Spanish literature Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Spanish literature - Assignment Example Fernando is presented as an active military leader who does unnecessary offensives simply because he has the capacity to do so. These are also an illustration of the theme of abuse of power in the story. Fuenteovejuna is also characterized numerous use of rhetorical devices as evident in the play. There are several quotations that showcase these rhetorical devices as outlined in the book. The play has several rhetorical devices that are widely used, most of which include parallelism and antithesis. The storyline dramatizes two separate events which can be viewed as more or less current of each other, but differently related. The Author uses parallelism to express the two different parts of the story. The civil war serves the background while the story of the marriage of Fernando takes a major lead in the storyline. Rhetorical device helps in achieving the different ideologies that are concurrently presented in the story. This subsequent illustration of the personal lives of Isabel and Fernando helps the audience relate the love story told in another story characterized by

Macroeconomic problem Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Macroeconomic problem - Essay Example The amount of money supplied by the government fixed by Fed hence making it perfectly inelastic. b) In our situation, the equilibrium interest rate will be 5.8% as this is the point of intersection of the supply curve and the money demand curve. C) When the economy is at full employment, an increase in money supply will not result in an increase in the output. In this case, the increased money supplied will result in increased level of inflation. The excess money pumped in the economy will chase the same quantity of goods and services thereby making their prices to inflate. Normally, the increases in the money supply is intended to stimulate economic growth by reducing the level of interest rates (Floyd 58). In the case of full employment, all the resources are already utilized and the increased money supplied will not achieve the intended purpose of increasing production level. Besides, the increased inflation will make the local currency unstable and discourage foreign investors fr om holding the local currency. This can adversely affect the investment levels and increase the economic problems. Fed decision to increase money supply can be propelled by several factors. First, an increase in money supply can be aimed at increasing the level of expenditure in the economy. By increasing the level of money supply, the government will increase the amount of wealth held by individuals. This makes them increase their expenditure to stimulate economic growth. Money spent in both consumption and investment will increase because of the increase in the disposable income (Floyd 63). Individuals will as well increase the proportion of their investments in bonds, as they will use the excess money to buy bonds and shares in the capital markets. Secondly, Fed can decide to increase the money supply to stimulate investments. An increase in money supply will result in a fall in the nominal interest rates, which will further result in the fall in the real interest rates. Due to t he fall in interest rates, the cost of borrowings will be reduced. Potential investors will therefore be encouraged to borrow and acquire capital necessary in pursuing their investment plans. Consequently, the increased investments will increase the level of employment because of the increased economic activities. Sometimes, the government through Fed can decide to increase the level of money supply to cause an increase the price levels by a desirable margin. According to the quantity theory of money, price levels depend directly on the money supply. In the long-run therefore, an increase in money supply will result in an increase in the price level by equal proportion. Fed can have this objective during the period of recession or depression when the level of economic activities is low to stimulate economic activities and increase the quantity of purchases. In addition, a decrease in the interest rates will increase the demand of the local currency hence cause depreciation in the cu rrency. This is because in an open economy, interest rates parity must always be preserved. This will cause the currency to fall with a further expectation that it will fall faster in the future. The depreciation in the local currency will make the cost of local goods cheaper and attractive thereby causing a surge in both the foreign and local demand (Floyd

ASTR 123 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

