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What tragedy befell Ann Putnam to make her suspicious of Rebecca Nurse?
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∙ 9y ago
Ann Putnam gave birth to seven children who died, and she believed that they died because of witchcraft. She was jealous and suspicious about the number of healthy children that Rebecca Nurse had.
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What description did the ancient Mariner give as the ship was driven by the storm?
The description given byÊthe ancient Mariner as the ship was driven by storm was that strange thing befell. It was also told that the people in the ship merrily dropped as the ship was harassed by the storm.ÊÊ
What is the title of this poem with this first line With a host of furious fancies whereof I am commander?
In fact, it is the last verse of an anonymous, pre-Shakespearian song. It has eight verses and a chorus: Tom O'Bedlam's Song From the hagg and hungrie goblin That into raggs would rend ye, And the spirit that stands by the naked man In the Book of Moones - defend ye! That of your five sound senses You never be forsaken, Nor wander from your selves with Tom Abroad to beg your bacon. Chorus: While I doe sing "any foode, any feeding, Feedinge, drinke or clothing," Come dame or maid, be not afraid, Poor Tom will injure nothing. Of thirty bare years have I Twice twenty been enraged, And of forty been three times fifteen In durance soundly caged. On the lordly lofts of Bedlam, With stubble soft and dainty, Brave bracelets strong, sweet whips ding-dong, With wholesome hunger plenty. With a thought I took for Maudlin And a cruse of cockle pottage, With a thing thus tall, skie blesse you all, I befell into this dotage. I slept not since the Conquest, Till then I never waked, Till the roguish boy of love where I lay Me found and stript me naked. When I short have shorne my sowre face And swigged my horny barrel, In an oaken inn I pound my skin As a suit of gilt apparel. The moon's my constant Mistrisse, And the lowly owl my morrowe, The flaming Drake and the Nightcrow make Me music to my sorrow. The palsie plagues my pulses When I prigg your pigs or pullen, Your culvers take, or matchless make Your Chanticleers, or sullen. When I want provant, with Humfrie I sup, and when benighted, I repose in Powles with waking souls Yet never am affrighted. I know more than Apollo, For oft, when he lies sleeping I see the stars at bloody wars In the wounded welkin weeping, The moone embrace her shepherd And the queen of Love her warrior, While the first doth horne the star of morne, And the next the heavenly Farrier. The Gipsie Snap and Pedro Are none of Tom's companions. The punk I skorne and the cut purse sworne And the roaring boyes bravadoe. The meek, the white, the gentle, Me handle touch and spare not But those that crosse Tom Rynosseros Do what the panther dare not. With a host of furious fancies Whereof I am commander, With a burning spear and a horse of air, To the wilderness I wander. By a knight of ghostes and shadowes I summon'd am to tourney Ten leagues beyond the wild world's end. Methinks it is no journey.
What are some of Oedipus' and Jocasta's traits?
BackgroundMuch of the myth of Oedipus takes place before the opening scene of the play. In his youth, Laius was a guest of King Pelops of Elis, and became the tutor of Chrysippus, youngest of the king's sons, in chariot racing. He then violated the sacred laws of hospitality by abducting and raping Chrysippus. This cast a doom over him and over his descendants. The protagonist of the tragedy is the son of King Laius and Queen Jocasta of Thebes. After Laius learns from an oracle that "he is doomed/To perish by the hand of his own son," he binds tightly together with a pin the feet of the infant Oedipus and orders Jocasta to kill the infant. Hesitant to do so, she demands a servant to commit the act for her. Instead, the servant abandons the baby in the fields, leaving the baby's fate to the gods. A shepherd rescues the infant and names him Oedipus (or "swollen feet"). Intending to raise the baby himself, but not possessing of the means to do so, the shepherd gives it to a fellow shepherd from a distant land, who spends the summers sharing pastureland with his flocks. The second shepherd carries the baby with him to Corinth, where Oedipus is taken in and raised in the court of the childless KingPolybus of Corinth as if he were his own.As a young man in Corinth, Oedipus hears a rumour that he is not the biological son of Polybus and his wife Merope. When Oedipus calls them out on this, they deny it, but, still suspicious, he asks the Delphic Oracle who his parents really are. The Oracle seems to ignore this question, telling him instead that he is destined to "Mate with [his] own mother, and shed/With [his] own hands the blood of [his] own sire." Desperate to avoid his foretold