Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and problems for Arts and Humanities

Understanding Key Literary Concepts

Myth

A myth (from the Greek μῦθος, mythos, meaning 'story') is a traditional narrative of miraculous events, featuring extraordinary or supernatural beings such as gods, demigods, heroes, or monsters.

Interior Monologue

Interior monologue (also known as 'stream of consciousness') is a literary technique that attempts to capture on paper the flow of thoughts and feelings, representing both the real world and the inner world imagined by a protagonist.

Psychological Novel

The psychological novel, or novel of psychological analysis (also known as psychological realism), is a work of prose fiction that emphasizes the internal characterization of its characters, their motives, and circumstances. Internal action... Continue reading "Essential Literary Terms: Definitions and Movements" »

Romanticism is a cultural and political movement that originated in Germany and the UK in the late eighteenth century. It emerged as a revolutionary reaction against the rationalism of the Enlightenment and Classicism, prioritizing feelings. Its key feature is the break with classical tradition, which was based on a stereotypical set of rules.

Symbolism: An Artistic Movement

Symbolism was one of the most important artistic movements of the late nineteenth century, originating in France and Belgium. In a literary manifesto published in 1886, Jean defined this new style as "enemy of education, recitation, false sensitivity and objective description." A symbol is a visible representation of an idea, with features associated with a socially accepted... Continue reading "Romanticism and Symbolism: Artistic Movements and Literary Concepts" »

Objectives of Heritage Interpretation

Objectives describe what the visitor is expected to learn, feel, or do as a result of the program or activity offered. Evaluation is crucial. The strength and content of the message can produce a series of changes in the behavior and attitudes of the visitor. Miranda Morales suggests that there are three types of interpretive objectives:

• For knowledge: A simple message designed to transmit knowledge through meaningful and functional learning that visitors can understand and transmit.
• For emotions: It is important that visitors feel comfortable.
• For behavior: Normal behavior is that the visitor feels respect for heritage, signs, etc.

Interpretive Planning

Miró highlights these key relationships:

• The relationship

Core Methods of Heritage Interpretation

• Workshops and Demonstrations

  Carrying out different activities, learning by doing or observing, is the premise of workshops and demonstrations. Direct experience is often an effective way not only to capture attention but also to encourage participation. Storytellers, for example, utilize this method effectively.

• Scheduled Interpretive Tours

  In scheduled tours, the interpreter plays a key role in the presentation of heritage. It is often through the interpreter that the public establishes a relationship with the feature or set of assets. Tourists tend to see the interpreter as a representative of the social community they visit. In any case, interpretive media can encourage visitors to explore the equipment

Act I

The play opens on a cold night at Elsinore Castle in Denmark. A guard, Francisco, is relieved by Bernardo. Horatio and Marcellus join Bernardo, and they discuss the recent appearance of the ghost of the late King Hamlet. Prince Hamlet, son of the deceased king and nephew of the current King Claudius, is introduced. Claudius has married Gertrude, Hamlet's mother. Denmark is also facing a potential invasion from Norway, led by Prince Fortinbras.

The guards convince Horatio, Hamlet's close friend, to witness the ghost. After hearing their account, Prince Hamlet decides to join them one night to see the ghost himself.

Polonius, the king's chamberlain, advises his son, Laertes, who is leaving for France, and his daughter, Ophelia, who is being... Continue reading "Hamlet: A Summary of Act I and Act II" »

Velázquez: Master of Spanish Baroque Painting

Early Life and Artistic Development

Diego Velázquez, a Spanish painter and the highest representative of Spanish Baroque painting, was born in Seville on June 6, 1599. Coming from a bourgeois family in Seville, he was the eldest of six children. Between 1611 and 1617, the young Velázquez worked as an apprentice of his future father-in-law, Francisco Pacheco, a Mannerist painter and author of the important treatise The Art of Painting (1649).

During his apprenticeship, Velázquez learned the prevailing tenebrist naturalism of his day, derived from Italian and Flemish realism. Velázquez's earliest works, executed between 1617 and 1623, can be divided into three categories:

• Still life (everyday objects

Characteristics of Romanticism

• Freedom

  Romanticism championed individual freedom: moral, social, political, and artistic.

• Subjectivism

  It emphasized the individual's importance and worldview, asserting a subjective view of reality. Literature became an expression of the artist's inner world. The search for ideal happiness and fulfillment often clashed with reality, leading writers to express their sense of failure. There was also an interest in human types rejected by society.

• Historicism

  It asserted the historical character of artistic productions. The defense of distinct cultural features led to the revitalization of vernacular literature. Literary works were linked to the national spirit, fostering interest in medieval literature, folklore, popular

19th and 20th Century Literary Movements

The bourgeoisie, characterized by its focus on money, family, and fundamental heritage, often served as a thematic element in the literature of this period.

The Naturalistic Novel: 1880s-1890s

The naturalistic novel, prominent in the 1880s and 1890s, is an experimental form, akin to a scientific experiment or a clinical case study.

This genre reflects prevailing philosophical and scientific currents of its time. Key ideas include the influence of biological inheritance on character, aligning with philosophical determinism. Additionally, sociology provides insight into the decisive impact of the environment.

Émile Zola, a progressive figure, was a key pioneer of Naturalism, notably with his interconnected... Continue reading "Literary Movements: Naturalism and Modernism" »

Author: Eugène Delacroix

Visual Elements and Composition

The visual elements of the red and blue flag, standing before a wounded Liberty, and the fallen figure to the left, are highlighted to create an imaginary straight line forming a central axis. An unreal light illuminates Liberty, the boy beside her, the blue jacket of the dying figure near the lower left margin, and the man holding his hat.

The use of color and light helps promote movement. The figures fall within the apex of a pyramid, a structure taught in French academies. The action is aimed at the observer; the scene takes place on the streets of Paris. The central female figure is an allegory of Liberty; she carries a rifle and a flag to guide the fighters.

• On the left: A representative

Kant's Epistemology: The Genesis of Knowledge

"There is no doubt that all our knowledge begins with experience. But how is the power of knowing awakened? Is it not by objects that strike our senses and provoke representations themselves, now setting in motion our intellectual capacity to compare them, bind or separate, and thus develop, with the raw material of sensible impressions, the knowledge of objects called experience? Therefore, in the temporal order, no knowledge precedes experience in us, and all knowledge begins with it. (...) But though all our knowledge begins with experience, it does not follow that all of it originates from experience. It might be that our empirical knowledge is composed of what we perceive through impressions