Back to the Question of Good Models--All's Well That Ends Well -- Mimetic Theory and Literary Study

[ Show ]

Support VoyForums

[ Shrink ]

VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 11:20:07 04/20/08 Sun
Author: Shannon
Subject: Back to the Question of Good Models--All's Well That Ends Well

Harkening back to the beginning of the semester, our reading of Don Quixote and the ponderings on the importance of picking good models which it provoked, a glance through the corpus of Shakespeare points to the same question. Much of the tragedy or mischance seems connected to the key, usually young characters, poor choice in models. Take All's Well That Ends Well for example. Though Bertram (the main character) is encouraged both by his mother and the King to model himself after his dead father in deeds as well as appearences, the young man chooses instead to model himself after Parolles, a disolute bachelor-soldier. thus, Bertram insists on his independence, on the importance of the superficial (namely, Helena's lack of noble blood as a reason not to marry her, rather than judging her by her excellent character)--ultimately jepordizing the very honor he claims to be preserving.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]