fate, Oedipus leaves Corinth in the belief that Polybus and Merope are indeed his true parents and that, once away from them, he will never harm them.On the road to Thebes, he meets Laius, his true father. Unaware of each other's identities, they quarrel over whose chariot has right-of-way. King Laius moves to strike the insolent youth with his sceptre, but Oedipus throws him down from the chariot and kills him, thus fulfilling part of the oracle's prophecy. Shortly after, he solves the riddle of the Sphinx, which has baffled many a diviner: "What is the creature that walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three in the evening?"To this Oedipus replies, "Man" (who crawls on all fours as an infant, walks upright later, and needs a walking stick in old age), and the distraught Sphinx throws herself off the cliffside. Oedipus's reward for freeing the kingdom of Thebes from her curse is the kingship and the hand of Queen Dowager Jocasta, his biological mother. The prophecy is thus fulfilled, although none of the main characters know it.The action of the playA priest and the chorus of Thebans arrive at the palace to call upon their King, Oedipus, to aid them with the plague of Apollo ravaging the city. Oedipus had sent his brother-in-law Creon to ask help of the oracle at Delphi, and he returns at that moment. Creon says the plague is the result of religious pollution, caused because the murderer of their former King, Laius, had never been caught. Oedipus vows to find the murderer and curses him for the plague that he has caused. Oedipus summons the blind prophet Tiresias for help. When Tiresias arrives he claims to know the answers to Oedipus's questions, but refuses to speak, instead telling Oedipus to abandon his search. Oedipus is enraged by Tiresias's refusal, and says the prophet must be complicit in the murder. Outraged, Tiresias tells the king that Oedipus himself is the murderer. Oedipus cannot see how this could be, and concludes that the prophet must have been paid off by Creon in an attempt to undermine him. The two argue vehemently and eventually Tiresias leaves, muttering darkly that when the murderer is discovered he shall be a native citizen of Thebes; brother and father to his own children; and son and husband to his own mother.Creon arrives to face Oedipus's accusations. The King demands that Creon be executed, however the chorus convince him to let Creon live. Oedipus's wife Jocasta enters, and attempts to comfort Oedipus, telling him he should take no notice of prophets. Many years ago she and Laius received an oracle which never came true. It was said that Laius would be killed by his own son, but, as all Thebes knows, Laius was killed by bandits at a crossroads on the way to Delphi.The mention of this crossroads causes Oedipus to pause and ask for more details. He asks Jocasta what Laius looked like, and suddenly becomes worried that Tiresias's accusations were true. Oedipus then sends for the one surviving witness of the attack to be brought to the palace from the fields where he now works as a shepherd. Jocasta, confused, asks Oedipus what is the matter, and he tells her.Many years ago, at a banquet in Corinth, a man drunkenly accused Oedipus of not being his father's son. Bothered by the comment Oedipus went to Delphi and asked the oracle about his parentage. Instead of answers he was given a prophecy that he would one day murder his father and sleep with his mother. Upon hearing this he resolved to quit Corinth and never return. While travelling he came to the very crossroads where Laius was killed, and encountered a carriage which attempted to drive him off the road. An argument ensued and Oedipus killed the travellers, including a man who matches Jocasta's description of Laius.Oedipus has hope, however, because the story is that Laius was murdered by several robbers. If the shepherd confirms that Laius was attacked by many men, then Oedipus is in the clear.A man arrives from Corinth with the message that Oedipus's father has died. Oedipus, to the surprise of the messenger, is made ecstatic by this news, for it proves one half of the prophecy false, for now he can never kill his father. However he still fears that he may somehow commit incest with his mother. The messenger, eager to ease Oedipus's mind, tells him not to worry, because Merope the Queen of Corinth was not in fact his real mother.It emerges that this messenger was formerly a shepherd on Mount Cithaeron, and that he was given a baby, which the childless Polybus then adopted. The baby, he says, was given to him by another shepherd from the Laius household, who had been told to get rid of the child. Oedipus asks the chorus if anyone knows who this man was, or where he might be now. They respond that he is the same shepherd who was witness to the murder of Laius, and whom Oedipus had already sent for. Jocasta, who has by now realized the