SELF-DEFINED PROJECT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

SELF-DEFINED PROJECT - Essay Example hat’s left from Experiencing the Divine†¦an expression of the artist’s spiritual nature in the material world†¦[it] is the portal to the soul† (Darlene). According to Andrej Tisma art allowed man to discover â€Å"deep secrets penetrating the source of things†. In primitive society, when religion was held central to the community, the priest was the same as the artist. He created prayers and hymns that allowed man to connect wit the divine. As society modernizes and beliefs become secular, the artist has finally risen up to assert his individuality and his interpretation of what the world is. This new form is called mental art. Unlike the earlier forms of art which tried to depict reality, or make a statement about the imagined reality, mental art allows the artist to communicate using his own concepts. In Rudolf Steiner’s words, â€Å"The basis of artistic creation is not what is, but what might be; not the real, but the possible†. This new form allows the artist to bring forth the â€Å"knowledge† that is burning alive inside him. For some people this â€Å"burning† is the seed of the divine, man’s ultimate connection to the being called God, the Source, the Creator. Because creativity is of divine nature, often the artist cannot recognize an artwork when he/she is done with it. Some would say â€Å"I can’t believe I did this† - an indication of the â€Å"other† which lives inside a person. The nature of this other is no longer within the bounds of this paper, what is sure, however, is that art is the medium of co mmunication between the â€Å"other† and the physical man. Creativity is its highest manifestation – man may deny revealing it, but such denial cannot last forever. When it reaches its peak, it will strive to break all barriers in the same way that mental art is now breaking social norms. This idea is supported by this quote from the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas, â€Å"If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you

My Desire to Teach Literature :: Teaching Education Essays

My Desire to Teach Literature A couple of months ago, out of curiosity, I engaged in a test offered by the MENSA association. Along with the I.Q. figure, I received there was also some two word description attempting to label my intellectual prowess. As I recall one of the words was â€Å"intuitive†, or some variation thereof. People with a propensity to intuitiveness generally have some sense of this. Call it intuition. As a learner I would have to say that I fall into the visual category. For an instructor to describe a mathematical formula, for example, it just does not have the impact as to actually see the process worked out on a blackboard. The same applies to a tangible object. I am able to fully grasp its applications if it was placed before me, as opposed to being merely explained. I do intend to teach in the visual style when, at last, that role is mine. Ultimately my goal is to teach college level literature. Off hand I can think of a few instances where visual tools might be employed in this arena. Suppose I was to assign a class to read Joseph Heller’s â€Å"Catch 22†. Clips from Mike Nichols’ film version would give the class a firmer grasp on the insanity of war. Gustave Dore’s sullen and intense companion paintings to Samuel Taylor Coolidge’s â€Å"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner† would assist in bringing students closer to the mood and drama the poem evokes. And why stop with artistic mediums. Nature herself is the ultimate instructor. After a reading of Emily Bronte’s â€Å"Wuthering Heights† I can see myself marching a class out into a rainfall (weather permitting) and proclaiming â€Å"O.K., guys. You feel those cold drops pounding you? Feel the general wildness of it all? That, my fr iends, is unbridled passion. That is Cathy and Heathcliff in a nutshell.† Regarding the application of learning styles and learning style assessments, quite honestly, I don’t know enough about it yet to make a judgment call. This is new to me and I am still learning. From what I understand of some of these issues, such as integrated learning, this is a practice that should be administered to students at a lower grade level.