ASTR 123 - Assignment Example This theory however, fails to account for the possibility of the huge unconceivable numbers of comets that could have collided or passed near earth for this to have happened. It is believed that during the formation of the earth e.g. the big bang process and later developments, the materials that formed it contained large amounts of water that condensed and later collected, resulting in its large surface water volumes. Though this could be a possibility, the earth’s surface was less massive during the development stages leading to its gravity being too weak to hold the waters from escaping its surface at that stage. This fails to explain the almost immediate existence of water after the earth’s formation. The Snowball earth theory explains that at least once, massive glaciations occurred on earth that left almost the whole of it--if not its entire surface -- completely frozen. The theory has convincingly tried to explain the existence of similar sedimentary deposits found especially at the tropical paleolatitudes. Despite the many suppositions of the theory, it however, cannot feasibly be dependent on as it contradict known facts and theories such as the origin of glacial models and the slushball earth hypothesis. The surface of Europa is believed to be covered in thick ice crust, which prompts scientists to conclude that there is a possibility of a large salty water body rich in chemicals beneath the ice. These combined, form basic necessities required by extreme microbial life forms to thrive. Heat from tidal flexing regulates the energy changes and provides the necessary energy for microbe survival. Sulphur and sulphuric acid deposits in Europa has little resemblance with some extreme conditions on earth where microbes like pioneering bacteria evolved and mastered basic survival skills without directly getting their energy from the

Ideology and work choices Essay Example for Free

Ideology and work choices Essay Labour laws come from a body of administrative rulings, laws and regulations that are meant to address the legal rights and restrictions of workers and their organizations/ employers. These laws help in improving the relationship between employers, trade unions and employees. Since the 19th century, labour rights have been playing a crucial role in the development of the industrial revolution both socially and economically. These labour laws arose due to the inequality that existed between employees and employees especially when it came to workers’ demands for better conditions like health, safety and wages and employers’ demands for reduced labour costs. Therefore, labour laws are meant to e fair to both parties (employers and employees) thus, they are both a product and a component of different struggles between different interests in society. (Plowman, and Preston, 2005) Overview On 7th December 2005, the Australian Government under Prime Minister John Howard secured passage through the Australian parliament of Workplace Relations Amendment Act 2005. This legislation will greatly affect the conduct of Australian industrial relations. It will also greatly influence the way that the rules that regulate employment relationship in Australia are made and implemented. However, a complete analysis of these reforms has not been made. (Bray et al 2005) The reason why these reforms had to be made was to ensure that the loopholes and strategies that unions had developed since the Workplace Relations Act 1996 were closed off. The Australian labor party identified industrial relations gaps between what it and Howard’s government stood for. The labor’s policy platform focused on four major things: encourage family friendly workplaces, improving job security, assist parties to avoid and resolve disputes (ALP 2004) and restore the right to bargain collectively. In the 1970s, the Australian economic capacity was greatly diminished by adverse trade movements and oil price shocks. This forced the successive governments to introduce a range of reforms meant to enhance the competitiveness of Australian industries in international markets. These reforms comprised reduction in tariffs, floatation of the Australian dollar and abolition of most foreign exchange controls which increased Australia’s openness to foreign competition. Significant changes started being introduced to Australia’s workplace relations from the 1990s. These legislative reforms were meant to maintain a strong safety net for workers while at the same time provide a greater flexibility and choice for employers and workers at workplace level. It was until March 2008 that the government of Australia introduced transitional measures that phased out many concrete provisions in the workplace provisions laws (Workplace Relations Act 1996, Workplace Relations Amendment/Work Choices Act 2005 and Workplace Relations Amendment Act 2007). Ideology and work choices. It should be clearly noted that the prime minister and other members of his government have denied that their policies are not ideological. General philosophy Rather than employers and employees being stuck in an adversarial system, the government wants to put up a system that will allow them to determine their own conditions of working by looking into their common