truth, desperately begs Oedipus to stop asking questions, but he refuses and Jocasta runs into the palace.When the shepherd arrives Oedipus questions him, but he begs to be allowed to leave without answering further. Oedipus presses him however, finally threatening him with torture or execution. It emerges that the child he gave away was Laius's own son, and that Jocasta had given the baby to the shepherd to secretly be exposed upon the mountainside. This was done in fear of the prophecy that Jocasta said had never come true: that the child would kill its father.Everything is at last revealed, and Oedipus curses himself and fate before leaving the stage. The chorus laments how even a great man can be felled by fate, and shortly afterwards a servant exits the palace to speak of what has happened inside. When Jocasta entered the house she ran to the palace bedroom and hanged herself there. Shortly afterwards Oedipus enters in a fury, calling on his servants to bring him a sword so that he might kill himself. He then rages through the house until he comes upon Jocasta's body. Giving a cry, Oedipus takes her down and removes the long gold pins that held her dress together, before plunging them into his own eyes in despair.A blind Oedipus now exits the palace and begs to be exiled as soon as possible. Creon enters, saying that Oedipus shall be taken into the house until oracles can be consulted regarding what is best to be done. Oedipus's two daughters (and half-sisters), Antigone and Ismene, are sent out and Oedipus laments that they should be born to such a cursed family. He asks Creon to watch over them and Creon agrees, before sending Oedipus back into the palace.On an empty stage the chorus repeat the common Greek maxim, that no man should be considered fortunate until he is dead.[3]Relationship with the mythic traditionThe two cities of Troy and Thebes were the major focus of Greek epic poetry. The events surrounding the Trojan War were chronicled in the Epic Cycle, of which much remains, and those about Thebes in the Theban Cycle, which have been lost. The Theban Cycle recounted the sequence of tragedies that befell the house of Laius, of which the story of Oedipus is a part.In Homer's Odyssey (XI.271ff.) we get our earliest account of the Oedipus myth when Odysseus encounters Jocasta (named Epicaste) in the underworld. Homer briefly summarises the story of Oedipus, including the incest, patricide, and Jocasta's subsequent suicide. However in the Homeric version Oedipus remains King of Thebes after the revelation and neither blinds himself, nor is sent into exile. In particular, it is said that the gods made the matter known, whilst in Oedipus the King Oedipus very much discovers the truth himself.[4]In 467 BC, Sophocles's fellow tragedian Aeschylus won first prize at the City Dionysia with a trilogy about the House of Laius, comprising Laius, Oedipus and Seven against Thebes (the only play which survives). Since he did not write connected trilogies as Aeschylus did, Oedipus the Kingfocuses on the titular character while hinting at the larger myth obliquely.Themes and motifsFate and free willFate is a theme that often occurs in Greek writing, tragedies in particular. The idea that attempting to avoid an oracle is the very thing which brings it about is a common motif in many Greek myths, and similarities to Oedipus can for example be seen in the myth of the birth of Perseus. Two oracles in particular dominate the plot of Oedipus the King. In lines 711 to 714, Jocasta relates the prophecy that was told to Laius before the birth of Oedipus. Namely:(The oracle) told himthat it was his fate that he should die a victimat the hands of his own son, a son to be bornof Laius and me.The oracle told to Laius tells only of the patricide; the incest is missing. Prompted by Jocasta's recollection, Oedipus reveals the prophecy which caused him to leave Corinth (791-93):that I was fated to lie with my mother,and show to daylight an accursed breedwhich men would not endure, and I was doomedto be murderer of the father that begot me.The implication of Laius's oracle is ambiguous. A prominent school of thought argues that the presentation of Laius's oracle in this play differs from that found in (e.g.) Aeschylus's Oedipus trilogy produced in 467 BC. Helaine Smith argues:Sophocles had the option of making the oracle to Laius conditional (if Laius has a son,that son will kill him) or unconditional (Laius will have a son who will kill him). BothAeschylus and Euripides write plays in which the oracle is conditional; Sophocles...chooses to make Laius's oracle unconditional and thus removes culpability for his sinsfrom Oedipus, for he could not have done other than what he did, no matter what action he took.This interpretation has a long pedigree and several adherents.