The Transforming of Women in Medieval Literature Essay Example for Free

The Transforming of Women in Medieval Literature Essay Over the countless years of history man and woman have realized that they must come together in order to survive. Whether it was solely for the continuation of our race through procreation, or by uniting one with another in matrimony; the two genders have found it impediment to spend their lives in each other’s midst. Over the span of several millennia we not only see the evolution of these relationships, but we can also witness the transformation of the roles each gender plays in everyday life. One such period where we see many of these roles evolving occur is chronicled in Medieval Literature. Writings such including Chaucer’s â€Å"The Canterbury Tales† and many Arthurian Legends present women and their treatment by their male counterparts in a ways uncommon to earlier writings. One of the best representations of such thinking is found in â€Å"Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. † The text includes women of varying types and gives an excellent paradigm to the changing culture of the Medieval Era. At the genesis of the tale we are presented with the ideal medieval lady. The narrator describes Queen Guenevere’s immense beauty and states that â€Å"fair queen, without a flaw†¦ A seemlier that once he saw, / In truth no man could say† (81-84). Guenevere serves as an example of the prior period’s typical woman. She is quiet, obedient to her husband, and the attractive object of the male gaze. Previously this was the norm for woman, to be confined to a set of restrictions that kept her inferior to all other men. Compared to Chaucer’s Wife of Bath who is loud, assertive, and extremely sexually open, Guenevere knows her roles and offers little complaint of her place in the castle. The lack of her contention exemplifies the base portrayal of a woman’s traditional position. The next female we come across in the journey of Gawain is Bertilak’s wife. At the first moment of meeting the lovely lady, we are presented with the fact that she is of a different breed than Guenevere. As she enters the room, Gawain’s mind wanders, â€Å"her body and her bearing were beyond praise, / And excelled the queen herself† (944-945). Here a knight admits the greatness of a lady beyond his own queen. This reveals the higher complexity found in the lady of the castle. Where we see the deepening contrasts is in the lady’s actual description. Whereas Guenevere was praised for solely her beauty and carriage, we see depth beyond this in the description of Bertilak’s wife. In lines 1204-1207, we read, â€Å"sweetly she does speak / And kindling glances dart, / Blent white and red on cheek / And laughing lips apart,† a noticeably more sexualized description than the one offered for our former lady. Delving even deeper into the story we read her actions as exceedingly daring for the wife. She wanders into the room of the night herself to seduce him for a kiss. In this time period women made no attempt at such provocation of a man’s lustful desires. Now one may point out that the lady was under orders from Bertilak. What I see is the man counting his wife as equal and including her in his plan to trick Gawain. Either case we see a woman who enjoys the confines of being a lady yet at the same time the freedoms of equality. In this we see more of a modern woman. She is developed more complexly in that she is neither completely virtuous yet neither is she corrupt. Finally we have one last woman; one whom tears down all the conceptions of the conventional feminine roles of the time. Gawain’s Aunt Morgan la Faye is the magical temptress who devises the plan to test her worthy nephew. La Faye is the ultimate foil of our first character and an extreme version of the second. She has no husband and nor any other male too hold her to the constraints of society. She is able to use her powerful skills to do as she pleases and cause any amount of mayhem she sees fit. For example we find out at the end of the tale the old lady accompanying Bertialk’s wife is indeed Morgan la Faye in disguise. Morgan though she is extremely beautiful and young in her true form, stands for the free unconfined woman. Women across time have continually had to deal with confining gender roles. Yet in ever period there have been women who redefined the roles and pushed to break the trends stressed upon them. This condition is reflected by the writers of the time. From their efforts we are able to see the transformation and how the human condition has been affected. The poet who penned †Sir Gawain and the Green Knight† was able to cleverly weave this into the tale. From the examples of Guenevere’s demure attitude, to Lady Bertilak’s seductive ways, and finally ending with Morgan la Faye’s free and chaotic spirit; this paradigm is clearer in the middle ages than many others. Woman made great strides in the era of chivalry and began to break free of the bonds that contained them.