interests. (Andrews 2005b, p. 7). Therefore, a contract between an employee and an employer is seen as a meeting of minds between two partners who are equal and an agreement will only occur when both parties agree with the terms of the contract. In contrast to the pluralist perspective, the general philosophy fails to recognize that inequality of power is central feature of employment relationship. Role of employees. With this new act, provided the employees (Workers) are given the right leadership, the right incentives and the right opportunities, they will be in a position to work very closely with the management Impact on the parties and the rule making processes. In this section we shall critically look at the impact of that these reforms will have on the major actors in the Australian industrial relations. Role of the state In the last 20 years, the government of Australia has seen far greater reliance on market forces than state regulation. However, with the national competition policy as a catalyst, both state and federal governments have embraced deregulation of product markets, government owned enterprises have also been privatized and a private-sector management practice is being used in public sector organizations. (Bray et al. 2005) The narrowing of the state regulation can be seen in the shrinking role of awards and the new modest employment protections offered by the Fair Pay of Australia. Rule making process From chapter 8 of Bray et al. (2005), the four main forms of rule making in Australia are: managerial prerogative, individual contracting, collective bargaining and awards. With the Work Choices act, collective bargaining and award making will decline while managerial prerogative and individual contracting will expand significantly. The reforms here favor employers in many ways. Most employers will be able to gain significant capacity to practice improved bargaining power in their dealings with employees and unions and managerial prerogatives (Bray and Waring 2006). The changes in rule making have been encouraged as the government members have confirmed that economic success depends on freeing employers and employees from the restrictions of the old system. Awards This act has reduced the number of matters from 20 to 16 and this has helped in simplifying the awards. The award clauses that have been removed relate to: Jury service, long service leave, superannuation and notice of termination. However some federal awards that provide kind entitlements like leave arrangements will not be removed from the awards as they are deemed as preserved award entitlements. Management The Work Choices act will bring the Australian managerial sector more freedom to manage their businesses as they see fit. This is because there will be less state regulation of the employment relationship and they will not be forced by unions to collectively bargain over wages and working conditions. With this new freedom the Australian managers will be in a position to lead to more efficient enterprises, more jobs and a more competitive national economy. Many companies will also be capable of pursuing innovation/ quality-enhancement and business strategies. Unions. In chapter six of Bray et al. there is a trace of the historical evolution of unions as a form of employee representation in Australia. It was seen that membership and the power of trade unions had greatly declined from the beginning of the 1990s. This decline was brought about by many reasons. One of them was the increasingly hostile role of management and the impact of government policies that were not sympathetic. These harsh circumstances may be conducive to attracting new members and stimulated a new collective strength. However strategic differences over the union response to work Choices show great differences in ideologies within the Australian labour movement and the labour movements of other countries. Only time will tell where the union movement will go and what the real outcomes will be. Conclusion. The measures brought about by the Work Choices reforms are far reaching. This is because they represent a major break from the past in many ways. Firstly, their consequences to the constitution promise to be very big. Secondly, despite the much opposition it has faced, these reforms will help introduce new institutions by spelling an end to those institutions that have dominated Australian industrial institutions for very many years. They will also change the process by which the rules of employment relationships are made in Australia. In addition, market forces, individual contracting and managerial prerogative are going to gain a new ascendancy. According to Howard’s government and business supporters, these reforms are also inevitable as they are necessary in driving productivity and reducing unemployment and will also guarantee competitiveness. It is also important that any conclusions be left speculative and uncertain since public opinion can fail and political