The Woman in Black Essay Example for Free

The Woman in Black Essay No reader of The Woman in Black Can be left in doubt about its conscious evocation of the Gothic. It is full of motifs and effects associated with that genre, How far would you agree with this statement of the novel? I agree undeniably, with the above statement, as the novel is a pastiche of the Victorian/Edwardian ghost story which is a sub-genre of the Gothic. Thus consciously evoking the Gothic. However, it could be argued that Susan Hill at times cleverly manipulates the motifs and effects associated with the Gothic genre. It is theses motifs and effects that are present in the gothic genre, which I will discuss in The Women in Black (1983). I will begin by briefly discussing this essay on the genre itself The Gothic genre is a genre that has been burning artistically for centuries, ever since it was more or less invented by Horace Walpole in the classical gothic novel The Castle of Otranto1765 possessed the indispensable and core elements of this genre, it was set to be a benchmark for following work in this field such as The Woman in White (1860) by Wilkie Collins, The Italian (1797) by Ann Radcliff, The Monk'(1796) by Mathew Lewis and Bram Stokers Dracula (1897). The Women in Black is full of Gothic elements and conventions throughout. The reader at first realises the effectiveness of the first person narrative of the novel; this is delivered by Arthur Kipps the main character of the story. Effectively, the reader gains a first hand insight of thoughts, feelings and emotions of Arthur instantly as they happen. Therefore, slowly but gradually the reader becomes attached to Arthur due to the sense of immediacy that they experience with the unfolding of emotions, thoughts and events when Arthur does. This is initially used in the opening chapter Christmas Eve when Arthur states; I was seized by something I cannot possibly describe, an emotion, a desire- no, it was rather more, a knowledge, a simple certainty, which gripped me, Indisputably, the Christmas Eve opening of The Woman in Black echoes the opening of Henry Jamess Turn of the Screw. It is a convention of the ghost Story were in the festive season people gather by the fire and make up lurid inventions about vampires to even rats and bats. In addition the intertextuality of the novel is emphasised with the striking resemblance between Arthur Kipps and Jonathon Harker in Bram Stokers Dracula (1897). Here both are lawyers and both are very rational which is exemplified when Arthur describes himself as a commonsensical man. Another example of the novels intertextuality is one of the chapters actual name; Oh whistle and Ill come to you which is taken from an M.R. James ghost story. These thoroughly present intertextuality continuously imprints on the reader the elements of the novel, the ghost story. This is also agreed by most Enlish critic like (1)Alan Jones who says; Hills novel also shows an eclectic indebtedness to other text. The referential quality of text like Walpoles The Castle of Otranto or Lewiss The Monk, with their nods in the direction of medieval manuscript, Shakespeare, graveyard poetry and so on, finds full measure in the pages of her text. The first attribute acknowledged by the reader as a common Gothic element is the setting of The Women in Black. overall, there are two main settings of the story, one being Monks Piece where Arthur begins the story of The Women in Black. Initially, Monks Piece is presented as place from out of reach from civilisation, an area of remoteness and isolation, a place really distant. Arthur describes its air of remoteness and isolation which makes us feel ourselves to be much further from civilization. The supernatural or otherwise inexplicable events are a key theme in the Gothic genre and The Woman in Black is no exception. In The Woman in Black is the constant emphasis of man versus nature that is repeated throughout. Susan Hill provides an undetectable malevolent and treacherous force, using nature, whether its a fog, sea-freats or a mist. The ultimate felling of supernatural is without a shadow of doubt, created by the fog, one of Londons deadliest peasoupers. The fog slowly, but gradually constructs the sense of the supernatural by creating an illusion of uncertainty for both Arthur and the reader. This is conveyed when Arthur describes the fog. Fog was out door, hanging over the river, creeping in the and out of alleys and passagessly entrance at every opening of a door. This idea of the fog suggests the fog has become an entity by technique of personification used by Hill. This projects the idea that the fog is more than a fog. In that way it is given a beastly presentation especially by the use of the simile like a furred beast. The distinct description of the fog provokes the inevitable thought of the supernatural with its ever-present malevolent force. This idea of the isolation and remoteness is often used in the Gothic. It gives a clear sense of eeriness and vulnerability about Monks Piece. This is the setting were Arthur begins his ghostly narrative in an attempt to Exorcise the haunting of his past. This brings to mind the idea that when Arthur dies, his accounts of events would be found by someone else like the traditional manuscript found by Jonathon Harker in Bram Stokers Dracula. The other main setting of the novel is Eel Marsh House. In comparison with Monks piece, Eel Marsh House has an air of strange sensation, an excitement mingled with alarm. Eel Marsh House is projected as a place that will have you startled with excitement but also vividly perceptive at the same time. This is illustrated