Non-determinates Prices Of Sup :: essays research papers

Most people that are common shoppers have encountered a situation where the product that they were seeking to buy was not available. It is very easy to see that certain products do have an ample supply due to many reasons. Other than the price of that product, there are six major non-determinate factors of supply. These factors are: Number of Sellers, Technology, Resource Prices, Taxes and Subsides, Expectations of Producers, and Price of other goods the Firm could Produce. With these factors and the demand of the product, the supply of a product can be determined, and a price can be set.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The number of sellers can be one of the most determining factors of the supply of a product. The concept is very easy to understand. If there are more sellers, that is more stores and manufactures, there will be a larger amount of supply of a certain product. On the other hand, if there are a small number of sellers then there will be little supply of the product. When considering the price of a product, if there are more sellers then there will be more competition; therefore, the price will be at a low cost for the buyers. The sellers will not make a large profit. Moreover, when there is a small amount of sellers then the price can be higher for the buyers. This means the sellers will make a larger amount of profit. For example; there are more sellers for a Toyota Carmry, then there are for Dodge Vipers.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This world has experienced a huge technological advancement. Our knowledge in inventing new technologies has allowed us to become more efficient in the production of products. Also, we have been able to develop many new and better products for the buyers. Technology can do two things to the supply of a product. First, it can drive the price down due to more production of a certain product. With technology, production of a certain product has become cheaper and more efficient. The second thing that technology has done is decline the supply of certain product. With the production of new and better products, older products have become less used and not produced as much. A good example of how technology has effected this world is the invention and production of CD’s. In today’s world most Americans own a CD player and have gotten ride of the record player. Non-determinates Prices Of Sup :: essays research papers Most people that are common shoppers have encountered a situation where the product that they were seeking to buy was not available. It is very easy to see that certain products do have an ample supply due to many reasons. Other than the price of that product, there are six major non-determinate factors of supply. These factors are: Number of Sellers, Technology, Resource Prices, Taxes and Subsides, Expectations of Producers, and Price of other goods the Firm could Produce. With these factors and the demand of the product, the supply of a product can be determined, and a price can be set.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The number of sellers can be one of the most determining factors of the supply of a product. The concept is very easy to understand. If there are more sellers, that is more stores and manufactures, there will be a larger amount of supply of a certain product. On the other hand, if there are a small number of sellers then there will be little supply of the product. When considering the price of a product, if there are more sellers then there will be more competition; therefore, the price will be at a low cost for the buyers. The sellers will not make a large profit. Moreover, when there is a small amount of sellers then the price can be higher for the buyers. This means the sellers will make a larger amount of profit. For example; there are more sellers for a Toyota Carmry, then there are for Dodge Vipers.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This world has experienced a huge technological advancement. Our knowledge in inventing new technologies has allowed us to become more efficient in the production of products. Also, we have been able to develop many new and better products for the buyers. Technology can do two things to the supply of a product. First, it can drive the price down due to more production of a certain product. With technology, production of a certain product has become cheaper and more efficient. The second thing that technology has done is decline the supply of certain product. With the production of new and better products, older products have become less used and not produced as much. A good example of how technology has effected this world is the invention and production of CD’s. In today’s world most Americans own a CD player and have gotten ride of the record player.

