie, in faith, for you are called plain Kate,
And bonny Kate, and sometimes Kate the curst,
But Kate, the prettiest Kate in Christendom,
Kate of Kate Hall, my super-dainty Kate--
For dainties are all Kates—and therefore, Kate,
Take this of me, Kate of my consolation:
Hearing thy mildness praised in every town,
Thy virtues spoke of, and thy beauty sounded--
Yet not so deeply as to thee belongs--
Myself am moved to woo thee for my wife.”
(II,i,204-214) (Shakespeare)
Petruchio has barely met Kate yet he already knows how to talk to her and handle her wit. He’s making her believe he knows nothing of her. In a way he’s already beginning his game to tame her.
The Taming of the Shrew was very similar to the time period. In the play women were seen as being lesser than men. The play also shows how men were meant to be the dominant ones in the relationship. Although very similar to the time period Kate was the contradiction to tradition. She was strong minded and independent. She unlike the normal tradition had a good education. She made her own decisions and if someone tried to make a decision for her she defended herself.
In my opinion the play was meant to entertain. I feel as though Shakespeare is also hinting and making fun of things that may need to change in society. His depiction of Kate as an independent woman of the time did not fit the normal expectations. The play not can be used to teach newer generations of the societies of the past. It can show the ideas and reasons for the way they thought about certain parts of life. It allows the generations of the time to compare how society has changed over time.