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I don't know if this will help anyone, just want everyone to do really well :) It's just everything that i've revised for the wider reading part of our exam. I did this without notes so I have actually learnt it all. I hope this helps you guys.
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LOVE THROUGH THE AGES
Leah Eggleton
Medieval Era1330-1400
Medieval Era
Women were men's property. They had no individual rights
Religion dominated texts
Courtly love
Divide in social status and wealth
Pilgrimages bought people together as a
community
Parodies of courtly love. Insulted the
poor and humoured the rich
The wealthy and successful married for affluence and opportunity. The poor married for
love.
The Canterbury Tales- ChaucerEpic Poem
Emily- Unattainably chaste. ‘Fairer than fair’. Comparisons to a ‘Lily’- white, purity and innocence. Beauty in a flower.
Palamon- ‘Sorrowful prisoner’. Courtly love means that he will die without Emily. He needs her, because without her he will suffer. Repetition of ‘Prisoner’.
Courtly Love is something that is romantic and beautiful in this section. Romantic love and true love are both elements of Courtly love.
Nicholas- ‘Caught her crotch’, ‘held her hard by the thight’. Sexual and lustful, the complete opposite of what courtly love is. A parody.
Alison- Swears an oath to god asking him to keep her adulterous ways secret. Humouring religion, highlighting her lack of intelligence. Not chase or unattainable. The opposite of what a courtly woman should be
Absolon- ‘I’ll pay you money’ suggesting prostitution of Alison, she is completely available to him.
This section is a parody of Courtly love. It humours the rich as it insults the poor.
The Knights Tale The Millers Tale
The Elizabethans1550-1600
The Elizabethans
Arranged marriage
Religion dominated society
Drama and poetry flourished
Sonnets woo’d the Elizabethan women
Queen Elizabeth 1 on the throne. Some women saw this as an opportunity to
gain respect. Failed
Divide in social class
Shakespeare- Sonnets
Love doesn’t always have to be shown for it to be there. ‘That love is merchandised’, merchandised love is over-rated, and means just as much as love that isn’t ‘merchandised’.
‘Not that a I love thee less’. Just because he doesn’t express his love publicly. It doesn’t mean that he loves her/ him less.
‘Therefore...I sometimes hold my tongue’ because thinking about love is more powerful than speaking about it.
He describes his mistress a plain and dull. Yet he loves her for who she is.
‘My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun’. She is dull and perhaps even un-exciting. There is no glint in her eye like other women.
‘Think my love rare’ shows that none of this matters to him. He knows that she is a beautiful woman on the inside and that the love they share is ‘rare’ and unique.
Sonnet 102 Sonnet 130
Shakespeare- Plays
Othello- ‘The green-eyed monster doth mock the meat if feeds on’. Jealous is the green eyed monster, and Othello is full of jealousy because he believes the woman he materialistically loves is cheating on him. ‘I love thee Desdemona’ he repeats this. Persuading the world that he does love her.
Desdemona- Headstrong and intervening. Yet ‘fair’ and ‘charming’. She and Othello share passion, and this passion is destructive. Their love is destructive and materialistic.
Romeo- ‘A snowy dove trooping with crows’- Juliet stands out to him. She is that one pure thing in a world of crime and hate. He gives up everything for Juliet
Juliet- Betrays her family and her values for Romeo. Even when he kills her cousin she calls him a ‘fiend angelic’ showing that she hates but loves him at the same time.
Othello Romeo and Juliet
The Jacobean Era1600-1625
Jacobean
Metaphysical Poetry- Using juxtaposed images to
express love.
Love is painful rather than
romantic and beautiful
Religion dominated literature
Women still inadequate.
Science, maths, astronomy and
philosophy were spoken about.
The Duchess Of MalfiJohn Webster
The Duchess- Manipulative and playful. She teases Antonio through sexual innuendos and seduces him into marrying her without him realising. ‘Between winding sheets’- Sexual innuendo. She is speaking about them making love. She is widowed and therefore not expected to marry again. Yet she does and furthermore into a lower social class, therefore putting her wealth and assets in danger.
Antonio- Respects the Duchess. He compliments her and has great affection for her. He is also sexually promiscuous. Calling her a ‘saucy Devil’. He teases her and plays along with her manipulation. He does not protest into marrying her.
The Broken Heart- John Donne
Metaphysical poem. Focuses on the pain and despair that
love can bring. Compares love to the ‘plague’
suggesting that it is a disease that will eventually kill you. Juxtaposed ideas.
Love is a ‘tyrant pike’ and our hearts a ‘fry’. Suggesting that love is predatory, out to consume our hearts and never return them.
Restoration 1650-1689
Restoration
Charles 1 enjoyed
comedy. Many comical dramas.
Flourishing of poetry and
drama.
Society full of contradictions
and this reflected in
writing.
Religion dominated literature
Turbulent time period-
reflective in the literature
The Lovers Watch- Aphra Behn
Iris. She is a controlling female who makes a watch for her husband who is going away for a long time. Every hour it tells him what he should be doing. This is usually ‘Think of me’. She is obviously an insecure woman, and finds the attitudes of society threatening to her relationship with her husband. It was normal for men to have affairs and therefore she is obviously conscious of this. She is over-protective and this makes it very comical. Woman in control was something new.
Paradise Lost- John Milton
‘ How can I live without thee’ Adam and Eve are so dependant on each other. Adam has a dutiul love towards eve and vice versa. This is why he eats the fruit.
