Gothic aesthetic: love for expressionism and black and white

Black hair, black trousers, black make-up, black shoes, white base, metal ornaments, sadness in the eyes, no smile and few friends are probably the most common characteristics of those people who had gothic style as their own lifestyle. For them, being gothic is only not being sensitive, reading the damn poets and listen to Lacrimosa, being Gothic is also being able to seduce acquaitances and frighten strangers.

Their strange and dark clothing can also project a wrong idea of what they are. Appearance and dress are something purely aesthetic to the Gothic people. They are able to see beauty in the dark, mysterious, and not necessarily what it provides society as beautiful. The preferences of the Gothic people focus on the black clothing of velvet, leather, PVC, latex, rubber or vinyl in combination, sometimes with white, blue and red, jewelry accessories manufactured in silver, mostly Victorian or ancient symbols, makeup pale and ghostly, perforations and tattoos, point shoes or military boots.



They do not wears black clothing to draw the attention of the people, nor see the skulls as a hobby. The visual aesthetic they take involves a character of solitude, anguish before the destruction of the world, fascination with darkness and intelligence.

Zeltzin Miquiztli, a Mexican gothic girl, confesses "I am very fetish." Not only the skulls are among her obsession, but anything that has to do with the darkness and power, music and literature. Her most intimate belongings include a pin doll, which exacerbates the mood of the family, as well as the black lining the walls of his room.

Gothic style as a lifestyle is based on the pain in a particular perception of death, fear, depression and love. 

The Quixotism of Joseph Andrews

When the influence of  Don Quixote is assessed in the narrators from the English 18th century, Henry Fielding, and especially his novel Joseph Andrews, are traditionally considered as the most direct hier of Cervantes´s legacy in the English language.

To carry this analysis out, I will take as a point of departure the conflict between life and literature that characterizes the work written by Cervantes. The nobleman Don Quixote takes a direct projection of the literature on his life, but this is done in an inadequate way. His obssession with books makes him a fool and his conflict of the perspective of the world of should be and how it really is gives the character the appearance of a navie human being. These two aspects which appear in the same character in Don Quixote are split by Henry Fielding in both Joseph, the young hero of the novel, and the priest Adams, his companion of adventures.

Fielding presents a character, Joseph, who, as Don Quixote, takes a literary work, the letters of his sister Pamela as a model of behaviour and mimics it literal and scrupulously. However, the application Joseph makes of the ideals of Pamela is in a very different experience from the narrated on in Pamela, as Don Quixote´s attempts of applying the knights´ideals result in a very different story from books of chivalry. The literal application of the literary models on the new reality is a source of rdiculous situations.

The character of Adams is the "quixotesco" figure par excellence of the whole work written by Fielding. Adams, as Don Quixote, perceives the world and lives in it through the literature and, in the same manner it happens in Don Quixote, the world shows that his values and learning from the books are not effective on it.

Therefore, the two main characters described in Henry Fielding´s novel constitute one of the "ecos cervantinos," which appear constantly in Joseph Andrews.

-------------------------

Pedro Javier PARDO GARCÍA, La tradición cervantina en la novela inglesa del siglo

XVIII (Salamanca: Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca, 1997) y «Formas de imitación

(tel Quijote en la novela iglesa del siglo xvill: Joseph Andrews y Tristram Shandy»,

Anales Cervantinos, XXXIII, (1995-97), 133-164.



Pride in Gulliver´s Travels´characters

Through the history, Gulliver´s Travels has been considered, for some critics, a parody of the popular traveller´s tales dated from Swift´s lifetime. As well as criticising those wrong things Swift sees in people, the principal criticism Swift makes in Gulliver´s Travels concerns pride. It is shown the reader through each of the several areas Gulliver stops and stays in. "Though the people displaying the pride may change the pride is always there."

 

In part I, pride is shown in the inhabitants of Lilliput. They extends their tiny empire to the ends of the word, although the tallest member of the Lilliputian community has a height of six inches and the perimeter the country occupies is of twelve miles. The Lilliputians have in their king the best representation of exhibing pride. The king says that he behaves according to the god who chose him. In addition, to emphasize the importance and honor that he thinks he merits, the king stresses his eight part name. The Lilliputians know perfectly that their only and best weapon to defeat Gulliver is a matter of pride.

