The Making of the Middle Ages Essay Example for Free

The Making of the Middle Ages Essay Personally, when thinking of the middle Ages, I tend to have the misconception that it is a period of darkness with no progress. However, R.W. Southern’s book, ‘The Making of the Middle Ages’, offers an in depth study of the development of history in the world today. Observing that this book was published during the 1950s, Mr. Southern’s interpretation of the ‘Middle Ages’ was very distinctive in comparison to other historians of his time. He explores the significance of the Middle Ages as a separate sector in the study of history by which the audience will notice that previous categories of studied history is set aside, as we are no longer focusing on the usual ‘Classical Greece’ and ‘Rome’ in shaping the modern world, but the ‘Middle Ages’ as an entity on its own. The ‘Middle Ages’ are regarded as of equal importance in the understanding of making the modern world since the Enlightenment. Setting this book in the 1950s when traditionalist views are still the core study of history, he attempts to justify the study of the Middle Ages as important to understanding. I find myself puzzled by his misleading use of the book’s title as it does not describe the actual ‘making’ of the middle ages which is suggests, but the actual ‘formation of western Europe from the late tenth to the early thirteenth century’. It is clear that Mr. Southern acknowledges the problems during the Middle Ages and examines them in two sections. He states that these divisions in Latin Christendom and its neighbors arose from the lack of communication and the tension caused from social disorder. Another trigger of tension was the division of the two main languages in Europe. He also emphasizes that those were the main factors and that areas of authority and political divisions were too artificial and ‘too fluid to count for much’ which also suggests that ‘political boundaries didn’t survive’. Opposed to the traditional view of history, he insinuates that the middle ages have been hindered as a ‘secret revolution’. This implies that Southern’s argument tries to reaffirm the status of the middle ages as a legitimate topic of academic discourse. Of course in his attempt to convince his academic peers, he seems to be very selective in his choice of sources. When examining the index, it clearly shows that there is little written about other themes. Southern conveys a very Eurocentric attitude towards the topics that are discussed in his book, as he mentions very little of the developments in Africa, the role of women and children and when compared to people of the upper classes and serfdoms, the ratio seems bizarre. There is a large list of various Saints that Southern mentions, as well as many powerful men with high social statuses that claim more pages and notice about serfdom which concludes to my point of Southern’s poor demographic as there isn’t a chapter on women. Southern’s ‘Making of the Middle Ages’ is a history of men and powerful political men. Southern also uses imperial terms that show that his book was written for the upper classes if placed in the wider context with the books published at the same time. Mr. Southern uses five main headings for each of his discussions and it is obvious that his main interest lies within the role of religion. ‘dark ages’ no progress? Regression he argues that there are things and events that happened which form Europe as it is today †¦ Not just shaped by classical rome in shaping modern Europe. About the book in the wider context about the books in the same time about the same topic because books are not published isolated- When the book was published and then how does it compare to the books published now- outdated? Why? Compared to modern literature and then the books published at the time. Index: always a noun but mentions none in themes, another flaw in the writer as the impression it gives shows that there aren’t any interests in wider themes. Eurocentric attitude to history isn’t as important- maybe ignores development in Africa? Role of women, children or slaves (under classes) but does have ‘serfdom’ only one chapter? Imperial terms; Sort of model of Thucydidean history (which is history of political leaders) military generals none of underdogs. (power politics) theme of Enlightenment-inspired medievalism and protonationalism with a study of legendary heroes Guy of Warwick and Bevis of Hampton in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century literary circles, while articles by Helen Phillips, John Marshall, and David Mills examine gender in Chaucer’s writings, Robin Hood’s embodiment of pageantry, and the Chester Plays, respectively. Andrew Wawn expands on his earlier work by examining Victorian makers of the Viking Middle Ages active in Merseyside and Edward Morris surveys early nineteenth-century Liverpool collectors of illuminated manuscripts, devoting considerable attention to restituting the scholarly reputation of Sir John Tobin, a retired seaman, former slave trader, and pioneer in the acquisition of medieval manuscripts whose collection, amassed between 1823 and 1835, was â€Å"perhaps the most important small group of late medieval illuminated manuscripts ever assembled by a private individual† (166). Revival of secular Gothic aesthetics, a must-read for anyone interested in appreciating the urban development of one of England’s most important cities during industrialization. serves as a useful reminder that medievalism can hold historical implications as interesting and important as the Middle Ages themselves.