Conflict: Government and Policy Team

Case Study3 : The Poisoned Chalice: By Matthew Mcdonald, University of New South Wales Joseph had been a team leader for two years and felt he was ready to take the next step in his public service career. He had begun his career as a graduate trainee in the Department of Agriculture after completing a double degree in commerce and environmental science. After his traineeship he was offered permanency as a policy officer, eventually rising to the post of team leader. As a team leader Joseph felt he had gained the trust and respect of his four staff member and had learnt the basic skills of being a manager.Joseph applied for various management positions within his own department without success. Undeterred, he applied for a position in another government department responsible for environment and heritage and was successful. The role involved taking over the position of manager of a â€Å"Taskforce† that had been set up five months previously. The taskforce was made up of 10 tea m members responsible for developing and implementing a set of government policies and programs designed to assist primary producers to manage better the environmental threats to their land.Joseph couldn’t have been happier with his new promotion and he looked forward to applying what he had learned as a team leader to the challenges of his new post. The taskforce itself was divided into two teams. The first team- â€Å"the policy team† was responsible for developing policies in consultation with the minister’s office that would underpin the programs to be eventually rolled put all over the country. This team was made up of highly experienced member. The second team- â€Å"the implementation team† was responsible for implementing the policies developed by the policy team.The job of the implementation team was to deal with the logistic of implementing the programs and working with the numerous stakeholders involved. For Joseph, everything started put well in his new position. He gradually got to know each of the team members, who seemed skilled and competent in each of their roles. He also began to understand better the job that the taskforce was required to do. However, as the days turned into weeks some major problems in the taskforce began to appear.The first major problem was that other sections within the department were unhelpful and difficult to deal with when he made requests of them or sought to initiate collaborations. When he asked his staff why this was the case, the most common response was that the department had â€Å"had it in† for the taskforce as posing a threat to their own positions. The bad blood between the taskforce and the rest of the department made Joseph’s position vary difficult because he and his staff were heavily reliant on other areas of the department for their expertise, advice and assistance in order to manage the project successfully.The second major problem was the taskforce itself, Joseph began to realize that the two teams were highly antagonistic towards each other. This was evident in taskforce meetings, where there was an obvious hostility between them. Joseph also discovered that very little had been achieved since the taskforce was setup, and found that it was now well behind the government’s schedule. However, the full implications of Joseph’s predicament became apparent only after a revealing conversation with Alison, a junior member of the implementation team, while working back late one evening.Alison told Joseph that the previous manager of the taskforce, John, had left the position because of the problems associated with it, everything had started out well; however, then the policy team had begun to treat the implementation team as inferior because the implementation team members were younger in age, were less experienced and had made a major blunder in the first few weeks by getting a national farmers’ union offside. After thi s blunder the policy team had begun to refer to the implementation team as ‘the idiots’.The policy team had also taken a superior attitude towards members of other sections within the department because of their close relationship with the minister’s office. This problem came to a head after a chain of emails had been leaked to the rest of the department by a member of the implementation team, who had inadvertently received them, in the emails, members of the policy team had made disparaging remarks about people from other section with whom they had been working, this had created a furors in the department.As a result, a number of formal complaints about members of the policy team had been made. Instead of dealing with this and the other problem associated with the taskforce, the previous manager, John, had closeted himself away in his office, hoping they would go away. Realizing that events were starting to get out of control, John’s manager. Max, had ste pped in to try and sort out the situation. He had done this by speaking with all of the taskforce members both individually and as a group.This had made a difference for a short time: however, the antagonism between the two teams in the taskforce had eventually returned, and it had seemed the nothing could be done to repair the damage inflicted by the leaking of the emails. It was at this point that John had resigned. Due to the taint that hung over the taskforce, no one in the department had been willing to apply for the now vacant position of taskforce manager. After speaking with Alison, Joseph realized he had been handed a â€Å"poisoned chalice† that nobody else wanted.He became very worried that the taskforce would not meet the departments’ and the government’s objectives and timelines, and the he would be blamed for its failure, adversely affecting his long-term career and future promotion prospects. Discussion Questions 1. Using the â€Å"model of confl ict processes†, identify the sources of conflict between the policy team and the implementation team. 2. Were Max’s actions appropriate in this situation? If so, why? If not, what should he have done instead? 3. What actions should Joseph take to ensure that the taskforce meets the government’s objectives and timelines?

