Thursday, March 19, 2020

Chekhov essays

Chekhov essays Chekhov wants us to see the conflict between authority and freedom, as portrayed by two characters, Nikolai Ivanich and Ivan Ivanich. They are siblings who have differences of values, desires, and personality. Nikolai is a representative of authority while Ivan is a representative of freedom. Nikolai is too obsessive with his definite desire of having his own estate. As we see, Nikolai keeps thinking all the time about obtaining country-dwelling; he always reads advertisements of the sale of so many acres of arable and meadowland, with residence attached, a river, an orchard, a mill, and ponds fed by springs and he also makes plans for his estate which show same features:(the main residence, the servants wing, the kitchen-garden, and gooseberry bushes.) Moreover, he is so ambitious that he can do everything like living thriftily, dressing like a beggar, and saving up all money in the bank, in order to succeed his dream. His marriage with an ugly widow only to gain her money and not considering himself guilty of her death caused from his regime show his selfishness. Nikolais purpose in yearning for the estate is to uplift his social status, wanting to be a gentry as we see that he likes to act in the most ministerial manner, he also repeats that we the gentry, or spe aking as a gentleman, and seems to have quite forgotten that his grandfather was a peasant, and his father a common soldier. These express that he has aristocratic values and doesnt want to return to the state of poverty, being the peasant as the time after his fathers death. Besides, his taking offence if the peasants dont call him Your Honour and his saying that I only have to lift my finger, and the people will do whatever I want show his authoritative figure. Ivan Ivanich is a romantic character; he likes to ...

Monday, March 2, 2020

That Elusive Will o the Wisp

That Elusive Will o the Wisp That Elusive Will o the Wisp That Elusive Will o the Wisp By Maeve Maddox A quaint, but still useful term of interest to writers is the expression will o the wisp. The literal sense of will o the wisp is a phosphorescent light that occurs over marshy ground. It flits about and, according to observers, seems to retreat as one approaches it. The Latin term for this mysterious, elusive light is ignis fatuus [Ä ­gnÄ ­s fÄÆ'chÃ… «-É™s], foolish light. The will in will o the wisp is from a personal name: Will (William) of the wisp (like Jack olantern). The wisp is a lighted bunch of straw. Various legends have sprung up to explain the phenomenon. A common story is that a very wicked man (Will or Jack) was so bad that, not only was he rejected by Heaven, the Devil didnt want him in Hell, but did give him a coal from the eternal flames that he could carry about with him as he wandered the earth. Because the will o the wisp constantly retreats from anyone who tries to catch it, it has acquired the figurative meaning of something that misleads or deludes; an illusion. Here are some uses of the expression in different contexts: The hunt for the Great American Drama continues. It might be well for some of those who are still in pursuit of this will-o-the-wisp to pause long enough to discover the Great English Drama, the Great French Drama, the Great Spanish Drama, the Great Italian Drama, or even among the moderns the Great Norwegian or German Drama. NY TImes, Oct. 14, 1906 Global warming: Chasing a â€Å"Will o’ the Wisp† while ignoring a real monster in the sky headline, BrookesNews.com Aug. 27, 2007 Rather than jettisoning the New Economy in a will-o-the-wisp search for another magic formula, we ought to treasure what it does well. LA Times, July 3, 2001   Do you see that absolutely gorgeous creature over there with half the room surrounding them in awe-struck admiration? That is the local Will-O-the-Wisp (WOW) charming the pants off of everyone while delivering almost nothing. (The Will-O-the-Wisp Abnormal Personality) Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:50 Slang Terms for Money"Owing to" vs "Due to"5 Examples of Insufficient Hyphenation