The essay talks of a woman Essay Example for Free

The essay talks of a woman Essay The first essay talks of a woman who loved and treasured her husband even in death. It talks of a widow who was married in Ephesus. The essay highlights her as being very beautiful. It was a culture to mourn your husband by beating the naked breast in front of the crowd and pulling off one’s hair. But this widow went on to follow the dead into his tomb where he mourned for five days. (Heinemann, 1913, p. 229-235). It is ironical that whoever could console her to stop mourning her late husband was a soldier who was guarding the bodies of some robberies that had been crucified after her friends and relatives were unable to do it. It’s also ironical that a dead body was stolen as the soldier was consoling a widow who was also mourning over a dead body. Its also ironical the dead body that made the woman mourns for five days without food or water is the one that was used to replace the lost dead body of the robber. ( Heinemann ,1913, p. 229-235) The second story talks of a man who loved his wife so much that he sacrificed all what he had and sold it to entertain his wife. It is ironical that he sold all the luxuries that gave him pleasure only remaining with a falcon just to please or rather buy the love of his wife and yet remain a poor man the rest of his life. Federigo loved his wife such that he even offered to slaughter his only remaining asset the falcon which he even loved more than any of his wife in order to serve it to the visitors of her wife. (Kaplan, 2006, p. 2 -3) It is too ironical that he sold everything to please his wife and remain poor and at the end his wife did not accept him. It is also ironical that that at his dying moment, the boy asked for the falcon and it lacked, he died. Irony is also seen when Giovanna instead of loving his husband when he was wealthy and having a lot to offer, he loved him most when he was poor and had nothing to offer. (Kaplan ,2006, p. 2 -3,) Both stories relate to denial for love of another person. In the first essay we see the widow has much love for her late husband but opts to give his body to replace the stolen thief’s body and not see another man whom he loves die. It is just funny how loves both them but also wise of her sacrifice the dead in order to save the living. (Heinemann ,1913, p. 229-235) The second essay opted to be poor by selling everything to show his wife love. At the end of the essay the wife appreciates his husbands love and thus reciprocates it by refusing to be re-married to wealthy merchants. This love is seen even in death where both Federigo and Giovanna share the same tomb. (Kaplan, 2003, p. 2 -3). Conclusion, According to my evaluation of the two stories, I think the second story is more effective on how it uses its narration skills and how it describes the whole event of love and fate. Though the story is tragic it end in comic way where there is joy after we note that afterwards the couple loved each other even in death unlike in the first story where the woman was torn between two loves and is why he had to give up one and take in the other. List of Reference: Heinemann W; (1913) Petronius, Satyricon, The Macmillan Company, 1913, ch. 111- 112, pp. 229-235 Kaplan H. L . (2006). Federigo Alberighi and Monna Giovanna SOCAN Available at http://www. thrinberry-frog. com Accessed on June 30, 2008.