Compare And Contrast How Shakespeare English Literature Essay

Compare And Contrast How Shakespeare English Literature Essay The three texts all utilise literary methods of showing the different aspects of the male and female sexual relationships between key characters. In Hamlet, the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia will be criticized; In The Millers Tale, the relationship between Alison, John/Nicholas and Absolon will be looked at. Finally, the relationship between Frank and April Wheeler will also act as a medium of comparison with the other characters to feature this analysis. All three texts are composed of male/female sexual and romantic relationships that are compromised by madness and debauchery. In Hamlet, the protagonist seems to be compelled to enact madness so as to avenge his father. In The Millers Tale, Alison, a young married woman is confounded by lust and cheats on her husband with the younger and much more cunning Nicholas. In Revolutionary Road, April Wheeler seems to be affected by a bad upbringing and thus causing her to make unwise decisions that affect her relationship with her husband Frank. Hamlets madness has an effect on his relationship with Ophelia, O, what a noble mind is here oerthrown!, Ophelia believing that Hamlet is truly mad, shows her feelings towards the protagonist by using hendiadys to describe him, The glass of fashion and the mould of form. Hamlet conforms with his perceived madness by rudely mentioning to Ophelia, It would cost you a groaning to take off mine edge., the effect this has on the relationship between Haml et and Ophelia is monumental as this is the last interaction between the pair before Ophelia finally loses her reason with news of her Fathers death. L.L. SchÃ…Â ±cking states, The passive Ophelia treads he terrible path to mental derangement this conforms to the traditional view of women on this period. Shakespeare may be showing that women are affected at a deep level by emotional matters and he shows this by the scale of damage that is done to Ophelia by Hamlet playing with her emotions. There might be a representation of an Oedipus complex in Hamlet. This is an idea developed by Freud who says that all sons develop affections for their mothers and murderous instincts towards their fathers. There are many arguments that go against this perspective though. Hamlet is very outspoken about Gertrudes incestuous behaviour so isnt likely to want her in a sexual manner. Furthermore, Hamlet seems to view his father as a type of god, Hyperion and so isnt very likely to want to kill him. In fact, Hamlet wants to do the exact opposite, as he is trying to revenge the murder of his father. Hamlet only sees the incestuous behaviour from Gertrude and for him, she represents women in general, he is suspicious of all women. We do get a different view of Gertrude and particularly of Ophelia through the eyes of other people at certain times. When they are shown, they are often represented in a very negative way, in the way they would have been represented at the time. A good example of this is when Laertes tells Ophelia to stop seeing Hamlet and she replies I shall obey, my lord. Because we are led to believe that she is in love with Hamlet, this is an order she shouldnt be disposed to obey. In medieval times when Hamlet was set, women were expected to obey their fathers and brother until they got married and could obey their husbands. This is why Ophelia had little choice but to say this. This is why Ophelias madness has such an importance in the play. It gives Ophelia the freedom to say what she could not say before, for example giving columbines to Laertes to represent ingratitudes and infidelity Theres fennel for you and columbines Also her loss of innocence ends with her eventual suicide. At the time suicide was a sin against God and so people who committed suicide werent allowed a proper funeral. Ophelias innocence is however preserved by allowing her a funeral even after her suicide. Hamlet claims that he is faking madness but at times his madness appears r eal. There are two suspected reasons for his madness and both reasons include women. The first explanation is that Hamlet is in love with Ophelia and his rejection from her has driven him to madness. This is a reasonable explanation because Hamlet often seems a lot more discourteous whilst talking to Ophelia Get thee to a nunnery. The other explanation for Hamlets madness is that he is offended by Gertrudes marriage to Claudius. He doesnt think that Claudius is worthy to be like his father. Hamlets treatment of Ophelia in the play can be interpreted in two ways. Most of the time he appears cruel to her; as if he is just using her as a way of further convincing everybody else that he is mad. A