Chaucers Canterbury Tales - Anti-Feminist Beliefs in Millers Tale and

Anti-Feminist Beliefs in The Miller's Tale and The Wife of Bath's Tale    The Miller's Tale and The Wife of Bath's Tale feature two characters that, though they may appear to be different, are actually very similar. They both seem to confirm the anti-feminine beliefs that existed at the time Chaucer wrote his Canterbury Tales. However, they go about it in different ways. Alison, the woman in The Miller's Tale, tries to hide the fact that she has a passion for men other than her husband, and keep her position as an upstanding citizen intact. The Wife of Bath, meanwhile, has no qualms about displaying herself as she really is. She is not ashamed of the fact she has married five times, and is about to marry again. She hides nothing. While Alison differs from the Wife of Bath in appearance and the way she conducts herself in public, inside they are more alike than Alison would probably care to admit. At the beginning of The Miller's Tale, there is a rather lengthy description of Alison's appearance. She looks beautiful from the outside, true, but throughout the description, Chaucer drops little hints that things are not always what they seem. At the very beginning of his description, he compares her body to that of a weasel's ["Fair was this younge wif, and therwithal As any wesele hir body gent and smal." (Miller 103)], and, since a weasel is not one of the more favorable animals to be compared with, he immediately, albeit subtlely, implies that Alison is not as decent as she would have people believe. Chaucer continues in his ostensibly favorable description of Alison, but concludes the paragraph by implying that Alison would have little qualms about sleeping with a man other than her husband ["She was a primerole, a pigge... ...Miller's Tale, it is uncertain whether the Wife of Bath would applaud the fact that Alison got herself out of a jam, or would chide Alison for hiding her true colors. What is certain, though, is that Alison and the Wife of Bath are really two very similar characters. They just have different ways of expressing their similarity.    Works Cited and Consulted Chaucer, Geoffrey. "The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale," The Riverside Chaucer. Gen. Ed. Larry D. Benson. Third Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1987. 105-22. Evans, Joan. The Flowing Middle Ages. New York: McGraw Hill Book Company, 1966. Hallida, I.E. Chaucer and His World. New York: Viking Press, 1968. Fuller, Maurice. Chaucer and His England. Williamstown: Corner House Publishers, 1976. Williams, David. The Canterbury Tales, A Literary Pilgrimage. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1987.

Expository Essay Sara worst fear

I have many fears but my worst fear is the dark. There are many things about the dark that scare me. It feels like all of sudden something is going to pop out of somewhere. What if there's a hole or something in front of me and fall. What if can't see my way out and I'm trapped in the dark forever. One reason that am so afraid of the dark is that sometimes I feel like something is about to jump out somewhere. Don't know if anything is really there because I can't see.Something could be hiding behind something and I wouldn't even know. When it's dark I begin to wonder if ghosts are really real. If something were to jump out at me it could hurt me or just scare me really bad. I would want to get out of the dark alive. Another reason is that I'm afraid of not knowing where I am going. I would probably fall or bump into something. I might even run into something painful. If something bad happened to me wouldn't know where to get help unless someone was with me.I am also afraid that I wo n't be able to find my out of the darkness. I couldn't see if I'm near the exit or not. Would probably go the wrong way. I definitely wouldn't want to stay in the dark forever. I would get scared just sitting there. In conclusion, I can't stay in the dark for more than 5 seconds. I start thinking about things jumping out from behind things, afraid that I'll fall or bump into something, and not be able to find my way out.

The Controversy over the Death Penalty Essay - 2481 Words

The Controversy over the Death Penalty HE STOOD AT THE THRESHOLD OF THE EXECUTION chamber in Huntsville, Texas,18 minutes from death by lethal injection, when official word finally came that the needle wouldnt be needed that day The rumors of a 30day reprieve were true. Ricky McGinn, a 43-year-old mechanic found guilty of raping and killing his 12-yearold stepdaughter, will get his chance to prove his innocence with advanced DNA testing that hadnt been available at the time of his 1994 conviction. The double cheeseburger, french fries and Dr Pepper he requested for dinner last Thursday night wont be his last meal after all. Another galvanizing moment in the long-running debate over capital punishment: last week Gov. George†¦show more content†¦Because Texas provides only $ 2,500 for investigators and expert witnesses in death-penalty appeals (enough for one days work, if that), it took an unpaid investigator from out of state, Tina Church, to getthe ball rolling. After NEWSWEEK shone a light on the then obscure case (A Life or Death Gamble, May 29), Scheck and the A-team of the Texas defense bar joined the appeal with a well-crafted brief to the trial court. When the local judge surprised observers by recommending that the testing be done, it caught Bushs attention. The hard-line higher state court and board of pardons both said no to the DNA testswith no public explanation. This time, though, the eyes of the nation were on Texas, and Bush stepped in. But what about the hundreds of other capital cases that unfold far from the glare of a presidential campaign? As science sprints ahead of the law, assembly-line executions are making even supporters of the death penalty increasingly uneasy. McGinns execution would have been the fifth in two weeks in Texas, the 132d on Bushs watch. Is that pace too fast? We now know that prosecutorial mistakes are not as rare as once assumed; competent counsel not as common. 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