Rudolf Gaudio s Allah Made Us - 1571 Words

Rudolf Gaudio’s Allah Made Us tells the story of how sexual outlaws and Islamic sociocultural norms coexisted and produced a complex sociolinguistic world in Kano and other cities in Northern Nigeria, a Muslim West African region. Once a center of Islamic emirates, interreligious interaction and a cultural hub, the advent of British colonialism and Islamic revivalism facilitated the growth of an intolerant environment in Nigeria, operating as a kind of â€Å"modernistic moralism† that disorganized bori (spirit possession) practices and marginalized a once thriving sexual community known as ‘yan daudu (p. 9). The broader argument throughout Gaudio’s book is that sociolinguistic practices— so often framed as insignificant identity markers to shape cultural or sexual citizenships— are integral to both. The result is an intervention to how we understand the relationship between gendered language and non-normative identities in Northern Nigeria, a nd a narrative of how the political potential of language, often understood as neutral, is deeply embedded as â€Å"a medium of social participation and an object of criticism and control† (p. 8). Beyond providing a rich, vivid ethnography of ‘yan daudu, the book also traces how moral purification and subcultures shape possibilities in present-day Nigeria. Gaudio’s account begins in 1993, when he first encountered ‘yan daudu, a community of men, who are characterized by feminine mannerisms and/or homosexual practices and desires (p. 19).

