The Duchess (2008)

An interesting thing of this peculiar woman is that she is the predecessor of Diana of Wales.

Analysis:

We could make a film analysis but in my opinion it’s better to contrast the life of the real Georgina and the life of the fiction one.

Born the 7 of June of 1757, she was the first wife of the duke of Cavendish, and she had been recognise by his beauty and her ability of became friend of important figures and people of her time. In fact she becomes a very important woman in politics.

She married on 1774, before reaching 17 years she get married with the duke of Cavendish as I said before, and because of that she was victim of the aristocratic world, because at that time, woman were value by their fertility capacity, and it’s true that Georgina had many miscarriages before having 2 daughters and this fact got mad the duke because he wanted a baron not a female. This set of facts, made Georgina had many diseases such as anorexia and alcoholism.

Also we can mention that she has a very active sexual life: She had many lovers such as Charles Grey, a young man who had a daughter with our protagonist (The name of this illegitimate daughter was Eliza Courtney)

To finally her life, we can say that she was a compulsive gambler, and she died with many liabilities (This can be saw in the film many times)  

The Rape of the Lock- Analisys and Summary.

Let´s start talking about the author, Alexander Pope: He was born in London in 1688. Because he was a Roman Catholic living in a predominately Protestant society, he was largely excluded from the university system and therefore was self-taught, for the most part. At the age of twelve, he contracted tuberculosis, a disease that left him stunted and misshapen. Consequently, he suffered a great deal of emotional trauma and social anxiety. His only tool for interaction was his incredible wit and talent for writing. He soon formed a number of lifelong friendships in London's prestigious literary circles, and found his happiness there. Pope is probably the most famous writer from the Age of Reason, and his works are the most widely studied form this time period today.

Now we shall make a small analisys of Canto I, inside this interesting book: In the opening of the book, Pope show us that the poem has a mock-heroic tone. In the tradition of epic poetry, Pope opens the poem by invoking a muse, but rather than invoke one of the mythic Greek muses, Pope leaves the muse anonymous and instead dedicates the poem to John Caryll, the man who commissioned the poem. The first verse-paragraph also introduces Pope’s epic subject matter: a war arising from “amorous causes”

The second verse-paragraph encapsulates Pope’s subversion of the epic genre. The irony of pairing epic characteristics with lowly human characters contributes to Pope’s mock-heroic style. poem. Rather than distinguish the subjects of the poem as in a traditional epic, Pope uses the mock-heroic genre to elevate and ridicule his subjects simultaneously, creating a satire that chides society for its misplaced values and emphasis on trivial matters.

We can summaryze the firts Canto as a exploration of the role of the coquette. Pope demonstrates that womanly priorities are limited to personal pleasures and social aspirations.

And finally my friends, let´s do a small summary as the point of view a reader: The action of this fragment begins with the rising sun awakening the residents of a wealthy household. Though everyone, including the lapdogs, has risen, Belinda remains asleep. She dreams of a handsome youth who informs her that she is protected by a “thousand bright inhabitants of air:” spirits that were once human women who now protect virgins. The youth explains that after a woman dies, her spirit returns to elemental form; namely, to fire, water, earth, and air. Each element is characterized by different types of women. Termagants or scolds become fire spirits or Salamanders. Indecisive women become water spirits. Prudes or women who delight in rejecting men become Gnomes (earth spirits). Coquettes become Sylphs (air spirits).The dream is sent to Belinda by Ariel, “her guardian Sylph”
At the end of the dream, Ariel warns Belinda of an impending “dread event,” urging her to “Beware of all, but most beware of Man”. Belinda is then awoken by her dog, Shock.
Well, if you find my analisys quite long and boring, don´t worry you can also see this intesting video-analisys in You Tube.

Slavery in North America

Let´s start with a definition of the slavery:

A slave is someone who is owned by another person.

A slave has:

No choice

No freedom                                                                  

No money

A slave has to do what is asked of him by his master, usually this is work of some kind. Slaves are punished for not following their master's orders, working too slowly, or attempting to runaway. When we think of slavery today we think of the black Africans who were captured, sold into slavery and taken to the Americas to work on the plantations there. 

Slavery, as an institution, has a very long history. Indeed slaves were used to build the pyramids by the ancient Egyptians, by the Romans and by the Ancient Britons. Slavery was abolished in Britain in 1807.  

     Now, let´s talk about Slavery in North America:

Africans sold as slaves in the Americas had to rely on their owners providing them with housing or building materials, pots and pans for cooking and eating, food and clothing. Many slaves did the best they could with what they were given. Most did not dare complain for fear of receiving a whipping or worse punishment. They had no money, so they couldn´t rent a normal house and they had to live in very small houses in inhuman conditions. Usually, slaves were allocated an area of the plantation for their living quarters. On some plantations the owners would provide the slaves with housing, on others the slaves had to build their own homes. Slaves that had to build their own houses tended to make them like the houses they had had in Africa and they all had thatched roofs. Living conditions were cramped with sometimes as many as ten people sharing a hut.

Indeed, they had little in the way of furniture and their beds usually made of straw or old rags. 

Slaves who worked in the plantation house generally had slightly better housing nearer to the house and were given better food and clothing than those slaves that worked in the fields. 

As slaves, they had to eat pots and pans, but more often they had to make their own. The long hours they had to work in the fields meant that they had little free time for making things to improve their living conditions. Some slaves used a hollowed out pumpkin shell called a calabash, to cook their food in. 

     We can resume all this facts in this interesting you tube video which I found appropriate, please enjoy it.