[5] It finds support in Jocasta's repetition of the oracle at lines 854-55: "Loxias declared that the king should be killed by/ his own son." In the Greek, Jocasta uses the verb chrênai: "to be fated, necessary." This iteration of the oracle seems to suggest that it was unconditional and inevitable. Other scholars have nonetheless argued that Sophocles follows tradition in making Laius's oracle conditional, and thus avoidable. They point to Jocasta's initial disclosure of the oracle at lines 711-14. In the Greek, the oracle cautions: hôs auton hexoi moira pros paidos thanein/ hostis genoit emou te kakeinou para. The two verbs in boldface indicate what is called a "future more vivid" condition: if a child is born to Laius, his fate to be killed by that child will overtake him.[6]Whatever the meaning of Laius's oracle, the one delivered to Oedipus is clearly unconditional. Given our modern conception of fate and fatalism, readers of the play have a tendency to view Oedipus as a mere puppet controlled by greater forces, a man crushed by the gods and fate for no good reason. This, however, is not an entirely accurate reading. While it is a mythological truism that oracles exist to be fulfilled, oracles do not cause the events that lead up to the outcome. In his landmark essay "On Misunderstanding the Oedipus Rex",[7] E.R. Dodds draws a comparison with Jesus's prophecy at the Last Supper that Peter would deny him three times. Jesus knows that Peter will do this, but we as readers would in no way suggest that Peter was a puppet of fate being forced to deny Christ. Free will and predestination are by no means mutually exclusive, and such is theThe oracle delivered to Oedipus what is often called a "self-fulfilling prophecy", in that the prophecy itself sets in motion events that conclude with its own fulfilment.[8] This, however, is not to say that Oedipus is a victim of fate and has no free will. The oracle inspires a series of specific choices, freely made by Oedipus, which lead him to kill his father and marry his mother. Oedipus chooses not to return to Corinth after hearing the oracle, just as he chooses to head toward Thebes, to kill Laius, to marry and to take Jocasta specifically as his bride; in response to the plague at Thebes, he chooses to send Creon to the Oracle for advice and then to follow that advice, initiating the investigation into Laius's murder. None of these choices is predetermined.Another characteristic of oracles in myth is that they are almost always misunderstood by those who hear them; hence Oedipus's misunderstanding the significance of the Delphic Oracle. He visits Delphi to find out who his real parents are and assumes that the Oracle refuses to answer that question, offering instead an unrelated prophecy which forecasts patricide and incest. Oedipus's assumption is incorrect: the Oracle does answer his question. Stated less elliptically, the answer to his question reads thus:Polybus and Merope are not your parents. You will one day kill a man who will turn out to be your real father. The woman you will eventually marry is your real mother case with Oedipus.State controlThe exploration of this theme in Oedipus the King is paralleled by the examination of the conflict between the individual and the state in Antigone. The dilemma that Oedipus faces here is similar to that of the tyrannical Creon: each man has, as king, made a decision that his subjects question or disobey; each king also misconstrues both his own role as a sovereign and the role of the rebel. When informed by the blind prophet Tiresias that religious forces are against him, each king claims that the priest has been corrupted. It is here, however, that their similarities come to an end: while Creon, seeing the havoc he has wreaked, tries to amend his mistakes, Oedipus refuses to listen to anyone.[9] Sight and blindnessLiteral and metaphorical references to eyesight appear throughout Oedipus the King. Clear vision serves as a metaphor for insight and knowledge, but the clear-eyed Oedipus is blind to the truth about his origins and inadvertent crimes. The prophet Tiresias, on the other hand, although literally blind, "sees" the truth and relays what is revealed to him. Only after Oedipus has physically blinded himself does he gain a limited prophetic ability, as seen in Oedipus at Colonus. It is deliberately ironic that the "seer" can "see" better than Oedipus, despite being blind. In one line (Oedipus Rex, 469), Tiresias says: "So, you mock my blindness? Let me tell you this. You [Oedipus] with your precious eyes, you're blind to the corruption of your life..."(Robert Fagles 1984)Uncertainty in InvestigationOedipus comes to the conclusion that he murdered his father and married his mother. While generally viewed as true, recent interpretation suggests this may not be the case. The argument hinges on Oedipus failing to clarify with the shepherd that he was in fact the murderer. (C.D.C. Reeve, 2006)
The last ride together by Robert browning summary?