Iago -Betrayal and Loyalty

The Theme of Betrayal and Loyalty Through the Eyes of Desdemona, Othello, and Iago The play The Tragedy of Othello the Moor of Venice, written by William Shakespeare in the 1600’s, has many underlying and reoccurring themes. The major themes are betrayal and loyalty. During the entire play, every character is either betrayed or proved loyal. The Tragedy of Othello the Moor of Venice can be seen through the characters of Iago, Othello, and Desdemona. Othello and Desdemona have both been betrayed in their attempt to be loyal to another character.Throughout the play, Iago manipulates the other characters into betraying one another so that he can get his ultimate betrayal on Othello. Shakespeare uses Iago as the main portrayer of betrayal throughout the entire play. He betrays all the other characters, but his main focus is on Othello. Despite that, he ends up betraying all the people closest to him. Iago’s betrayal starts off from the first scene page of the play right unt il the end. The audience learns Iago’s motive through his monologue: â€Å"Thus do I ever make my fool my pursel hate the moor, and it is thought abroad that ‘twixt my sheets’ has done my office.I know not if’t be true, but I, for mere suspicion in that kind will do as if for surety. † Iago suspects that Othello has had an affair with his wife. However, Shakespeare makes Iago’s motif very unclear; therefore, it can be argued that this is Iago’s excuse and in actual fact he has no reason other than he simply hates Othello. Iago wants to destroy Othello because Othello promoted Casio as chief lieutenant instead of him, which is another reason why Iago wants to destroy him. Iago is one of Shakespeare’s most complex villains. Initially, we see Iago’s character as pure evil, yet later we see him as a completely amoral person.Iago does not push aside his conscience to commit his evil plans, he simply lacks a conscience to begin with. Through Iago, Shakespeare shows us a character that acts against his reputation and betrays all this friends and loved ones. Through some careful thought out words and actions, Iago is able to manipulate others to do things in a way that benefits him and moves him closer to his ultimate goal. He is the main driving force of the play, pushing Othello and everyone towards their tragic end. Iago is smart. He is an expert judge of people as well as their character and uses this to his advantage.Iago is also quick on his feet, making him able to improvise when something unexpected occurs. Being as smart as he is, Iago is quick to recognize the advantages of trust and uses it as a tool to forward his main purpose. Throughout the story he is commonly known as the â€Å"honest Iago†. He even says himself, â€Å" I am an honest man†. Trust is a very powerful emotion that is easily betrayed. Iago is a master of betrayal. He slowly poisons people’s thoughts, creatin g ideas in their heads without risking himself. Iago is capable of anything, not even the brave soldier Othello is safe from this villain.Othello holds Iago to be his closest friend and advisor. He believes Iago to be a person, â€Å"of exceeding honest, who knows all qualities with learned spirit of human dealings†. Yes, he does know about human dealings, but he is not the honest man he appears to be. He uses Othello’s trust in him to eventually turn Othello into a man no better than himself. Othello is introduced to us in the first scene of the play in a negative light, when Iago and Rodrigo refer to him using derogatory terms such as, â€Å"The Moor†, â€Å"the thick lips†, â€Å"an old black ram† and â€Å"a Barbary horse†.Othello may be an outcast in Venice due to the color of his skin; however, he is a highly respected soldier. He is extremely skilled in his field and a loyal man; therefore, valuable to the state. Due to this, we soon learn of Othello as the noble man he is. Othello, however, has the â€Å"tragic flaw†. It is the internal imperfection in a hero that brings him down. His downfall becomes his own doing; he is no longer the victim of fate. The prejudice of those around him destroyed him, and they believed that, â€Å"A black man is an unattractive creature, not quite human, and unworthy of love†.Thinking this made him unable to believe that Desdemona could truly love him. This is why he believes Iago so easily when he convinces him Desdemona has had an affair. Othello betrays his wife by believing Iago’s word over hers, this then leads him to his ultimate betrayal when he kills her at the end of the play. At this point he also shows his loyalty to her by killing himself, stating that he can’t live without her. The man we see at the end of the play is not the loyal man we meet in the beginning.Othello has let the â€Å"green eyes monster of jealousy† turn him from a loyal soldier to a betrayer just like Iago. Desdemona is a lady of spirit and intelligence; she is the most direct, honest and loyal character of the play. She only betrays people to those to who she is loyal. Desdemona is a lady of few words, yet she makes sure every word counts to get her point across. In Desdemona’s eyes, Othello is the hero of many exciting and dangerous adventures; he is the orphan who needs love. These are the reasons Desdemona had fallen in love with Othello, despite all the nasty remarks from fellow Venetian citizens.Her marriage has brought her position and happiness, so much that she finds it unbearable to think that her husband has turned against her. This numbness lasts until she sees that he actually intends to kill her. She then puts up a defense, insisting on her loyalty and innocence. In despair of losing his love, she still defends him from consequences of his actions, but he is past seeing the truth: that she has committed herself to his lo ve, and without it she cannot live. Othello ends up killing his wife, in spite of her loyalty toward him till the very end.By the end of the play, all characters have lost their loyalty to each other from what Iago as done to make them feel betrayed. Desdemona is left lifeless in her room, Iago kills his wife Emilia, as she reveals that Desdemona has been falsely accused of adultery, and Othello kills himself rather than living with what he has done. Iago is the only survivor by the end of the play, which further justifies his intelligence. All the characters have reached their downfall and Iago is finally pleased. He has completed the ultimate betrayal.

