What Is Antigones Tragic Flaw - Assignment Example

Short Answer 3 sentences What is Antigone’s tragic flaw? In Antigone, the tragic flow is inspired by arrogance; an exaggerated self pride that Antigone displays throughout the play. Being a Theban princess Antigone arrogantly claims to respect gods while on the other hand disrespects King Creon who represents the gods on earth. She goes beyond her boundaries in insulting king Creon but through this tragic flow readers fear and pity her because of her mistakes that lead to her tragic fall. 2. What are primary characteristics of a realist piece of literature? Realism is aimed at a faith representation of reality and interpretation of life aspects. Therefore, its primary characteristics of a realist piece of literature include description of reality in comprehensive nuances, making characters more important than the action and plot, representing complex ethical choices, relating characters to nature, detailed description of the middle class and outlining plausible events. 3. In Notes from the Underground, Dostoyevsky is particularly interested in why human beings do things that they know will be harmful toward themselves. Explain how Dostoyevsky explored this idea through the actions of the narrator. Dostoyevsky explored this idea by creating duality in his characters. For example, the underground man is obsessed with an officer and attacks him on the street. He also plans to confront Zverkov although he was sure enough that he would be attacked. This way, the writer is able to explore the idea of why people does things that they are aware will harm them. 4. In a Doll’s House, to what extent are Nora’s problems due to her own and Torvald’s personalities, and to what extent are they due to the values of the society in which they are lived? At the beginning Nora is happy and she responds to Torvald excitedly but as the story advances she proves that she is an intelligent girl by securing a loan to save Torvald. She labors secretly to settle her debt but she was also willing to break the law to save her boyfriend’s health. This is what brings her problems because the society did not expect a woman to steal in her life. 5. What is the theme of Yeats’ poem “The Lake Isle of Innisfree”? How is the theme developed? The theme of this poem is the dream of escaping the congested streets of London to an island. This theme is developed by repetition as in “I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree.” The repetition of sounds in this poem emphasizes his repeated wish to escape to a free area where tranquility reigns. 6. In Things Fall Apart, Achebe writes “Clearly [Okonkwo’s] personal god or chi was not made for great things. A man could not rise beyond the destiny of his chi” (131). Do you agree or disagree? Explain. The statement made by Achebe that a man could not rise beyond the destiny of his chi is true with reference to Okonkwo. This is supported by the ultimate fall of Okonkwo regardless of his effort to be a successful member of the community (a man). However, the statement that a personal god or chi was not meant for great things is pessimistic and only applies to the case of Okonkwo given that there were successful members of the society where Okonkwo was a member. 7. In “Marriage is a Private Affair”, how is Nnaemeka to blame for the destruction of his relationship with Okeke? The character of Nmaemeka is self destructing because he want everyone to love him, including his father Okeke but he is too willing to sacrifice those who love his for the things he loves. That is why he decided to disobey his father’s advice and move to town to marry a lady of his choice. He is therefore to blame because he never approached his father and explained to his reason of disobeying. 8. How would you define setting? In what ways does setting contribute to a piece of fiction? Setting in fiction is the place, time, historical and social contexts on which the story is placed. Setting contributes to the plot in a piece of fiction as illustrated in man versus society or man versus nature stories. In other stories, the setting is the character and in others the setting becomes the passage of time that directs a reader to various elements of a story. 9. How would you define metaphor? In what ways does metaphor contribute to a piece of fiction? A metaphor is a literary figure of speech in which a subject is described by directly relating it to another unrelated object. It enables a reader of fiction to grasp a wider understanding of a person, object or a concept. This way, fiction is able to achieve comparison, association and a sense of resemblance. 10. How would you define symbolism? In what ways does symbolism contribute to a piece of fiction? Symbolism in a work of fiction is the usage of symbols to create a meaning rather than the literal meaning of the symbol itself. For example, an owl can represent a bad omen and a dove represents peace. Symbolism in fiction allows the writer to say things implicitly without attracting criticism and also address serious topics comfortably. 