The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath and Top Girls By Caryl Churchill both feature motherhood and marriage as one of their main themes even though the texts were set at different points in time. The Bell Jar was published in 1963 around the time of the publication of Betty Freidan’s Feminine Mystique. The Feminine Mystique stated that the ideal housewives of the 1960’s were a myth as each one of them were secretly unhappy but never spoke out about their unhappiness due to fear of not abiding by the social normality of the time. This feeling of displacement in the social norm is what Plath bases the experiences of protagonist Esther upon and what eventually drives Esther into mental instability. Motherhood and marriage is seen to be a key factor in the society of which The Bell Jar is set ,and is portrayed as one of the things that supresses female identity when Esther is asked to be “Mrs Buddy Willard” as if she is owned by Buddy and not her own person.
“Marriage in “Wuthering Heights” has little to do with love.” In the light of this comment, discuss Bronte’s presentation of marriages in the novel. Illuminate your answer with reference to “Jane Eyre”. Emily Bronte persistently shrouds the ideals of marriage with impractical love and practical, yet loveless, proposals in “Wuthering Heights”. Similarly Charlotte Bronte portrays marriage in a bad light by taking an ideal love and placing a seemingly impassable obstacle in its way. The first marriage proposal we witness in “Wuthering Heights” is between Catherine Earnshaw and Edgar Linton.
In the church women were supposed to be gentile and virtuous. Sexuality and education of women was condemned. The clothing during that time is nothing compared to the clothing of the 20th century. Their skirts were long and ankles were could not be seen. Growing up women were taught that they had to grow up and marry a rich man, staying at home taking care of the kids and following
She learned to dress, act and interact with the rich and powerful to get what she wanted. My first impression of her was that she was a well-dressed and very well spoken woman. When she said that she had come from being poor to marrying rich I immediately thought of the bourgeoisie and the “new money” class. Sayles used her expertise with dealing with wealthy people as role models in her achieved status. She used it to her advantage and also created a career for herself as a “self help consultant,” helping people that were just like her to gain a higher status in society.
Mother describes how Dee would read to her and Maggie “without pity; forcing words, lies, other folks' habits, whole lives upon us two, sitting trapped and ignorant underneath her voice” (104). The mother uses the words without pity, forcing, and trapped to show that she and Maggie had no choice but to listen to Dee. The mother goes on to say that Dee would “shove us away at just the moment, like dimwits, we seemed about to understand” (Walker 104). Dee was not trying to educate or even attempt to help her mother and Maggie understand what was being read. Dee only wanted to lord over them her superior intelligence and education, therefore boosting her own ego.
From 'Pride and Prejudice' the first chapter opens with Austen saying 'It is truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of good fortune must be in want of a wife.' Similarly, in 'Much Ado About Nothing' Benedick says 'the world must be peopled', both of these quotes are referring to marriage, saying that marriage needs to happen, and is wanted. As in that time, you were frowned upon if you were not married. Even though, no one marries for love, in 'Pride and Prejudice' Elizabeth Bennett, the main character, who is witty and pretty, does want to marry for love. She doesn't not want to have to rely on a man for money and a
If Maupassant’s story “The Necklace” had been poorly written, it could easily have shown Mathilde quickly as only vain and superficial. But all writers must make us feel for their central characters if their stories are to be successful. Analyze Mathilde, her husband and any other secondary characters in the story and develop an argument that explains how Maupassant forces us to care about what happens to Mathilde. Guy de Maupassant's short story "The Necklace" tells of a vain, narcissistic middle-class housewife who longed for the aristocratic lifestyle that she believed she deserved. In describing Mathilde's callous self-centeredness in preparing for the party to which she and her husband were invited, as well as her reaction to losing what she thought was an expensive necklace she borrowed, de Maupassant incorporates a tragic irony that makes this story a timeless classic.
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. By talking about the finances, which is radical, Pizan degrades women in all other aspects. Degrading is used in the sense that she does not promote equality in any other way other than the financial aspect. These women could be considered early feminists if they looked for equality in other things as well not just a specific
To ensure that people continued to believe this concept the church used this verse from the bible as proof “woman in her greatest perfection was made to serve and obey man.” This belief put women in a state of being mentally isolated from men. Being second-rate citizens meant that few of them received any formal education; because they lacked schooling they became intellectually isolated from anyone whom had received any type of formal education. During this time period women were beaten into submission when they failed to instantly comply with the orders any male relative gave them. Shakespeare wrote about many of these Elizabethan beliefs in his play Othello. The play centralized around the lust for one very beautiful, young girl Desdemona.
If she were a "kind" child, by the eyes of Mrs. Reed, she would never go to Lockwood school; she were able to grow up in terms of knowledge in the school, because she had the need of being liked by others and was strong enough to improve herself in many ways; she, by herself, took a chance when announcing to be a governess. Charlotte Brontë Persuasion (Jane Austen) Anne Elliot is the oldest female heroine and one of the most solid characters in Jane Austen's novels. She is level-headed in difficult situations and constant in her affections. Such qualities make her the desirable sister to marry: she is always the first choice (for Mr. Musgrove, Mr. Elliot and Mr. Wentworth). Jane Austen Comparing both novels Women Both characters are strong, vivid, self-confident and, in some way, a rupture to the normal behavior on that time.