Explore the ways that Tennessee Williams constructs the character of Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire and Willy Russell constructs the character of Rita in Educating Rita in light of the opinion that they have the desire to escape reality and fulfil their fantasies. Despite being set in different periods of history, both plays ‘Educating Rita’ and ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ share similar themes of the fine line between fantasy and reality, and losing yourself in the former. In 1945 Tennessee Williams began work on the play ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’, and with the war ending in the same year, the play to reflects the cultural tensions of World War 2. Many felt uncomfortable being an environment with so many nationalities they were only a few years ago at war with. Cultural tensions are present in Blanche’s remark that Stanley is a ‘Polack’; during World War 2, the Polish were seen as the enemy; Blanche using this insult is not because she is against Polacks, but is her taking advantage of the frequently used insult at the time.
The wings are symbolic of women in the C19th and in particular the Victorian era. The manner in which this image is composed suggests ideas in relation to values and attitudes pertaining to individuals in their social context. They include the longing and desire under the facade of morality present amongst this society, the possessive and incarcerating temperament of patriarchal figures over their female counterparts. These concepts are conveyed through the allegorical poetry of Robert Browning, particularly the aubade ‘Meeting at Night Parting at Morning (‘Meeting’)’ about an illicit rendezvous and the dramatic monologue ‘My Last Duchess (‘Duchess’)’ where Browning’s renaissance influence is evident through the poem acting as a revelation of the Duke Alfonso’s sinister actions and the objectification of women. Further, the 1996 film The Portrait of a lady (Portrait) about a woman’s desperate choice between her autonomous, love-driven spirit and the demands of social convention encapsulates these paradigms and the struggle of women in expressing themselves.
However if the responder were to read Fay Weldon’s Letters to Alice on first reading Jane Austen, the connections between the two would shape and then reshape the responder’s understanding of both texts. The two texts are connected most obviously through Weldon’s commentary and analysis of Austen’s writing and social and historical context. However the two texts are also connected through their didactic purpose, examination of values, use of epistles and their female author’s status and feminist messages. Whilst all of these connections do enrich each text, it is to a limited extent as both texts also work in isolation. Aunt Fay writes to her niece Alice in the hope of teaching her about Austen and her writing and what better way to do that than by direct reference to Austen’s most successful text, Pride and Prejudice?
Fay Weldon’s epistolic non-fiction text, Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen, serves to provoke readers to revaluate and reshape their initial understandings and acceptance of the central values presented in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Weldon’s didactic tone provides contextualisation of Austen’s Regency period enhancing, subverting, challenging and reinforcing the responders understanding of values imbedded within marriage, literature and moral and personal development. Through Pride and Prejudice Austen challenges the Regency notion of marriage as a means of attaining financial security and increased social status. The contrasting view on marriage between the pragmatic approach of Charlotte Lucas is emblematic of the traditional convention that “happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance.” This typifies the traditional ideology, juxtaposing it against Austen’s personal value of love in marriage as portrayed through the emotionalist approach of Elizabeth, “nothing but the deepest of love will induce me onto matrimony.” The emphasis on the use of ‘deepest’ serves as a metaphor of Austen’s value that love must develop over time and must be established before marriage, challenging the conventional approach, resonating with the contemporary responder of the 21st century. Weldon contextualises Austen’s world, positioning the contemporary reader to sympathise with the plight of women regards to marriage during the regency period.
An individual’s views and concerns may alter as time progresses, in keeping with the changing values of society. Over the centuries women have been the subjects to gender discrimination and unequal treatment, however within the last 100 years this has changed. Throughout Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, written in the 1800’s. many issues are raised towards women and their role in society. In comparison Fay Weldon’s Letters to Alice, written a few centuries after, shows a clear link of how particular concerns, held by society, have altered.
Last year, in my senior A.P. Composition and Literature class, we focused on a lot of fictional literature dealing with the same kind of societal issues. The Awakening by Kate Chopin as well as Daisy Miller by Henry James were both novels that showcase the oppression of women and evils of social hierarchy. These novels display the limitations and expectations that society pins onto women. Other novels I read include The Dead by James Joyce and Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy, both of which addressed the theme of materialism and wealth as factors to being regarded highly in society, and how this way of functioning in society leads people away from living a true and happy life.
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.
However, not everyone agrees with the heavy stereotypes laid down by the social order such as male dominance and proper courting. Marie de France is one of these people. She depicts her views of gender expectations through literature. Within the poem Guigemar, Guigemar and his lady fulfill and contradict what would be considered as gender norms within society: female inferiority, traditional courtship, and male dominance. Marie de France does this to criticize and combat the societal expectations and inherent inequalities in Norman England.
Back in the 1600s Shakespeare wrote plays that would specifically please the Monarch, as there was more pressure to gain acceptance; his comical plays would restore Social Class in the form of marriage. Abigail's Party fails to follow this structure that is used even in modern plays and films, which is why I refer to it as a Social Tragedy, where the social class was broken. Like in Shakespeare's Tragedy 'Romeo and Juliet' the two lovers are married, then torn apart by death as a consequence of a conflicting social class, this can be loosely mirrored in Abigail's Party. A typical example within the play of an unhappy marriage would involve Beverly and Lawrence. Though they are married, which implies a certain amount of love and a strong relationship, they seem to fail at every part of the stereotypical marriage.
It is evident that these differing values in Elizabethan and modern society are reflected in the character's relationships within each text. Inequality among genders is a theme that is conveyed in Shakespeare's play, ' The Taming of the Shrew.' In the play, the characters portray a comedic battle of the sexes where the tradition of marriage serves as the battleground. The men strive for marital harmony where the wife must conform to society's ideals of female obedience under male authority to achieve peace and love. This notion is best exemplified through Petruchio's 'taming' of Katherina.