good example of this is when he is talking to her and he realises that Claudius and Polonius are listening. This is when he says the line get thee to a nunnery He seems to hurt Ophelia both physically as well as mentally. Another explanation of this is that he is trying to protect her. Hamlet describes the world as a corrupt Eden and so get thee to a nunnery is sending her away from evil and corruption. Also he is sending her away from the bloodshed that he predicts is going to happen. Hamlet is often sceptical against women. He says to Ophelia or is thou wilt need marry, marry a fool, for wise men know what monsters you will make of them. This shows how bitter he is towards women and how bitter he is towards the world. This bitterness may be because he feels he has been betrayed b y the two main women in his life. His mothers offence being her marriage to Claudius and Ophelias by rejecting him. Gertrude isnt necessarily innocent in the play but is however tainted by Claudius. This proves that Shakespeare presents women as being morally week, and led by men, rather than making their own choices. Even when Gertrude breaks away from the evil of Claudius she is led by another man in her son Hamlet. Although this is a more positive reflection of Gertrude and women it still shows how women are easily led and not able to make their own decisions. It isnt certain whether Shakespeare is showing this presentation of women as a way of showing that this is wrong, or whether it is just a part of the play that fits in with historical setting. Or he may have been agreeing that this is the way that women should be portrayed.   In The Millers Tale, Alison is focused on as the centrepiece of attention between three males; this is shown to be because of her beauty Fair was this yonge wyf. However, her beauty is also the reason for the downfall between the relationship she had with John, her husband. In the opening sections of the play, Chaucer declares John as an over protective character Jalous he was, and heel hire nawe in cage. Furthermore, Alison is also described as being a flirt and having a likerous eye which insinuates the expectation of her infidelity which is proved in her interactions with Nicholas. Chaucer with this text is exclaiming that relationships with a large age gap usually induce the younger partner to become unfaithful. Hamlets murderous plot is much similar to Nicholass methods way of seducing Alison, both Characters show to be very cunning in their means of achieving their goals; both pretend to be mad and act in a different way than usual. Nicholas pretends to have become absorbed by his astrological work, This man is falle, with his astromye, Hamlet acts in a perverse way towards Ophelia and presents himself before her in an unusual manner, No hat upon his head, his stockings fouled, These deliberate acts of madness by Hamlet and Nicholas are so effective towards their target audience and in Hamlets case it even presents a domino effect towards his target as she becomes mad herself later on in the play. Chaucers text is interesting as it has a very vague outlook on the love that the characters had for one another. Johns love is much closer to obsession for the younger Alisoun which that he lovede moore than his lyf such a relationship is shown by Chaucer to be detrimental. Nicholas and Alisouns love for one another is in fact pure lust between the two characters. And heeld hire harde by the haunchbones this lustrous affair by Nicholas and Alisoun is also shown to be detrimental as both characters did not stay together afterwards. Chaucers inclusion of Absolon adds another potential type of love towards Alisoun. Absolon is neither as obsessed with Alisoun as John nor is he as lustrous as Nicholas. He is driven by admiration for Alisoun and his love revolves around this, Chaucer shows this by making Absolon the only lover to use the courtly love traditions to try and ensnare Alisoun whom he regards as My faire bryd, my sweete cynamome. However, Absolon is also the only character to no t have succeeded with Alisoun. Chaucer may be suggesting that the courtly love traditions where not the key to love. This self-imposed madness of Hamlets is also alike to that of April Wheeler in Revolutionary Road; the impact is also similar towards the relationship between April and Franks relationship. Like Hamlet, April starts to act in a different way towards Frank mentioning how she felt ensnared by him, Just because youve got me safely in a trap you think you, this is the first argument between April and Frank where both characters are as equally frustrated with one another and it sets the plane for such future encounters between them. Amidst this, another similarity between Shakespeare and Yates texts is the concept