Tuesday, January 29, 2013
What Is In a Name?
The name Eleanor is of Greek origin meaning "sun ray" or "shining light."Discovering this after reading the ballad conveyed the irony of her name. When thinking of the sun or of shining light, positivity and hope come to mind - in terms of a sense of self or a perspective on life. Eleanor is the complete opposite of this. The way she speaks in the poem portrays here deep sense of hopelessness; that life itself is dark, meaningless, and that there is no longer a reason to live it. As another student mentioned in their blog, Walpole contradicted his character's personalities with their Greek names as well. It is not clear whether this was intended or not be either author, but the contradictions and twists revealed by this irony of name has a great affect on Gothic literature. The characters are not portrayed as they "should" be.
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I hadn't really thought about names when it comes to this poem, or any of the others that were paired with it. I believe that the choice to name her such was intentional. Poets have a limited space within which to create the imagery and effect they desire; their word choices are then almost always entirely deliberate. As we discussed in class, the overt religiousness of the mother's dialogue is important in creating the juxtaposition between Christianity and the pagan incantation. Perverting the meaning of the name of Ellenore/Lenora has to be deliberate, just as the title of your post deliberately perverts the meaning of the original Shakespearean quote it's derived from.
ReplyDeleteAh, interesting! I like Karok's reading of the name; you could also read it another way: Ellinore = Enlightenment. This could be taken ironically, but it is true that she has absolutely no clue that she is getting on the horse with a dea man. In fact, when William asks: The moone is bryghte, and blue the nyghte;
ReplyDeleteDost quake the blast to stem?
Dost shudder, mayde, to seeke the dead?"
She answers: "No, no, but what of them?
Elinore has so thoroughly rejected superstition that she cannot see what is happening to her. Read allegorically, then, the poem could be a commentary on the blindness of Enlightenment as a philosophical movement.