The Fate of a Hero in Beowulf Essay -- Epic of Beowulf Essays

The Fate of a Hero â€Å"For a brief while your strength is in bloom/ but it fades quickly; and soon there will follow/ illness or the sword to lay you low†¦ and death will arrive, dear warrior, to sweep you away†(1761-8). Hrothgar bestows his wisdom onto Beowulf after Beowulf has defeated Grendel and his mother. Hrothgar reminds him not to let pride overcome him for everything is eventually defeated due to the power of fate. This exemplifies a theme woven throughout the story of Beowulf. Beowulf is presented as a valiant hero, slaying beasts with his mighty strength and demonstrating the importance of the balance between wisdom and strength, but as the story unfolds Beowulf slowly loses his vitality until eventually he is defeated. This shows the power of fate has on everyone; no exceptions. This paper will demonstrate the heroic qualities of Beowulf and show his gradual decline through the approaches and outcomes of his three battles with the monsters. In the beginning of the story, Beowulf’s journey brings him to the land of the Danes where he is first intruded upon by a coast guard. Immediately upon seeing Beowulf the coast guard remarks on his impressive appearance. â€Å"Nor have I seen/ a mightier man-at-arms on this Earth/ than the one standing here: unless I am mistaken,/ he is truly noble† (247-50). A warrior named Wulfgar, impressed by Beowulf and his men, delivers his request for passage into the land of Denmark from King of the Danes, Hrothgar. His family background and reputation are familiar to Hrothgar, and he eagerly welcomes them to Denmark. Wulfgar reports back to Beowulf, â€Å"My lord, the conquering king of Danes, bids me announce that he knows you ancestry: also that he welcomes you here to Herot†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (391-3). This scene shows the importance of appearance and reputation, without which Beowulf may never have been admitted to the land of the Danes at all. Once he gains passage into Denmark, Beowulf talks with Hrothgar and his closest followers in the mead hall about how he will destroy this beast or die trying. â€Å"I meant to perform to the uttermost what your people wanted or perish in the attempt, in the fiend’s clutches. And I shall fulfill that purpose, prove myself with a proud deed or meet my death here in the mead-hall† (634-8). His speech to Hrothgar shows Beowulf’s courage and confidence in his abilities. He also chooses not use any weapons or ar... ...e failed his people. His choice to conquer this dragon seems to be the obvious choice for a warrior. He must protect his people. But Beowulf seems so caught up in the surreal threats such as, monsters and dragons, he fails to realize the real peril he has left his people in. Beowulf is aware of his age and uneasy feeling toward his success yet he chooses to take on the dragon anyways. Although the dragon is defeated the Geat people are presented with even greater danger of the Sweds who will surely pounce on their nation. Therefore, throughout the story Beowulf is presented as the ultimate hero; demonstrating the strength of thirty men in his grasp while also using his powerful insight to avoid unnecessary conflict. His surreal strength and wisdom allow Beowulf to accomplish great feats within his time. He not only saves the land of the Danes form the terrorizing monsters but serves and protects his own people as well. Despite his heroic qualities, his humanity is proven by showing his eventual downfall; expressing that even the greatest heroes cannot live forever. Beowulf’s heroic qualities can only hold him above the rest until fate takes its toll and he too becomes defeated.

Research science fiction Essay

During the summer I met up with Harinder to start building our website and to get an idea of what it would include and look like. We decided to use the program Dream Weaver since it was more flexible compared to word or Frontpage and it had many features that we could use for our website, such as different backgrounds and texts. Dream weaver enabled us to use Flash MX which has much more effective graphics which we couldn’t get on Front Page such as the flash buttons and 3-d backgrounds all to make our website suit the Sc-Fi theme. We targeted our audience immediately by choosing the theme Science Fiction which appeals to teen and young adult males. We kept the audience involved furthermore by the type of language we chose to use which wasn’t too complicated yet not too patronising. The set up of the page was kept colourful, yet formal, by not having the hyperlinks and pictures all over the page. It would therefore appeal to the younger and older generations of our audience. We also targeted the audience by adding more features to our website like voting and a guest book so they feel welcome and give feed back on what they thought of our website. The strengths and weaknesses of our production are fairly clear. Some of the strengths are that it appeals to a wide range of audiences which means that more people are attracted to our website and it would be popular. Another strength would be the different kinds of features that make up our website, from the different types of flash buttons to the backgrounds, wallpapers and pictures. The weaknesses of our website include the appearance of the homepage; it looks too cluttered at the top then too empty at the bottom. The colours don’t match especially with the different coloured buttons. Another weakness would be that on a page like the picture page all of the links are down on one side of the page and the rest of the page looks empty. We could have avoided this problem by putting more pictures and links on the page. One more weakness I could pick out would probably be that it takes quite a long time to load up the site. This could be put down to the fact that there is a lot of links and features on our webpage which slows down the connection and makes it harder for the computer to find the proxy settings. The responses from our target audience were good. We asked people between the ages of 15-30 years of age what they thought of our website. We got some good responses especially from the younger members of our audiences, such as the layout of the website and the features is good quality. They did offer some improvements, such as it needed more information put into the site. The point came up again that the home page was too cluttered and looked over crowded. The older generation of our audience also thought the site was very effective. Some proposed improvements were that we needed to take more care when writing the movie reviews since there was a lot of spelling mistakes. Also that some of the other pages seemed empty with only a few links on them. It was proposed we should have either not made a links page for the pictures page or made more links and pictures. Another improvement suggested that we should have made our website even more formal if we wanted to aim at a wider range of 25 year olds upward, by not having the colourful buttons or backgrounds but having them black and white. I feel I learnt that we needed to have deadlines between ourselves to get certain things finished and then move on to the next thing instead of going back and finishing off pictures or reviews. You need to have people in your group that you can rely on to have work finished and handed in. Appendix 1. Google – Search Engine 2. Science Fiction Websites- * Sci-fi.com * Sciencefic.com * Science Fiction Movie Reviews Pages * Science Fiction Picture Pages 3. Ask- Search Engine 4. Lycos- Search Engine

