Curley’s wife, who walks the ranch as a temptress, seems to be a prime example of this destructive tendency—Curley’s already bad temper has only worsened since their wedding. Aside from wearisome wives, Of Mice and Men offers limited, rather misogynistic, descriptions of women who are either dead maternal figures or prostitutes. Despite Steinbeck’s rendering, Curley’s wife emerges as a relatively complex and interesting character. Although her purpose is rather simple in the book’s opening pages—she is the “tramp,” “tart,” and “bitch” that threatens to destroy male happiness and longevity—her appearances later in the novella become more complex. When she confronts Lennie, Candy, and Crooks in the stable, she admits to feeling a kind of shameless dissatisfaction with her life.
The best example of deceit in the book is when Spade has Brigid arrested in the end. She thinks that she lured him in with love, but he turns on her in the end. The evil tendencies of the group seemed to rub off on Spade by the end. In conclusion, the search for the Maltese Falcon failed. The goose chase that everyone went through turned out not to be worth it except for Spade.
“… How I wish I might see him and his bride in utter ruin, house and all, for the wrongs they dare inflict on me who never did them harm!” (55) Medea resolves to avenge her self and make her husband Jason suffer more then she has in order to punish him. While Medea speaks to the Chorus of the role of women in their society and their great disadvantages she is seen as a heroine willing to avenge the wrongs done to women, which is a rarity during the given time period “Of all creatures that have life and reason we women are the most miserable of specimens! In the first place, at great expense we must buy a husband, taking a master to play the tyrant with our bodies…” (56) Medea is undoubtedly a feminist which emphasizes her strong and independent character. Her tendency to violence and ruthlessness however is evident at the start of the play when the nurse is prompted to predict that Medea may do harm to Jason’s new bride out of jealousy and harm her children because they remind her of Jason “I’ve already seen her glaring at them like a bull, as if she wanted to do something awful. I’m sure of one thing, that anger of hers won’t die down until someone’s felt the force of her thunderbolt.
Medusa is described in a very negative manner. On the other hand, the final stanza makes us feel pity for her. Her lover had other ‘girls’ meaning he was unfaithful and the rhetorical question that follows makes Medusa seem desperate. This part of the poem evokes feelings from the reader as she is clearly distressed and suffering. She reminisces about when she was ‘fragrant and young’, illustrating her complete lack of confidence.
The term ‘tart’ has connotations of someone who is unfaithful, and this would cause the reader to distrust Curley’s wife as a character. Steinbeck gives the reader the impression that she is portrayed as a villain as the workers did not have nice things to say about her. We are encouraged to dislike her without actually her being present or doing anything in the story. Steinbeck also uses light and darkness to portray attitudes towards Curley’s wife. An example of this is when Curley’s wife first appears in the bunkhouse; both Lennie and George notice that the rectangle of sunshine is cut off.
She begins to hide her luscious hair in a cap and almost seems to lose her femininity. She becomes an outcast in the town, living on the outskirts of town. Men, woman, and children constantly making fun of both Pearl and Hester increasing the affect of Hester's diminishing appearance. An example of this abuse can be seen in Pearl repeatable being called a "demon child" by the towns people. (Hawthorne, Scarlet Letter 89) It almost seems as if the scarlet letter has absorbed her beauty along with all the rebellious and fiery qualities of Hester, leaving a cold and lonely woman, her tenderness "crushed so deeply into her heart that it can never show itself more.
Nurse Ratchet takes pleasure in being feared by the patients. The patients fear her wrath and punishments, as well as her humiliation tactics. The greatest example of this is Billy Bibbit who is an Acute patient in the ward that stutters and eventually commits suicide due to Nurse Ratchet’s methods of mortification. She thinks very highly of herself, one patient states, “I hope you are finally satisfied, playing with human lives- gambling with human lives- as if you thought yourself to be a god” (266). Nurse Ratchet is finally brought down from her high throne when McMurphy, the new patient, injures her vocal cores from strangling her.
However, as the novel advances, her true character begins to unveil. Daisy Buchanan is seen as the true villain in The Great Gatsby for her materialism, selfishness, and extreme greed. One of the many questions the reader has about Daisy is why she tolerates her husband, Tom Buchanan’s, infidelities. And although according to Glenn Settle in “Fitzgerald's Daisy: The Siren Voice,” both “Daisy and Tom are careless people” (118), Daisy is shockingly more ruthless. In “Her Story and Daisy Buchanan,” writer Leland Person states, “Daisy expresses the same desire to escape the temporal world” (251).
The author write "With all the intensity of the savage blood transmitted to her through long lines of wholly barbaric ancestors, she hated the woman who blushed and trembled behind that silent door." (Stockton 49). The author clearly states that the princess hates the woman behind the door. Evidence also proves that the princess is jealous of this woman for the author tells you how she caught the woman looking at her lover plenty of times, as if flirting with him, but when the man flirts back is when she starts to get jealous. She admits on page 49 that the lady is very lovely and beautiful, by the author stating that it draws people to the conclusion that the princess knows her lover wouldn't mind marrying the woman and that he would actually be happy with it.
Pearl symbolizes evil in the story by representing God's punishment of Hester's sin, symbolizing the guilt and the scarlet letter that controls her behavior and defying Puritan laws by being cheerful and associating with nature. Pearl is a greater punishment then Hester’s “A”. First, Pearl represents God's punishment by her mocking and nagging of Hester. This is shown throughout the novel she sometimes seemed to her mother as almost a witch baby (Hawthorne 88).Second, Pearl is a baffling mixture of strong emotions with a fierce temper and a capacity for evil; with Pearl, Hester's life became one of constant nagging, and no joy. This is proven when Hester remarks to herself, "Oh Father in heaven - if thou art still my father - what is this being which I have brought into the world" (Hawthorne 89).Thirdly, Pearl represents the sins of both Hester and Dimmesdale.