climate can drastically change. References: Andrews, K. (200b) ‘Where do we want workplace relations to be in five years time? ’ speech to Committee for Economic Development of Australia, Federation Square, Melbourne, retrieved on 15th March. Bray, M and Waring, P (2006) ‘The rise of managerial prerogative under the Howard government’, Australian Bulletin of Labour (in press). Bray, M. and Walsh, P. (1998), ‘Different paths to neo liberalism Comparing Australia and New Zealand’, Industrial Relations, Vol. 37, No. 3. Pp. 358-87. Bray, M. , Deery, S. , Walsh, J. and Waring, P. (2005) Industrial relations, 3rd edn, McGraw-Hill Irwin, Sydney. Plowman, D. and Preston, A. (2005) ‘The new industrial relations: portents for the lowly paid’, Journal of Australian Political Economy, No. 56, Dec, pp. 224-42

Happiness Comes From Within :: Happiness Essays

Their farm was two hundred acres of corn fields, cows, pigs, and, of course, chickens. No farm would be complete without chickens. At the southeast corner of the farm, behind the smaller corn field, was the brook with clear cold water that reached past my knees. On most weekends my family would go to visit our friends, the Tailors, who had at one time seven boys to keep them company. All of them were grown with their own lives to attend to, except for Dan, who stayed on at the farm to help keep up the crops. His younger brother Dave still came back to the farm, from the busy city, to visit and bring his children to see their grandparents. Even though they were about the same age as my brother and I, we did not play with them because they were greedy and didn't suit our playing qualifications by continuously changing rules and cheating. It was rare that we encountered them anyhow, and that suited us fine. Most of the time we would stay the whole weekend. Our parent's elected t o sleep in a tent, while my brother and I slept in one of the many cozy bedrooms of the farmhouse. We loved it there and secretly both he and I wished that we could stay forever. There were separate reasons why we loved it there. My brother, Forest, had a choice of over a dozen different old cars and trucks. Forest was allowed under the hoods so that he could tinker with the engines and figure out how they functioned. He was a ten-year old mechanical genius. Everyone knew that he was going to grow up to be a mechanic. When he was five or six; Forest found an old transmission behind the barn; in two hours he had taken it apart and put it back together again without prior instruction. Old mister Tailor watched from a distance while Forest disassembled and methodically assembled the transmission to its original form.Our parent's are proud and still equally impressed as the day it happened. They still brag and carry on about his genius endeavor, as they do with both of us for the many special encounters accumulated during our formative years. My reasons for loving that farm cannot be so simply expressed.

“Pet Therapy for Heart and Soul” By Kerrey Pechter Essay

As I read this story, I not only felt warmth but also very passionate and a realization that pets have a much larger effect on us besides be our loving companions. In this story, you will find a great understanding for having a pet. Owning something that will give you unconditional love, and who will help you threw your most stressful hours. Pet Therapy consists of animals working with and helping people in ordinary and extreme cases. You will find the author has pointed out how animals bring communicating to love ones easier and more relaxed. In addition, pets can be considered stress reducers and offer a great relationship. In my opinion, this introduction was long and not to the point. Another observation is the two main body topics are also long and not to the point. I would have broken the two topics to other larger topics to give the reader a chance to focus directly each individual point. In example, breaking reaction with elderly people (paragraph 1, 2, 3, 4) and reaction with kids (paragraphs 17, 18, 19, 20) into a larger sub-topic â€Å"Therapy for All Ages†. Placing that paragraph between â€Å"Animal Magnetism At Work† and â€Å"Pets Are Comforting†. This change would emphasis the main topic better and allowed for breaks between the two larger sub-topics. The topic does describe the paper, and how animals bring out the best in us. The examples of animals in hospitals (15, 16) relates easily to me with experience working in those facilities. The way this paper is wrote, very well thought out with the reader in mind. Making simple quotes that gives a background and offering not only reference to the ideas but a description of  each that can relate to all of us. â€Å"Pet Therapy for Heart And Soul† is a well-researched paper with many quotes and references to the main topic. It also gives great real life examples, where the pets are working as therapy. All this brings the story close to you when you read it, making you wonder what your pet is doing for you.

