Cynicism
I'm still having a hard time clearly understanding the meaning of the term.
From the other Boleyn Girl:
" So I was no thirteen-year-old virgin as I had been when I had first been put to bed with this man to consummate the marriage.
But I was not yet a woman of such cynicism that I could prepare without dread for bed with a man who seemed half-enemy.
William had a score to settle with me, and I was afraid of him."
If you could provide as many examples while shedding light on the meaning, that would be fabulous.
cyn·i·cism (sĭn'ĭ-sĭz'əm) Pronunciation Key
n.
1. An attitude of scornful or jaded negativity, especially a general distrust of the integrity or professed motives of others: the public cynicism aroused by governmental scandals.
2. A scornfully or jadedly negative comment or act: "She arrived at a philosophy of her own, all made up of her private notations and cynicisms" (Henry James).
3. Cynicism The beliefs of the ancient Cynics.
There's no way that definition is right. What are you, nuts?
Funnily enough, I have only just watched 'The Other Boleyn Girl' DVD.
" So I was no thirteen-year-old virgin as I had been when I had first been put to bed with this man to consummate the marriage.
But I was not yet a woman of such cynicism that I could prepare without dread for bed with a man who seemed half-enemy.
William had a score to settle with me, and I was afraid of him."
If you find the novel difficult to understand; the DVD might help.
What is she saying?
Who is saying what?
First she is saying that she is an experienced woman.
Second, she is saying that she is not so hardened, as to be prepared to sleep with a man who might be her enemy.
In other words, she does not want to sleep with William.
I have no problem comprehending the novel from cover to cover including the excerpt I quoted above. My question was specifically pertinent to the term 'cynicism.'
Which of the definitions provided above best suits the referred to meaning in the present context?
Oh, and I watched the DVD long ago.
It is second:
>A scornfully or jadedly negative comment or act<
She is basically saying that she isn't tough enough to put aside her dread in order to sleep with someone she dislikes. People often become cynical because they have been hurt in the past, and they learn to stop trusting others.
Hello Mr/Mrs/Ms/Miss Cynical
I personally have my doubts over your ability to understand the novel if you do not know the meaning of 'Cynical' or should I say 'cynicism'. In fact, your comments imply a certain 'cynicism'.
<<A scornfully or jadedly negative comment>>
I recently lent my daughter 'The Other Boleyn Girl" DVD and I could tell from her comments that she had not really understood it.
Question:
Why was a male heir so important? (Answer with reference to Mary Queen of Scots.)
Why was Henry VIII so worried about the possibilty of Civil War? (Answer with reference to the Wars of the Roses and the presence of Cromwell in the Houses of Parliament.)
Question:
What does the novel tell us about the prevailing morality of the Court? (Answer with reference to 'the age of consent', 'a woman's right to choose', property ownership, etc.)
Question:
Was Henry VIII above the Law? (Answer with reference to Charles I)
The wee lassie was so inexperienced in the wicked ways of this world and of the people that make it so that she was not yet hardened to it all sufficiently so to enable her to pour scorn and contempt and distrust on the ways of the virtuous and the virginal and the altruistic. She was a quick learner though.
Ah!..Tudor times in England....oh what fun it was.......unless you fell foul of the prevailing "powers that be" of course....the quickest way to the block or the pyre, but if you managed to escape these grisly ends you'd find that life in Merrie Olde England - from the Plantagenets to the Tudors - never contained dull moments - an era of some of history's most colourful characters. Little wonder that the Bard of Avon was never short of material.
And of course......our own beloved Macbeth!
Did you know that the name "Macbeth" is, by tradition, never uttered in any British theatre? It never passes the lips of a British actor or actress...it's use is completely banned...a total taboo....a harbinger of something dark and terrible and evil......"The Scottish Play" is fine though, and everyone knows what it refers to.
>I personally have my doubts over your ability to understand the novel if you do not know the meaning of 'Cynical' or should I say 'cynicism'. In fact, your comments imply a certain 'cynicism'. <
Robin,
Can I safely infer that what you're saying is that in order for somebody to grasp a novel that's composed of, I'd say hundreds of thousands of words, they have to understand each word individually, or at least the 'basic' ones?
That's absurd. Why would the notion of understanding the overall context exist?
>>In fact, your comments imply a certain 'cynicism'. <<
What in particular are you referring to?
My son reads a lot. Quite often he would 'read' a novel in a couple of days. Once we went to the local library and he told me that he had read all the books in the library.
So, what do I think!
Is he a genius?
What is his level of comprehension?
OK, he has read the book, but to what extent has he understood it?
Often books, films, etc can be understood on different levels.
I can remember watching 'The Simpsons' with my daughter. There as an 'adult joke' which I found amusing, and I laughted out loud. My daughter found it amusing too, and she laughted as well.
I know she did not understand the 'Adult Joke'. She was laughing at the Cartoon Characters doing funny things.
One of the great advantages of the internet, is that if there is a particular word that you don't understand, you can look it up.
"Gerunding"
mssrcrankypants: Grammar For Writers I: The Gerunding
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The most common form of gerund is the -ing form of a verb (the present ... only to point out that these uses DO NOT fall under the definition of the gerund. ...
mssrcrankypants.livejournal.com/35388.html - 74k - Cached - Similar pages
Quite a good article
I can't stand Bob whining when he loses. = WRONG
Being stabbed in the eye with a knitting needle did nothing to slow down the killer. (Subject--and note that "knitting" is NOT a gerund; it's an adjective and therefore a participle)
and so I came to this rather obscure website:
http://www.ballardian.com/
I'm still having a hard time clearly understanding the meaning of the term.
From the other Boleyn Girl:
" So I was no thirteen-year-old virgin as I had been when I had first been put to bed with this man to consummate the marriage.
But I was not yet a woman of such cynicism that I could prepare without dread for bed with a man who seemed half-enemy.
William had a score to settle with me, and I was afraid of him."
If you could provide as many examples while shedding light on the meaning, that would be fabulous.
cyn·i·cism (sĭn'ĭ-sĭz'əm) Pronunciation Key
n.
1. An attitude of scornful or jaded negativity, especially a general distrust of the integrity or professed motives of others: the public cynicism aroused by governmental scandals.
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She did not hate men to such an extent that she was prepared to sleep with a man who hated her.
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Having sexual intercourse with a thirteen year old girl (whether or not she is a virgin) is a criminal offence in most of the English Speaking world. It is 'statutory rape'. In practice it is not always prosecuted, particularly when it is a forteen year old having sex with a thirteen year old.
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So, this is a woman who feels that she has been abused by men!
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Marriages at this time were about political Union, and the Heads of State represented their countries. So Catherine of Aragon could be described as 'Spain' and Henry VIII as England. When Henry VIII says that he has "been in Spain", it does not mean that he has taken the Click Air flight to Barcelona.