Myth And The Literary Devices Essay - 2042 Words

Myth, a new addition to the various literary devices, is very distinct, gives more of ambivalence, more suggestiveness, more expansion of meaning by saying so many things with so little. This tool enables the author to condense the past, present and future, being ubiquitous in time and place to decipher the latent and intricate psychic dispositions and deepest layers of collective mind, often divergent, sometimes even contradictory views simultaneously. It achieves its exciting, impressive and sometimes, even surprising effectiveness by â€Å"striking some very deep chord†. The term, Myth, used in English is derived from the Greek word â€Å"Muthos† meaning â€Å"Word† or â€Å"Speech†. It is a system of Hereditary stories which were once believed to be true by a particular cultural group and which served to explain why the world is as it is and things happen as they do to provide a rationale for social customs and observances. (Abrams 170) The Routledge Dictionary of Literary Terms defines myth as: Stories of unascertainable origin or authorship accompanying or helping to explain religious beliefs. Often (though not necessarily) their subject is the exploits of a God or hero, which may be of a fabulous or superhuman nature, and which may have instituted a change in the working of the universe or in the condition of social life (146). Like most stories, myths are an attempt to universalize human experience, and are rich repository of cultural heritage. Myth, as defined in The NewShow MoreRelatedLesson Plan: Graphic Organizer668 Words   |  3 Pagesfind similarities and differences Part B Lesson is on World Myths. In this lesson, we explain that myths are the worlds oldest stories. For this example, we might look at a specific set of myths; say Navajo American Indian and Inuit (Eskimo) and read stories about the creation of the world from each point of view. Learning Targets, Aims and Objectives As students become more familiar with understand an authors literary devices, they will be able to interpret deeper meaning from future textsRead More5 Critical Approaches to Literature853 Words   |  4 Pagesentire system of language within which individual usages, ulterances, or narratives have meaning. Mythemes are also part of structuralism, which are myths broken into the smallest meaningful units. Most structuralists followed Saussures methods of overriding langue (tongue/language), or language of myth in which each mytheme and mytheme- constituted myth fits meaningfully, rather than about isolated individual paroles or narratives. Structuralists believe that sign systems must be understood in termsRead MoreExamples Of Literary Devices In The Merchant Of Venice879 Words   |  4 PagesLiterary devices are frequently used throughout acts four and five of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. Some of the most prominent devices used on TMOF are dramatic irony, allusion and symbolism. These devices help further develop theme ingrained in the story such as marriage, deceive, wealth, and religion. The use of literary devices helps ensure the story transitions smoothly and is pleasant to the reader, it might also help in the comprehension of the story ´s characters. Dramatic Irony isRead MoreAnalysis Of `` Rewriting Myth `` By Patricia Elise Nelson937 Words   |  4 PagesIn Patricia Elise Nelson’s thesis of 2008, â€Å"Rewriting Myth,† the writer beautifully explains her different perspectives on three types of Mexican myths: La Malinche, La Llorona, and La Virgen de Guadalupe. Mainly addressing her professors and other academics, she writes about myth, history, and culture. Although she speaks urgently about her opinions, her kairos is timeless because the myths still influence Latino culture today. She depicts the female archetype and how Mexican Americans are â€Å"categorized†Read MoreRussian Formalism And The Hero1098 Words   |  5 Pagesis the idea of structures and perceptions within literature. The time, place, historical movement, and author, can change the perceptions of a novel or even how it is written. Stories have been around since people started to communicate. Stories or myths were used to teach lessons, for entertainment, or to keep history alive. There have always been different types of stories that people would talk about. One type of story that has been around for a long time is the story of heroes. The stories startedRead Morephilippine literature1582 Words   |  7 Pagesbiases towards early Filipinos andthese were reflected in their accounts/writings. î€  Folk tales, epics, poems and marathon chants existed in most ethnolinguistic groups that were passed on from generations to generations through word of mouth . î€  Literary works Filipinos are oral because of the reason that writtenliterature is  inaccessible. î€  Even though Filipinos had their own system of writing, it cannot bepreserved in durable  materials. î€  They started writing on clays, barks of trees and otherRead MoreWorth of Fairy Tales in Jeanette Wintersons quot;the Passionquot;1625 Words   |  7 Pagesthere are indeed several myths surrounding her person. For many people Wintersons sexuality is the golden key to her public persona. Although she correctly states that `[she is] a writer who happens to like women, [and] not a lesbian who happens to write most critics are only too willing to interpret her writing in an autobiographical way and restrict her to the literary persona of a lesbian writer only. However, this whole obsession about her sexuality is not the only myth surrounding her. FurthermoreRead More Haraway’s A Cyborg Manifesto Essay1097 Words   |  5 Pagesas a myth of political identity embodies the search for a code of displacement of the hierarchical dualisms of naturalized identities (CM, 175), and thus for the breakdown of the logic of phallogocentrism and of the unity of the Western idealized self. Haraway defines the cyborg as a cybernetic organism, a hybrid of machine and organism, a creature of social reality as well as a creature of fiction (CM, 149). Her argument is introduced as an effort to build an ironic political myth faithfulRead MoreThe Nature of Emotions1244 Words   |  5 Pagesemerged that stressed thinking critically about the world and about humankind, independently of religion, myth or tradition (Kleiner, Mamiya 836). There was a renewed interest in science and mathmatiques and the Enlightenment emphasized reason, calculations, and objective nature. There was a renwed interest in the anatomy and astronomy fields. The Enlightenment Era moved away from faith and myth and focused on ideas that were tangible (Kleiner, Mamiya 838). The Romantic movement was the complete oppositeRead MoreSituational Analysis: 7th Grade Language Arts6569 Words   |  26 PagesIndian. 3 students are Asian. 2 students are Russian. Special Education students: No special education. Additional considerations: There 2 students who are part of a religious group who do not want their children learning about other creational myths. We explained to the parents, etc. that we are not promoting anything, etc. Principal is supportive with this. We have accommodated for them by allowing them to opt out of this lesson and in turn write a short paper describing their beliefs and the