Devotion, Love, Despair and Betrayal.
The Mists of Avalon throws the throbbing pulse of femininity into the reader's face. It expels a truth which can be felt through every sentence, paragraph and chapter. It is a grouping of heartwarming characters, horrifying plot twists and several tragedies surrounding many different themes. The Mists of Avalon becomes a legend seen through new eyes, with details, majestic language, and haunting foreshadowing that hold the reader through its more than 800 pages. It is a story of another time and place. It's the legendary saga of King Arthur and his companions at Camelot. Their battles, love, and devotion are told this time from the perspective of the women involved.
Women are what bring this story to such cavernous depths. We are not brought into the perspective of the men, we are, however, told about how they are loved, hurt, and manipulated by the women. There is a scale of personality among the ladies which ranges from the pious uncertainty of Gwenyfar to the essence of strength from Morgaine. We are first enthralled with Igraine's love, repulsed by the sinister Morgause, respectful to the lady Igraine, enchanted by Morgaine's wisdom and angered by Gwenyfar's ignorance. The qualities possessed by these woman can be both glorious and destructive.
The Mists of Avalon's politics and intrigue take place at a time when Christianity is taking over the island-nation of Britain; Christianity vs. Faery, and God vs. Goddess are dominant themes. Marion Zimmer Bradley lets her opinion on Christianity show through with shocking statements such as: "Then (Morgaine) sighed and said, " I think it is a sin to believe that God can be cruel or vindictive, and you would make him meaner than the worst of his priests." The ancient druid religions are presented as kinder and gentler while Christianity is raging through Europe. The Mists of Avalon is laced with religious philosophy that adds to the atmosphere of this entertaining story.
For instance, love for your family versus love for a mate. ... Manic love: intense, all consuming, possessive, and fluctuating between joy and despair. 3. ... Storgic love: the companionate, stable love that emerges from a relationship between friends. 6. Agapic love: the altruistic devotion of one partner for the other. ... There is also the difference between Love of a Family member and love of a mate. ...
Despite the fact that he lived in darkness, his love and care for his father kept his soul alive. ... I believed that it was this devotion that helped him live through the endless night. ... It refers to a time of utter despair and darkness. ... They were murdered, tortured, and forced to watch their loved ones face the same slow death that awaited them. This must certainly be the epitome of darkness and despair. ...
I found Ethan Frome to be a heartbreaking tale of despair and anguish. ... Ethan Frome, the title character, constantly feuds with himself over his own feelings, especially in the area of love. Oftentimes he finds himself torn between his love for another and his devotion to his wife. ... In Ethan Frome, Wharton situates the morals and devotion of marriage against true love and sinful compassion. ... However, Wharton keeps Ethan Frome different from other love stories with her dimensional characters, breathtaking imagery, and realistic storyline. ...
Additionally, her use of anaphora in "I love thee" reinforces the countless ways she loves "thee" by the technique of listing. ... Further, Browning assigns paramount significance to 'God's' judgment in allowing her to eternally love 'thee' illustrating her devotion and commitment to divine beings. ... Browning's love for her husband is almost a substitute for religion, as she loves him "with a love I seemed to lose with my lost saints" although God's judgment is still essential for her. Moreover, by comparing her lover to &quo...
Love, with no doubt, is the most beautiful and strong feeling a human can experience. ... Seeing little, if any, man's endearment and caress, knowing no tender feeling, let alone, love to herself, being insignificant and almost needless, found in crisis, brought to despair, and snatched right out of Death's hands, she saw him as a flash of light in the end of her dark life, as a savor. Figuratively, her reaction might have been similar to that of a rescued animal, who starts treating its savor with loyalty and devotion. ... Love in Chekhov's "The Lady with the Pet Dog" is somewh...
To many people, storms brewing in the horizon seem like an omen or despair, a foretelling of bad or evil things coming, or sometimes even associated with death and dying. ... In Kate Chopin's short story "The Storm" it is used as an omen, as well as perhaps despair, but it adds a different element to this story as well; it seems to be a force, perhaps destiny, perhaps a life in itself. ... In the end, the mother cooked supper and coffee and waited for her husband and son to return home and was appropriately concerned and glad to see them, and the lover wrote a letter to his own wif...
Hester Prynne is caught in a conflict between the Puritan morals of her community and a higher law: one of her own love. ... Her devotion to serving the sick and needy and her fine sewing skills, give her access to almost every person in the community. ... Although the harsh treatment she had to undergo as a result of the Puritan communities' punishment caused her much despair and pain, it has also made her a stronger and wiser woman. ... Shame, despair, solitude! ...
Leon immediately falls in love with Emma, "as for Emma, she didn't think she was in love with him. Love, she believed, should arrive all at once with thunder and lightning-(111). ... Her downfall in their relationship with Leon comes when she begins to try to make him dress or act in certain ways and quit his job in order to ensure his permanent devotion to her. ... The day Emma gives herself to Rodolphe she believes that "she was finally going to possess those joys of love, that fever of happiness, of which she had so long despaired"(163). ... Emma considers Rodolphe to be the one great ...
I challenge anyone to understand Islam, its spirit, and not to love it. It is a beautiful religion of brotherhood and devotion. ... Pi says, "It is a beautiful religion of brotherhood and devotion." ... He sums it up himself beautifully, "Hindus, in their capacity for love are indeed hairless Christians, just as Muslims, in the way they see God in everything, are bearded Hindus, and Christians, in their devotion to God, are hat-wearing Muslims." ... A part of me did not want Richard Parker to die at all, because if he died I would be left alone with despair, a foe even more formidable than a t...
