“Macbeth” was considered ‘a play fit for a king’, as Shakespeare wrote the play for the recently crowned king of England, James I. Women in the mid-20th century had the vote, but still lived in a male dominated society in which many jobs were unavailable to them, and they were expected to stay at home, cook and have babies. Also the Great Depression caused by the Wall Street Crash in 1929 worsened the situation, as even men were out of work, so it was even more unlikely for a woman to get a job. The two characters will be compared using relationships, evil, ambition, and the structure of both texts. Lady Macbeth is presented through the theme of evil.
She tells him he is “green” “a coward”, and that he resembles the “poor cat” who wanted the fish but would not get its paws wet. Finally, she tells him that her own lack of pity would extend to murdering her own child as it suckled at her breast. With this one terrifying example, she confirms that “the milk of human kindness” is absent in her. The quote “From this time such I account thy love” This personal taunt hits Macbeth. It is unexpected because their relationship is so intense.
Acting was considered dishonourable for women and women did not appear on the stage in England until the seventeenth century. In Shakespeare's plays, the roles of women were often played by young boys. Women, regardless of social position, were not allowed to vote (however, only men of a certain social position were allowed to vote). Women couldn’t inherit their father's titles either. All titles would pass from father to son or brother to brother, depending on the circumstances.
He his sick of ‘white people’ telling him what to do BOOK- SWALLOW THE AIR QUOTE MEANING “Billy, also in an ice-cream tub helmet and sent us fishing. Puncturing the fear that magpies would swoop down and peck out the top of our heads” Feel protected by the ice cream tubs, May and Billy belong “Billy’s feet were so much darker than mine; he’d sometimes tease me and call me a ‘halfie’ or coconut’” May doesn’t feel she belongs with Billy because they are only related by their mother. May doesn’t belong with someone who bullies her- Her own brother Billy “Your mum- she’s gone. She gone away for a long time, kids. Me sista, she had to leave us” May doesn’t even belong with her mother anymore because she is dead “Mungi and the stingray lay around in my beating mind” May remembered the stingrays pain just like the pain her mother would have gone through “Everything, through Aunty’s tired eyes, was bad luck.
Despite being written during patriarchal Jacobean society, the protagonist is a female, which is was highly unusual in those days. Of course this protagonist is Lady Macbeth. Throughout the play, through Lady Macbeth's actions we are forced to believe that she is evil. In contrast, the novel John Steinbeck tells a story of dreams, hopes and loneliness. We are introduced to a majorly significant and complex character, named Curley’s wife.
June is another victim of patriarchal oppression just like Connie’s mother, a typical “house wife”. Both the mother’s and sister’s roles fully reflect how women were treated at that time. They were controlled by males, displayed a lack of confidence and did not have their own independent self-consciousness. Oates used Connie’s independent identity and rebellious behaviors to represent women’s dissatisfaction with patriarchy, but had no courage to make a change. When Oates starts the story by introducing Connie without a last name, Oates created a character with a clear independent identity, while at the same time rebelling against the patriarchy.
Curley’s wife- a good girl or a floozy? Curley’s wife is the young, pretty newly married wife of Curley- the boss’ son. Steinbeck doesn’t give her a name in his novella ‘Of Mice and Men’ which helps create an impression of her being someone with no individual existence of her own. It also suggests she is Curley’s possession. The first mention of Curley’s wife is by Candy, the elderly swamper on the ranch, who speaks in a negative way about her.
While she prepares to exterminate the current king, she cries out “Unsex me here,/ and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full/ Of direst cruelty.” (Shakespeare. 1.5.48-49). Lady Macbeth is portrayed as a strong female character in the play because she goes against all expectations in order to become an ambitious and dominating female. She does not perform the typical maternal role as the weaker gender but gives up her female qualities in her pursuit of power and ambition. Because of this digression from the norms of society, Lady Macbeth stands apart from the other women of her society.
In Alldredge’s criticism of Faulkner’s novel As I Lay Dying one of the prominent things she discusses and give a valid, and strong point on is Addie Bundren’s favoritism to her illegitimate son Jewel and how it made Darl become bitter and eventually undoes him. When Alldredge states that Addie’s “relationships, or lack of them, with [her]… family is essential to any understanding of the inner conflicts in her children” (Alldredge) this is especially true with Darl. She hardly paid attention to her other children besides Jewel and it really struck home with Darl. Darl is so bitter by his mother and Jewel’s relationship that he keeps him from her death bed and his excuse is that “[He] wants [Jewel] to help [him] load” (Faulkner 7.6-10) knowing full well that his mother would want Jewel there more than anything. Does Darl care?
Likewise, both Hedvig and Cassandra share common consequences, torture (not just physically but mentally) and in the end both walk hopelessly toward death. In The Wild Duck, Hedvig is perhaps the most suffered yet most innocent character in the play. As a thirteen year old child, she has to endure the neglected feelings received from her father, Hjalmar due to the uncertainty of her parentage belonging. As Hjalmar angrily said to Gina, “ Just answer me this: does hedvig belong to me— or [Werle]?” (Ibsen 195). Gina replied saying that she does not know, he was furiously left the house.