in the description when Arthur initially sets eyes on Eel Marsh House by saying; it was a tall, gaunt house that is isolated and uncompromising but also on the other hand Handsome. Nevertheless, Eel Marsh house is so indistinguishable of Monks Piece in the sense of the sheer solitude and loneliness about the place. However, unlike Monks Piece there is evil with a touch of wickedness about Eel Marsh House, this illustrates that Eel Marsh House is an updating of the Gothic castle. It is this Gothic aura that seems to be seducing Arthur. This idea can be unmistakably recognised when Arthur mentions that; I was aware of a heightened of every one of my senses, and Conscious that this extraordinary place was imprinting itself on my mind and deep on my imagination too This cleverly hints the supernatural force that seems to be enveloping itself around Arthur, inevitably, he appears to be addicted to the place and not discouraged by eeriness incorporated by the satanic sea vultures and by the bleakness that is being hurled by the small burial ground near Eel Marsh house which is typical Gothic iconography. This is further emphasised by the condition of the decayed gravestone with patches of greenish-yellow lichen and moss. Moreover, its the indecipherable dates and names on the Drablows graveyard that create mystery, just like how the novels time period and place of setting is left ambiguous. An atmosphere of mystery and suspense is another key Gothic element in the gothic genre and The Woman in Black is no different. The presentation of London in A London Particular establishes the mystery and mood of the novel. The city is presented as dark, evil-smelling, with a foul gloom atmosphere, when these carefully constructed metaphors and adjectives bind, they do paint a vivid image for the reader. In addition, the true sense of mystery and suspense is cemented by the introduction of Jennet Humfrye the Woman in Black herself. At the funeral of Mrs. Drablow, she is described as a woman with some terrible wasting disease a woman with skin that is tautly stretched and strikingly, a woman only a short time away from her own death. This description deployed by Hill illustrates that this is no ordinary woman and inhuman in some sort even to the extent that she is a walking corpse, a curse on Crythin Gifford. Therefore, Hill sustains the key Gothic theme of death and curse in the novel. The novel itself is built around the mystery of the woman and the tragic death of her child. This unravels that Jennets separated from her son because of the social stigma associated with children being born out of wedlock. This is heightened by the inexplicable behaviour of the Woman in Black and more effectively the reaction of those who see and hear of her presence. This is conveyed to the reader when Arthur says I had never in my life been so possessed by it, never known my knees to tremble And my flesh to creep, and then to turn cold as stone. The absolute fear here is over-ridden by the total danger which she has caused him. This utter tantrum is fuelled by the unexplainable event of disappearance by the wasted woman. This high, even overwrought emotion is common in most Gothic novels; it clearly portrays the feeling of impending doom being experience by the character, in this case, Arthur when he is in intense fear and sense of shock as he witnessed the vanishing of The Woman in Black. It is clear that Susan Hill effectively deploys the basics of gothic elements of gothic fiction. However, these elements are altered to appeal to a more modern audience in the case the castle. Therefore it can be said that Eel Marsh House is an updating of the Gothic Castle. Hill effectively sustains her Gothic genre of Gothic horror of contracting the soul, freezing the faculties and nearly annihilating them. This is apparent in The Woman in The Black several times with excessive examples of Arthur and even other characters including Mr. Jerome, when he is in shock, paralysed by fear of the Woman in Black; Mr. Jerome grabbed my wrist and held it in an agonizingly tight grip or collapse with some kind of seizure. Or even more effectively when the sense of danger and horror is built up using Arthurs companion dog Spider, who becomes accustomed to the threat present; Every her of her body was on end, her ears were pricked, her tail erect, the whole of her tense, as if ready to spring This form of reaction defines gothic horror capturing the idea developed by Ann Radcliffe. Another Victorian/Edwardian convention of ghost stories that cements the pastiches of the novel is how the setting is kept ambiguous. This is shown when Mr Bentley sends Arthur to Eel Marsh in-shire? to represent the firm at Mrs Drablows funeral. Moreover, the context of the novel is kept unclear, because the story could be taking place after the First World War or more likely in the Edwardian period due to the lack of cars present and more significantly to the continuous appearances of a pony and trap in the novel as a leitmotif. Overall, Susan hill captures the mood of the Gothic genre and specially the sub-genre the ghost story. Hill shows a great variety of traditional gothic elements with a blend of originality and innovation by overturning the readers expectation of the genre inconsistently within the novel. In the woman in black the oppressor is a woman and the victim is a man, Arthur, threatened by a powerful, impulsive and a tyramical female, where on the other hand most gothic genre have a woman as a victim. Nevertheless, this ingenious thesis by Hill is a pleasant one because undoubtedly the novel is unpredictable while still consciously evoking the gothic.