King Arthur Literary Analysis Essay

The name King Arthur appears throughout a countless amount of literature, stories, cinema, and legend. King Arthur has always been a long-standing icon of heroism, and heroism is a theme mankind takes pleasure in romanticizing. Arthurian Romance is the classic example of good versus evil, knights in shining armor, forbidden love, and sorcery; the basic elements of a romanticized tale. And in a dark time where religion clashed, empires fought in epic battles, and the people of Britain suffered from poverty and disease, Arthurian legend was needed to lift the spirits of the hopeless. Arthurian Romance is an accurate portrayal of the time period better known as the Medieval Ages because it takes the woes and misfortunate events of that time and twists them into a heroic soap opera full of love, tragedy, and triumph. The Medieval Ages began around 476 AD, when the Roman emperor of the West abdicated. The period ends in the late fifteenth century with the discovery of the New World. During this period, different nations conquered and collapsed, society changed, and religion was further divided. During the Middle Ages, the Holy Roman Empire had begun an effort to occupy Britain. They wanted to drive out the Anglo-Saxons and convert the Pagans to Catholicism. A long lasting relic of Roman involvement in Britain is Hadrian’s Wall, which was a heavily fortified wall running west to east and was probably used to keep barbarian tribes out and regulate trade and passage into Romano-Britain territory. Along with military involvement, Rome also spread Catholicism to a Pagan Britain. Catholicism involves a hierarchy of religious leaders, with the Pope at the top. There are also bishops, priests, monks, and nuns who are apart of the clergy. Other than the clergy, Medieval society was composed of nobles, knights and serfs. Nobles commonly owned fiefs, an estate of land, and the serfs who worked there. Knights were employed to guard the fief and fight wars with other nobles. This was called Feudalism. When nobles declared a war on each other, many different warfare tactics were used to take down castles. Siege warfare was common, in which scaling ladders, battering rams, siege towers and catapults were utilized in order to enter a fortress. Infantry included archers and cavalry, and there was a broad assortment of weapons used; daggers, long swords, crossbows, throwing axes, clubs, maces, halberds, lances, and many more. While knights commonly fought for a noble or king, a group of fearsome knights known as the Templar Knights fought in the crusades for religious conquest. The Templar Knights are associated with King Arthur’s quest for the Holy Grail, and some of the knights of the round table are portrayed wearing a large red cross on their breastplate (which is the symbol of the Templar Knights). Knights were also involved with jousting. Jousting was a martial game between two knights mounted on horses and using lances. This was often part of a chivalrous tournament or used as a military tactic of heavily armed cavalry. Knights and nobles also were encompassed in courtly love, a conception of nobly and chivalrously expressing love and admiration. Courtly love often did not take place between a husband and wife. Instead, a man would shower another woman in gifts and symbols of his love to her and they would keep their affair secret. A famous example of courtly love is the affair between Lancelot du Lac and Queen Guinevere. The Middle Ages had many lows. Many people associate these times with the Black Plague or the Bubonic Plague. When the Mongols from the east attacked Europe, they brought with them a terrible disease that wiped out about 138 million people. Also during the Middle Ages, there was decrease in scholarly thinking and the quality of art. Religion is blamed for stunting the growth of new ideas and inventions. In fact, religion is the overlying cause for many of the events of the Medieval Ages. The greatest dispute over religion was the East-West Schism that split Christianity into the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. This split was born from disputes over whether the Pope could marry and iconoclasm (similar to worshipping false idols) and the use of local languages in church. They were even in dispute regarding the nature of God. The Crusades were another religious dispute. The Crusades were military campaigns undertaken by European Christians of the eleventh through the fourteenth centuries to take other the Holy Land and convert Muslims to Christianity. The First Crusade was a response to the Seljuk Turks conquering the â€Å"Holy Land† (present-day Israel and Palestine). However, most of these conquests were failures and achieved nothing except for interactions with the Arab world (in both beneficial