Fear is a negative emotion that all animals have. In Montaigne’s essay, he exposes the fear of human nature and how frail when people dealing with fear. Montaigne addresses that fear is a strange emotion and he barely knows about it. Moreover, people tend to get lost and do silly things when confronted with fear. For example, soldiers are scared by the fear they imagine about wars rather than the enemies or the war itself and therefore run into the wrong direction. When fear dominates, judgment and courage vanish. The power of fear surpasses any other emotions. However, indeed, the real fear people fear of comes from themselves.
Author: SONIA SHIH
How does Pizan expect her audience to react to her work? How does she wants her work to change her readers’ perspectives and society more generally?
The Book of the City of Ladies is a didactic work. Pizan wants to educate her audience, giving them a new point of view toward literature by using metaphors and examples. She defends feminism by criticizing the literary of misogyny. Since a lot of works are naturally anti-feminism at the age, people tend to think of positive image toward males and negative for females. Pizan not only accuses anti-feminism works but also emphasizes the virtue of women with stories. She brings out issues in three key points, represented by three ladies, Reason, Rectitude, and Justice. For questions from Lady Reason, she points out that several historical female characters are also good at political, educational, and innovative topics. For questions from Rectitude Lady, she tries to twist some negative stereotypes for women in personality, honesty, and sexual behaviors. Lastly, for questions from Justice Lady, she uses Christian stories to highlight the virtue and importance of all females.
Consider the role of Gertrude, how does Shakespeare depict women in the play?
The conflicting imagery of Gertrude emerges from remarrying Claudius and being Hamlet’s mother. The marriage seems immoral and has no doubt strengthened the hate and Hamlet’s determination to revenge. However, in my opinion, marrying King Claudius is probably the only way for Gertrude to keep Hamlet safe and keep him with her. When Hamlet pretends that he is going crazy, Gertrude worries about him the most. Gertrude is just a mother, trying to protect his son from being hurt. In the final scene of the play, Gertrude drinks the poisoned wine that Claudius has prepared for Hamlet. Even though Claudius tells Gertrude not to drink, Gertrude does it for his son. Shakespeare depicts the role of Gertrude with a traditional view of women. Gertrude is criticized because of remarrying Claudius for her benefits. On the other hand, the role of being a mother keeps showing throughout the entire play.
How do Socrates and Phaedrus think of various kinds of lovers’ behaviors?
The conversation between Socrates and Phaedrus begins with Phaedrus’s praise for an article written by Lysias. From Lysias’ point of view, there are lovers and non-lovers. Also, a relationship with non-lovers is better than a relationship with lovers because lovers repent but non-lovers don’t. Lovers and non-lovers behave differently. Lovers measure the benefits from a relationship. They calculate how much they have spent and how much they should get. Once the amount is unbalanced, lovers tend to regret and do something harmful. On the other hand, non-lovers do not measure a relationship this way. Non-lovers do not value the benefits over relationships. Therefore, non-lovers do not regret and do not hurt others. Phaedrus agrees with Lysias’s point but Socrates doesn’t.