 

Gulliver has to obey the King of Lilliput

 

In part II, the own Gulliver is the embodiment of pride when he is abandoned in Brobdingnag. The inhabitants of this country, who are twelve times taller than Gulliver, would be able to show their control over Gulliver. However, they did not do it. On the contrary, he is Gulliver who truly has power over the thoughts of Brobdingangs. The king thinks he even might get some knowledge from someone as tiniest as Gulliver, unlike the Lilliputian emperor. Such influence is one Gulliver has over his new mates, he dares to criticises them for their backwardness in diplomacy and warfare.

 

Women surrended to Gulliver

  

In part III, pride is represented by the natives of two of the places Gulliver visits in his third aventure: Laputa and Balnibarbi. In the island of Laputa, pride is mainly represented by those people who are always thinking and not listening to anyone else. Then, they have to employ the known "flatters," who accompany important people, touching them in the ear when they must listen and on the mouth when it is time to speak. In Balnibarbi, the Academy of Lagado constitues the essence of pride. The scientists belonging to this group are characterized by attempting to impress by affecting greater importance to their ridiculous experiments than they actually possess. They hope these investigations help science to advance. "Their pride in these experiments displays the ridiculousness of the whole Academy."

 

In the final part of Gulliver´s Travels, as Gulliver as the Houyhnhnms embody pride. Gulliver´s pride comes from the Houyhnhnms and their instructuion against the deformed creatures called Yahoos. They consider themselves better than the rest of the existing world and an example of moral behaviour. However, it does not occur with their pride. Once they have got to change Gulliver´s mind against his fellow humans, he is sent back to England where he will live the rest of his life as a recluse, avoiding his family and his wife and spending several hours a day speaking with the horses in his stables. The sin that he cannot stand above all else is the sin of pride and he is blind to the amount of it that he has himself. In this way, Swift criticizes the way we hate pride in others without noticing it in ourselves.

 

In conclusion, Swift was telling us the many different faults that come with begin human, addressing specially pride as the motive of the first sin. The sin of pride provoked Adam and Eve to want to be just like God, so they gave in to temptation of the snake and ate the apple of the forbidden tree. For Swift, pride is the cause of all troubles in the world and that is why he decided to focus specifically on it.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://socyberty.com/gay-lesbians/pride-in-gullivers-travels-by-jonathan-swift/

                  Gulliver´s Travels. Travel to Lilliput: a Satire on Mankind and England

In Gulliver´s Travels, Swift attacks and criticizes humanity using irony. This novel would be considered a mordant satire on mankind told in terms of sarcasm. Firstly, Gulliver tells us his travel to Lilliput, a land where people are six inches tall and their houses and other things are accordingly small. They seem to be toys and dolls to Gulliver. However, these tiniest Lilliputians do not have a different behaviour from full-size men. These small beings embody Swift´s contemporaries as well as symbolizing a satirical nature of humanity. 'Thus the first book of Gulliver´s Travels throws ironical light on the smallness of the means, the vanity of the motives, the illusion of catchwords, through which kings retain their thrones and magistrate their office and from one end of the society to other the fearful influence of man upon man is exercised.'

The irony is especially patent in the description of the six inch tall emperor of Lilliput. 'GOLBASTO MOMAREN EVLAME GURDILO SHEFIN MULLY ULLY GUE, most Emperor of Lilliput, Delight and Terror of the Universe, whose Dominions extend five Thousand Blustrugs, (about twelve Miles in Circumfence) to the Extremities of the Globe: Monarch of all Monarchs: Taller than the Sons of Men; whose Feet press down to the Center, and whse Head strikes against the Sun: At whose Nod the Princes of the Earth shake their Knees;pleasant as the Sping, comfortable as the Summer, fruitful as Autums, dreadful as Winter.' He connects this satirical description not only to the English political life in his time but also the monarchy itself and everything that encloses it.

In Lilliput, to choose people who would hold the different jobs, they take in account good morals instead of great abilities. However, when there was a vacant, the candidates have to dance or leap over stick in front of the emperor and to please him. In this country, courtiers are only rewarded when they perform like clowns at the beck and call of the emperor. These prizes consist in red, green and blue ribbons just like Queen Anne in 1703, George I in 1725 and Walpole in 1726 instituted too.