Of Marriage and Single Life, by Francis Bacon

The first master of the essay form in English, Francis Bacon (1561-1626) was confident that of all his works in The Essayes or Counsels, Civill and Morall (1625) would last as long as books last. One of the best-known essays from that enduring collection is Of Marriage and Single Life. In his analysis of the essay, contemporary rhetorician Richard Lanham describes Bacons style as clipped, curt, compressed, and pointed: No climax at the end; no sign the whole chain of reasoning had been thought out beforehand; somewhat abrupt transitions (Some there are, Nay, there are, Nay, more), several antithetical contrasts, the whole built on a single, pointed and condensed moral reflection. It is from this last characteristic that the name pointed style comes. The point is the condensed, pithy, often proverbial and always memorable statement of a general truth.​​(Analyzing Prose, 2nd ed. Continuum, 2003) You may find it worthwhile to compare Bacons aphoristic observations with the lengthier reflections in Joseph Addisons Defence and Happiness of Married Life. Of Marriage and Single Life   by Francis Bacon He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune, for they are impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or mischief. Certainly the best works, and of greatest merit for the public, have proceeded from the unmarried or childless men, which both in affection and means have married and endowed the public. Yet it were great reason that those that have children should have greatest care of future times, unto which they know they must transmit their dearest pledges. Some there are who, though they lead a single life, yet their thoughts do end with themselves, and account future times impertinences. Nay, there are some others that account wife and children but as bills of charges. Nay more, there are some foolish, rich, covetous men, that take a pride in having no children, because they may be thought so much the richer. For perhaps they have heard some talk, Such an one is a great rich man; and another except to it, Yea, but he hath a great charge of children, as if it were an abatement to his riches. But the most ordinary cause of a single life is liberty, especially in certain self-pleasing and humorous minds, which are so sensible of every restraint as they will go near to think their girdles and garters to be bonds and shackles. Unmarried men are best friends, best masters, best servants, but not always best subjects, for they are light to run away, and almost all fugitives are of that condition. A single life doth well with churchmen, for charity will hardly water the ground where it must first fill a pool. It is indifferent for judges and magistrates, for if they be facile and corrupt, you shall have a servant five times worse than a wife. For soldiers, I find the generals commonly in their hortatives put men in mind of their wives and children; and I think the despising of marriage amongst the Turks maketh the vulgar soldier more base. Certainly wife and children are a kind of discipline of humanity; and single men, though they may be ma ny times more charitable, because their means are less exhaust, yet on the other side they are more cruel and hard-hearted (good to make severe inquisitors), because their tenderness is not so often called upon. Grave natures, led by custom, and therefore constant, are commonly loving husbands; as was said of Ulysses, Vetulam suam praetulit immortalitati.* Chaste women are often proud and forward, as presuming upon the merit of their chastity. It is one of the best bonds both of chastity and obedience in the wife if she think her husband wise, which she will never do if she find him jealous. Wives are young mens mistresses, companions for middle age, and old mens nurses; so as a man may have a quarrel to marry when he will. But yet he was reputed one of the wise men that made answer to the question, when a man should marry: A young man not yet, an elder man not at all. It is often seen that bad husbands have very good wives, whether it be that it raiseth the price of their hushands kindness when it comes, or that the wives take a pride in their patience. But this never fails if the bad husbands were of their own choosing, against their friends consent, for then they will be sure to make good their own folly. * He preferred his old woman to immortality.