Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other: Bourgeoisie and Proletariat” (Marx and Engels 1848). Social class, therefore, is based upon economic criteria and conflict occurs between those who own the means of production (bourgeoisie) and the wage-labourers (proletariat). As well as having economic control over the proletariat, the bourgeoisie also have the power to determine the superstructure; the ruling class can distort perceptions of the world and hide the true nature of social relationships and the exploitation of the proletariat and, above all, promote bourgeoisie interests. Marx defines production as workers selling their labour for wages in order to exchange money for commodities that will meet their most basic needs. As Marx
Throughout the novel we see examples of characters knowing their place and acting accordingly, however we also see examples of the opposite which leads us to question what kind of society Austen was, in fact, trying to depict through the novel 'Pride and Prejudice'. During the years in which the novel is set (1796-1797) there was a severe class divide that affected the lives of everybody in England. We see this prominently in 'Pride and Prejudice' as it is central to the plot. These class divisions were rooted in family connections and wealth and were very difficult to change, unless you married into wealth or inherited it. As a result of this, social mobility was limited at this time and people socialised in small circles, with only those of a similar class.
Elizabeth Browning presents an idealistic and an optimistic view towards love and hope through sonnets I, XIV and XLIII. Although composed in two different time frames, both texts have been influenced by personal contexts in their representation of love and hope. Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Fitzgerald’s texts both explore the necessity of love in order to accomplish in life, but are hopeful in achieving their respective love but are contrastingly represented. The sole foundations for Elizabeth’s sonnets arise from her ambivalent and evolving attitude towards the patriarchal values of her society and her father’s repressive restraint on love through his extreme conservatism. She however challenges and subverts the dominant patriarchal paradigms and tropes of her society as she searches for the solution to her descent into morbid conviction.
Although Zinn argues that the conflicts caused by the differentiating social classes in order to dissolve the class divisions was the main cause of the American Revolution, the “other side of the story” is told by Schweikart and Allen, as they reason that it was actually the British who unknowingly burdened the colonies with oppression, which brought about the revolution itself. In Zinn’s fourth chapter of A People’s History of the United States, Tyranny is Tranny; he focuses more on the class differences in society that triggers the opposition against England, rather than the effects of British oppression. He states that the “American leadership was less in need of English rule, and the English more in need of the colonists’ wealth” (Zinn 60). With this said, the colonists then focused more on the pursuit of exploitation and profit, which would definitely spark rebellions of the poor against the rich especially because the poor had been overwhelmed by British taxes and the fact that only a small percentage of the wealthy controlled a huge majority of the city’s taxable assets. For this reason, the poor developed a hatred for the upper class that would
Mrs Dalloway is more a critical portrayal of society than it is of the female protagonist.’ To what extent do you believe this to be true for both Mrs Dalloway and the female characters in The Hours? Writers can often encourage sympathy for characters we would normally despise. To what extent and by what means do Ibsen in A Doll’s House and Nabokov in Lolita achieve this feat? In On Chesil Beach and Revolutionary Road both McEwan and Yates present desire as a disruptive force. To what extent does your reading of the texts lead you to share this view?
Outline + assess the Marxist explanations for crime and deviance . Marxist theories of crime are based on conflict. They claim that society is divided by capitalism and there is a conflict between the upper-classes and the working-classes. They suggest that social inequality, as a result of capitalism, is the cause of crime. The starting point for Marxist and neo-Marxist approaches is the laws, and how the ways that they are created and enforced may favour certain groups; the ruling/upper-classes.
He uses Arthur Birling as a voice for capitalism, who is ridiculed by the inspector, a representative of socialism. The dialogue between them shows this, as the inspector twists what birling says. For example, when the inspector says “I’m sorry but you asked me a question”, and Birling says the inspector previously asked him an unnecessary question, the Inspector replies “It’s my duty to ask questions”. Priestly uses this symbolism as framework for the political ideology battle each character has with the inspector. As the political Ida of capitalism has corrupted the Birling family, Priestly shows the audience how the inspector, the voice of socialism, constantly out-wits the birling’s.
In Stephanie Coontz “The Radical Idea of Marrying for Love” she expresses her opinion of what marriage is perceived as by showing that it is unrealistic with examples of the history of marriage from around the world. She goes on to point out that with George Shaw’s theory of marriage “an institution that brings together two people under the influence of the most violent, most insane, most delusive and most transient of passions” (378) is amusing and has unrealistic expectations. According to Coontz, marriage has revolutionized from being a tool of survival to a plethora of personal reasons such as happiness and fulfilment. She also points out that passionate love has played a minor role or was even discouraged in marriages in history by stating
The changing values and attitudes towards education, the importance of literature, marriage and the position of women in society are explored through the marked differences in textual form. A reader’s interest in the parallels of the importance of education and literature between the past and the present are enhanced by considering the differences in textual form. Using her writing to explore the significance of reading and writing towards a good education, Fay Weldon uses Austen’s Pride and Prejudice to address the craft of writing and the power of language through the use of didacticism and the epistolary form throughout Letters to Alice. The epistolary framework of Weldon’s text attempts to differentiate between literature and the nature of writing itself, stressing that “Fiction, thank God, it not and need not be reality”. By directly addressing the reader, through Aunt Fay’s desire to persuade Alice to read not just any “thrillers and romances” which are “temporary”, the reader is placed in a similar position to Alice, and we are essentially being educated on the importance of literature.
Many debates have happened whether or not these women approach feminism for their time period. The answer to that is ambiguous and depends on how the reader takes in their writings. One can say that even though Wollstonecraft is so obviously pining for co-education, and in that way to be equal to men, she is not promoting equality for anything else. By not wanting to be equal in anything else, how can she be approaching feminism? Pizan so obviously from the start of her writing, introduces how women should behave (from the perspective of a princess), so that her actions shall be beneficial to her and her husband.