Emilia is Desdemona’s maid and she has a mind of her own. Through discussions she has with Desdemona the reader can concur that she will do anything necessary to get to the top even if that is sleeping around. She also says in one of her and Desdemona’s conversations that women only cheat because men have taught them to do so by neglecting them and fraternizing with other women. Emilia is a woman who although different from Desdemona is not all bad. She is as duped by her husband, Iago, as much as the rest of the cast and she tries to amend her wrongdoings in the end by telling the truth to Othello although she is too late to save her mistress, Desdemona.
We are introduced to a majorly significant and complex character, named Curley’s wife. Steinbeck shows us that Curley’s wife is flirtatious, mischievous (despite the patriarchal society of the 1930’s) but most of all she is an isolated character. Her hasty marriage to Curley proves to be failed attempt to escape her own spiral of disappointment of not fulfilling her ambition of becoming an actor. This ironically is a main theme in both texts. This essay will analyse and compare the presentation of Lady Macbeth and Curley's wife through the structure, themes, what is said about them, their actions and what they themselves say.
In both Shakespeare’s, Taming of the Shrew, and Wolfe’s, A Room of One’s own, the writers’ illustrate the deviously suffocating repercussions of sexism on liberty and the human spirit. Judith and Katherine are both intelligent and free-spirited characters with the brightest of futures, yet society and its rules perniciously choke their existence from them. The slow destruction of each woman is made more tragic by the promise and potential stolen from them and the world. An example of Judith’s untapped intelligence is in Wolfe’s description of her ability to read, write, and think for herself despite the restrictions placed on her by her family, “She had no chance of learning grammar and logic, let alone of reading Horace and Virgil (Wolfe 1021).” Katherine’s self-confidence and pride are seen in her world-wise response to Petruchio’s advances in Act II, “Too light for such a swain to catch, And yet heavy as my weight should be (2.1 .204-205).” Moreover, her true nature, that of a caring and loving person not a mean and spiteful shrew, is displayed in the first thirty lines of Act II when Katherine in genuinely concerned about her sister’s predicament and the hurt she suffers when her flippant sister merely taunts while metaphorically and literally hiding behind their father. As both authors continue to develop their characters, they begin to describe the shackles that their families and society place on them and their eventual downfall.
Romm concluded that even though Agrippina may have been manipulative and ambitious she was still able to achieve what women of the era could not. The write Cat Pierro’s argues that Agrippina the Younger’s life is one that is full of mistakes, the largest of which was giving birth Nero. Pierro interpretation of Agrippina is that she was an Austere , arrogant woman that would use her sexuality to gain power. She was jealous of any woman that tried to become close to her husband and then her son, even going as so far to order the execution of a women that her husband Claudius complimented. Eventually she vilified herself enough to turn herself not only to turn her son against her but most of the court as well.
How are Hester and Cathy characterised as Romantic Heroes? The definition of a ‘romantic hero’ is a literary archetype referring to a character that rejects established norms and conventions, has been rejected by society, and has the self as the centre of his or her own existence. Both Hester and Cathy are characterised as romantic heroes through their; internal dialogue, physical appearance and actions, their attitudes to others and the values they embody. Both women are illustrated as being elegant, but have feisty personalities. Hester is found to be very beautiful physically, “Young woman was tall…figure of perfect elegance,” however other puritan women would feel that she is trying to show off her beauty which was a sin.
The reader has now observed what traits and behavior is being conveyed based on the conversations from Hester and Chillingworth of said chapter. We have now learned through Hawthorne, and the dialogue he set for Chapter IV, is that about Hester’s past, for the most part; is unknown. She is a strong-willed and haughty woman whose actions are done with passion (as seen when she was standing in the scaffold in the beginning of the story). However, she seems to get intimidated by Chillingworth during their conversation. Her sudden change of personality gives the reader an insight on how intimidating Chillingworth really is to Hester, and possibly others.
Every play needs a temptress, bully, saint and a fool; furthermore that’s where Blanche, Stanley, Mitch and Stella come in. Watching “A Streetcar Named Desire” and reading the book one can get a great characterization of the characters built up in their mind, and so that is what will be pored forth in the next set of paragraphs. Blanche, ah the wonderful girl who could very well be the definition of ‘simile’, caught this audience’s heart ablaze with curiosity. Showing up unexpected with little explanation of why she was there. Being over the top with how she looked and worrying about a secret of her past made her look a bit loony.
In The Importance of Being Earnest, the character Gwendolen Fairfax is one of the two female leads. Being a member of high society, Gwendolen is shown to be very sophisticated and confident, but still manages to look a little foolish. She is also the love interest of one of the protagonists of the play, Jack Worthing. Throughout the play, Gwendolen is used as a tool to discuss Victorian values and marriage and her over-confident personality also helps provide humor for the audience, since her values make her look foolish especially because of her large ego and pride. In the play, Gwendolen sets the image for a typical Victorian woman, along with her mother, Lady Bracknell.
Competitiveness within the women seems to push the women to judge what is right and wrong, based on jealousy and envy as much as religious and social morals. We also see this competitive spirit forming moral judgment and actions in Edith Wharton's story, "Roman Fever", where again, the focus is the moral decisions made by women and the male is blameless. As the story unfolds we learn that both ladies, in their youth, loved Delphin Slade, and Mrs. Slade realized this and thought of Mrs. Ansley as a threat. For this, she had always considered Mrs. Ansley an adversary, "Would she never cure herself of envying her?" (Wharton, 1072) The story evolves to paint the picture of a female competition in which Delphin is but a pawn, blameless and controllable by women.
Firstly, Austen helps us to distinguish what is appearance, and what is reality. The bright example is Mrs. Lady de Bourgh. From the first pages we see her as a rich, bossy noblewoman, who is proud of herself, of her high blood and the social rank. But more me read her, more we learn her to be the same as the middle-class Mrs. Bennet. “Ill-natured” gossips, the only difference between them is the possession of fortune.