Independence for women in Elizabethan times was not important; they were known to be frail and weak. Shakespeare contradicts the perceived views of women in the 16th century through his portrayal of women in The Merchant of Venice. The female characters are courageous and strong willed; they display this through their thoughts and decisions during the difficult situations they are put in. It was common in the 16th century for fathers to choose who their precious daughters will marry. With that being said, the women generally would not have any say in who they may marry.
Explore the presentation of marriage in Oscar Wilde’s ‘A Woman of No Importance’ and Henrik Ibsens ‘A Dolls House.’In both Oscar Wilde’s ‘A Woman of No Importance’ and Henrik Ibsen’s ‘A Doll’s House’ the playwrights seem to imply through their plays that the institution of marriage in the Victorian era had become centered around superficial values, such as social status, rather than love. Both Ibsen and Wilde use their plays as vehicles to criticise the society they perceived around them, exposing the faults of the upper classes through naturalistic settings and witty banter. The naturalistic setting of both plays, allows the audience to see how the ideas and events within the plays were based on realistic ideals and the witty banter, particularly pronounced within Wilde’s play that explicitly follows the conventions of a comedy of manners, allows both playwrights to satirise and pass judgment on society in a slightly tongue in cheek manner, so as not to cause offense to the very people being mocked who would see the performances. Because Wilde has written his play as a comedy of manners, the characters that he has created can be perceived more like caricatures, which allows him to exaggerate certain characteristics that the audience will be able to recognize and yet still be able to laugh at. Ibsen however takes a more moralistic approach to portraying Victorian society; by doing this he makes the characters more realistic.Both writers position the argument that marriage was being undermined as increasingly society seemed to show a lack of trust and respect within marriage.
Misha Myles Ms. Broaddus English AP 12 December 2011 Miss-Judgment Judging others by only their outward appearance and background isn’t always an effective way to get to know or understand one’s nature. In the novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen the character Elizabeth is influenced by one’s vanity and demeanor and is quick to judge their character. Which she later realize about her grave mistake when she understands that she has miss-judgment of both Mr. Wickham and Mr. Darcy. Elizabeth plays an important role in the novel; she is the most logical out of all of her sisters. Austen reveals Elizabeth’s character as an example about how she wanted to have her own self independence during that time period.
Women were still viewed as being inferior to men and did not have a voice to air their concerns or displeasure. In the beginning of the story, the main character hints to this oppression as she comments “perhaps that is one reason I do not get well faster” when describing John’s occupation as a physician (Gilman 82). Her husband John is expanding her level of depression by keeping her from the outside. Confining her to one room within a house that was viewed as being “a colonial mansion, a hereditary estate” is symbolic (Gilman 82). It shows that she is trapped within a small portion of a large house, similar to being trapped to adventure the outside world thus forced in to a land of fantasy not reality.
This is shown she says “swell guy, ain’t he” this shows us that she knows what Curley really is and that she knows that he isn’t really that interested in her. She lets him use her to show that he has power because she doesn’t know how to get out of his life. In the passage the conversation takes place in Crook’s room, Steinbeck does this to show that Curley’s wife feel as though the only power she can have
This essay will argue that In both texts motherhood and marriage is shown to be a hindrance to both women’s careers and their female identity. The theme of marriage in The Bell Jar and Top Girls Is shown to demolish the female identity of the women. In The Bell Jar Plath uses Buddy as a symbolic figure to show how even the “clean” men of that time were only out for one
With necessary communication, the relationships in a family can be maintained smoothly. However, a family’s relationships can be easily destroyed by miscommunications. The character Sister is one of the most important characters in the story. Sister is lack of communication with her family, clouding her view of the world by her narrowed-mind, which deepens her family’s misunderstanding of her, even results herself in leaving home, and moving into the post office. In the story, Stella-Rondo, who is the younger sister of Sister, tries to turn Papa-Daddy against Sister, and tells a lie to Papa-Daddy that Sister thinks he should have cut his beard.
‘Women must creep’ (Elaine R. Hedges) illustrates the thought that women shouldn’t be heard, but do only what they’re required to do, reinforcing how women were demeaned. The lack of power women had was not only present within their marriage, but also in society as males were perceived as the more significant gender, so women were patronised and dismissed by patriarchal control. Patriarchal control is represented clearly by John, the protagonist’s husband, which increases complexity within the novel as the isolation and ‘The resting cure’ he enforces upon her, causes her mental state to degenerate further, despite John believing it is helping his wife. There are a number of methods used to increase the characters complexity in The Yellow Wallpaper. For example, the use of epistolary displays a 1st person narrative and is in the present tense, “I never used to be so sensitive.” This is present when the protagonist writes to herself, Gilman uses this technique in order to show the
Elaina Wusstig AP English 12 Sejkora 26 September 2011 A Doll’s House Literary Analysis Feminism assists women in breaking from the viewpoint of a normal housewife into a strong, independent person. In A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen, Ibsen mocks feminism to a degree where women in the play were looked down upon as insubordinate and almost child-like. Nora, as the main character, displays the role of how a housewife should act with help from her husband who shows his authority as the man of the house. Through conflict and characters, the play degrades women into a role society expects them to have in a household environment rather than the freedom to make their own choices. Torvald treats Nora as a wife in the 1800s should be treated.
Gilman shows this when the woman of the story says “I meant to be such a help to John, such a real rest and comfort, and here I am a comparative burden already”. She also shows that woman at this time didn’t really do anything for themselves, “Nobody would believe what an effort it is to do what little I am able - to dress and entertain, and order things”. The woman in the story is believing in the social norm and what her husband belittles her to be. She feels that she is a burden to her husband because she dislikes the wallpaper and continues to complain about how much it bothers her. He refuses to change it making her blame herself for not being able to cope with the “dull” and “flamboyant” yellow wallpaper.