During the Victorian era, men and women searched for an ideal relationship based on the expectations of a demanding society. After reading the researched expectations of men and women of the Victorian era and relating them to Wilde’s two works, readers can acknowledge the effect the expectations have on these characters; especially the men. Analyzing the characters in Oscar Wilde’s works show how the expectations of society effects the characters’ behavior and their reaction to society’s ideals. Oscar Wilde examines the impact of Victorian society’s unrealistic expectations on the individual in The Importance of Being Earnest and The Picture of Dorian Gray, showing how rejection, whether from a potential partner or society as a whole, can lead to deceit and engaging in a double life in order to satisfy conventions. During the Victorian era, men and women searched for an ideal relationship based on the expectations of a demanding society.
Explore the presentation of marriage in Oscar Wilde’s ‘A Woman of No Importance’ and Henrik Ibsens ‘A Dolls House.’In both Oscar Wilde’s ‘A Woman of No Importance’ and Henrik Ibsen’s ‘A Doll’s House’ the playwrights seem to imply through their plays that the institution of marriage in the Victorian era had become centered around superficial values, such as social status, rather than love. Both Ibsen and Wilde use their plays as vehicles to criticise the society they perceived around them, exposing the faults of the upper classes through naturalistic settings and witty banter. The naturalistic setting of both plays, allows the audience to see how the ideas and events within the plays were based on realistic ideals and the witty banter, particularly pronounced within Wilde’s play that explicitly follows the conventions of a comedy of manners, allows both playwrights to satirise and pass judgment on society in a slightly tongue in cheek manner, so as not to cause offense to the very people being mocked who would see the performances. Because Wilde has written his play as a comedy of manners, the characters that he has created can be perceived more like caricatures, which allows him to exaggerate certain characteristics that the audience will be able to recognize and yet still be able to laugh at. Ibsen however takes a more moralistic approach to portraying Victorian society; by doing this he makes the characters more realistic.Both writers position the argument that marriage was being undermined as increasingly society seemed to show a lack of trust and respect within marriage.
The question is morality and if people have a moral right to produce and view. Altman believes in the general right to autonomy, which is an individual’s right to decide for themselves how to live their lives. A part of general autonomy is sexual autonomy. Adults do not have many moral duties when it comes to sex, just as long as what they do does not harm someone else. It is believed that the violent pornography affects those who produce it, like the women taking part in the violence in pornography.
Consider the effect conventional society has on the protagonists within both Wuthering Heights and Tess of the d’Urbervilles. In both “Wuthering Heights” and “Tess of the d’Urbervilles” the female characters are seen as subservient to their male counterparts and characters such as Heathcliff and Tess are treated as inferior as a result of their lower status. Both novels were considered to be unconventional because the authors explore taboo subjects such as ghosts, child abuse, rape and murder. The Protagonists are affected by societies expectations of the Victorian era that are forced upon them, which affects their actions; preventing their happiness and true love from flourishing. Victorian society held strong, conservative religious views.
The play is set in a violent, male dominated era where men were expected to be strong, brave and able to take control while women were kind, nurturing and feminine. However these roles are subverted in particular to Lady Macbeth, as she is manipulative, strong and persuasive while Macbeth is portrayed as weak and easily manipulated by his wife. Porphyria’s Lover and Laboratory are both poems, which deal with the crimes of passion. One of Browning’s earliest dramatic monologues in Porphyria’s Lover centers on the delusions of an obsessive and emotionally
Mariah Polen Cooper—379 ENG 111-41F—JE #1 5 September 2012 Themes and Symbols In Kate Chopin’s story, “The Storm,” sex plays a crucial part. Well, to be more specific, adultery. She uses this story as a platform to further her opinion on sexuality and marriage. Chopin believes that marriage is constricting to both people and that there is nothing wrong or untraditional with having verboten sexual encounters. Women in the 1800’s were dominated by their husbands and expected to be submissive in every way.
Gothic literature does demonstrate the consequences of a disruption in the natural order, gothic literature is a representation of society in its time, each novel raises issues and their consequences in order to advise and educate its readers against the actions the protagonists take. In Samuel Coleridge’s ‘Rime of the ancient mariner’ the mariner’s actions against nature, with religion/nature being the natural order in society as religion centres itself around the confession of sins done by men or women, the mariner is seen to be punished for his actions, deemed wrong in its time.. "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" helps implement all this cycle with the murder of the albatross and how he must pay for his actions. In Coleridge’s poem, the mariner’s crime against nature: the shooting of the albatross disrupts the natural order the consequence of this action is nature begins to start the punishment the mariner for his crimes with, "Water, water, everywhere nor any drop to drink." He is punished harshly for killing the symbol of nature that everyone reveres. He is beaten down by the sun with its rays and is taunted by the endless sight of water that he cannot drink.
"The Yellow Wallpaper" motivated the female mind of creativity and mental strength through a patriarchal order of created gender roles and male power during the nineteenth century and into the 20th century. While John represented characteristics of a typical male of his time, the yellow wallpaper represented a controlling patriarchal society; a sin of inequality that a righteous traitor needed to challenge and win. As the wallpaper deteriorates, so does the suppressing affect that male hierarchy imposed on women. Male belief in their own hierarchy was not deteriorating. Females began to think out of line, be aware of their suppression, and fight patriarchal rule.
Our minds have created justifications to alter these guidelines when they our actions do not measure up to the social norms. Susan Bordo’s essay, “Beauty (Re)discovers the Male Body” focuses on the gender roles society has created while revealing the way the mind justifies a particular sexual way of life. Laura Kipnis’s essay, “Love’s Labors” addresses love and adultery. Kipnis addresses the common way of thinking of why and how cheating is so prevalent in today’s culture. Kipnis goes into detail about the impact love has on our way of thinking.
mankind’s experience of evil, experience of guilt and separation. • Psychological study of typically romantic characters, e.g. Victor, Walton, Clerval… • The ‘monster’ himself has been studied in connection with Rousseau’s theory of man’s natural goodness perverted by a hostile environment. • A sociological approach to the novel stresses its importance as a social document, giving evidence of a woman’s role /family ties/ education, etc.. in the first decades of the 19th century. • Feminist critics are especially interested in issues concerning women’s culture.