Comparison of Miss Havisham and Lady Macbeth Free Essays

Throughout both ‘Great Expectations’ and ‘Macbeth’ surroundings are used to influence and define Miss Havisham’s and Lady Macbeth’s characteristics. These surroundings are not only physical, but also psychological; found in their relationships and trauma from past events. Although both women are presented in different forms Lady Macbeth is also strongly influenced by her physical surroundings. We will write a custom essay sample on Comparison of Miss Havisham and Lady Macbeth or any similar topic only for you Order Now Like Miss Havisham, her home is metaphorical of her characteristics. She lives in a great castle from which we never see her leave. Like the castle she first comes across as strong, powerful and intimidating with strong walls, yet we later see these crumble and leave her as nothing but a wreck of what she used to be. The castle also lures King Duncan into a false sense of security the same way Lady Macbeth does, this can be seen when he describes her as ‘Fair and noble hostess’ and states ‘This castle hath a pleasant seat’ showing that he feels comfortable and unsuspecting of both. This is ironic because later that very same night he is murdered, highlighting his naivety. This shows how like Lady Macbeth the castle can also conceal the evil within. Pathetic fallacy is often used in Macbeth to emphasise the atmosphere of the events occurring. For example on the night of Duncan’s murder, when Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are in a state of paranoia, ‘someone knocks at the gate’ . This makes them feel as though they have been discovered by someone and there is almost knocking on their conscience, ultimately leading to Lady Macbeths loss of sanity. The next morning we learn that ‘The night has been unruly’ and ‘some say the earth/ Was feverous and did shake’ reflecting the earth shaking events of the night prior, and further impressing the guilt on Lady Macbeth, influencing her mental state. Another influence on Lady Macbeth appears to be the witches. When we are first introduced to her character she appears to be speaking in incantation which mirrors that of the witches: ‘Come thick night, And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell’ This suggests that the witches have some sort of influence over her, or are possessing her so that she can carry out their wishes of over throwing the King, it also shows that she does not fear the religious consequences of her actions. She also goes on to call on spirits ‘Come, you spirits’, this gives the impression that she believes in the superstitious, and not only that but sees it as a source of help. She does not fear it like the vast majority of people in the 1600s. Miss Havisham is also greatly influenced by her psychological and emotional surroundings. The paramount influence over her life was her relationship with Compeyson, as this is what led to her incessant need for revenge, strained relationship with Estella and subversion from conformity. The enormous impact that Compeyson jilting Miss Havisham had on her perception of love can be seen when she describes love as ‘Giving up your soul to the smiter-as I did’. The use of the word smiter emphasises just how deeply she was hurt; her heart was not just broken, but deliberately crushed. She never heals from this pain so dedicates her whole life onwards to breaking men’s hearts. She even goes to the extent of raising Estella to do this ’’You can break his heart. ’’. Yet she shows signs of regretting bringing Estella up ‘so hard and thankless’ and robbing her of the ability to love, like Compeyson did to her. This failing relationship leads her further into depression, but does not stop her need to inflict pain on Pip, suggesting she cannot control her psychological impulses. Miss Havishams failed relationship led her to rebel from the stereotypical Victorian woman, who is supposed to be a married, dutiful wife, well presented and loving. She is quite the opposite of this as a mad spinster, but is left to her own devices due to her wealth and power Throughout Macbeth we see Lady Macbeth change from a foreboding, deeply ambitious and manipulative women, to a regretful and guilt ridden soul. This change creates a sense of sympathy in the eyes of the audience as it is her own actions which lead to her ultimate demise. Unlike Miss Havisham, Lady Macbeth is married and is perceived by outsiders as a typical loyal wife. However, within her relationship it can be seen that she has also rebelled from expectations. In Lady Macbeth’s mind being a woman is a great weakness; she construes femininity as compassion and kindness, preventing her from ever being as powerful as a man. She labels her husband as â€Å"too full o’ the milk of human kindness,† to commit treason, and for this reason she calls on the spirits to â€Å"unsex† her and â€Å"Stop up the access and passage to remorse†, as she thinks this will allow her to carry out acts of evil. She also manipulates Macbeth into doing what she wants: ‘When you durst do it, then you were a man’. This shows that she knows how to use what could be seen as the female method of achieving power, this being manipulation, to further her supposedly male ambitions. This position of power can again be seen in the use of imperative verbs when she talks to Macbeth: ‘look like the innocent flower’, ‘Leave all the rest to me’, displaying her authority and control over the situation. The play implies that women can be as ambitious and cruel as men, yet social constraints deny them the means to pursue these ambitions on their own. Lady Macbeth’s guilt is the crucial psychological surrounding which influences her downfall. Although her will to kill the King was previously so strong, after the murder she begins to slide into madness. She and Macbeth undergo a role reversal, he seems to lose all sense of remorse, whilst her feminine attributes, which she tried so hard to eradicate, take over, leaving her trapped in her guilt. This ironic turn of events can clearly be seen when Lady Macbeth initially comforts Macbeth by saying â€Å"a little water clears us of this deed†, yet she soon comes to realise this is not the case. Her guilt consumes even her subconscious mind leading to her sleep walking, whilst in this state she questions â€Å"will these hands ne’er be clean? and goes on to recount the events of the day of the murder. This illustrates how she is constantly reliving that day, desperately trying to change what happened but can’t. This desperation to clean the blood from her hands eventually drivers her insane, and the only way she can free herself from this mental torture is to end her life. Although Great Expectations and Macbeth were written in different centuries and in different f orms; Macbeth being a concentrated play, written around 1604, and Great Expectations being a lengthily novel from around 1860. They were both considered quite outrageous and innovative at the time, due to their previously unspoken themes of madness, superstition and matriarch. As shown in my essay, Miss Havisham and Lady Macbeth are similarly influenced by their surroundings. Both women used people as their puppets in order to carry out their desires, and both descended into madness through losing their control of their puppets. However Lady Macbeth was power hungry and was willing to take down anyone to satisfy her ambition, whereas Miss Havisham wanted purely revenge, and thought what she was doing was bringing justice. The former is more manipulative and done purely for selfish reasons, so her madness was self inflicted and grew as time progressed. While the latter was done in response to the pain she was caused, meaning her madness was less calculated, but was constant since the cause of pain. Both are middle aged and wealthy women who have rebelled from expectations, however Miss Havisham rebelled due to a traumatic event in her life and does not try to conceal her atypical lifestyle. Whereas Lady Macbeth tries to mask this, and use her apparent innocence to her advantage. How to cite Comparison of Miss Havisham and Lady Macbeth, Essay examples