The religious wars between Catholic France and Protestant England are represented by the fight the High-Heeled and the Low-Heeled maintain. Lilliput and Blefuscu simulate England and France, and the two parties represent the Whigs and Tories. While the people from Lilliput (England) betray Gulliver and behave with meanness towards him, those of Blefuscu (France) are pleasant, generous and give him the freedom to return his home. So, part I of Gulliver´s Travels can be interpreted as an attack on England, on the controlling Whig Party, and on the war with France, which saved Europe from being tyrannized over by a single reactionary power.

'Lemuel Gulliver´s voyage to Lilliput is full of topical allusions to the contemporary England, but they are transmuted into the symbolic allegorical caricature of the institutions of mankind and provides a mirror to a man with all his smallness, pettiness and hypocrisy, though some aspects of the life of the Lilliputians are good, for example, their system of education.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jan, K.M.; Firdaus, Shabnam. Perspectives on Gulliver´s Travels. Atlantic Publishers and Distributors, 2004.

                                                  The Beggar´s Opera: First Production

It is well-known that the brilliance of the 18th century in England is not due to drama. Only two theatres, Drury Lane and Lincoln´s Inn Fields, laterly called Covent Garden, stand out during the first half of this century. These two theatres formed part of the history of the first production of The Beggar´s Opera on January 1728. When the author of this day, John Gay, brought his new ballad opera to Colley Cibber, manager of Drury Lane, this director rejected John Gay´s proposal. Soon after, the boss of Lincoln´s Inn Fields, John Rich, bought The Beggar´s Oppera, giving so the oportunity to perform it. It was the huge popularity of this performance that led Rich to build Covent Garden years later. Nowadays, it continues being ths most popular opera house in London. 

Gay´s opera was composed of ballads and tunes from popular music. Its 69 songs belong to a collection in verse of folksongs and melodies titled Wit and Mirth or Pills to Purge Melancholy, written by Thomas D´Urgly. Gay chose songs from this source, created his won lyrics to fit his opera , as well as borrowing tunes from some of his contemporary composers Eccles, Barret, Purcell, Clarke, and Handel. Further, he used tunes from English, Scotch and Irish folkstongs, belonging to different popular styles, from jigs to hymn.like tunes. Dr. Pepusch provided the overture and assisted in th orchestration of the opera. 

The original cast was as follows, in the order of mention in the first edition:

• Peachum.......................Hippisley
• Lockit..........................Hall
• Macheath......................Walker
• Filch............................Clark                                    
• Jemmy Twitcher..............Bullock
• Crookfinger'd Jack...........Houghton
• Wat Dreary....................Smith
• Robin of Bagshot.............Lacy
• Nimming Ned.................Pit
• Harry Padington..............Eaton
• Mat of the Mint...............Spiller
• Ben Budge....................Morgan
• Beggar.........................Chapman
• Player..........................Milward
• Mrs. Peachum................Mrs. Martin
• Polly Peachum................Miss Fenton
• Lucy Lockit...................Mrs. Egleton
• Diana Trapes..................Mrs. Martin
• Mrs. Coaxer...................Mrs. Holliday
• Dolly Trull.....................Mrs. Lacy
• Mrs. Vixen....................Mrs. Rice
• Betty Doxy....................Mrs. Rogers
• Jenny Diver...................Mrs. Clarke
• Mrs. Slammekin.............Mrs. Morgan
• Suky Tawdry.................Mrs. Palin
• Molly Brazen.................Mrs. Sallee 

As regard the reaction people had towards this first performance, it was very positive, especially for Mis Lavinia Fenton, who played the first Polly Peachum, as she became the "toast of the town." Continually, this actress received leters and poems from her admirers. When Miss Fenton stopped playing Polly, there was much competition for the part. These two headings exemplify the sensation at that time:

February 3, 1728

"This Week a Dramatick Entertainment has been exhibited at the Theatre in Lincoln's-Inn-Fields, entitled The Beggar's Opera, which has met with a general Applause, insomuch that the Waggs say it has made Rich very Gay, and probably will make Gay very Rich."