of lust not being very symbolic in terms of marriage length in comparison to true love as such. April mentions,your cowardly self-delusions about love when you know as well as I do that theres never been anything between us, which shows how much she thinks of her husband, a cowardly self delusion. In Hamlet, such a relationship is shown to exist between Gertrude and Claudius as Gertrude does not truly love Claudius but yet pretends to love him for other reasons not fully justified to the reader. This is verified by how quickly she agrees to leave Claudius when she is reprimanded by Hamlet about the incestuous marriage she is in, Be thou assuredI have no life to breathe. What thou hast said to me. Aprils dialogue with Frank in the play at the beginning might also be a hint as to what she as a character will actually do in real life; and I want to go out and do something thats absolutely crazy, and marvellous What April did in fact do at the end of her life was indeed marvellous and crazy as she both expressed a different ideology about the treatment of females as a whole, however her methods for doing so were albeit crazy. This is similar to Ophelias plot to try and act against the general assumptions that females must abide to rules and regulations. insert some quote jazz blah blah Para-> Discuss a theme of mendacity(lying) between the characters: Claudius and Gertrude; Nicholas and John/Absolon; Frank and April Edit this to school version. Sexual relationships are discovered in Hamlet and Revolutionary Road. However, such relationships when mentioned in detail are mostly on the basis of them being adulterous whereby either one or both of the partners are acting on lust rather than love. It is uncertain the relationship between Claudius and Gertrude because Shakespeare does not include any romantic dialogue between the pair and the only reference to them sharing any sexual relations come from Hamlet himself, Let not the royal bed of Denmark be/A couch for luxury and damned incest/But, howsoever thou pursuest this act. Furthermore, most critics tend to take a negative view towards Gertrude because of the speed at which she got over her husband. L.L. SchÃ…Â ±cking states The Queen, her peace of mind and untroubled conscience ruthlessly assailed, becomes uneasy, even bitter. This is very similar to the relationship between Frank and April whereby sexual interactions are very rare and if they do arise they are either ad ulterous or April trying to make Frank do what she wants him too. John Givings in Revolutionary Road tells Frank, You want to play house, you got to have a job. You want to play very  nice  house, very  sweet  house, then you got to have a job you dont like. This is the way ninety-eight-point-nine per cent of the people work things out, so believe me, buddy, youve got nothing to apologize for. John Givings is known to be a mentally ill person in the novel but the mere fact that April also sees things in his light justifies why Frank thought that she was also mentally ill to a certain degree and he offered to get her a shrink. A theme of dependency is explored by Yates whereby April depends entirely upon Franks decision so that she can move to Paris and leave the suburban unrealistic lifestyle that she feels ensnared by. April tells Frank, How did we ever get into this strange dream world, this goes to show how she had no regard whatsoever of the environment she was in and believed herself to be in a dreamlike state when living in the place. Shakespeare uses a similar effect in Hamlet where he included the dialogue between Hamlet and his Fathers ghost where Hamlet shouts out Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damned. This further proves that Hamlet and April are conscious about feeling in such an unrealistic state but they are also the characters who are shown to do the most unrealistic things. Both Shakespeare and Yates chose Death, as the medium to part the main love figures in their respective texts. Such a strong parting adds more emphasis to the emotions felt by the lover that is left behind to mourn the death of his beloved. In Hamlet, Hamlet actually provokes Laertes. Let thy wisdom fear. Hold off thy hand. Such a bold outburst is unlike Hamlet as he contrived a whole plot to accuse Claudius of killing his father instead of confronting him head on. In Revolutionary Road, Frank is shown to also suffer from losing April; hed lost a lot of weight which could show that he was not eating as much as he should have been as he was in mourning for April. In Conclusion, Shakespeare, Chaucer and Yates all present male and female sexual and romantic language through narrations, double entendres and dependencies for one another. Chaucers descriptions of Nicholas and Alisoun through the character of The Miller justify to the reader the adulterous act between the pair, Shakespeares use of hendiadys throughout Hamlet endorses his message as the main character is under one big lie from the beginning of the play. Finally, Yates uses the fact that females were dependent upon males in the 1950s but his message was to show that strong willed women like April still had control over their partners decisions. Word Count: 2576

