"The Ring" - Isak Dinesen
*IMPORTANT QUOTATION EXPLANATION* They are newly married. Although, they have known each other for 10 years, they really do not know each other. Also, this shows that the two characters come from different families with different social norms.
*IMPORTANT QUOTATION They had been married a week. It had not been easy for them to get married, for the wife's family was higher in rank and wealthier than the husband's. But the two young people, now twenty-four and nineteen years old, had been set on their purpose for ten years; in the end her haughty parents had had to give in to them. (P.225)
*IMPORTANT QUOTATION EXPLANATION* Lovisa believes that she feels freedom because she could never have any secret from her husband; however, she is only feeling the freedom from her "haughty" parents.
*IMPORTANT QUOTATION Lovisa, the wife, felt that now, every day and for the first time in her young life, she moved and breathed in perfect freedom because she could never have any secret from her husband. (P. 226)
*IMPORTANT QUOTATION EXPLANATION* Lovisa's inner thoughts reveal that she is beginning to change her perception of her new husband.
*IMPORTANT QUOTATION She thought: "How clever he is, what a lot of things he knows!" and at the same time: "What an absurd person he is, with his sheep! What a baby he is! I am a hundred years older than he." (P. 226)
*IMPORTANT QUOTATION EXPLANATION* 1. connects to the Little Red Riding Hood allusion... How?? 2. This parallels the ending of the story, the thief kills Lovisa's childhood dreams of marriage and then vanishes without a trace.
*IMPORTANT QUOTATION* It had turned to a sheep thief. This thief during the last months had broken into the sheepfolds of the neighborhood like a wolf, had killed and dragged away his prey like a wolf and like a wolf had left no trace after him.
*IMPORTANT QUOTATION EXPLANATION* The moment she is doomed in this marriage. She realizes the consequences of her childish notions of marriage.
*IMPORTANT QUOTATION* As she heard her own voice pronounce the words she conceived their meaning. Her wedding ring. "With this ring"—dropped by one and kicked away by another—"with this ring I thee wed." With this lost ring she had wedded herself to something. To what? To poverty, persecution, total loneliness. To the sorrows and the sinfulness of this earth. "And what therefore God has joined together let man not put asunder."
*IMPORTANT QUOTATION EXPLANATION* Foreshadows the consequences of this meeting. She will never be the same, her world will change.
*IMPORTANT QUOTATION* She beheld the man before her as she would have beheld a forest ghost: the apparition itself, not the sequels of it, changes the world to the human who faces it.
Simile
*Literary Term the sheep thief is compared a wolf by another sheep owner named Mathias.
self-discovery
*THEME Lise changes her views on marriage and how she sees reality when facing the thief who is stealing Sigismund's and the farmer's sheep.
maturing emotionally
*THEME it is realized that Lise faces the danger of the sheep thief and reacts, by not screaming for help, but offering her ring to help his predicament of living.
the coming of age
*THEME a primary demonstration of this is when Lovisa realizes that marriage is not just a fiction story but it is a role played out between two people who have commitments and responsibilities.
Vocabulary: Haughty
*Vocabulary Another word for arrogant
Vocabulary: Danish
*Vocabulary Someone from Denmark
Vocabulary: pantomime
*Vocabulary a way of expressing information or telling a story without words by using body movements and facial expressions
Vocabulary: unconditional
*Vocabulary absolute; complete
Vocabulary: void
*Vocabulary an empty space; vacuum
Vocabulary: definitive
*Vocabulary conclusive; final; decisive
Vocabulary: rustic
*Vocabulary of, or relating to, the country
Vocabulary: apparition
*Vocabulary something strange or unexpected that comes suddenly into view, as a ghost
Vocabulary: Conceive
*Vocabulary to form a mental image or idea of; imagine
No
Did Lise and the sheep thief speak to each other during the encounter?
Yes
Did the sheep thief get away?
No, it dropped to the ground and he kicked it away
Did the sheep thief take the wedding ring?
Totally happy
How did Lise feel during the first week of her marriage?
That everything she felt about her marriage is now lost
How does she feel at that point?
10 years
How long had Lise and Sigismund been in love before they were allowed to get married?
For a few days
How long had the the sheep thief been hiding in the trees?
One week
How long had they been married?
4 minutes
How long was Lise's encounter with the sheep thief?
19
How old was Lise?
24
How old was Sigismund?
Lise is characterized this way
In the beginning of the story, ____ is best characterized as childish and naive.
Sigismund is characterized this way
In the beginning of the story, ____ is best characterized as loyal and protective.
dynamic character
Lise plays the role as the protagonist who changes her view and customs from encountering the sheep thief.
Red Riding Hood
Literary allusion in this text
Symbol: white
Represents goodness, purity
Symbol: red
Represents passion and love
static character
Sigismund does not change from the beginning of the story. He remains protective, loving, and caring.
Her wedding ring
What did Lise try to give the sheep thief?
That one of his English lambs had died, and two were sick
What did Mathias tell Sigismund about his sheep?
His sheep
What did Sigismund want to show Lise on the July morning?
She lost it
What did she tell Sigismund happened to her ring?
She said no, she did not. (She lied)
What does Lise say when Sigismund asks if she knows the last place she had her ring?
He had murdered a man who caught him stealing his sheep
What had the sheep thief done three days earlier?
His left arm was broken
What physical injury did the sheep thief sustain during the crime?
When they started talking about the sheep-thief
When did Lise begin to pay attention to the conversation between Sigismund and Mathias?
150 years ago (approximately 1750)
When did the story take place?
A few days earlier
When had Lise found the alcove?
She walked back out of the grove
Where did Lise go after the sheep thief left?
In an alcove
Where did Lise hide?
Denmark
Where did the story take place?
her parents
Which set of parents were against the marriage?
The sheep thief
Who did Lise encounter in the glade of trees?
Sigismund
Who did Lise run into after her encounter with the sheep thief?
Her dog, Bijou
Who did not come on the walk?
The sheep master
Who was Mathias?
Lise
Who was the dynamic character in the story?
Sigismund
Who was the husband?
Lise
Who was the wife?
Isak Dinesen
Who wrote The Ring?
Because she had no secrets from her husband
Why did Lise feel perfect freedom during the first week of her marriage?
She thought he would realize how important she was to him if he could not find her
Why did Lise hide from Sigismund?
Because she was of a higher class and wealthier
Why did Lise's parents oppose the marriage?
Because he was talking to Mathias about the sick sheep
Why did Sigismund tell Lise to set out for home?