Magic in The Descent of Innana and Sappho Essay -- Descent Innana Sapp

Magic in The Descent of Innana and Sappho In the ancient text The Descent of Innana and the lyric poetry of Sappho, language is viewed as magic. Not only are the words themselves acting as magic, as in an invocation, but other things manifest themselves as magic throughout the works. The most common throughout the works of Sappho is that of love. Sappho also shows us the magic of everyday life in many of her poems. Finally, the writing down of the works performs a magic all of its own; the magic of continuation. Through the writing of their works the story of Innana and the poetry of Sappho will live on forever. The most obvious use of language as magic is in The Descent of Innana. This text is actually all about language as magic. It originated as a ritual that was reenacted along with group participation as part of a religion. Innana is the earth goddess and in this ritual the story of the past is invoked to reproduce the happenings in it and guarantee the passing of one season to the next. The words also held the power to unite people in the cause. At certain times, the priestess would say a line such as â€Å"my lady abandoned heaven, abandoned earth, to the nether world she descended. Innana abandoned heaven, abandoned earth, to the nether world she descended. Abandoned lordship, abandoned ladyship, to the nether world she descended (Descent 790)†, the audience would have chimed in on the repetitive parts of the lines. It is also possible that, due to the repetitive nature of the ritual, people memorized the ritual and would recite along with the priestess. This s hows how the ancient people bound themselves together through language, they had a common ritual, which they took part in and knew the... ...s could also have eternal life. This is another way that these works are sacred magic. The Descent of Innana is one of the first written pieces of literature we have. Sappho is one of the earliest lyric poets that we have a record of. These works are an example of the idea of the magic of writing itself coming to life. The idea that something can be written down and outlast the writer is truly something the Greeks would have held as magical. As you can see, the writing of ancient Greeks shows sacred magic in many ways. There is magic in it’s most literal form in the ritual of The Descent of Innana. Magic also manifests itself within these texts. There is magic in love, everyday life, and in the writing of these texts, which brings about eternal life. Seen in this way, it is easy to see why people would agree that these texts hold sacred magic.