I Wanna Be Special: Plath and Nazi Germany

Sylvia Plath is a poet who writes in a confessional style. Her poetry shows her strong opinions towards patriarchy. By examining her works and researching her past, one can see that the two prominent male figures in her past are her father and Ted Hughes, her husband. In her poetry Plath uses Nazi Germany as a metaphor for the oppressive system of patriarchy women live under, while she portrays the victim as Jews. Two examples of poems where this appears are â€Å"Lady Lazarus† and â€Å"Daddy†. Because the Holocaust is such a sensitive subject, there are two schools of thought to Plath's metaphor. One belief is that she belittles the Holocaust. The other belief is that a metaphor is simply a metaphor. Obviously, Plath has no first hand knowledge if she uses the metaphor so trivially. There are aspects of Plath's works that people may find hard to understand if they don't know about her history. To understand Plath's poetry, one has to understand Plath. Sylvia Plath writes confessional poetry. Because she writes in this confessional style, those who study her work must become familiar with her past. Confessional poetry is when poets write about their own experiences; thoughts, feelings, and experiences become the basis of the poetry. Thus the poems become an expression of poet's innermost person. Unlike other forms of poetry, confessional takes its material directly from the life of the poet. The tone of Plath's poetry is decidedly depressing. During her life, Plath became suicidal. As a child, she almost drowned, and later attempted to kill herself before actually succeeding. These experiences become strong influences on Plath's poetry. Anne Sexton was another confessional poet. She met Plath at a poetry workshop and the two became good friends. When writing poems, one would call the other to get input and suggestions, or just to talk about the happenings in their lives. However, there remains a main difference between Plath's poetry and Sexton's poetry: Anne Sexton was not originally a writer, but a housewife. When the stresses became too much for her, she went to therapy. During one of her sessions, her psychiatrist suggested that she begin writing poetry to help her get at the root of her problems. The largest problem that Plath had was with the institution of patriarchy that surrounded her. In her poetry, she expresses her negative emotions towards patriarchy. Plath was a daughter, wife, and mother through her life. These titles also came with roles that were dictated to her by the patriarchal structure. Because she was forced into all of these roles, and expected to fulfil them all, Plath resented those who forced her into these roles, and her displeasure becomes quite evident in her poetry. There are two major male figures in Plath's life; father and husband. Her father, Otto Plath, originally lived in Grabow Poland and spoke German. He moved to the United States when he was 15, and later taught at Boston University (Modern Poetry, p. 1417). Yet he died while Plath was still quite young. His daughter, Silvia Plath, became very resentful towards her father. This resentment is most strongly found in her poem â€Å"Daddy†. Plath's husband, Ted Hughes, was also a writer. However, he did not approve of the writing of his wife. He tried to discourage her from writing, to stay home and raise a family. Many today blame Hughes for the death of Plath, and believe that he is responsible for her committing suicide. Due to the experiences that she has with patriarchy, it is understandable that Plath carried resentments. These feelings were so strong that she used Nazi Germany as a metaphor for patriarchy. However, this brought about many conflicts; while some critics defended her use of the Holocaust imagery, others vehemently defended that she was in fact belittling what the Jewish people suffered through. In the poem â€Å"Daddy†, Plath openly attacks her father. â€Å"Daddy, I have had to kill you. / You died before I had time† (Daddy, 6-7). She verbally demonstrates her need to hurt and to kill him; he is the symbol of patriarchy from her early life. Plath resents the fact that he died before she could remove him from his strong patriarchical role. This resentment grew until she began to see oppression everywhere: I have always been scared of you, Wish