Here, they have not used common sense, ignoring the possibility that perhaps the girls feared the consequences of their actions in the forest, the fact that they were young girls playing, not calling the devil. Furthermore, the arrival of Reverend Hale does little to restore common sense and reason among the people of Salem. Upon his arrival, his reputation as an expert in witchcraft is quickly circulated, fueling the people's fears that the devil is indeed among them. John Proctor, could see how Hale's appearance could add to the hysteria rising in Salem and was quick to bring this to Parris' attention challenging his decision to call Hale to examine the girls; "if it be not the devil, what's he coming for?" (pg 22).
Response Paper #1 September 23, 2010 Female Sexuality Sexuality is often a word that when heard people often feel uncomfortable talking about, or believe it should just be kept to yourself. However, female sexuality has been a huge theme in history, women have battled discrimination, sexual tourcher, been labeled with derogatory names and have been seen as objects rather then people. In the novel Dracula, female sexuality is a major reoccurring theme. Taking place in Victorian England women were given two options set by societies firm expectations, she was either an innocent virgin or a marred mother, anyone who didn’t follow these guidelines was labeled a whore. In the novel we are presented with very different examples of female sexual expression and are brought with the idea of the “new woman”.
In The Bloody Chamber Angela Carter reverses gothic traditions so that the males become the victims instead of the females. Consider at least two of the stories in the bloody chamber in the light of this view. The gender constructs of passive, young, virginal woman who are victimised by dominant, strong and wealthy males is a common trait throughout gothic tales including many of Angela Carters short stories from “The Bloody Chamber”. However, Carter received the criticism of “[extracting] latent content, conjuring up a new exotic hybrid” in which she challenges the typical stereotypes of gothic conventions, influenced by her feminist nature. These caused the post modern versions of her stories to adopt dualisms of combining sexual desires with naivety and give alternative interpretations that perhaps the male characters suffered victimisation instead.
People often times have no control of their sexuality and more so gender, nonetheless their race or class. This scenario is clearly a common thread in the main character's life, Elphaba - The Wicked Witch of the West - who we all know to be the villainess in the "Wizard of Oz". However, the conditions that lead her to this point in the book "Wicked" provide a unique aspect to how people can be labeled by others to achieve their own selfish goals. Even from birth, Elphaba was born a bastard child, an illegitimate baby, nonetheless the color green (certainly one can emphasize with being born a color of not one choosing - but in the novel this is highly illustrational of the difficult issues she was to face all
One of the key themes is that under time of stress and adversity, neighbors, friends, and even family members have a tendency to turn on each other when they allow fear to govern their actions. While Arthur Miller's The Crucible succeeds in bringing the viewer into the time period of the Salem Witch Trials by maintaining an accurate timeline of events, there are significant inaccuracies in the character details which were likely changed for the purposes of creating a compelling storyline in the motion picture. The movie begins with several young women, who appear to be faking spiritual ailments, which could not be explained medically. The town began to think that they were demonically possessed. When the women had the entire town convinced, they used that to their advantage.
Third, the author shows that fairy tale characters cannot necessarily be classified as positive and negative. To begin with, several times in the story we notice life is not fair; things do not always happen the way we want them to happen. Thus, as we read, “This isn’t curious George Uses the Potty” we may assume that the story will come to a tragic end. For example, Westley, the princess’ true love, could be killed several times. Another famous quote, “Life is pain.
Freudian Psycho-sexuality in Dracula Often we think of Bram Stokers Dracula as just another monster book. Which at first it was considered a normal horror story until later critics started to figure out themes of sexuality in the novel. Of those critics most lean towards the Freudian psycho-sexual standpoint. Some of these themes are reverse sexuality, female sexuality in the Victorian Era, and many metaphors for sexuality. First about the Victorian Era, women was oppressed in a major way.
Ariel Levy, author of “Female Chauvinist Pigs,” argues that “The scariest night this Halloween isn’t to be seen in a haunted house or a horror movie.” She does not approve of the trend of the scandalous Halloween costumes such as the sexy school girl, Playboy bunnies and hot nurses. I, unlike Ms. Levy, do not believe that the trend towards more sexual and feminine costumes is counter-productive to the equality movement. I believe that all women should have the choice to express themselves however they wish, without judgment. The fact that these costumes are now more acceptable to me is actually progress for women. If a man dressed as a extremely masculine character, such as a fireman or a cowboy, I am sure no one would judge him, or say he needs to dress more gender neutral.
At first I would cry and pout, but then I realized it wasn’t fun getting into trouble with my grandmother. I learned that having too much fun can ruin the fun you’re trying to have. Halloween night and prom night for me were completely different, but also so much alike. The difference between them were that with Halloween it was scary and people only went trick or treating when they were younger and dressed really scary. It was a time to get a lot of candy and walk around with people.
Some Disney movies are filled sexism stereotyping such as “Beauty and the Beast”, “Aladdin”, and “Snow White” just to mention a few. Have we really moved past the sexist stereotypes that marked Disney's earliest films? Although Disney movies are beautiful to watch, they are are portraying harmful stereotypes. We all girls, dreamed to be a princess from a fairy tale. Who did not?