Comparing The Bible & Milton's Paradise Lost Essay

Comparing The Bible & Milton's Paradise Lost - Essay Example This inclination to religious themes was manifested in his works prior to Paradise Lost. Some of these works are On the Morning of Christs Nativity, The Passion, and Upon the Circumcision (Luxon). This religious disposition displayed in his works continued after Paradise Lost was published; two examples of his works are Paradise Regained, and Samson Agonistes (Luxon). But among his literary works with religious themes, the best one would be his epic masterpiece, Paradise Lost. However, it would be objectionable to call Milton’s Paradise Lost to be the greatest literary work or the greatest epic of all time. For one, Paradise Lost may be in some way, a copy of the accounts of Moses about man’s first offense against God. The plot from the Bible was adapted in poetry form but Milton intricately laced the story with descriptive details that even include dialogues between Satan and the other rebel angels; narrations about the origin of the world by an angel named Raphael; and conversations between Adam and Eve. Another reason would be its similarities with the early epics Aeneid by Virgil and Iliad by Homer. Paradise Lost is analogous to Virgil’s Aeneid and Homer’s Iliad mainly because of their similarities in their source of inspiration. Other noticeable similarities would be on the plot, the characters involved and the relationships of the characters to each other in the three epics. Before giving further details about Paradise Lost’s similarities with the other two epics, it would be best to know beforehand Milton’s literary basis in writing Paradise Lost and that would be the Bible. The fall of man as accounted in Paradise Lost has some similarities and differences from the Biblical account of the entry of sin in earth. Being based on the Bible, the similarities are very obvious, but the differences require to be discussed. In the

David Bowie and Performativity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

David Bowie and Performativity - Essay Example This argument will serve as a lens in analysing David Bowie’s song, â€Å"Queen Bitch.† The song revolves around a hustler prostitute seducing a gay man’s boyfriend. Using stereotyped language and images and an upbeat tone and guitar melody, Bowie challenges the narratives of authentic identity by undermining sexual gender roles and asserting his own lack of performance in contrast to the aggressive nature of the Queen Bitch, although he realises that his gay performative acts include sexual liberation from an unfaithful relationship that is doomed because of heterosexual desires. Butler believes that gender is not biologically-based, but created in the past, and Bowie uses stereotyped language to support that feminine gender is subjected to socially-produced heteronormativity, which society designed for male desires. Butler asserts that gender is â€Å"tenuously constituted in time† (901). The tenuous part can be ascribed to gender norms and roles that ar e passed on from one generation to another, particularly in patriarchal societies that men design and control. Bowie specifically questions the gender norm of the female bitch. In describing her clothing, he demeans the clothing that women wear to attract the male gender: â€Å"She's so swishy in her satin and tat/In her frock coat/and bipperty-bopperty hat† (lines 13-15). The satin and tat are an odd mix because satin can be related to sophistication, while tat is a form of laced clothing. The combination suggests a cheap imitation of the ideal virginal woman. â€Å"Bipperty-bopperty† seems to be onomatopoeic, like something is being conjured out of magic. The effect is that the hat is as â€Å"fake† or as â€Å"contrived† as the woman. To stress the poor choice of clothing of the prostitute, Bowie says; â€Å"Oh God, I could do better than that† (16). He curses and calls the name of God, as if saying that even if God made her a woman, he is a bet ter woman, even if he is a man. Society defines manhood and womanhood, so gender is â€Å"tenuously constituted in time,† a time that Bowie finds hard to oppose (Butler 901). Furthermore, heteronormativity is present in the song because the man, who can be inferred as the boyfriend of the singer, is not loyal to the latter, and instead, acts like a stereotyped womaniser. Bowie notes that though the woman is a â€Å"bitch,† the man is a male version of a bitch: â€Å"And he's trying hard/to pull sister Flo† (4-5). The man is not exactly resisting the charms of the woman, whom Bowie calls sister Flo, probably because she goes with the flow, the flow of men with money or looks or both. Bowie shows that society produces slutty women and men within the context of heteronormativity, where male desires shape social norms. Present gender roles and interactions are products of heteronormative desires. Aside from the tenacity of the past in influencing gender norms, Butle r argues that gender is performed. She maintains that gender is â€Å"an identity instituted through a stylized repetition of acts† (901). The stylised repetition of actions pertains to bodily movements that are socially approved for men and women. Bowie notes the social production of queens: â€Å"She's an old-time ambassador/Of sweet talking, night walking games/And she's known in the darkest clubs/For pushing ahead of the dames†