and devastating ways). Lastly, there was the Inquisition. This was a formalized interrogation and persecution process of heretics (including satanic or witch-like behavior). Punishment for people suspected of heresy was torture and execution. The Church in the Middle Ages is clearly an influential factor of these times. The Medieval Ages also saw quite a bit of political changes. The Carolingian, established by Charles Martel, ruled present-day France, Belgium, Germany and Northern Italy. His grandson, Charlemagne established the Holy Roman Empire. In the North, Vikings and other Scandinavian became notorious for raiding Roman Catholic monasteries. In France, Vikings were referred to as Normans. They conquered Anglo-Saxon England in 1066. As mentioned before, Feudalism was the social, political, and economic system of the Middle Ages. England became a feudalistic society because there was not a unifying force bringing the people together. Many claims to the throne of all Britain were made, which is actually the premise of the King Arthur legend. Nobles and Kings owned land and had armies of Knights who pledged a code of chivalry to them. This was an honor system that strongly condemned betrayal and promoted mutual respect. In the Feudal society, only males could inherit the land. The land was passed down through primogeniture (to the eldest son). Noblewomen had limited rights. They could sometimes inherit fiefs but could not rule it. Noblewomen were only educated in domestic skills and were supposed to display feminine traits such as compassion and beauty. Peasants, male or female, had almost no rights. They couldn’t leave the manor without the permission of their lord. Over time, serfs (peasants) developed skills other than farming and slowly created a middle class that led Europe into the Renaissance. In the long run, all of these characteristics of the Medieval Ages are incorporated in the vast collection of Arthurian Romance. In the 1975 King Arthur Parody â€Å"Monty Python and The Holy Grail†, there is a scene that describes Arthur quite perfectly. In the scene, Arthur is traveling in a Feudal manor and comes across peasants working in a field outside of a castle. He asks a woman, â€Å"I am Arthur, King of the Britons. Whose castle is that? † The peasant woman looks up and asks, â€Å"King of the who? † Arthur repeats himself to which she replies, â€Å"Who are the Britons? † Arthur, stumped by her ignorance, tells her, â€Å"Well, we all are. We’re all Britons and I am your king. † The peasant woman shrugs and says, â€Å"I didn’t know we had a king. I thought we were an autonomous collective! † They argue about this for a moment and then the woman asked, â€Å"Well, how did you become king then? † Arthur dramatically respond with, â€Å"The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite, held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water signifying by Divine Providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. That is why I am your king! † Another peasant nearby shouts, â€Å"Listen — strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony! † The meaning of the scene is that at the time King Arthur was created as a legend to legitimize the unifying king of Britain that would pull the people out of the Dark Ages. The punch line is that the land was so divided from feudalism and nobles trying to claim a non-existent throne that no one really took anyone seriously. However, Arthurian Romance became the bedtime story born out of the fantastical notion that Britain could be amalgamated into a strong empire. But let’s start at the beginning of the Arthurian legend. In most legends, Uther Pendragon is portrayed as Arthur’s father and Igraine as his mother. In Sir Thomas Malory’s The Crowning of King Arthur, the prophet Merlin helps a love-stricken Uther get with Igraine for a night. Arthur is born, but part of the agreement with Merlin was to have Arthur raised by another. Many years pass in which Arthur does not know his own nobility until he by chance, pulls the famous sword in the stone (the legend goes: â€Å"Who so Pulleth Out This Sword of this Stone and Anvil, is Rightwise King Born of all England. † (Malory, 1069)). Young Arthur accepts his role as King and unites Britain, defeats the Saxons, and establishes Camelot. In the first fictional story of Arthur’s life (Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the kings of Britain) by Geoffrey of Monmouth), Arthur is placed into a post-Roman Britain. Geoffrey uses the same fable of Arthur’s birth through the deception of Igraine. In this legend, Arthur also defeats the Saxons but he also expands his empire to Norway, Denmark and Gaul, and defeats Roman armies in order to do this. In the end, Arthur returns to Britain to defeat his nephew Modredus (Mordred) who was left