In Favor of Gay Marriage Essay - 525 Words

In the twentieth century, America has undergone vast changes in family styles. Because of the increase in many gays and lesbians speaking out, we see a new emphasis on the word family. Many gays and lesbians have decided to come out of the closet shaking up an issue that has made a ruckus between Americans (Carey 2). We find that the Defense of Marriage Act states that marriage should be between one man and one woman for federal purposes; but is this fair? The United States was founded on the belief of equality, loyalty, and justice for all. The phrase for all means for everyone; not everyone besides gays and lesbians. One issue that has struck Americans is that gays and lesbians want to adopt children and start a family. If gays†¦show more content†¦(Stone 4). There are many ways that gays and lesbians have found to adopt children which are: adoption, same-sex adoption, second parent adoption, co-parent adoption. Many states recognize adoption rights for same sex marriage, but it is not a law for states to recognize it. People against same-sex marriage argue that it is unhealthy for a child to have parents of the same sex. They believe that children should have a role model of a woman and a man in their lives. Studies show that children raised by homosexual parents are not disadvantaged in any significant respect relative to the children of heterosexual parents...none of the studies support the claims that children ...will have serious emotional, intellectual, or social development problems because of their parents sexual orientation (Wald 5-7). Gays and lesbians also face the issue of rights when their spouse dies. Even in cases where wills are present, family members have sued for burial rights, property etc., on grounds of dementia or undue influence (Demian 2). There have been many cases were gay or lesbian partners had no input on medical decisions for their significant other. Many states have overlooked the issue of gays and lesbians hoping to let the issue become silent. Vermont is the only state making progress to allow gays and lesbians to wed. The state has granted full equal rights to married couples regardless of gender (Landmark 2). AmericansShow MoreRelatedGay Marriage1280 Words   |  6 Pagesburrows, but flamboyantly celebrate their identities. The gays are now a people willing and ready to be heard. It has come to all of our attentions that in the light of marriage they have been depraved and deceived. Homosexuals cannot allow this persecution to continue, as they are constantly forfeited equal rights. The arguments are of lifestyle differences and the legalized discrimination of these people. It encompasses same-sex marriage as a cause worth fighting and defending so that we all mayRead More210243 gay marriage Essays999 Words   |  4 Pagesï » ¿ The Controversies Surrounding Gay Marriages: How Much the Fabric of Society Can Withstand Student’s name: Institution: Abstract The issue of gay marriages has been discussed for quite a while from a number of perspectives; however, its economic aspects are rarely touched upon. In their article Firms balk at gay weddings, Nathan Koppel and Ashey Jones shed some light on the controversy surrounding the provision of services regarding the arrangement of same sex weddings from the perspectiveRead MoreEssay on The Bond of Marriage1166 Words   |  5 PagesThe Bond of Marriage The argument to allow gay couples to marry has been a debatable topic for many years. The authors, Andrew Sullivan and William Bennett have conflicting beliefs to whether gay marriages should be permissible. Sullivan expresses his opinion of the right gays have to marry in his article â€Å"Let Gays Marry.† Bennett retaliates with his own article opposing gay marriage. His article â€Å"Leave Marriage Alone,† relates his view that same-sex marriage is wrong and unethical.Read MoreGay Marriage Should Be Legalized Same Sex Marriage931 Words   |  4 Pagesright to marriage for same-sex couples in the state† (Jost, Gay Marriage Showdowns). However, there were people who opposed same-sex couples being allowed to marry and Proposition 8 was soon after introduced. Proposition 8 would be presented on ballots later that year and would amend the state constitution legalizing same-sex marriage and allow only for a man and a woman to be married (Jost, Gay Marriage S howdowns). However, California was not the first state to allow same-sex marriage. In 2003Read MoreThe Issue Of Immigration And Gay Rights1034 Words   |  5 Pageswell as throughout the world is immigration and gay rights. Today, many immigration and gay rights issues have arisen in numerous cases and have had controversial sides and opinions The issue of immigration has been a controversial topic between the Democratic and Republican parties. The idea of illegal immigrants having the choice to become a legal resident is a major distinction between the two parties. In general, Democrats are seen to favor immigration to the United States. The DemocraticRead MoreThe Issue Of Same Sex Marriage1664 Words   |  7 Pages(1928-45) is more in favor of same-sex marriage. The primary component here is that â€Å"younger generations express higher levels of support for same-sex marriage† (Mitchell). As far as reflecting the change in attitudes, the data shows that older generations â€Å"have become more supportive of same-sex marriage in the past decade† (Mitchell). In relation to Lewis and Gossett’s research, their research aligns in their claim that people â€Å"born in each decade tend to be more accepting of gay relationships andRead MoreThe Debate On Marriage And Parenting Rights For Gay And1673 Words   |  7 Pagesdebate on marriage and parenting rights for gay and lesbian individuals has been one of the most hotly contested social issues in recent history. While many arguments are cited to prevent gay couples from enjoyin g equality, these arguments ultimately condense to concerns rooted in homophobia. Opponents of the LGBT community contend that same sex parenting contradicts the natural order of the world, subjects children to unnecessary societal stigma, and that the state has a right to favor heterosexualRead MoreHow Is Marriage Defined?1054 Words   |  5 Pages How is marriage defined? Any of the diverse forms of interpersonal union established invarious partd of the world to form a familial bond that is recognized legally, religiously, or socially, granting the participating partners mutual conjugal rights and responsibilities and including, for example, opposite-sex marriage, same-sex marriage, plural marriage, and arranged marriage. Sadly many religions still will not accept same sex marriage. A ruling by Massachusetts highest court that prohibitingRead MoreEquality for All: Gay Marriage Essay1430 Words   |  6 Pagesâ€Å"below the majority† were usually victorious. With that said, there is an inevitable future for the homosexual community to be eventually equal to everyone else. The question remains, what justifies the right for a gay couple to have the same benefits as a heterosexual couple? Gay marriage has been a wide spread issue for quite a bit of time and multiple arguments have been made as to why it should not occur, but none of them stand valid against rights provided by the constitution. Many individualsRead MoreGay Marriage Should Be Legal1019 Words   |  5 PagesIn Defense of Gay Marriage Right now our country is still dealing with one of the bigger social issues that plagues our society. People will argue for and against it in many different ways, whether it be right or wrong. The issue at hand is whether gay marriage should be legal or illegal. There are arguments on both sides of the spectrum, but at the end of the day gay marriage should be legal in all 50 states. Marriage is a right and freedom that should not be denied to any one person because of