Boccaccio

After the Black Plague it had become more frequent to make a satire of the Roman Catholic Church along with their priests, and religious beliefs; as we can see evidenced in The Decameron by Boccaccio’s use of them as a sort of comedy relief throughout the story. There is also a huge sense of the time periods sense of number related mystical ideas, such as some believe that the seven young women are meant to represent the Four Cardinal Virtues and that the three men are to represent the classic divisions of the Soul. Boccaccio himself even reveals this saying that each name is chosen as “appropriate to the qualities of each”. Giovanni I believe wanted to make somewhat a satire of the current time and what was going on. He wanted to make aware what was going on in that day in time that many people could have been blind to or just didn’t realize. I do find it interesting that many of the plots Boccaccio uses in his stories are actually borrowed from other major stories.

As far as the correctness to leave those who are plagued and establish myself in my own kingdom I would have to say no. During the black plague Christians made a huge influence by not moving away from the cities but rather some actually moving into to cities to take care of the dying. The humanistic view would say look out for yourself and move away. However the action of not moving away but reaching out I believe is the correct one although sadly enough I do not believe exist in many Christians or churches even today.

De Montaigne

Montaigne’s essays covered a broad number of issues His goal was to describe man purely and holistically. He believes that the diversity, unpredictability, and instability to be some of human natures most basic components. Some of the things he describes himself as to back this up is his poor memory, his ability to solve problems and mediate conflicts without getting emotionally involved. He also expresses hate for mans pursuit of selfish fame and his attempts to remove himself from worldly things and for different religious conflicts of his time. Montaigne believes that man cannot reach any degree of certainty.

Montaigne’s view of humanity is not really new to any degree. Even as Christians we believe in the depravity of man, the holistic sinfulness and impossibility of reaching perfection. He describes many of the aspects of mankind that the Bible itself alludes to or points out directly. He obviously expresses some of these through his life and different experiences however the underlying principles are the same.

There are some thing that makes Montaigne different than writers of his time however many of his views can be seen in writers such as Erasmus and Thomas More who were authors and wrote on these same things some fifty years before Montaigne.

Machiavelli

Machiavelli’s view on human nature actually seems to not be in line at all with humanist views. He believed that morality was not necessary in order to promote an effectively governed state. His view is that ultimately man possess both good and bad qualities but that man will ultimately lean more toward his own self interest and thus man is a “fickle creature”. These views influence his political theories: Machiavelli’s view of human nature do in fact greatly influences his view of government. Machiavelli writes, “that man has qualities that will bring him either praise or blame” and because a prince is a man; therefore, he will also exhibit these qualities. A prince should put his good qualities on public display and be clever enough to hide his immoral failings from his subjects; but, if these vices are necessary to maintain his state, he should embrace them; because this appearance of a strong state by his subjects gives them a false sense of security.”

As far as implementing some of his views into our current Democracy I am not so sure about. The wonderful thing about our current set up is that it is based on a system whose goal is equality. Although the reality is that this is not always the case having the established goal for this does more for our success as a country than would one in which everyone is focused primarily on themselves and their own wellbeing. In our current politics there is not much sense of morality however there is at least at some extent a sense that morality is required.

Machiavelli for the most part cast aside any moral obligation for governtments. That it is more important for the government to be feared than liked. This seems to be the thinking of some great politicians such as Hitler, Mussalini and the list could go on. There is a moral obligation to governments and there must be in order for their to be as much peace as possible. When you cast aside moral obligation there are no longer bounds to what the government can and cannot do.

Don Quixote

Imagination I believe is a development of fantasy; it is in fact based upon the ability to discern between the two. Imagination is based on events or experiences that have in fact happened in the past therefore the very foundation of imagination is based in sensorial experiences where as fantasy crosses over into the area of things which have never happened before. Where as imagination is the ability to picture things or to re experience things after the fact of them happening and even at times using these as a basis, create new experiences.

It becomes dangerous and bad to operate in either imagination and fantasy only when these become your defined reality. There is safety in understanding where the line between reality and these two are. However things can go awry when this line becomes skewed even as we see in Don Quixote. His line becomes practically non-existent and leads to bad situations and even death in one instance.


It is extremely subjective to place a boundary on peoples imagination in order to keep them from loosing a grasp on reality. Each person is obviously going to be completely different. For some their escape is creativity whether it be writing etc. The greatest guard I could see is not isolating themselves because this allows for constant interaction with others and keeps the realms separated.


Most if not all of Don Quixote was fantasy. He was living in a world that did not exist as he saw it. There was a little foundation for what he saw from the books he read but soon he began to not only relive the adventures he read about but began to create his own within his mind which lead to his troubles. Imagination can only really be seen (based on the definition above) from the fact that many things he saw and thought were somewhat based on the books he was reading.

Sir Gawian

The Green Knight is obviously a supernatural creature. These characteristics are portrayed in such things as his ability to survive decapitation or just the fact that he is green to begin with. It may be that Green Knight is a purposeful contrast between the Green Knight and the Court of Arthur. The Green Knight represents something which is untamed and wild while the Court represents order and regulation.

The world and culture in which this story is written is ruled by chivalry. It is chivalry that has influenced the values of Sir Gawain and ultimately determined his actions. Many of the values within chivalry are derived from some of the basic Christian concepts and views on morality. These are best represented in his shield with the pentangle symbol. The poem itself takes on the issue not only whether or not Sir Gawains’ character can thrive but if the character itself can thrive it its current day world.

There are a few motifs used throughout the play. One being the seasons throughout the story which at times change according to Gawain’s psychological state at that time. The other one is the contrast between games and tests as seen when the Green Knight first enters the court. Some think he has come as a signal to the start of games however he is there for to test a persons inner worth.

Everyman

Everyman is placed within the category of a morality play. The morality plays were popular during the late medieval period. These plays were highly popular especially by church and even governmental authorities because they taught moral values through the avenue of drama. Everyman was the perfect fit for a morality play, teaching basic moral and social values that would have been accepted and encouraged by the authorities and people of that time. The topic of "man summoned by death" would have been very commonplace during this time period. The world at that time was used to plagues, famines, war and so this theme would have been very familiar to many of the people if not the entirety.

Very similar to “The Pilgrims Progress”, not only would have this play applied to that current day people and culture but it can even now apply today. Although the story can be considered a little antiquated the general principles that are implied and stated are relevant now. Man still faces death in many different ways, perhaps not plagues as the bubonic one during that time, but we face an uneasy time with such things as terrorism, common day crime and so on. The issue that one day we will all face death is an issue that will not change with culture and time. The one Biblical truth that stands out in this story is the issue of man eventually facing death and his so called “journey” in order to be ready to face death.

Medieval Women

There was a major rift between the views which was held of men and of women at this time. Women were revealed as people who were driven by emotion, the opposite of the “intellectual, reasoning” masculine character. The overall view was that women were to be looked down on. Men were held to a much higher esteemed role both in relationships and in the world’s culture. Women were inferior to men and any marriages purpose was solely for the man to obtain an heir. Although some authors argued for women, that they were mistreated the over all consensus was that women’s roles in society was that of the weaker sex.