Both women can be seen as victims of oppression, as they both are products of their Patriarchal societies, and the fates that belie them only prove to oppress them further. Medea's position as a victim of fate is defined by the first lines of the play, in which the nurse tells the tale of Medea and Jason so far. Medea had, through Hera's influence, fallen in love with Jason and given up her home, killed her brother, and taken various risks upon her to save him and live with him in a foreign country (Medea, 1-15). Throughout the play, Medea's ill fate is recognized most clearly by her servants and fellow women. According to the nurse, Medea had gone through the entire adventure to retrieve the Golden Fleece and defied her household only to be deserted by Jason and left
“The flightiness of her temper” (AL, p1401) is recognizable by Hester, her mother; just like her desperate, wild, defiant mood is evident in her disposition. Meade Page 2 From beginning to end in the story she consumes the hidden emotions of her mother and amplifies them for all to see. Pearl is the heart of literary symbolism. At times she is a vehicle for Hawthorne to assert the inconsistent and luminous qualities of her mother’s improper bond, and at others a reminder of Hester’s sin; which makes Pearl the perfect supplement of the scarlet letter. Although she serves as an invaluable treasure
Women were seen as mortal, yet at the same time they were seducers and manipulators. The novels main idea is about the conflicts that women, who were influenced by the Victorian Age, suffered. Grace’s identity is confusing, as it is made complex by her either trying to protect her innocence or by hiding her guilt. Atwood does an excellent job getting the reader to question this, but her main issue focuses on survival, and how the search for Grace’s true identity is symbolically the search that all women living in a suppressed environment are involved in. This theme is very true to Atwood’s feminist pursuit, which is seen in her other novels as well.
Loyalty: The Ultimate Flaw In the Greek play Antigone, readers debate whether Antigone expresses hubris or heroic loyalty. Sophocles appoints Antigone- a female figure to carry out stereotypical male roles, expected to be incapable of women in Thebes. In no special sequence, Antigone’s loyalty in the act to bury her brother Polyneices, acknowledgment to the gods, civil disobedience in acting against the king’s laws, and her everlasting issue with feminism in her Patriarchal Society, encourages her to battle every circumstance that comes her way. As Antigone conquers each of these rival forces, she demonstrates loyal behavior to the gods while she becomes her deceased brother’s personal hero. In Antigone’s defense, loyalty cannot be granted overnight, but overtime or even in a full life’s span.
Elizabeth Bennet, though witty and intelligent, would have probably been viewed as an exceptional woman in her time, yet she still conformed to society's expectations of women. How is Elizabeth different from her sister, Lydia, and her mother? Explain. The regency era. A time when the banner of patriarchy flew over the bonnets of subjugated females.
The readers decide whether Lady Macbeth is a supportive or a contrary wife, as Shakespeare exhibits her as an evil character as she continuously uses negative language throughout the play giving her an overpowering presence on stage. Lady Macbeth’s character contradicts with the roles of women in the Elizabethan Era as they were regarded as their husband’s possessions and weren’t entitled to an opinion. A stereotypical Elizabethan woman was expected to be innocent, gentle and dutiful as they were inferior to men. In the same way the lady from the lab presents her desires through a dramatic monologue that runs throughout Robert Browning’s poem. The use of this allows the reader to be involved in the description of the situation that the lady is currently undergoing, and this is simply her cheating ‘Lover’.
Gender issues, racism, and obscenity are present to give a realistic picture of the world of the insane. In one Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey portrays women as overwhelmingly negative, either dominating or submissive. The women are strong, leader, and feed off the power they acquired, as the men are weak and passive who get ordered around. Nurse Ratched, Vera Harding, and Billy’s mother are controlling women who use fear to reign over men and mask their feminine qualities. For example, the narrator stated, “She’s going to tear the black bastards limb from limb, she’s so furious.
As one of the few gods to be married of the Greek Pantheon she is frequently unfaithful to her husband. Hephaestus is one of the most even-tempered and humorless of the Hellenic Deities. Of her many lovers Aphrodite preferred Ares, the volatile god of war as she was attracted to his violent nature according to the narrative embedded in the Odyssey. She is one of a few characters who played a major part in the original cause of the Trojan War itself: not only did she offer Helen of Troy to Paris, but the abduction was accomplished when Paris, seeing Helen for the first time, was inflamed with desire to have her—which is Aphrodite's realm. In the novel The Golden Ass, Lucius Apuleius written in the second century A.D , Aphrodite poses as a secondary character in the Tale of Eros and Psyche.
Although Seacole tries to emphasize her femininity throughout the novel, her unfeminine actions are more prevalent. Her unfeminine conduct may not surprise the reader today, however, during the time it was published proved to be appalling to its audience. “My present life was not agreeable for a woman with the least delicacy or refinement,” says Seacole; nonetheless, Seacole holds true to her aspirations and faces all obstacles head on (54). When denied by Nightingale to be a nurse on her team, Seacole does not relinquish. In lieu, she goes out on her own and builds her own hotel.
Medea, the protagonist of Robinson Jeffers' play of the same name, is a vengeful termagant, stricken with grief and wanting nothing but to vindicate Jason's deeds. To her credit, though, she is quite wily, and in possession of one of the most impressive acumen ever given to a character of her type. So deep is her animosity towards Jason that she goes to such lengths as parricide (killing her children, who are merely "pawns of her agony") to extract revenge on her former husband. She does not stop there, though. She despoils him not only of two children, but also of a wife, a father-in-law, and a kingdom.