Harriette Wilson Virginia Woolf Wilson (1786-1845) was one of the fifteen children of the family. She was a celebrated courtesan who cliens included the prince of wales, the lord chancellor and four prime minister of England. In this essay Virginia Woolf writes about the suffering of women like Harriette Wilson. She explores how women are exploited in the patriarchal society in general and royal family in particular. Such suffering remains to be silenced by the male. Virginia Woolf writes about Harriett Wilson by exploring the facts of Wilson’s life. Her parents marital life was not happy due to which she was taken to convent (community of nuns) but her beauty attracted the so called the great figures of British society. In that sense her beauty was curse. Each of her Cliens gave her false promise that they would marry her and make her in their own status. They were false promises due to which she was forced to get married to a colonial from France with whom her life was ruined in solitude and poverty. She was always means of physical satisfaction of different male members of Third society. Virginia Woolf finds the commodification of Wilson’s body buy anyone who had money and rank whoever can to her gave a false, promise to whom she could do nothing but cry in private room. She was commodified by many so called great personalities on the one hand and in fashion magazine like Vanity Fair on the other hand. She would be like a servant to provide physical help to them. Virginia Woolf’s revelations of Wilson’s private life appear to be kairotic in the essay. In the sense that she wrote about her only after her death. Otherwise it would be to humiliate and make her scandal. While describing her life Woolf has taken her as the representative of such like women who suffered from that sort of situation. Mostly she describes her by using the symbol of sword to reflect her painful condition. Outwardly her life appears to be correct, definite and orderly but inwardly it was really miserable. A Degenerate Noble Samuel Butler “A Degenerate Noble: or one that is Proud of His Birth” Kairos:- Samuel Butler wrote this essay in 1668. It was a period of the Restoration in England. In the contemporary society, there was a violent social, religious, and political conflict. Each group held their doctrine (a set of belief) as the only truth. They did it with passion and conviction. Butler, in this context was highly dissatisfied with those people. He thought that such attitudes were the products of their ignorance and philosophical incapacity. He was also dissatisfied with the contemporary people attitude of using catchwords, slogans, citation of texts without having their real knowledge. By attacking them, Butler promotes and stresses on real seriousness in learning and life. The implied rhetor of this essay is a noble, canonical or learned person. He appears to be sound in his knowledge and wisdom. The actual rhetor is Samuel Butler himself. The intended audience include those having excessive pride in their birth or root. The rhetor has got constraints in his arguments that he cannot point out the actual person whom he is criticizing. Otherwise he appears mean- spirited. To make himself an honest too the rhetor cannot use such language. At the same time, he has got opportunities of criticizing freely by using different analogies and metaphors. Argument Analysis:- The rhetor believes that a person becomes noble not by birth or root but by his present activities and present knowledge what his or her ancestors had does not matter to judge a person as a noble. He also believes that the lack of knowledge or virtue at present makes the person no more noble and virtuous. Such person lives in illusion of his noble past and he will keep the coming generations to be in the same situation of fake nobility. Such arguments ask the audience believe that honor and the estate of the ancestors cannot be sufficient to support and claim for quality at present. Such ignorant person feels that he has got a great responsibility for the humanity, society or the entire country. Such conditions are the marks of poverty and unskillfulness of the degenerate noble person. He further argues that “the living honor of the degenerate person’s ancestors is long ago departed, dead and gone, and his (honor) is but only the ghost and shadow of the ancestors.” By using all these beliefs and evidences, the rhetor makes the central argument that the one who is proud of his birth is just illusion and fake, he is not a noble person but only a degenerate noble. Structure Analysis: - The essay is developed in only one section. It is written in conventional structure of satire. He begins comparing a degenerate noble with a turnip, rhubarb to Apicius to candle to the word with the loss of original meaning. It is not structurally a compact essay because it is developed only in one long paragraph. Style Analysis:- In terms of style, the essay is full of metaphors and allusions. It is written in middle style in the sense that the degenerate noble is compared to turnip, rhubarb, worms in dead bodies, fanatic saint, ghost, shadow, candle sin, word that has lost its original meaning. To generate pathos in the audience, he compares a degenerate person with worms in the dead body. His noble ancestors are dead but he is just worm in that dead body. He is like Apicious who sold his house but kept his balcony to see others and be see in that
Posted on: Mon, 07 Oct 2013 04:23:53 +0000
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