Wednesday, January 29, 2020

The history of art Essay Example for Free

The history of art Essay The history of art is closely related with the common history. With this statement I’d like to highlight the close connection between â€Å"culture wars† and the history of civil rights, especially in the USA. After the struggle for equal treatment for people of any gender or race it was time to start struggle for equal treatment for people of different sexuality. The issue of norm and perversion in the human sexuality is always under debate in the society. Jonathan Katz made some researches of the social aspect of homosexuality, in particular he observed the relationship between the art and â€Å"culture wars†, but I’d like to point out his other observation. In his article â€Å"The Invention of Heterosexuality† Katz tells that the very term â€Å"heterosexuality† has the medical origin, and it gained the meaning of social norm only after the World War II. The term â€Å"heterosexuality† as the sexual norm has, according to Katz, social not biological nature. Thus, the taboo on open homosexuality had not natural but social origin and thus it could be lifted. In 1980s the struggle against the taboo on open homosexuality reflected in the different forms of postmodernism art. Thus, Robert Mapplethorpe created a series of black-and white photography with the homosexual thematic. He proclaimed the aesthetics of naked male bodies including genitals and the homosexual erotic. His works as well the works of other artist, who proclaimed homosexuality, had a wide social resonance. Some influential Senators started the campaign against the homosexuality, contrasting it with Christian moral and family values and linking homosexuality with the AIDS epidemic. The role of art in the â€Å"culture wars† was to convince the society to change the attitude to homosexuals. For now it is possible to say that the attitude really changed to more tolerant. The art proclaiming homosexuality undoubtedly was one of the influential factors in changing the situation. References Jonathan Ned Katz. The Invention of Heterosexuality. 1995. Retrieved July 11 2010 from http://kasamaproject. org/2008/06/27/katz-the-invention-of-heterosexuality/ Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation website. Retrieved July 11 2010 from http://www. mapplethorpe. org/foundation. html Robert Summers, Art History Visual Culture. http://ospace. otis. edu/robtsum/Contemporary_Video_and_Body_Art_Practices, accessed 09 July 2010

Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Far From The Madding Crowd :: essays research papers

English Literature Coursework Assignment - Far From The Madding Crowd (Prose written before 1900) ‘Compare and contrast Bathsheba Everdene’s three suitors’ In the novel ‘Far from the Madding Crowd’ the main female role, Bathsheba Everdene, is pursued by three suitors, each of whom is very different from the others. These three men are Farmer William Boldwood, owner of the farm adjacent to Bathsheba’s, Gabriel Oak, bankrupt farmer who becomes Bathsheba’s shepherd, and later, bailiff, and Sergeant Francis Troy, a soldier whose regiment was close by to Weatherbury. Each of the three suitors pursues Bathsheba in a very different style, each of which I will look at in this coursework, but, unfortunately for naïve Bathsheba she fails to choose the best for her, Gabriel Oak, when he becomes her first suitor. Only at the end of the novel does she make the obvious and correct choice. The first character I will look at is Sergeant Francis Troy who came upon Bathsheba one night as she walked along the fir plantation, checking that all was well in the fields and paddocks, although Gabriel Oak had check before her. When Troy had become entangled with her, one of his first questions was ‘Are you a woman?’, to which Bathsheba replied, ‘Yes.’ His immediate reaction was to compliment her by calling her a lady, illustrating his natural tendency to see most young ladies he comes across as merely objects for personal conquest. Flattery is of course his chief weapon in charming and conquering the female heart. One of the main reasons that Bathsheba fell for him in the first place is her own vulnerability to flattery, as she is such a vain young lady. From this point on, on the occasions that he meets her, he continues to remark on how beautiful see looks, concentrating on praising her appearance. His first attempt at courtship was filled with nothin g more than these praises as he quickly wormed his way into Bathsheba’s heart. His impressive skills at swordmanship astonished Bathsheba, as shown in the hollow among the ferns when she realised how sharp his sword really was as he manoeuvred it around her, and she suddenly found herself falling deeper and deeper in love with him. There are a number of things which had attracted her to Troy, the most principal being the constant flattery and praise of her beauty. His sword skills in particular excited her and were a wonder, something totally different from the mundane ways of country life which surrounded her at present.

Sunday, January 12, 2020

A Mother’s Legacy In Mary Shelley’s Mathilda Essay

Abstract Mary Wollstonecraft and her daughter Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley are two writers whose ideas are likely to be similar. Shelley admits that she is influenced by her mother. Therefore, the purpose of this essay is to find out and to identify the ideas presented in Wollstonecraft’s essay on women’s rights A Vindication for the Rights of Woman (1792) and see if they are incorporated into Shelley’s novella Mathilda (1819). My analysis of A Vindication for the Rights of Woman shows that Wollstonecraft’s main ideas are that limited education, the subjugation of women by the family, female dependency on men and romantic thinking are the source for women’s inferiority. This essay identifies and examines these ideas in the light of some secondary material and tries to suggest that they are visible as themes in Shelley’s Mathilda. In Mathilda, these ideas are visible as themes throughout the novel. The tragedy that befalls the characters illustrates the immoral and self-destructive tendencies which women obtain when being subject to these conditions. On the other hand, Shelley does not emphasize a lack of education and offers an additional point of view where Wollstonecraft’s views on motherhood are criticized. The conclusion drawn is that Wollstonecraft’s ideas must have had an influence on Shelley as the fate of the characters is an illustration of the society that is criticized in A Vindication for the Rights of Woman and its destruction. However, Shelley does not agree on ideas with the subject of upbringing and goes against a few of her mother’s main points, namely the role of mothers and the pre-eminence of education. They mostly have a consensus as most ideas that are present in one work are present in the other but Shelley has rebelled against some of her mother’s notions.

Saturday, January 4, 2020

Positive vs. Negative Commands in Spanish

Spanish uses a different verb form for positive direct commands (such as do it) than it does for negative direct commands (dont do it) in the familiar second-person form, that is, when speaking to tà º or vosotros. Note the differences with the following regular verbs, all of them in the imperative mood. Pronouns in parentheses are optional and are included here for clarity: habla (tà º) (speak, you singular); no hables (dont speak, you singular); hablad (vosotros) (speak, you plural); no hablà ©is (vosotros) (dont speak, you plural) come (tà º) (eat, you singular); no comas (dont eat, you singular); comed (vosotros) (eat, you plural); no comà ¡is (vosotros) (dont eat, you plural) vive (tà º) (live, you singular); no vivas (dont live, you singular); vivid (vosotros) (live, you plural); no vivà ¡is (vosotros) (dont live, you plural) The same endings are usually used for most of the irregular verbs as well. Note that the negative form of familiar second-person commands is the same as the present subjunctive form. Here are some examples of sentences showing the difference with irregular verbs: Ve a casa. (Go home, singular) No vayas a casa. (Dont go home.) Id a casa. (Go home, plural) No vayà ¡is a casa. (Dont go home, plural.) Hazlo. (Do it.) No lo hagas. (Dont do it.) Hacedlo. (Do it, plural.) No lo hagà ¡is. (Dont do it, plural.) Dime. (Tell me.) No me digas. (Dont tell me.) Decidme. (Tell me, plural.) No me digà ¡is. (Dont tell me, plural.)