in charge of Britain but betrayed Arthur. Arthur is mortally wounded, taken to Avalon and it is implied he passed away. Arthurian legend, however, is not only about Arthur. There are many huge characters in the stories. One widely known knight is Sir Lancelot du Lac. Lancelot is a tragic figure in Arthurian Romance. He was a Knight of the Round Table and one of King Arthur’s closest friends. His tragedy is that he was in love with Arthur’s wife, Guinevere. Lancelot was the son of the King Ban on Benwick and Elaine, but he was raised by the Lady of the Lake (â€Å"du lac† actually means â€Å"the lake†). The Lady of the Lake sent Lancelot off to become a Knight of the Round Table. In doing so, he meets and instantly falls in love with Guinevere. Their affair ultimately proves to be destructive. Lancelot is actually tricked by Elaine of Corbenic and sleeps with her, thinking it is Guinevere. When Guinevere hears of this, she is repulsed and banishes Lancelot. Later, Lancelot returns to assist Arthur in the quest for the Holy Grail. Other characters in Arthurian legend are Merlin and Morgaine. Merlin is sometimes a prophet, sometimes a magician, and always an advisor to King Arthur. Merlin’s earliest character depiction was as a bard driven mad by the terrors of war, who become a â€Å"man of the woods†. However, Geoffrey of Monmouth based his Merlin on Myrddin Wyllt (a prophet and a madman) and Aurelius Ambrosius (a fictional version of the historical war leader Ambrosius Aurelianus. Morgaine (also Morgan le Fay) is a sorceress in Arthurian legend. She is the half-sister of Arthur and the daughter of Igraine. In both The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley) and The Vulgate Cycle (13th century French prose) tell of how Morgaine lives in Avalon (mystical island in Arthurian legend) and trains under Merlin and the Lady of the Lake. Again in the Mists of Avalon, Morgaine is credited with having an unknown affair with Arthur. She gives birth to Mordred, who, in the end, turns out to be the enemy and murderer of King Arthur. In Arthurian Romance, King Arthur’s court is called Camelot. Camelot is where the Knights of the Round Table dwell and it is described as being a utopian land of beauty and peace. Throughout literature, Camelot has been located in many different areas of Britain, giving it no grounded location. An easy way to understand the basic ideology of Camelot, one can compare the presidency of John F.  Kennedy to the term Camelot. His presidency was regarded as a guarantee for a successful future, just like King Arthur gave Britain hope and unification. Kennedy’s assassination is like the fall of Arthur in that both had short lasting but wonderful terms in power that set the bar high for the future. Ultimately, these characters and concepts stem from Medieval life and paint a portrait of what the goals of Middle Age rulers wanted for society at the time. All Arthurian Romance contains the same specific elements: enchantment, quest, conquest, heroic behavior, utopian society, fatal passion and love. These elements, applied with Medieval life and history, equals a solid Arthurian story. The best example of all of these elements is The Crowning of Arthur from Le Morte d’Arthur (Malory, 1065). In the story, Arthur is conceived through the enchantment Merlin uses on Igraine to trick her into thinking Uther Pendragon is her husband, the Duke. Uther, who is fatally in love with Igraine, makes a deal with Merlin in that he will give the child he and Igraine produce to the wizard. Baby Arthur is taken away and grows up with Sir Ector, whom he grows to love as a father. The next part of the story is about the sword in the stone. In the story, â€Å"many of the nobles tried to pull the sword out the stone† (1069), but failed. When Arthur is sent to find Sir Kay (Ector’s son) a sword, he unknowing grabs the legendary sword from the stone and tugs it free without any effort. When Arthur comes back with the famous sword, everyone is in awe and asks him to demonstrate for them that he really pulled it. To their surprise, it is true. They ask Arthur to assume the role of king and he agrees, establishing the utopian court of Camelot. Le Morte d’Arthur is â€Å"the carefully constructed myth of the rise and fall of a powerful kingdom — a legendary kingdom, but perhaps also, obliquely, the real English kingdom which in Malory’s day seemed as surely doomed by its own corruption as the ancient realm of King Arthur† (Cliffs Notes). What this means is that Arthur’s court reflects the realistic courts of actual kings because it eventually falls. The Crowning of Arthur seems naive in that a boy who just so happens to pull a sword from a stone makes him king. In the end, his kingdom falls. Crowning only sets it up. The outcome of the Arthurian Legend is quite