Traveling with Fuller and Thoreau Essay -- Literary Analysis, Summer o

Traveling with Fuller and Thoreau The mid 1800’s was a time of continued physical exploration of the landscape of America, and an era of opportunity for an intimate inspection of the land; areas sometimes found by the traveler with the assistance of Travel Journals and maps. These detailed records, reflected a destination, and also allowed an intellectual travel of the mind. In Margaret Fuller’s, â€Å"Summer on the Lake,† and Henry David Thoreau, â€Å"Cape Cod,† we experience both their physical, and internal travels, and how each author relates, both physically and mentally, to the natural landscape; the similarities, the differences, and what elucidated each, to seek their journeys. The observed, physical differences of the natural landscapes will be compared, followed by a deeper encounter with Thoreau, as to why, and to whom, his more desolate and dark descriptions of the natural landscape, reached a distinctive, psychological appeal, and how these two views relate to contemporary America. Just the title, â€Å"Summer on the Lake,† creates a refreshing image of glistening water and sunshine, surrounded by evergreens and the voices of children at play, right? As well it should, for that is what the author, Margaret Fuller, had intended to experience as she traveled that summer of 1843, to the Great Lakes. Margaret describes the many travel books and journals she studied to prepare for her trip. â€Å"Murray’s travels I read, and was charmed by their accuracy and clear broad tone.† (Fuller p.27) Yes, she was â€Å"charmed† by another’s words; another’s description of a place she had yet to travel. She Schoener 2 was expecting to find beauty an... ...cape of America, it is even more so today. The major difference is that we are able to learn from authors like Thoreau and Fuller, not to just read the words, but to â€Å"see† what they are saying, and to use that knowledge to envision a landscape that is not just in a travel book, or on a sandy beach, but one that is truly ubiquitous. References: Emerson, RW. The Portable Emerson. Viking Edition:1981 Fuller, Margaret. Summer on the Lakes. Reprint 2010 Thoreau, HD. The Portable Thoreau. Viking-Penguin Edition 1977 Thoreau, HD. Cape Cod. Dover Publications. 2004 Encyclopedia Britannica, online â€Å"Transcendentalism† 2010 Abrams: Class notes: 10-4 through 10-25 Note: RE: Fuller. My text was missing the intro-page 7. I used several other editions found online to gather information, therefore, my page numbers may not relate correctly to any one edition.