Reasons to Support and Reasons to Oppose Ecotourism Essay

Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving visiting pristine, fragile, and relatively undisturbed natural areas, purposed as a low- impact and small scale alternative to commercial tourism, which contributes towards both environmental and socioeconomic benefits. Ecotourism travel has significantly caught the attention of various individuals recently. There are a number of reasons supporting ecotourism and there are a number of reasons opposing ecotourism. Ecotourism invented to help conserving the natural environment, it also helps improving the cultural, economical and social situations of the developing countries. At the same time, it can also possibly leads to a destruction of natural habitats, it can be prejudicial as well as damaging the local communities. The reason opposes ecotourism is that ecotourism will cause the destruction of the ecosystem. Tourists would scare the animals in areas where animals live, such as woodland areas. Those animals live in the forest are wild, they are not tame, and may pose a danger to tourists. The presence of tourists will cause stress to the wild animals since they are not used to live together with humans. If those tourists are carrying food and try to feed them, over a period of time, the survival ability of those animals would decline and it is bad to them. On Mexico’s Pacific coast, bright lights from beachfront hotels disorient female sea turtles coming ashore to lay eggs, often preventing successful reproduction (Eco-tourism: Encouraging Conservation or Adding to Exploitation?;pg.2). If you have ever been to any national parks, you will know that the parks are very big and there are at least a few pieces of rubbish in different places. Examples of that include the large-scale habitat transformation to enhance ecotourism experience in Malaysia, track erosion in Costa Rican National Parks and severe pollution by garbage at certain points in the Himalayas in Nepal (The role of ecotourism in conservation: panacea or Pandora’s box?; pg. 592). There are many park rangers to manage the parks, but it is still difficult to find every single piece of rubbish in the parks. The rubbish can be harmful to the natural environments and animals, especially the plastic trash, for example plastic bottles and plastic bags which cannot be decomposed in a short period. The first reason to support ecotourism is that countries can receive the economic gain from developing ecotourism, especially for those developing countries. Tourism in general created only between 0.5 and 13.5%of the GDP for some developed countries (The role of ecotourism in conservation: panacea or Pandora’s box?; pg. 584), it’s because the developed countries concentrate in financial industry and the real estate industry. But for the developing countries, it could generate huge revenue, for example, hotel revenue, sites entrance fee, tax revenue etc. Goodwin (1996) predicted the revenue created by ecotourism and environmentally sensitive tourism to be 50 billion and 300 billion US$ in the year 2000, respectively (The role of ecotourism in conservation: panacea or Pandora’s box?; pg. 580). It can also generate foreign currencies for their economic development. Ecotourism can also generate employment opportunities for the local communities, they can have more type of work to choose. In Bhutan, ecotourism plays an important role in generating employment opportunities, because there are 80 % of people work in agricultural sector, but conservative figures by the Tourism Council of Bhutan estimate tourism’s contribution to GDP at US$90 million in 2010, and there are now 21,000people employed directly and indirectly in tourism (Bhutan, A Model for Sustainable Tourism Development; pg. 15). The living standard of the local people is increased and compare to the extractive uses of land that ecotourism is more sustainable that locals could gain the long term income. Another reason is, to the developed and developing countries, many of the lands have ecological value for economic development. Developing ecotourism can make the sites protected well because it can generate foreign currency which provides a strong incentive to the government to conserve the sites. The governments will protect the sites for sustainable development but not destroying it, for example hiring park rangers to manage the sites. Also they will promote sites protection to the local resident, since they may not notice about the place they live now is that beautiful and need to conserve it, develop ecotourism can increase their awareness on protecting the sites. Since sustainable development is important to the sites, the government will improve the maintenance of the sites and have a good management. The last reason is ecotourism can increase sense of mission among tourists on nature and tourists can benefit from the local cultures. They can gain more knowledge about the nature since they can experience that directly. Local residents can benefit from the environmental education ecotourism provides. Honduran schoolchildren from the capital city of Tegucigalpa are routinely taken to visit the La Tigra cloud forest visitor center, to learn about the intricacies of the rainforests (Eco-tourism: Encouraging Conservation or Adding to Exploitation? ;pg.2). Tourist always like shopping while traveling, ecotourism can let them have more interaction with the nature, local residents and have a relaxing time, not just shopping but also enjoy the natural environment and try to travel on foot. Tourists are able to have an opportunity benefit from local cultures and understand the country more deeply. Some countries will promote that supporting local cultures by eating foods which are locally grown, having lunch in local-owned restaurants, taking part in their traditional activities, buying food at stores. The rise of interest in ecotourism is beneficial to many aspects, the government can achieve economic gains, and the local communities have a higher income. Also, it is beneficial to the ecotourism sites that the sites can be protected well and beneficial to the tourists that they can gain more knowledge about the nature. Although ecotourism may cause some habitat alterations and pollute the area, it can still be balanced between sustainable development and economic development if it is managed well and can be developed in more and more countries. So the advantages of development of ecotourism outweigh the disadvantages. It can also conserve the environment, which is good to all of us.

Providing For Homeland Security During The United States

Providing for homeland security in the United States requires protection from a diverse set of threats. One prominent avenue of attack is via maritime routes, yet the nature of the coastal marine space makes it extremely difficult to detect and intercept smuggling vessels. Many sensing technologies exist for detection of seacraft, but there are few options for deployment of these sensors. Currently, such sensors are deployed on various manned vessels, tethered buoys, and aircraft. Development and testing of purpose built anti-submarine systems such as DARPA’s ASW Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV) (more colorfully known as the â€Å"ghost hunter†), is underway but suffers from high cost. The coastal marine space surrounding the United States is vast. Poor access to supporting resources such as fuel or communications, means manned patrol vessels face challenges with monitoring resolution, mission endurance, crew comfort, and information relay. A combination of low cost autonomous vessels and buoys, both at the surface and underwater, can help mitigate these issues. However, existing systems have varying capabilities that make each suited to particular types of tasks. Background While smuggling via watercraft goes back thousands of years, only recently have smugglers used submarine and low radar profile watercraft. The interception of the first submarine smuggling narcotics in 2006 proved that intruding vessels are a real threat. 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