She calls the women “foul contending rebel[s]” and “graceless traitors” to their husbands. The fact that Katherine insulted the wives is another way she shows her dominance among the women and the unkind, look downed upon, nature that is put upon the wives. Ironically, Katherine also states that a women who do not obey her husbands are “muddy,” “ill-seeming,” and “bereft of beauty” implying that these wives are these characteristics because of their disobedience to their husbands. Using these words, Katherine patronizes and reprimands these wives publicly almost as if she was teaching them a lesson on how to be true wives. The condescending tone that Kate uses on these wives is a basically a scolding for their disobedience and also a lesson on why wives should submit to their husbands so humbly.
This gives readers a sharpened awareness of the complexity of family relationships in King Lear and their impact on the portrayal of Goneril and Ginny. Ginny is the reserved quiet daughter who, up until the very end of the novel, bends to her father's tyranny. As a result of her father's incestuous ways, and his constant verbal degradation and abuse of her and her sisters, Ginny takes on a passive attitude. It is only when awful incidents of her past are brought to light that she finally takes a stand. In this way we do not receive a very “likeable” picture of Ginny throughout A Thousand Acres.
Similarly in The Duchess of Malfi, when the Duchess’ attempt to deceive her brothers and conceal her marriage leads to her death. However self-deception is also a recurrent theme in both of the plays, in Othello, it can be argued that Othello’s self- deception proves just as destructive as Iago’s, as by deceiving himself of his true nature and labelling himself as “one not easily jealous,” he continually supresses his feelings of inner turmoil until he breaks under the influence of Iago. F R Leavis agreed with this stating, “The mind that undoes [Othello] is not Iago’s but his own.” The role of deception would be nowhere near as essential to the play without the influence of Iago; described by AC Bradley as the “artist of evil” his ruthless manipulation of the other characters in the play ensures not only the destruction of Othello, but his own. Self- deception plays a crucial role within Othello and The Duchess of Malfi; it allows the audience to see further into the characters personality and gain a deeper understanding of them as a character. Othello himself is the most palpable example of self- deception within the plays as from when the audience is first introduced to him in Act One Scene Two, he believes
As shown in Mr. Shaw’s short story, women are objectified as an object one is willing to risk his or her own well-being to enjoy. ”You’ll break your neck.” This quote seems to make an object out of the lady they are discussing in their conversation. The husband is looking around and has his eyes fixed on a lady who was passing by as they are crossing the street. This shows that Frances is jealous at her husband for looking at other female, and at the same time it also shows that her husband, Michael, is primarily focused his attention at the ladies around him. His blatant disregard of his own life when it comes to lady watching further demonstrates that he will do whatever it takes to look or enjoy the sight of other women.
The final line “Who could not say, ‘Tis pity she’s a whore?” can be seen as directed towards her and so she is blamed for everything that has occurred. Throughout the play she is seen as quite powerful and headstrong by refusing many marriage proposals and being quite stubborn in doing so. However, she is reduced to a weak being however upon dying which is a culmination of her passions. It is perceived that women are a danger to men and to society as a whole and so Giovanni’s actions are to be blamed not on himself, but on Annabella because of the beauty she possesses. Giovanni states that Annabella’s “lips would tempt a saint” thus showing the corruption her presence inflicts upon even the supposed innocent of men.
When John Reed finds her and hurls a book at her head, she is forced to go to the "red-room." Jane is immediately blamed without having a chance to give her account of the incident. Jane's straightforwardness and honesty when relating with others is fundamental to her character; but it is not until Mrs. Reed accuses Jane of having "a tendency to deceit" (65), in the presence of Mr. Brocklehurst, that we see this attribute of her character surface. Before this time, Jane has been able to suppress her anger and emotions regarding the Reed family quite successfully. In this scene, however, we seen Jane's hatred toward Mrs. Reed begin to fester and build up inside her until she erupts with emotion and all her pent-up feelings are released -- "Speak
The reader sees that Lady Macbeth is quick to take advantage of her own husband by using his doubts and uncertainty to manipulate his final decision. When Macbeth states, “We will proceed no further in this business”, Lady Macbeth becomes outraged and insults his masculinity and pride when she says “When durst it then you were a man.” meaning that his claims
Evidently Lady Bracknell values society and its values, saying, “Never speak disrespectfully of Society,” but she goes totally against these values by playing the role of her husband in her daughter’s life (hypocritical). In addition, the conversation between Lady Bracknell and Jack is controlled completely by Lady Bracknell. She is asking all the questions – in charge of the flow of the conversation – she is pushing/forcing everything she wants to know out of him. Evidence for this is ‘Mr Worthing! Rise, sir…’ this supports my statement above and conveys to the audience the power (authority) Lady Bracknell possesses over Jack.
The very first descriptions illustrate her initial animus by describing it as “one of those sprawling flamboyant patterns committing every artistic sin” (Perkins 41-42). This is significant for it reflects the narrator’s own presence—she is committing an artistic sin during her marriage by having her engaging imagination and her need to compose. Her husband, John, dislikes this, and as a result, the narrator deliberately feels stifled and has to obscure her writing so that her husband will not know. The narrator is characterized as having a nervous state and is overly protected by her
Mrs. Slade knew Mrs. Ansley had liked her husband, Delphin Slade. She believed that pointing out the fact that she was the one he married and that she lost out on him would show her superiority over her. In an attempt to put Mrs. Ansley in her place, she tells her that the letter calling for a secret meeting at the Coliseum was in fact written by her. She says that it was a ploy to trick her into waiting for him, which caused her to get sick. After this first round of surprises Mrs. Slade assumes she is