your Luftwaffe, your gobbledygoo. And your neat moustache And your Aryan eye, bright and blue (â€Å"Daddy†, 41-44). Plath associates her fathers' German features to Nazi features. This particular comparison also strongly draws upon a militaristic image. As â€Å"Luftwaffe† means Air Force in German, she is quite obviously comparing patriarchy to military. The idea of someone with power over her terrifies Plath. Since patriarchy is seen as oppressive Nazi Germany, Plath sees herself as an oppressed Jew. A sort of walking miracle, my skin Bright as a Nazi lampshade, My right foot A paperweight, My face a featureless, fine Jew linen (â€Å"Lady Lazarus†, 4-9) A few images from the Holocaust are drawn here. Plath places herself in a situation where she is the victim. She draws on the idea of how Jewish people were skinned for lampshades as how badly men treat women. Because of the metaphor she uses, Plath's poetry has sparked some serious debate. Many critics state that the use of Nazi Germany in that metaphor is very inappropriate. By using Nazi Germany as a metaphor for patriarchy, Plath accomplishes nothing, save to belittle the Holocaust. The Holocaust is the single worst event in the history of human civilization. Its uniqueness is what set it apart from other tragic events in our history. Yet some argue that if it is inappropriate to use Nazi Germany as a metaphor, then other events, such as slavery could be excluded as well. Slavery of blacks is another tragic event that can be used as a metaphor. However, it is this writer's opinion that there is too great a difference between the slavery of blacks and the Holocaust. If one looks at statistics for the death of slaves and compare it to statistics for the death of Jewish people, one will see that the numbers are relatively similar. The difference lies in the fact that the slave totals come from many years, while Jewish total are only from five years. While slavery was still common, it was possible for a slave to escape relative harm; He (or she) could follow all the rules and be treated as well as other livestock. During the Holocaust there were no rules for Jewish people to follow. There was no such thing as a good Jew, and they were all treated worse than animals. Given the evidence of Plath's poetry, it is quite evident that she did not fully understand the atrocities of the Holocaust. Her knowledge only extended to that which most people already knew. And therefore she was not fully informed of the subject of which she trivialized. However, other critics defend Plath's use of the metaphor by reinforcing that fact that it is simply a metaphor, and is doing what it should. It is a common argument that sometimes a metaphor is simply a metaphor. The purpose of a metaphor is to compare two completely unrelated ideas, to shock the audience into looking at the intended subject in a new light. Rose, a critic of Plath, says that she uses the shocking imagery of comparing the Holocaust to patriarchy to entice strong reactions from the reader, and if one dismissed her comparison, then one can be expected to dismiss the very idea of a metaphor. To dictate what ideas can and can't be used in metaphor negates all metaphors. The Holocaust is not alone in the history of tragic events. If one argues that the Holocaust was horrible, one should also accept that there are other horrific occurrences. Mass slaughters are not an uncommon part of ancient history. During the time of Nero Caesar, Christians who would not bow down to the likeness of the Caesar were thrown into lion pits to be killed. African slaves, who did not obey every order of their masters, were beaten. European explorers who first explored the Americas, killed countless natives, and brought more over seas to become slaves. If one wishes to look at statistics, the number of people killed in the Holocaust, is almost the same as the number of women killed through patriarchal society. Sylvia Plath was a poet who wrote her poems for others to read. Her metaphor of comparing patriarchy to Nazi Germany is used to shock audiences into seeing the severity of oppression that women face. However, to achieve this shock, she lessens the impact of the Holocaust. Many defend that Plath is simply using a metaphor the way it should be used. In this writer's opinion, because Plath used the Holocaust just to shock readers, is why she is belittling it. If she wrote the way Anne Sexton did before being published – that is, for personal reasons – this writer would not have a problem. As it is, the comparison was written for all to see. By being so public in her trivialization of that happened to the Jewish people, Plath's only accomplishment is to embarrass herself with writing that isn't poor, but shows a decided lack of judgement.