similar to the reality of kingdoms in England of the Middle Ages, which proves Arthurian Romance is an accurate portrayal. Another story from Le Morte d’Arthur is called Sir Launcelot du Lake. It is a hectic story about Lancelot’s adventure, kidnapping, and battles with enemy knights. In the story, Lancelot decides he is fed up with his ennui and decides to go out with his nephew, Sir Lyonel. Possibly due to enchantment, Lancelot declares, â€Å"not for seven years have I felt so sleepy† (1074) and he lies down for a nap. When he awakes, he realizes three women have kidnapped him. They tell him he has to pick one of them or face his doom. Lancelot picks his death because his is loyal to his lover, Guinevere. Later, the daughter of King Badgemagus rescues him and in return he gives his services to the king. At the end of the story, Lancelot fights off Kind Badgemagus’ enemies. He displays incredible and fictitious strength when he â€Å"took another spear and unhorsed sixteen more men†¦ King of North Galys’ knight and, with his next, unhorsed another twelve† (1078). This story demonstrates chivalry and heroism, and exaggerates Lancelot’s abilities to fight. Literary critic Charles Moorman says â€Å"much of the Morte d’Arthur is thus concerned with revealing the corrupt reality beneath the fair chivalric surface. † However, Sir Launcelot du Lake contradicts that assumption by merely telling a simple story of a great knight who is loyal to his higher-up and to his lady. The story makes the knights of the Medieval Ages appear to bask in honor, goodness and strength. And in a way, they did in real life. Knights did have a strict code of chivalry as well as total loyalty to their nobles and their lovers. Again, this story gives merit to the fact Arthurian legend portrays Medieval society. The poem The Lady of Shalott by Alfred Lord Tennyson is loose depiction of Arthurian Legend. In the poem, a woman is cursed to live in a tower and watch the world of Camelot from a mirror. â€Å"And moving through a mirror clear; That hangs before her all the year; Shadows of a world appear; There she sees the highway near; Winding down to Camelot† (verses 46 through 50). Then one day she sees Sir Lancelot riding in all his beauty and loveliness, and she decides she wants to leave the tower. The Lady of Shalott â€Å"left the web† (109) and gets into a boat. Unfortunately, she dies and floats on down to Camelot. Muriel Mellown says â€Å"she has chosen contact with Camelot, even at the price of her own destruction. † This quote illustrates that Camelot seemed like such a perfect utopian world that everyone sought its perfection and illustriousness. However, the Lady of Shalott kicks the bucket, similar to the way Camelot eventually falls. All good things never last. Lastly, a more modern and feminist take of Arthurian legend is The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. In Mists, the story of Arthur is told through the worlds of Morgaine, Arthur’s half-sister. In the excerpt read in class, Morgaine and Arthur are children neglected by their parents. Morgaine realizes her role to be Arthur’s protector, even though she feels disdain towards the child at first. When she says, â€Å"Mother’s gone, she’s with the king, but I’ll take care of you, brother,† (1085), Morgaine displays a bond of love towards her little brother. Morgaine is also depicted as a strong feminine character in both this scene and the entire story. Although â€Å"this book†¦ wasn’t so much a retelling of the Arthurian legend but only a bunch of Arthurian characters sitting around arguing about Christianity and Paganism,† (LaShawn), â€Å"Morgaine’s depiction as a powerful, savvy woman shows her to be the type of woman the feminists would champion as a prime example of what women should aspire to be, in spite of the biases still in place against them† (Ellis). Mists shines a new light and a new perspective on the events of the Medieval Ages, specifically the disputes of religion. It also represents how women did have influence over what happened in the kingdoms. In real life, noblewomen did have influence over the decisions their husbands made, though not legally. The Mists of Avalon yet again portrays a factor of the Medieval Ages. When push comes to shove, Arthurian Romance generally is regarded as a tall tale of a lost era. However, the tales depict a clear portrait of Medieval Life. Tragedy, honor, fatal passion and quest all dwell in the Middle Ages and Arthurian Romance. The characters of Arthurian Romance experience the tragedy of life like real life people and Camelot ends up failing, just like many of the empires and kingdoms of the world. The stories represent the dark times of the Medieval Ages and show that nothing is perfect. Therefore, Arthurian Romance is an accurate portrayal of the Medieval Ages.