It is this very brain, which is ultimately used to aid in Dracula’s downfall. Lucy, on the other hand, is presented as the temptress at the very start of the novel. Stoker presents her as exhibiting personality traits potentially dangerous in women. She is ever the tease, falling into the traditional female role more than Mina ever did. Her vanity
‘She had full rouged lips and wide spaced eyes, heavily made up,’ which suggests that the author wanted us to presume the worst of her before she’d even spoken and we set ourselves up for her to be a character we feel a lot of resentment for. The fact that her ‘finger nails were red,’ along with ‘red mules’ and ‘red ostrich feathers’ shows us how Steinbeck’s use of colour goes well alongside her sexual appeal. The colour red is used in two ways. One is a strong representation of love or a form of attraction, the other is the inner appeal of sexual preference and seduction. The intention of making the reader perceive her early on as a ‘tart’ foreshadows that something later is going to happen and there could be trouble.
She references western culture in this argument to suggest our humanity is built solely upon the idea of sex as a natural force that is the basis of social structure. She further breaks her theory down into five subsets; Sex negativity, the fallacy of misplaced scale, the hierarchical valuation of sex acts, the domino theory of sexual peril, and the lack of a concept of benign sexual variation. She discusses sex negativity as a dangerous and destructive force. If sex isn’t related to marriage or reproduction then it’s considered evil. In the fallacy of misplaced scale she explains how sex acts are mixed with feelings of significance.
Stoker’s choose of women as the temptresses may be a warning to the women of the Victorian era to beware about pushing the boundaries of their sexuality. Stoker’s use of structuring emphasizes a women’s role in society at the time, this is the first women that Harker meets in the novel and they are devilish vampires, this implies that the novel appeals to an only male audience and their fantasy of women giving in to their temptations. Harker is simultaneously confronting a vampire and another creature equally terrifying to Victorian England, an unabashedly sexual woman, the evidence for this comes from the implied act of oral sex, ‘The fair girl went on her knees, bent over me, fairly gloating.’ Contextually the fact that Harker becomes the ‘submissive’ and is easily overpowered by their seduction and his own temptation shows the role reversal as women take on the dominating role that a traditional Victorian man is supposed to possess. The fact that Harker is both aroused and disgusted by the Vampires shows the Freudian
Alexander Pope's Rape of Femininity Not all the tresses that fair head can boast Shall draw such envy as the lock you lost… And all those tresses shall be laid in dust; This lock, the Muse shall consecrate to fame (V, 143-9). -Alexander Pope The Rape of the Lock by Alexander Pope is on one level a poem about 18th century society attending a party at Hampton Palace. Appearances are not what they seem, because the poem is really an attack on femininity and an examination of gender dualities. Through a series of attacks, description and betrayals, Pope reveals his overt misogyny and patriarchal agenda so lucidly that it clouds the intended meaning of the poem. Pope's gender ideologies deflate the power, intelligence and beauty of women while supporting man's violence and belittling of women.
Nabokov’s manipulation of the English language and his incredible work with descriptions, makes this novel a masterpiece. However, its incredibly anti-feminist nature needs to be discussed more, instead of being dismissed based on its eloquence. The effect that this novel has had in modern media shows that we cannot blame its sexism on its publication date of 1955. Lolita proves to be a detriment to the feminist movement, with its depictions of abuse, a lack of strong female characters and the normalization of pedophilia. Especially today, with positive advances surrounding sexual assault claims and the recent #MeToo campaign, this novel is a step back in the feminist movement.
Hence, is lust a sin then or did Adam and Eve commit sin? Just put away all the moral traditional concepts for a while, Adam and Eve are just showing how much they love each other and therefore generate lust in their relation. This kind of lust cannot be classified as a sin at
Carol Nguyen English Literature Q: Explore Carol Ann Duffy's reversal of traditional gender roles in her collection of 'The World's Wife' with a particular focus on the poems 'Little Red Cap', 'Mrs Beast' and 'The Kray Sisters'. Carol Ann Duffy challenges traditional gender roles through the satirical subversion of classical myths in her collection 'The World's Wife.' Duffy employs a critical feminist tone in order to place emphasis upon the female perspective and undermine societal perceptions of women within literature as 'cute but essentially hopeless.' She aims to invert the stereotypical gender roles by reinterpreting the archetypal 'female' through empowering the voices of the female character whom would usually be overshadowed by males. Although, it has been disputed that Duffy's poetry is misandrist due to her dismissive persona towards men.
To what extent does Angela Carter draw on the Gothic tradition in her representation of female characters in The Bloody Chamber and what is the significance of these representations? Angela Carter uses gothic tradition and conventions in her depiction of female characters in The Bloody Chamber in order to break down stereotypes and patriarchal expectations; she recreates traditional gothic tales into ones which are both eerie and shocking for her modern readers, in the same way that old gothic tales were to Victorian readers. Carter’s female victims come to be empowered by embracing their passions and work to go against patriarchal rule, acknowledging their own sexual desires. Female characters can be presented as victims of male tyranny in The Bloody Chamber. Within The Bloody Chamber, the protagonist brings about the attention of female sexuality to the reader through the loss of her innocence “I remember how…country of marriage” she is experiencing a journey from her innocence and individuality to being the possession of a man.
When we first meet Curley’s wife, Steinbeck makes her appear very flirtatious and dangerously beautiful. Steinbeck does this by giving her features that are very atrocious but yet lures you such as ‘full, rouged lips’, ‘red fingernails’, and ‘red mules’. The word ‘red’ symbolises many associations with sex, lust and seduction. Another quote that would question the reader would be, ‘She’s a jailbait.’ From this quote alone, it evokes the reader of suspicion that she could be the ticket to jail as well as being an object that would foreshadow later in the book. In addition to the previous paragraph, we also know that Curley’s wife is a married woman, a possession of Curley’s.