Management course paper

Roger and Roethlisberger state in their highly acclaimed article â€Å"Barriers and Gateway to  Communication† that one of the major barriers effecting interpersonal communication  between two human beings is the evaluative nature of Human Beings. In a typical inter  personal communication between two individuals each person tries to evaluate the attitude of  the partner towards oneself. Furthermore each party looks for signs of negative perception  about oneself in the eyes of the partner at the same time passing negative judgment about the  partner. So essentially an individual analyzes the communication to determine the answers to  following questions; What is his/her attitude towards me? What does he/she think about me and my opinion and ideas? What do I think about him/her (What kind of a person is he?)? Thus in the process of finding answers to these questions people tend to miss out the main  points and the true meaning of what the partner is trying to say. This situation leads to  misunderstanding and the communication turns into an argument which may further  deteriorate into a verbal war. Roger and Roethlisberger propose that active listening helps to make the communication  effective. Active listening means that a person must be able to understand what exactly  his/her partner is trying to say? This can be achieved when one understands the emotions and  feelings of the partner and perceives the partner’s words as the partner perceives them. Thus  in a communication each individual must restate their partners words to their partners  satisfaction, this ensures that the person gets the true meaning of his partners statements. Perceiving the others frame of mind is only possible when one checks his tendency to [1]  evaluate, thus effective listening is not an easy task in fact it is a skill which has to be  gradually developed.  Roger and Roethlisberger further propose that when interpersonal communication takes  place at a group level it becomes difficult to perceive the opponents frame of mind so using a  mediator who restates the statements of each person or group helps to solve the problem.  When an individual knows that his statements are being restated to his satisfaction and the  fact that he is being understood mollifies him, he in turn tries to understand what his  opponent wants to say? And the communication progresses effectively and a solution to the  problem in discussion is easily achieved. Answer to Question 2 The process of active listening in an interpersonal communication requires that an individual  empathies with the partner. This is accomplished by perceiving the world as perceived by the  partner, however involving oneself in the frame of reference of another individual may lead  to unwanted outcomes. The following is a list of unwanted possibilities that may occur due to  extreme empathy. A person may begin to appreciate others ideas over his own.  His priorities may be replaced by someone else’s. An individual may loose his identity and his personality may be altered.  He may be manipulated by the person he is empathizing with or other people may   perceive he is being manipulated or is working under someone’s influence.  Because of these reasons people tend to be afraid of active listening, furthermore active  listening is possible only when both the parties engaging in an interpersonal communication  are willing to implement the techniques of active listening. In case only one individual  practices active listening while the other continues in an argumentative mode then the  individual who is using active listening may be discouraged in doing so and may resort to  adopt an argumentative approach. The fear of active listening is more apparent in real life work environment. In an organization  every individual is accountable to their immediate boss and is responsible for their immediate  subordinates. The manager looks at all things from a broader perspective and is responsible  for activities of all his subordinates, thus he has to make sure that the function that is  delegated to him synchronizes well with other organizational function in the process of  achieving the organizational objective. A subordinate on the other hand works on a narrower  perspective and is only responsible for the job allotted to him or the team to which he  belongs, so a subordinate is only concerned with the problem that he faces in the process of  accomplishing his task. In an interpersonal communication between the manager and a subordinate the manager  stands the risk of loosing his priorities if he applies active listening. Let us consider a factual  case where a group of laborers present their problems to a manager who is genuinely  concerned about his subordinates as well as the company as a whole. If the manager gets  totally involved in his perception of the subordinates frame of reference then he looses his  perspective and begins to evaluate the situation from a narrower perspective in doing so he  forgets to analyze the situation from the organizational point of view and rather takes works  on the problem at a personal level. Thus active listening is best practiced when the manager is capable of using the technique  without getting deeply involved in subordinate’s frame of reference. Managers who  successfully employ active listening are able to make their subordinates feel good and this  also helps in motivating the subordinates, furthermore managers who practice active listening  are capable of gaining their subordinates trust and respect. (Roger & Roethlisberger) [1] Roger and Roethlisberger (Barriers and Gateway to communication 1991)   