Robert Browning' s "Last Ride Together" is a monologue of a rejected lover that expresses his undying love for his beloved. The title apparently gives out the notion that this is their last ride together. Nevertheless, what the speaker signifies is that he has lived all his life in this ride, with the all-sufficing splendor of love. The poem echoes the 'carpe diem' motif of seizing the present. He affirms that he is well-acquainted with his past. Even so, hitherto all that his life stood for, comes to naught when it comes to his unrequited love. His love is unselfish and does not avail of anything unreasonable, it is truly blessed with pride and happiness in having the Last ride with her which would endow him with the joy of a lifetime. For this, he would even handover his most priced possession- the hope of love, that inspired him to live on. If gifted with the Ride, he guarantees that he will be content with just the memory of the hope that inspired him to go on.The Lady bent her brows to this entreaty; pity smoothening the pride had filled her dark eyes. The moment of her decision was a crucial point for the poet, as though he hung between life and death; and the colour left his face for a splitting second. However, the positive signal replenishes the blood at once. He is euphoric regarding the prospects of riding with her while the present lasted. And he states that he is deified or exalted for one more day, because one never knows when the world might end.The poet subsequently refers to their physical proximity, implying that the word 'ride' has sexual connotations. The poet informs her that if the she witnesses the Western cloud with its bosom laden with blessings; if she encounters the sun's, moon's and evening stars all at once, it is just because heaven has descended upon them. The poet pleads with her to leave her consciousness aside, and let passion draw her "Cloud, sunset, moonrise, star-shine too, "That they rise above the distinctions of the flesh to a spiritual union. She comes closer to the speaker with mixed emotions of joy and fear.The poet dwells on the significance of the present in the next stanza as he concentrates on the ride. He contemplates on why people attach so much significance to the past and future, than focusing on the present. His soul that was hitherto a long "scramped scroll " smoothens itself out .The metaphor connotes living life to the fullest in elation and ecstasy for the moment. The scroll freshens and flutters in the wind in intense euphoria. Why does one get carried way by past actions:Had I said that, had I done this,So might I gain, so might I miss.Why do people leave room, for doubts, suspicions, failure, misgivings that haunt the present instead of protecting it, and distracting the same. One should breathe each moment as though there is no room for regret. For him at the moment there was no truth save:And here we are riding, she and I.The speaker anticipated no 'real' love from his ladylove. He had failed in word and deeds. He consoles himself that all men do strive for success, but who achieves it? His spirit was still on a high with regard to the present, as they encountered unknown avenues during the course of their ride. The speaker asserts that the "the world rushed by on either side.". That is, the world seemed to rush past because the poet was caught in the moment in slow motion. The world that was caught up in worldly pursuits continued with it, in spite of the failures they encountered. Yet, what compensates them for the petty present is the hopeful future that promises vast opportunities .Likewise, the poet temporarily goes against his own dictum, suddenly wishing that if she would ever love him back. He thus contradicts himself proving that hope is instinctive and universal. It cannot be traded for anything in the world, in spite of ourselves.What hand and brain went ever paired?What heart alike conceived and dared?What act proved all its thought had been?What will but felt the fleshly screen?The poet asserts that the hand(practice) and brain(thought) never went perfectly paired. The heart never dared to give vent to the true emotions that it fostered. No act even could prove the intention behind the same. What hand and brain went ever paired? He deems himself to be in no way lesser to the statesman, soldier, soft, sculptor and musician. In fact, his riding is superior to all the above-said acts.In this second stanza, he compares the Ride to the act of composing poetry. The difference is that the Poet expressed what the normal person felt. The poets idealize certain things and places them in to rhyme, the image and rhyme co-existing side-by-side . However, the speaker quips whether the Poet's own life was as beautiful as he portrayed in poetry. Whether in reality the Poet was stricken with poverty or ailments or old age. It was perhaps his tragedies that contributed