“A Merchant of Venice” Essay Essay

In the play The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare reveals Portia’s character in a variety of different ways. She seems to have multiple personalities, and it is very difficult for one to conclude whether she is kind or cruel. For example, she could be said to be prejudiced and sly, while also very caring. Portia is quick to judge others on appearances and first impressions. In scene II, when Portia is discussing her suitors with Nerissa, she explains all of the traits she doesn’t like about each of them. She even suggests placing a glass of wine on one of the incorrect caskets; so that the German suitor would choose it and she wouldn’t have to marry him. In fact, she does not seem to like any of the suitors that have visited, except for Bassanio, whom she remembers with fondness: â€Å"I remember him well, and I remember him worthy / of thy praise† (1.2.114-115). In addition, when consulted about the Prince of Morocco, she makes it clear to the reader that â€Å"if he had the condition of a saint / and the complexion of a devil, I had rather he should / shrive me than wive me† (1.2.124-126). This is extremely racist, especially since she hasn’t even spoken to him yet when she states this. She just immediately assumes that she would not marry him because of his dark skin, even if he had a wonderful personality. Also, Portia makes it known that she does not like people of the Jewish faith, and was extremely rude to Jessica when she first arrived in Belmont. During this scene, Portia warmly welcomes each man, but treats Jessica as if she were invisible. When Jessica tells the group that she had  heard him [Shylock] swear To Tubal and to Chus, his countrymen, That he would rather have Antonio’s flesh Than twenty times the value of the sum That he did owe him. (3.2.283-287) Portia completely ignores this piece of information, and continues talking to Bassanio as if nothing had been said. She cannot seem to accept people if they are slightly different from herself. Portia shows signs of being sly and somewhat cold-hearted. She manages to get to Venice and trick all of the men in the courtroom into thinking she is a man. Then, she craftily turns the whole bond plot around and saves Antonio from death, finding two loopholes in the bond. One of these is that Shylock cannot shed any of Antonio’s blood and the other is that he may not take any more or less than a pound of flesh. In the same scene, she decides to test her husband’s loyalty to her by convincing him to give her the ring that had been a symbol of their love, telling him that she â€Å"will have nothing else but only this† (4.1.430). Bassanio was eventually persuaded into giving up the ring to this ‘doctor’. This was very cold-hearted of her; she should have trusted Bassanio, given that he is her husband. This trick complicated their marriage, for she now probably feels like she cannot trust him. It was a cruel trick I think, and very sly. Portia loves Bassanio very much and cares for him and his friends. While it seems that Portia wants to accuse her husband of being disloyal, she still wants to help him in what ever way she can. At first, when she hears of the bond between Antonio and Shylock, she offers to â€Å"Pay him six thousand, and deface the bond; / double six thousand, and then treble that, / before a friend of this description / shall lose a hair through Bassanio’s fault† (3.2.298-301). When she discovers that money will not solve the problem, she risks getting caught and, accompanied by Nerissa, follows the men to Venice disguised as a male doctor. In the courtroom she stands up to Shylock and turns the bond to Antonio’s advantage, eventually causing Shylock to lose a lot of money and become terribly embarrassed. All of this she does out of love for Bassanio. Even though she has never met Antonio, she is very eager to help him out since he is a friend of her beloved husband. However horrible Portia may seem to be in terms of prejudice and how she doesn’t trust her own husband, she still is very loving to those she  actually likes. She can very well be described as two-faced: on the one hand she is sly, prejudiced and lacking in trust of her husband, yet on the other hand she is a kind and loving woman. It is this complex personality that makes her such an interesting character in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. Bassanio may want to get to know all of her sides before committing himself to a woman whom he barely knows.

Media Analysis Of Gucci Dionysus Advert - 1251 Words

MCH8057: Media Analysis Analysis of Gucci Dionysus Advert 10/11/2017 Word Count:1028 I declare that this assignment is my own work and that I have correctly acknowledged the work of others. This assignment is in accordance with University and School guidance on good academic conduct (and how to avoid plagiarism and other assessment irregularities). University guidance is available at www.ncl.ac.uk/right-cite. Advertisements have a great impact on consumers’ mind and action by combining various semiotic resources to convey specific ideas. Therefore, semiotic theories are useful for the critical analysis of advertisements. Semiotics are researched by Saussure (1986), Peirce (1991) and Barthes (1991). Afterwards,†¦show more content†¦There are some denotations: The blue sky, the green tree and shining sunshine in the background of the advert. Two girls in front who dressed in delicate and elegant style enjoy the life with the Dionysus bag in their hands. It is relatively simple to recognize and understand denotation of a visual image (Panofsky, 1970). While these signs have connotative meanings. Colour, as a sign, is connected with psychological function(Caivano,1998). The blue colour, standing for perfect weather rather than a rainy day or hazy day in which people always feel relatively depressed, by contrast, it creates fond and fragrant atmosphere. Additionally, green is s imilar with blue in hue, it links a strong tree to youthful spirit and energy of girls, demonstrating a vibrant life image and creating a dreamlike and comfortable phenomenon. Apart from it, two bags in girls’ hands are coloured in pink, as Koller (2002, p.413) comments, pink is not only associated with ‘girly softness’, but also referring to ‘sexual identity’. In this advert, it is not baby pink, but deep and luscious pink, which indicates that they are not such kind of girls who are naà ¯ve and addicted to lovely toys, on the contrary, they are mature girls who have found the sexual charm of themselves. Pink here represents confidence and lively girl-power. The metallic lock above a bag is designed in curvilinear shape, which is similar to the snake totem, a symbol of rebelï ¼Å'temptation and awakening of sexual to