The Palace of Minos at Knossos in Ancient Crete

The Palace of Minos at Knossos is one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world. Located on Kephala Hill on the island of Crete in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Greece, Knossos palace was the political, social and cultural center of the Minoan culture during the Early and Middle Bronze Age. Founded at least as early as 2400 BC, its power was greatly diminished, but not completely dissipated, by the eruption of Santorini about 1625 BC. Whats perhaps more important, perhaps, is that the ruins of Knossos Palace are the cultural heart of the Greek myths Theseus fighting the Minotaur, Ariadne and her ball of string, Daedalus the architect and doomed Icarus of the waxwings; all reported by Greek and Roman sources but almost certainly much older. The earliest representation of Theseus fighting the minotaur is illustrated on an amphora from the Greek island of Tinos dated 670-660 BC Palaces of the Aegean Culture The Aegean culture known as Minoan is the Bronze Age civilization that flourished on the island of Crete during the second and third millennia BC. The city of Knossos was one of its main cities—and it contained its largest palace after the shattering earthquake that marks the beginning of the New Palace period in Greek archaeology, ca. 1700 BC. Palaces of the Minoan culture were likely not simply residences of a ruler, or even a ruler and his family, but rather held a public function, where others could enter and use (some of) the palace facilities where staged performances took place. The palace at Knossos, according to legend the palace of King Minos, was the largest of the Minoan palaces, and the longest-lived building of its type, remaining throughout the Middle and Late Bronze Ages as the focal point of the settlement. Knossos Chronology In the early 20th century, Knossos excavator Arthur Evans pegged the rise of Knossos to the Middle Minoan I period or about 1900 BC; archaeological evidence since then has found the first public feature on Kephala Hill—a deliberately leveled rectangular plaza or court—was constructed as early as the Final Neolithic (ca 2400 BC, and the first building by Early Minoan I-IIA (ca 2200 BC). This chronology is based in part on that of John Youngers plain-jane Aegean chronology, which I highly recommend. Late Helladic (Final Palatial) 1470-1400, Greek take over of CreteLate Minoan/Late Helladic 1600-1470 BCMiddle Minoan (Neo-Palatial) 1700-1600 BC (Linear A, the eruption of Santorini, ca 1625 BC)Middle Minoan (Proto-Palatial) 1900-1700 BC (peripheral courts established, the heyday of the Minoan culture)Early Minoan (Pre-Palatial), 2200-1900 BC, court complex started by EM I-IIA including the first Court buildingFinal Neolithic or Pre-Palatial 2600-2200 BC (first central courtyard of what would become the palace at Knossos begun in FN IV) The stratigraphy is difficult to parse because there were several major episodes of earth-moving and terrace building, so much so that earth moving must be considered a nearly constant process that began on Kephala hill at least as early as EM IIA, and probably starts with the very end of the Neolithic FN IV. Knossos Palace Construction and History The palace complex at Knossos was begun in the PrePalatial period, perhaps as long ago as 2000 BC, and by 1900 BC, it was fairly close to its final form. That form is the same as other Minoan palaces such as Phaistos, Mallia and Zakros: a large single building with a central courtyard surrounding by a set of rooms for various purposes. The palace had perhaps as many as ten separate entrances: those on the north and west served as the main entryways. Around 1600 BC, one theory goes, a tremendous earthquake shook the Aegean Sea, devastating Crete as well as the Mycenaean cities on the Greek mainland. Knossos palace was destroyed; but the Minoan civilization rebuilt almost immediately on top of the ruins of the past, and indeed the culture reached its pinnacle only after the devastation. During the Neo-Palatial period [1700-1450 BC], the Palace of Minos covered nearly 22,000 square meters (~5.4 acres) and contained storage rooms, living quarters, religious areas, and banquet rooms. What appears today to be a jumble of rooms connected by narrow passageways may well have given rise to the myth of the Labyrinth; the structure itself was built of a complex of dressed masonry and clay-packed rubble, and then half-timbered. Columns were many and varied in the Minoan tradition, and the walls were vividly decorated with frescoes. Architectural Elements The palace at Knossos was renowned for its unique light emanating from its surfaces, the results of the liberal use of gypsum (selenite) from a local quarry as a building material and