The other Essay Outline

Based on The Canterbury Tales, to what extent is Chaucer progressive in his views of the social hierarchy of his time?  Does he ultimately display reverent or irreverent view of this hierarchy?  

Thesis:  Through his characters, Chaucer disguises his progressive views and his irreverent views of the hierarchy.

Paragraph 1: What Chaucer’s progressive views are.

v  Small Complaint about the: going to many places in his time.

v  Goes down the ladder, gets more insulting of people.

§          Miller= steals from people, yet good at his job

§          Merchant=is in debt

§          Doctor=Cheats people with his medicine.

Paragraph 2: How his progressive views intertwine with his reverent views.

·         Chaucer shows the flaws in those higher up, but only mock the morals of the lower classes

o   Squire is a ladies man, but is in gaudy clothes and stays up to late

o   The prioress is fat and a bad eater

o   Pardoner sells pardons by scamming people.

Paragraph 3: Why Chaucer is more outspoken with the lower classes than the upper class

·         Chaucer uses double meaning to portray the knight et. others

Paragraph 4: How Chaucer’s real view is irreverent.

v  Mocks the high class with 

Death Tale Similarities and Differences

The “Pardoner’s Tale” and J.K. Rowling’s three brothers story are similar because both stories encompass three friends/siblings that encounter death and try to overcome it. For instance, in the “Pardoner’s Tale”, the three friends go on a hunt to kill death, but in his place they find gold coin. The friends then kill each other to get the coins all to themselves.  Similarly in J.K. Rowling’s story, the three brothers encounter death when they cheat him by successfully crossing the river and get rewards for doing so. Although both tales have a similar meaning, they vary in actions taken, character personality, as well as the plot. The actions taken by the three brothers vary quite differently from the “Pardoner’s” friends. The brothers were offered gifts from death and set up their own demise by the gift they asked for.  The brothers got a powerful wand, a power to bring the dead back to life, and a cloak to hide from death, but in the pardoner’s tale, the friends saw gold, but did not get gifts. The gifts that the brothers did get both helped and harmed them.  The brother who has the wand was murdered, the zombie guy killed himself and the other brother died of old age. However, in the pardoner’s tale, the friends kill each other, but ultimately in both stories death gets their lives. The character personalities in both stories also vary. The brothers in Rowling’s tale are both greedy and conservative but getting gifts that will help them, but the youngest son also helps his son with his cloak. The friends however, are ruthless in their greed and kill each other for their own fortune. Instead of helping themselves with still keeping their friends alive. The plots, however, are what differ  the most. In both plots, the characters meet death, but in the pardoner’s tale, death is disguised as a human where with the brothers, death is in his true form. Also, death gives the brothers “gifts” which ultimately kills them, where as in the pardoner’s tale the friend kill each other from greed, not from their gifts.   

Beowulf Film Project Group Assessment

In the Beowulf film project, our group had the Grendel and Beowulf fight scene. We parted the actual scene into four major parts: Grendel entering Herot, Grendel eating the Geat and attacking Beowulf, Beowulf fight scene and Grendel running away. To make this scene more authentic, we decided to film Grendel in the first person to emphasize the fact that he is not described in the book and to show the methods of Grendel’s attacks. The main themes that we tried to emphasize were “heroism” when we switched from first person to third person when the fight began to show Beowulf’s dominance, and “art & Beauty” by showing the chapel floors and stained glass window. Some other techniques that we tried to incorporate for cinematography was reflecting Grendel’s arm in Beowulf’s eye which depicted that we all have a monster inside us trying to come out. Also, we included Mise-en scene in our writing. For example, when Grendel first encounters Beowulf, he is “sleeping” and seems like the Danes. However, as he confronts Grendel, Beowulf goes crazy screaming “How many walls will your head go through?” This emphasizes Mise-en Scene because there is a sudden change in the character which is seen through his speech. 

Our Group performed extremely well in making the scene. Sydney worked very hard and diligently to make the Beowulf costume and get fake blood (even though we didn’t use it). Tim and I made lots of efforts to write the script, as well as, Tim and Kwabena learning their lines. For the actual execution of the film, we all knew the locations to film, where to stand (both actors and cameraman), and what our lines were because we had a successful, organized dress rehearsal. All of the members of the group supported each other to the utmost extent by complementing each other and giving advice. Tim and I sent emails back and forth to make a google doc scheduled time to work on the script which made it easier for both of us to work on the script at the same time. Furthermore, all of us kept in touch with each other to make sure that the our individual responsibilities were going smoothly.