The Awakening and Ghosts Comparison

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The Awakening and Ghosts Comparison Casey Peterson Nate Wysk 3 December 2004 IB English III C½ The Awakening and Ghosts Comparison Discredit by Satire and Hypocrisy For those in positions of authority in society, public opinion is an essential component of their self-assumed elitist role and can be swayed to lessen the validity of their power. In both Kate Chopin’s The Awakening and Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts, a continuing motif of such reversed importance exists to further the respective authors’ opinions upon the roles of previously proclaimed leaders of society and the ability to overcome common precedent. These societal uppers are considered to be dissimilar to those regular members of community in that they reserve authority and mandate respect. The continuing role of satire of the distinguished, coupled with the paralleling hypocrisy of the clergy and male gender, serves to discredit the aforementioned in an effort to promote the theme that independence is a necessity for advancement of theoretical society in each piece. In The Awakening and in Ghosts, a repeating motif of satire of Doctor Mandelet and Pastor Manders, respectively, serves to contribute to the degradation of the elite class of supporters and maintainers of societal status quo. Ibsen brings forth the ideal of an outward religious satire, though it is undetected by either Alvings, Engstrand or Regina. The Pastor represents faith to a higher deity in Ghosts and, as such, Manders' fear that the public would view "neither [Mrs. Alving] nor [himself] as having adequate faith in divine providence" is the initial example of satire regarding religion (Ibsen 54). Manders, a man of the cloth, is bound by the ideals of the clergy to have a greater interest in God's opinion of him rather than the popular sentiment regarding his actions. Moreover, the inclusion of an unprovoked criticism
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