ornamental element. Evans reconstruction used a grey cement, which made a huge difference to the way its seen. Restoration efforts are underway to remove the cement and restore the gypsum surface, but they have moved slowly, because removing the greyish cement mechanically is detrimental to the underlying gypsum. Laser removal has been attempted and may prove a reasonable answer. The main source of water at Knossos initially was at the spring of Mavrokolymbos, about 10 kilometers away from the palace and conveyed by way of a system of terracotta pipes. Six wells in the near vicinity of the palace served potable water beginning ca. 1900-1700 BC. A sewer system, which connected toilets flushed with rainwater to large (79x38 cm) drains, had secondary pipelines, lightwells and drains and in total exceeds 150 meters in length. It has also been suggested as the inspiration for the labyrinth myth. Ritual Artifacts of the Palace at Knossos The Temple Repositories are two large stone-lined cists on the west side of the central court. They contained a variety of objects, that were placed as a shrine either in Middle Minoan IIIB or Late Minoan IA, following earthquake damage. Hatzaki (2009) argued that the pieces were not broken during the earthquake, but rather were ritually broken after the earthquake and ritually laid down. The artifacts in these repositories include faience objects, ivory objects, antlers, fish vertebrae, a snake goddess figurine, other figurines, and figurine fragments, storage jars, gold foil, a rock crystal disk with petals and bronze. Four stone libation tables, three half-finished tables. The Town Mosaic plaques are a set of over 100 polychrome faience tiles which illustrate house facade), men, animals, trees and plants and maybe water. The pieces were found between in a fill deposit between an Old Palace period floor and an early Neopalatial period one. Evans thought they were originally pieces of inlay in a wooden chest, with a linked historical narrative—but there is no agreement about that in the scholarly community today. Excavation and Reconstruction The Palace at Knossos was first extensively excavated by Sir Arthur Evans, beginning in 1900. in the earliest years of the 20th century. One of the pioneers of the field of archaeology, Evans had a marvelous imagination and a tremendous creative fire, and he used his skills to create what you can go and see today at Knossos in northern Crete. Investigations have been conducted at Knossos off and on since then, most recently by the Knossos Kephala Project (KPP) beginning in 2005. Sources Angelakis A, De Feo G, Laureano P, and Zourou A. 2013. Minoan and Etruscan Hydro-Technologies. Water 5(3):972-987. Boileau M-C, and Whitley J. 2010. Patterns of Production and Consumption of Coarse to Semi-Fine Pottery at Early Iron Age Knossos. Annual of the British School at Athens 105:225-268. Grammatikakis G, Demadis KD, Melessanaki K, and Pouli P. 2015. Laser-assisted removal of dark cement crusts from mineral gypsum (selenite) architectural elements of peripheral monuments at Knossos. Studies in Conservation 60(sup1):S3-S11. Hatzaki E. 2009. Structured Deposition as Ritual Action at Knossos. Hesperia Supplements 42:19-30. Hatzaki E. 2013. The end of an intermezzo at Knossos: ceramic wares, deposits, and architecture in a social context. In: Macdonald CF, and Knappett C, editors. Intermezzo: Intermediacy and Regeneration in Middle Minoan III Palatial Crete. London: The British School at Athens. p 37-45. Knappett C, Mathioudaki I, and Macdonald CF. 2013. Stratigraphy and ceramic typology in the Middle Minoan III palace at Knossos. In: Macdonald CF, and Knappett C, editors. Intermezzo: Intermediacy and Regeneration in Middle Minoan III Palatial Crete. London: The British School at Athens. p 9-19. Momigliano N, Phillips L, Spataro M, Meeks N, and Meek A. 2014. A newly discovered Minoan faience plaque from the Knossos town mosaic in the Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery: a technological insight. Annual of the British School at Athens 109:97-110. Nafplioti A. 2008. â€Å"Mycenaean† political domination of Knossos following the Late Minoan IB destructions on Crete: negative evidence from strontium isotope ratio analysis (87Sr/86Sr). Journal of Archaeological Science 35(8):2307-2317. Nafplioti A. 2016. Eating in prosperity: First stable isotope evidence of diet from Palatial Knossos. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 6:42-52. Shaw MC. 2012. New light on the labyrinth fresco from the palace at Knossos. Annual of the British School at Athens 107:143-159. Schoep I. 2004. Assessing the role of architecture in conspicuous consumption in the Middle Minoan I-II periods. Oxford Journal of Archaeology 23(3):243-269. Shaw JW, and Lowe A. 2002. The Lost Portico at Knossos: The Central Court Revisited. American Journal of Archaeology 106(4):513-523. Tomkins P. 2012. Behind the horizon: Reconsidering the genesis and function of the First Palace at Knossos (Final Neolithic IV-Middle Minoan IB). In: Schoep I, Tomkins P, and Driessen J, editors. Back to the Beginning: Reassessing Social and Political Complexity on Crete during the Early and Middle Bronze Age. Oxford: Oxbow Books. p 32-80.