The Death of a Becket

This wonderful piece of artwork is not mine, rather it belongs to a box-maker in 1173-80 Great Britain. It is called the Reliquary Casket with Scenes from the Martyrdom of Saint Thomas Becket, and is made out of gilded silver, niello, and a glass cabochon, all set over a tinted foil. It is 2 & 3/16 inches wide, 2 & 3/4 inches long, and 1 & 7/8 inches tall. 

This abomination on the other hand is most definitely mine. The poor unknown soul who created the first box just had a heart attack in his grave after seeing this horrid replication. It is made out of .7 mm of lead, terrible drawing skills and the lack of a ruler. It was created on a red couch at around 4:37 to 5:27 PM, November 19, 2017, and now belongs to the bark of some torn down tree in the woods. 

Both of these boxes are supposed to represent the death of martyr, Thomas Becket, the English saint and archbishop of Canterbury. This box represents the physical death of Becket, and reflects how much of a martyr Becket was. 

This box has both portrait and landscape styles of art, the portraits being the angel on the left panel (or the horrifying person smiling at you, whichever choice looks more noticeable) and the painting above it (I have no clue as to what that is, but I thought it was some form of an artistic plant).  While both styles were popular, the combination of both could be seen as a way to start a new method of painting. 

The box is outlined in gold, and has a red jewel on top. However, the pictures are black and gray. The color could possibly signify death, because the scenes on the box show Thomas Becket's death. However, the color scheme could also signify power. Gold was a symbol of power at the time, and red is a very dynamic color. The box being gold and red could symbolize the power that Becket had during his lifetime, and while he may be dead, his power will still live on. The combination of colors implies a very morbid approach to the martyrdom of Becket, and could suggest the power beyond death that Becket could have on his followers.



The shape of this box is first and foremost... a box (actually, it's a sphere... ). However, it has a pyramid shape on top with the red jewel. This gives it more of an elegant appearance than an actual box would (because yes, those martyrs always get such nice things). 

The box is in a dark light, and this could be due to the death theme that surrounds the box in the paintings. 

The box (or fancy pyramid thing, whatever works), is composed so that Becket's death is only in a few places. The box itself is dominated by angels who are blessing the death, which brings some religious context into the paintings. Nobody wants to see their beloved religious leader be brutally killed by four ungrateful guards. Therefore, the inclusion of angels could help followers feel at ease about the death because they know that Becket is in a better place.

This art is predominately religious. It is detailing the death/ murder of Thomas Becket, which provides a religious context to the area at the time. This context is religious because it is detailing the death of an English saint and a leader. During the time, religion was important to the people, so the death of a leader was important to them and even started a pilgrimage. 

This art also contains a political context because it shows the murder of an important figure. The fact that people knew it was murder was important to them because they knew how powerful government was and how powerful religion was. It could strike either a sense of fear or a sense of vengeance in followers because they would be upset at the crown for murdering their leader. 

Overall, this box (and my rather terrible replication of it) has a death theme surrounding it due to its dark colors, and it also has a few contexts such as political and religious contexts.

Can't Bury These Tales

“And, ma’am,” he continued, “the laundress tells me some of the girls have two clean tuckers in the week: it is too much; the rules limit them to one.”

“Julia Severn, ma’am! And why has she, or any other, curled hair? Why, in defiance of every precept and principle of this house, does she conform to the world so openly—here in an evangelical, charitable establishment—as to wear her hair one mass of curls?”

“Naturally! Yes, but we are not to conform to nature; I wish these girls to be the children of Grace: and why that abundance? I have again and again intimated that I desire the hair to be arranged closely, modestly, plainly. Miss Temple, that girl’s hair must be cut off entirely; I will send a barber to-morrow.”

“(T)hree other visitors, ladies, now entered the room. They ought to have come a little sooner to have heard his lecture on dress, for they were splendidly attired in velvet, silk, and furs. The two younger of the trio (fine girls of sixteen and seventeen) had grey beaver hats, then in fashion, shaded with ostrich plumes, and from under the brim of this graceful head-dress fell a profusion of light tresses, elaborately curled; the elder lady was enveloped in a costly velvet shawl, trimmed with ermine, and she wore a false front of French curls.”
This passage is describing Mr. Brocklehurst's idea of what a girl should look like, and also describes his family members and the opposite appearance of what a girl should look like.

The passage starts with him saying that the girls should be limited to only one tucker, then continues with him criticizing a girl's naturally curly hair, and end with his family entering the room in expensive clothing.

The author uses irony in this passage to explain that Mr. Brocklehurst is a hypocrite. The irony is shown through the extremities between what Mr. Brocklehurst says and what his family represents. He wants to limit clothing down to one clean pair of clothes, yet his family is dressed so lavishly to the point of them looking like royalty. He says that the girl with curly hair - Julia Severn - should have her hair removed because she is too extravagant, yet his presumed wife has fake French curls in her hair.

These extremities represent the perceptions of social views at the time, and also shows how corrupt religion was during this time period.

Mr. Brocklehurst's lecture is a representation of the extremity that girls were expected to be at during the time. He expects the upmost modesty, which was something that was an expectation for women. As a figure of authority in the Church, Mr. Brocklehurst is expected to be modest as well as spiritual and adamant about being a close figure to God.

However, Mr. Brocklehurst has a family who dresses as if they are nobility, which tarnishes his supposed image inside the Church. As someone who is supposed to be modest, his family is incredibly corrupt in the sense that they do not dress like they are modest people.

These social outlooks contribute to the perception of religion in society at the time. The author shows it as corrupt and almost evil as they describe the situation in the passage. They reflect on Mr. Brocklehurst's character and how he is willing to make sure the rest of the world is modest, good, and faithful to God, but his family must dress as if they are deities.

The concept of irony in this passage shows the perception of religion at this time, which seemed to be a corrupt, almost evil part of society. This passage gave insight to what some people thought of religion in that time period.