to an iota of his sublime.Are you---poor, sick, old ere your time---Nearer one whit your own sublimeThough the speaker prefers the Ride, as the ride entails only joy compared to the poets singing. Ironically the speaker is a Poet himself in reality.The sculptor turns years to lock the beauty of Venus in his artistic creation, but it is of no practical use. The sculptor has devoted years of service to Art.The speaker personifies Art, and sculptor as the slave of Art. All this servility comes to nothing, because a person is more attracted towards domestic reality, his gaze immediately shifts from the statue of Venus to a dame that waddles(fords) through a spring of water(burn).The Sculptor acquiesces, he accepts fate reluctantly but without protest. On the other hand, shouldn't the speaker openly express his discontent? The significance of being a musician also pales in comparison. The musician whiles way his best years in music, while music too has its own fashions and one kind of music may not appeal to another generation. His only reward appears to be praise from a friend. The speaker too has sacrificed his youth, but he rides fine because it endows upon him the bliss of a lifetime.Only God knows what lies in store for us. Had the poet resigned himself to fate, and fate proposed bliss, he would not have found himself in a lofty position.for the poet writes best when he is sad. Nevertheless one has to live a life beyond this 'destined' life ,have his own share of ecstasy. One should descry these hitherto unexplored avenues of bliss. His feet seem to planted on the goal, and glory steady around one's neck in such an instance. Earth being so good, would heaven seem best?: asks the poet in a rhetorical question. He implies that if earth were good as people said it was, then how was it that heaven was the superlative. But now the experience itself has transcended the object and result of the experience as he declares:"Now, heaven and she are beyond this ride."The beloved has not spoken to him, throughout the ride. What if heaven is that life at its fairest and strongest. With the eyes focused towards the first fruition that always imparts unending joy. Being fixed in eternity, one need not be flexible. What if they ride on, old with experience, but ever-new in essence. Altered not in the kind, but in degree: not in quantity but in quality. In such an instance, a single instant is transformed into eternity. And lastly, what if, they could forever 'ride' without worrying about action, intention or inclination.By :Manjesh Kaushik
What personal tragedy befell president Lincoln?
The death of his son Willie in 1862 was surely a personal tragedy.
What does befell?
Befell means happened or occurred or came to pass. A question might be What tragedy befell Edgar Allan Poe when he was two years old? The answer is His mother and father died. The same question could be asked What happened to Edgar Allan when he was two years old? The same answer would be given: His mother and father died.
What does befell mean?
Befell means happened or occurred or came to pass. A question might be What tragedy befell Edgar Allan Poe when he was two years old? The answer is His mother and father died. The same question could be asked What happened to Edgar Allan when he was two years old? The same answer would be given: His mother and father died.
What if a president-elect or vp-elect befell tragedy prior to inauguration?
You would elect a new vp but if it were the president the vp would take his place.
What tragedy befell Dante in the year 1302?
In 1302, Dante was exiled from Florence due to political turmoil between the Black and White Guelphs. This event greatly impacted his life and influenced his later works, such as "The Divine Comedy."
What is befell?
To happen or occur
What tragedy befell the Hindenburg?
The Hindenburg was filled with highly flammable hydrogen gas which ignited as the airship was landing at Lakehurst NJ in 1936. 35 of the 97 passengers and crew, as well as one ground crew worker, were killed in the inferno.
How do you use befell in a sentence?
Many sinister occurrences befell the weary travelers as they made their challenging way through the darkness to the sorcerer's domain.
What is a antonym of befell?
Since befell's definition is for something to happen, the antonym would be something not happening. So antonyms include: clash, deviate, differ, disagree, diverge, mismatch
What is the past tense of befall?
The past tense of befall is befell.
Which was the worst of the calamities that befell Europe in the late middle ages?
The plague
What unique tragedy befell Theodore Roosevelt on St Valentine's Day?
Theodore Rooseveltâ??s wife and mother died on February 14, 1884. The two women died within hours of each other. His mother, Mittie, died from Typhoid Fever and his wife, Alice Lee died from Brightâ??s Disease, a form of kidney failure.