The reference to Rich above refers to John Rich, the manager of the Lincoln's Inn Fields theater.

February 17, 1728

"We hear that the British Opera, commonly called The Beggar's Opera, continues to be acted, at the Theatre in Lincoln's-Inn Fields with general Applause, to the great Mortification of the Performers and Admirers of the Outlandish Opera in the Haymarket."

(From the Craftsman)

'The Rape of the Lock': A Parody of Classical Epics.

              'The Rape of the Lock,' the masterly mock-epic poem in English, was written following the model of Boileau´s Le Lutrin, 'it is an exquisitely witty and balanced burlesque displaying the literary virtuosity, the perfection of poetic judgement, and the exquisite sense of artistic propriety' (The Victorian Web 1).

      This poem, adapting the form of heroic-couplets and invoking classical epic devices, acts as a satire on the pettinesses of the aristocracy´s life. It deforms moral values of polite society, criticizes the human pride and reveals an artifical community of calm and decorum, but where human feelings are ignored. Although these beings belong to a divine world, Pope represents them as vulnerable and fragile inhabitants.

      Using a humorous way, similar conventions and formulas as the classical epic employed, 'The Rape of the Lock' parodies the traditions of ancient history: the abduction of Helen of Troy becomes here the theft of a lock of hair; the gods are represented as minute sylphs and the description of Achilles´shield turns into a digression on one of Belinda´s petticoats.

                                                                         

      Examples of the epic conventions that Alexander Pope parodies are:

     >Invocation of the Muse: In ancient Greece and Rome, poets had always requested the muse to fire them with creative genius when they began long narrative poems or epics. In 'The Rape of the Lock,' Pope does not invoke a godess; instead, he invokes his friend, John Caryll (spelled Caryl) in the poem, who asked Pope to write a literary work focusing on an event, 'the stealing of a lock of hair,' that turned the members of two families into better enemies.

    >Division of the poem into Books or Cantos.

    >Descriptions of Soldiers Preparing for Battle: In 'The Illiad,' Homer describes the armor and weaponry of the great Achilles; Pope describes Belinda preparing herself with combs and pins - 'Puffs, powders, patches-.

    >Descriptions of Heroic Deeds: In 'The Illiad,' Homer describes the exploits of his heroes during the Trojan War, while Pope describes the exploits of Belinda and the Baron during a card game called Ombre, which involves three players and a deck of forty cards.

   >Account of a Great Sea Vogaye: In 'The Odyssey,' Ulysses travels the seas between Troy and Greece; in 'The Aeneid,' Aeneas travels the seas between Troy and Rome and in 'The Rape of the Lock,' Belinda travels up the Thames in a boat.

   >Participation of Deities or Spirits in the Action: Supernatural beings take part in the action, as in 'The Illiad,' 'The Odyssey,' 'The Aeneid,'...

                            

   >Presentation of Scenes in the Underworld: the Gnome Umbriel visits the Underworld.

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Victorian Web. 2000. 6 Dec. 2011. http://www.victorianweb.org/previctorian/pope/rape.html

       

The hypocrysy of Oroonoko: when Oroonoko is a royal slave?

Oroonoko thinks he is a man who can do what he wants. But the real truth is that he is not as free as he thinks he is. He prefers not to fight against his family to maintain his position of power instead of rebelling against the king to get the love of Imoinda. If he loves Imoinda so much, why doesn´t he fight against his grandfather, who calls himself ‘feeble’? So, Oroonoko as a prince has any freedom to live his life. In the court, he must obey his grand-father:

· “He would give way to that hope (king´s old age)…”

· “…to make the old king fancy that the prince had no more interest in Imoinda, and had resigned her willingly to the pleasure of the king.”

· “…in the presence of the king, he showed a face not at all betraying his heart...”

However, when he is sold as a slave, he is treated as a true prince in the colony.

· Upon his arrival at the plantation, Caesar is received "more like a governor than a slave." 

· They recognize the prince who took most of them in battle and sold them into slavery, and now they kiss his feet and call him "king."

Such is his hypocrisy that he betrays those who treated him as a true prince: Imoinda killed, betrayed his grand-father meeting Imoinda at night and revolt against Trefy.