11. How would you define mood? In what ways does mood contribute to a piece of fiction? In fiction, mood is the atmosphere that the setting, actions, and characters create in the story. It enables the writer to control the emotion of the reader and how the reader should respond to the elements of sadness for example in tragedy. 12. How would you define theme? In what ways does theme contribute to a piece of fiction? In a work of fiction, theme is the main idea or the amount of truth or information that the writer releases explicitly or implicitly. In fiction, the theme is the backbone of a story and it helps the writer to pass his or her message to the readers. Essay- less than 500 words (should not include a plot summary of the work no research) 1. In lines 995-1004 of “Antigone”, Antigone describes circumstances in which she would not have buried the body of a loved one. Explain what these lines reveal about Antigone’s character and describe how these lines change or reinforce your impression of her. This passage reads: i. Never, I tell you,/ if I had been the mother of children/ or if my husband died, exposed and rotting--/ I’d never have taken this ordeal upon myself, /never defied our people’s will. What law,/ you ask, do I satisfy with what I say?/ ii. Husband dead, there might have been another./a child by another too, if I had lost the first./ But mother and father both lost in the halls of Death,/ no brother could ever spring to light again/ The first paragraph depicts Antigone as a lady of principles and whose stand is hard to change. It also exposes her superstitions regarding the dead. The second paragraph shows her liberal view of the relationship between a man and a woman. She implies that when two parents die, there is no hope of a brother to their son but if one of the parents dies, there is hope for the remaining parent getting a child by another person. 2. In “This Kiss”, what does the following passage reveal about the theme and genre of the story? The Passage reads: i. ‘All this, though it seems to me impossible and unearthly, is in reality very commonplace,’ thought Riabovich, watching the clouds of dust raised by the general’s carriage. ‘it is an everyday event, and within everyone’s experience…this old general for instance, must have loved in his day; he is marriage now, and has children. Capitan Wachter is also married, and his wife loves him, though he has an ugly red neck and no waist. ..Salmanoff is coarse, and a typical tartar, but he has had a romance ending in marriage… I like the rest, must go through it all sooner or later.’ And the thought that he was an ordinary man, and that his life was ordinary, rejoiced and consoled him. He boldly visualized her and his happiness and let his imagination run man. The theme of this story is love, and for this case, the journey that one goes through stages of life. The passage is in reverse flow where the speaker starts by talking of a man who has a grown up family, to another one who is experiencing love presently and to those who have not yet experienced it through marriage. This visualization of love makes this a fiction because the narration is a creative and metaphorical. 2. In Notes from the underground, explain how the narrator’s actions and attitude toward his servant, Appolon, are similar to the story of the man who thinks of himself as a mouse. The narrator reduces himself in his own view because he despises his servant Apollon because of his superior attitude. This is also seen in the letter he wrote to Simonov regretting his previous night actions and latter in the letter bragging his social position. It seems as if he is functioning in a utopia world like the man who thinks himself a mouse. 3. In a Doll’s House, to what extent is Nora judged by masculine law? The Victorian roles of a lovely daughter that Nora assumes in a Doll’s house are shaped by patriarchy. The laws in this society were made by men in their favor and Nora was judged as if she were not a woman, but a man. This is the masculine restrictions she had to face and be punished under after deliberately stealing money from Krogstad 4. In Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo names “his personal god or chi” for his misfortune. On page 67 Obierika warns Okonkwo that his participation is killing ikemefume “will not please the earth.” It is the kind of action for which the goddess wipes out whole families.” Describe how Ikemefume’s death leads to Okonkwo’s downfall. It is clear that Okonkwos fate started when he participated in the killing of Ikemefume because he was warned by Ekeudu not to participate. Okonkwo feared being though weak and stroke a blow to Ikemefume and this participation, therefore, annoyed the god. It was after this that he accidentally kills Ekeudu’s son at his funeral and is exiled, which marks his down fall. Read More