Sara Rice – Crimson Miscellany

Paradise Lost

Written by John Milton
Inverted syntax
Book I
- Adam and Even are mentioned (man’s first disobedience)
- Location is hell and the angels are cast out of heaven
- Satan thought he was better than God and rallies the fallen angels
- Satan will make the best of being in hell and would rather “reign in hell, then serve in heaven”
Book III
- We are in heaven as the setting
- God and Jesus are encountered in this book
- Humans do have free will
How is Satan “good”?
- Why did God put Satan on a high pedestal and make him so great if he knew how he would turn out?
- Constant serving of God
Book IV
- Garden of Eden is the setting
- Sin is born out of the left side of Satan’s head
- Adam and Even “not equal”, Adam is made from God
- Adam
  - Tall, looked beautiful, curly hair
  - Made for thinking things and bravery
  - Orderly and manly
- Eve
  - Hair is curly and messy
  - Made to be grace and soft
  - Darker meaning behind messy hair

An Essay on Man

Written by : Alexander Pope
Philosophical poem written in heroic couplets, published between 1732 and 1734
Part of a larger work that Pope planned but did not finish
Known as “King of Satire”
Attempts to vindicate the ways of God to man
Chain of Being – Theme of Essay on Man
- Orderly universal hierarchy that extends from God at the top down to the lowest creature on earth
- Originally a classical idea from Ancient Greece and Rome
- God is at the top, then angels, followed by humans, who have a sort of middle position on the chain
- Despite seemingly chaotic appearance, the universe is rational and orderly “Whatever IS, is Right” (294)

Marie de France

Wrote in Anglo-Norman time period
First written of chivalric tales
Breton Lay : short narrative poem in verse
Integration
Disintegration
Reintegration
Milun is the main character
The women made the most decision throughout
- She makes the decision that they should be together, the child
Milun uses swans to send messages back and forth
The woman would be sold into slavery or killed if they find out about her child (pregnant)
The woman is confined and Milun and the son wander
Fairy Mistress
- Common element of Celtic literature
- Usually involves a woman of some sort of magical land crossing over in the mortal realm to take her lover
- She poses a geis, or prohibition on him, which he later breaks and gets punished, often by withdrawal of his mistress love
- Lanval breaks the trend insofar as the faire mistress still comes to Lanval’s defense even after he broke the prohibition
- Importance of faithfulness, but not typically in marriage
Lanval
- Seems weak doesn’t act like a true knight
  - Quick to defend that he is not gay
- Trapped by fairy mistress’ beauty or spell
  - Commands him to leave
- Chivalric

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Start in King Arthur’s Court
- Celebrating Christmas festivities
Author from northwest England but is unknown
Knights
- Loyal, honorable, chivalric, happy, rowdy, prideful, prestigious, vibrant
Chivalrous
- Rules for chivalry
Knight is pledged to kill – being true to your word
Code of Knight
- Loyal to whatever fighting for
- Virtuous
- Kind
- Brotherly love
- Skilled
Disintegration forms a bulk of the story
Significance of number 3
Hunting and seduction : author intertwines and highlights how they are action and human’s behavior
Fox (on the 3^RD day) : sly, deceptive, symbolizes Gawain lying on the 3^RD day

Sidney’s Arcadia and Wroth’s Urania

Desire driving plot
- Everyone is miserable with desire
- Desire push people to/past extreme boundaries
When Zelmane is Pyrocles, he is referred to as “she”
- Only time Zelmane is “he” when queen is speaking
  - Queen knows what is happening
- Urania
  - Written by : Mary Wroth, Sir Philip Sidney’s niece
  - Written after the Roman was no longer a popular genre and clearly modeled after her Uncle’s Aracdia
  - Breaks with convention by portraying married heroines, rather than knights on an adventure
  - Contains intertwined stories with hidden meanings
  - Women are much more constant than men in general, in Urania

King Lear

Written by: William Shakespeare
2 versions of Lear
- Quarto: page folded twice, modernized
- Folio: full pages, more old English
Written as a tragedy
King Lear Acts III and IV – Money and Power
- Getting the inheritance makes you powerful in Lear
- Fate can make a person powerful

Volpone

Querelle des Femmes

Querelle des femmes = controversy over women
Began to peak in England during 1540s as writers published treatises related to Henry VIIIs multiple wives, followed by a proliferation of discourse surrounding England’s queens, first Mary and then Elizabeth and the many matches she resisted

QUIZLET LINK – IMPORTANT TERMS TO KNOW

Author: Sara Rice