The Castle of Otranto free essay sample

Its first edition, published in 1764, claimed to be a translation of a work printed in Naples in 1529 and newly discovered in the library of ‘an ancient Catholic family in the north of England’. It tells the story of Manfred, the prince of Otranto, who is keen to secure the castle for his descendants in the face of a mysterious curse. The novel begins with the death of Manfred’s son, Conrad, who is crushed to death by an enormous helmet on the morning of his wedding to the beautiful princess Isabella. Faced with the extinction of his line, Manfred vows to divorce his wife and marry the terrified Isabella himself. The Castle of Otranto blends elements of realist fiction with the supernatural and fantastical, laying down many of the plot devices and character-types that would become typical of the Gothic: secret passages, clanging trapdoors, hidden identities and vulnerable heroines fleeing from men with evil intent. We will write a custom essay sample on The Castle of Otranto or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The novel was a success all over Europe, and the poet Thomas Gray commented in a letter to Walpole that it made ‘some of us cry a little, and all in general afraid to go to bed o’nights. ’ Walpole writes as if by formula. The standard Gothic devices and motifs are all in place, even in this brief excerpt: mysterious sounds, moonlight, a speaking portrait, the slamming of doors, castle vaults, an underground passage, blasts of wind, rusty hinges, the curdling of blood, and above all, in practically every sentence, strong feelings of terror (Words cannot paint the horror of the princesss situation . .  . ). But Walpole was the inventor of the formula, and his influence — on Beckford, Radcliffe, and Lewis in this topic and then, along with them, on subsequent English fiction (and on literature and films more generally) — s incalculable. Pytania z lekcji: 1) Fragmenty wskazujace na to ze jest to gothic novel: 2) Charakterystyka Manfreda, Hipolity i Theodora 3) Na czym polegala przepowiednia? Ad. 1 Gothic elements include the following: 1. Setting in a castle 2. An atmosphere of mystery and suspense. The work is pervaded by a threatening feeling, a fear enhanced by the unknown. Often the pl ot itself is built around a mystery. 3. An ancient prophecy 4. Omens, visions. 5. Supernatural or otherwise inexplicable events. 6. High, even overwrought emotion. . Women in distress. 8. Women threatened by a powerful, impulsive, tyrannical male. 9. The metaphor of gloom and horror. 10. The vocabulary of the gothic. (ghost, haunted, frightened, dismal, shocking, despair, dread etc). Ad. 2 * Manfred  Ã¢â‚¬â€ the lord of the Castle of Otranto. He is the father of Conrad and Matilda, and the husband of Hippolita. After his son is killed by the falling helmet, he becomes obsessed with the idea of ending his marriage with Hippolita in pursuit of the much younger Isabella, who was supposed to marry his son. Manfred serves as the prime  antagonist  of the novel; he is the dictatorial ruler and father that drives the plot forward in a depiction of deranged cruelty visited upon his children. [1] * Hippolita  Ã¢â‚¬â€ the wife of Manfred and the mother of Conrad and Matilda. After having lost her son, she is left with just Matilda to combat the tyrannical turn of mind that her husband displays. Manfred intends to divorce her due to her sterility and on the grounds that their marriage is in fact false because they are actually related. Faced with the threat of divorce, Hippolita is mournful yet submissive to the wills of her husband. She acts as a sort of enabler to her husband, putting aside her morals and happiness so that her husband can get what he wants. * Theodore  Ã¢â‚¬â€ at the beginning of the novel, Theodore appears to be a mere minor character, whose role is purely to point out the significance of the helmet as a link to the fulfillment of the prophecy. However, he emerges as a main character after Manfred orders him to be imprisoned within the helmet for his insolence and he escapes, only to help Isabella escape from the castle through a trapdoor. He is revealed later in the novel to be the lost son of Friar Jerome. Theodore proceeds to protect Isabella from the wanton lust of Manfred. He captures the hearts of both Isabella and Matilda, but settles for Isabella after Matildas death. He also later goes on to rule the Castle of Otranto. Ad. 3 Shortly before the wedding with Isabella, Conrad is crushed to death by a gigantic helmet that falls on him from above. This inexplicable event is particularly ominous in light of an ancient prophecy [T]hat the castle and lordship of Otranto should pass from the present family, whenever the real owner should be grown too large to inhabit it.