The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale written by author Geoffrey Essay

The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale written by author Geoffrey Chaucer - Essay Example He identifies shortcomings in the society in his impeccable style and hits out without hurting. His criticism of that era holds well in the present times. Chaucer’s writing style has a unique, humor-filled double meaning. Here is an example as to how he handles the pair of opposites, traps a negative thought within the positive. He blends his ideas with latent humor. â€Å"She used to weep if she saw a mouse Caught in a trap, if it were dead or bleeding And she had little dogs she would be feeding, With roasted flesh, or milk, or fine white bread, And bitterly she wept if one were dead Or someone took a stick and made it smart, She was all sentiment and tender heart.†(p.7) The female character that defies the established role-model of a woman of the 14th Century: The Wife, for example, is a tough female character but the reader is unable to gauge whether she is feminist or anti-feminist due to the style in which Chaucer deals with her character. This is his unique way o f writing, whether he is making jest or quite serious while highlighting the traits. An author may be crafty, yet one cannot sweep under the carpet one’s own views, while making the characters speak on some issue and Chaucer is no exception to this rule. Chaucer has brought all his administrative experience and his interaction with many types of people in the discharge of his duties in various capacities. Alisoun, the Wife of Bath, is an extraordinary character in medieval literature. She is over-confident and possesses all the negative tendencies like lust, masculine will, and will never allow men to dominate her. She believes that she is the creator of her own destiny. Chaucer gives such a confusing description about her traits, which has set a clash between the scholars whether she is feminist or anti-feminist. Unquestionably, The Canterbury Tales is Chaucer’s masterpiece which he wrote around 1386.The stories in it are told by a group of people on pilgrimage to a h oly shrine in Canterbury. The book begins with the General Prologue, in which pilgrims are introduced with apt descriptions. Lively exchanges between the pilgrims add to the suspense and beauty of the stories. The stories are rendered highly interesting on account of the themes and subjects they tackle, in various literary genres. The Wife of Bath’s Tale a woman-special story, that gives extraordinary insight into the life and passions of a woman in the secular world. Chaucer is at his best in this story and he seems to enjoy the various issues related to women, which he has craftily tackled. Through the twists and turns and witty wordplay, he makes the story highly enjoyable for the reader. Theme--marriage roles and power: In this story Chaucer deals with two important themes relating to women. The first concerns marriage roles and power. The women of this story Alisoun, is aware of the utility of the body for access to power and control over men and to secure financial inde pendence which is an important part of the power of women. She has married not once, twice but five times. Her marriage number one was when she was twelve, to an older man but wealthy. She applied the body advantage principle

Olympic games and Chinese economy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Olympic games and Chinese economy - Essay Example Next year, that distinction belongs to Beijing, an ancient city north of China, which is in the forefront of China's surging economy and the center of its political power. In the history of the Olympic movement, China is only the third Asian country - after Tokyo in 1964 and Seoul in 1986 - to host the prestigious Games. The International Olympic Committee chose Beijing over several other aspirants that included Toronto, Paris, Istanbul, and Osaka. The cities of Bangkok, Cairo, Havana, Kuala Lumpur, and Seville also submitted bids to host the Games, but failed to make the shortlist in 2000. Beijing is the fourth city - after Berlin (1936), Mexico City (1968), and Moscow (1980) -- under authoritarian rule to host the games. Its officials welcome the selection as an opportunity to showcase its newfound economic prosperity and to project a more positive image to the rest of the world. While economists believe Beijing is certain to achieve its grand objective of showcasing its vibrant ec onomy and projecting a more positive image in the eyes of the world, they are in disagreement over the Games' immediate impact on its economy. Soon after the announcement was made on the choice of Beijing as the next Olympic site, (Beijing Olympics 2008) the Chinese government announced that it will earmark $20 billion to modernize the city's infrastructure and facilities to improve its woefully polluted environment in time for the Games. That announcement alone is enough assurance that the Olympic Games is bound to spell a dramatic transformation for Beijing, although this figure has already doubled as of the latest count. It is commonly assumed that the scale of an Olympic event and the scale of the preparations for it will create large and lasting economic benefits to the host city. Economic impact studies confirm these expectations by forecasting economic benefits in the billions of dollars. Goldman Sachs Asia has made one of the more aggressive forecasts, predicting that the Games will increase China's GDP growth by 0.3 per cent annually between 2002 and 2008, citing service sectors such as tourism, transportation, information technology services and logistics as the areas for the greatest growth. On the other hand, JP Morgan said the event would increase GDP by no more than 0.05 per cent per year, a figure that hardly makes a difference in China's impressive double digit annual economic GDP growth. "The divergent views are due to different assumptions," said Huang Yiping, an analyst at Salomon Smith Barney. Those who are unmoved by the Games' economic drawing power claim no evidence of positive economic impacts from mega-sporting events even remotely approaching the estimates in economic impact studies. In a study of the impact of Super Bowls on local economies, (Robert A. Baade and Victor Matheson, 1999) found "no measurable impact on spending associated with the event." Their explanation is that capacity constraints in the hotel industry cause room prices to increase with no change in occupancy rates. Higher rates contribute to the crowding out of regular traffic and net spending in areas other than hotel rooms changes little, if at all. The same report claims that longer term sports programs, usually involving stadium subsidies to attract or keep professional teams, have also failed to deliver on projected economic benefits. Even for cities that usually are considered success stories for sports development strategy, such as Baltimore and