‘Bone of my bone thou art’ They are bound together by the lord, and therefore they must love each other. Adam choses his love for Eve over his love for the lord.
Women are seen as manipulators and the bringer of bad.
Romanticism1789- 1830
Romanticism
Nature became a key feature in
literature
Ode’s and poetry were very popular
Science was becoming
benevolent.
Romantic writers used their
imagination to create alternative
opinions.
Fantastical and magical images.
Literature asked questions, much
like the time.
John Keats Ode to a Grecian Urn
‘Happy’ is repeated several times, the love on the urn is presented as happy, and it brings happiness to others.
The love on the urn is constant and ever-lasting, much like the remains kept inside an urn. Paradox. Something about life and love hold something concerning death.
‘Beauty is truth, truth beauty’- without one you cannot have the other. And the urn hold both, therefore it is, in Keats eyes, a perfect presentation of love.
Celebration and happiness on the urn.
Frankenstein Mary Shelley
Frankenstein. ‘Horror and disgust filled my heart’- he has just created life, love for this creature should fill his heart. Lack of parental love for something that he is the father of.
The Creature- Isolated by love. He wants a partner, yet his creature will not give him one. He is created to be miserable, unlike Adam, he has no Eve.
Pride and PrejudiceJane Austen
Elizabeth/Lizzie- Romantic love for Mr Darcey. She does not plan to fall in love with him, yet does. Status influences her choice as he is a good suitor and her family approve of him.
Mr Darcy. Wasn’t planning on falling in love, yet falls in love with Elizabeth. True love. He changed for her out of choice, because he loves her so passionately.
Victorian Era1840-1901
Victorians
Restricted era
Queen Vic believed women
belonged at home
Time of contrast and
contradictions
Satirical literature, due to
restrictions in comparison to the Romantic
era.
The Yellow WallpaperCharlotte Perkins Gillman
Postnatal depression. Not diagnosable at the time, caused.
Refers back to ‘roses’ constantly. Delicate flower. She is a rose. Her relationship is like a rose. Thorns prevent you from reaching the beauty. Mournful and romantic flower.
John- her husband. Is supportive of her in the way that he feels is right. He has control over her, suppressing her from writing. Men had control over women.
He shows a romantic love towards the persona and supports her throughout.
Modernist Era1918-1960
Modernism
Political disgruntlement.
Writers expressed their rebellion towards the
government through literature
Use of stream of consciousness and
internal monologues came from this
Structure became very free, people expressing deep
emotion in organic ways
Most personas were unhappy and isolated from
society, reflecting how people felt at
the time
The Great GatsbyF. Scott Fitzgerald
‘Her voice is full of money’ Gatsby notices this because he has a materialistic view of love, he loves Daisy because he can the fulfil The American Dream, his real love affair.
‘The sidewalk was white with moonlight’- Romantic imagery, shows he has a romantic affection towards Daisy.
Daisy has no interest for Gatsby other than his wealth and the stability she can give him, she left him in her younger years because he couldn’t support her materialistic needs.
They hold onto the past, the romance that they had years ago.
ArabyJames Joyce
‘The lights went out’ – The light on personas view on society, the araby market and his true love have gone out also. He realises that there is nothing good in his life.
Obsessive love. He fantasises over a girl that he has never spoken to. Doesn’t feel powerful or confident enough to tell her how he feels.
Stream of consciousness throughout. Difficult structure to follow.
The Glass MenagerieTennesse Williams
Laura- ‘Blue roses’ her nickname given to her from her childhood sweetheart. ‘Unicorn’ her favourite piece of her menagerie, her escapism, both a fantastical and mythical because neither actually exist, suggesting that her views on love are mythical and her escapism is just a dream. Also suggests she is delicate with her ‘apologetic smile’
Tom- Sibling love. He is like a father to Laura and doesn’t leave home because of her. He takes all the pain and torture from his mother and the restraints of home because Laura is worth it all.
Conteporary1960-2011
Contemporary
Little restrictions
Variation in literature as no
rules of restrictions
Women have equal rights
The Fifth ChildDoris Lessing
Ben has ‘Dull yellow eyes’ ‘cold, hard eyes’- No love or warmth behind them. He has an innabhility to love, until he meets John. He finds love through friendship and idolises him.
Harriet takes parental love to an extreme, she sacrifices her family for one child. She loves all her children however. Could be suffering from Post-natal depression.
David loves his children. ‘Harriet wept, David wept’ when Luke was born, showing that they were overjoyed at the birth of their son. However this could suggest that they have a love for a dream, an idealism rather than their children.
What they stand for and prove is more important to them.
Enduring LoveIan McEwan
‘I feel love running through me like an electrical current’- he is obsessed with Joe and shows and obsessive love towards him, therefore he uses Joes interest, science, to help him understand the passion that he feels for him.
He never ceases to love him, it is everlasting and constant. He sends ‘1000nd’ letters to Joe. One everyday he is away from Joe.
Little Red CapCarol Ann Duffy
Sexual love. She feels that by having sex she can become a mature woman.
‘Red Wine’ connotes blood and brutality of sex. She is manipulated by the wolf into having sex.
‘White dove’ she was pure and virginal before the even but now she must fly away.
Love for maturity and growing up. Maturing before her age perhaps, she seems naive and is taken unscrupulously.