12/26/2019 0 Comments The Castle of Otranto Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 wordsThe Castle of Otranto - Essay Example However, at some point she could also be seen as one who deliberately chose to be blind to her unreciprocated feelings toward her husband and has thus fooled herself to believing that Manfred simply did not like her to worry about difficult situations. For instance, it has been expected that when Conrad died, the family members should be the ones gathering together to comfort each other. Hippolita was very worried about her husband so she sent her daughter to his side but she was driven away. Instead, Conrad’s fiancée, Isabella, was summoned and without any inkling, Hippolita sent the young princess to her husband and never thought ill of her husband. The above-mentioned attitude of Hippolita may be understandable at such an emotional moment however her character is questioned at a time when she is able to think more clearly about her family’s affairs. When Manfred suggested that Matilda should be married to Prince Frederic, the woman later learned of the evil plans of the prince. Everything fell into place as she learned that Manfred had plans of divorcing her as “the recollection of Manfred’s late ambiguous discourses confirmed what she heard†(p. 79). Nevertheless, instead of trying to save her marriage or her daughter from a future she did not like to live, Hippolita used all her influence on her daughter to give in to the desires of her father. It is this event that puts into question how Hippolita claims to feel toward her daughter especially when she learns that Matilda is in love with the young Theodore. For a modern individual, it is quite difficult to comprehend a doting mother to let her child suffer a long-term relationship that can rob her daughter of the happiness she should experience with the man she loves. Having herself experienced a difficult life with her husband, Hippolita should be the first to understand and foresee what Matilda
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Our environment dictates how we live our lives and how we handle situations. Our environment also dictates how the people around us handle our death. Death is one important social convention of a society depicted in The Call of the Wild, Garden Party, the Great Gatsby, Bone, and Dulce Et Decorum Est. Death and the handling of death is a social convention portraying values and ways of living in two main ways: “respect†of the body and acceptable manners to die such as through violence, illness, caring, etc. In the Call of the Wild, by Jack London, death is a game where survival is a tactic, kill or be killed (manner of death) and the body is a trophy (“respect†for the body). For example, “He [Buck] was ranging at the head of the pack, running the wild thing down, the living meat, to kill with his own teeth and wash his muzzle to the eyes in warm blood.†(London 49). This game Buck played with the other dogs was a challenge of who will catch the snowshoe rabbit. It shows a twisted regard for life. Buck wanted to wash his nose in the rabbit’s blood to smell the kill. In this game, the only respect for life is the trophy that the body will make in death. Another example of the game is “From then on, night and day, Buck never left his prey, never gave it a moment’s rest, never permitted it to browse the leaves of trees… Nor did he give the wounded bull opportunity to slake his burning thirst in the slender trickling stream they crossed.†(London 95). Buck played with the bull’s fear and he showed no mercy. He showed no respect, he gave the bull no honor and the bull finally died of exhaustion, falling over, only to become Buck’s prize that also fed him. “For a day and a night he remained by the kill [moose], eating and sleeping, turn and turn about. Then rested, refreshed and strong,†(London 96). Buck nourished himself off the bull and became stronger and more resilient. To eat Buck must hunt his food in the uncaring wild, it was his only choice for survival. The game that Buck played with life did not always give respect to the dying, though this seemed necessary to his survival, giving the deaths more acceptability as a source to nourish the winner of the game. |