Their enticing sexuality, he believes, tempts men to behave in ways they would otherwise not. A visit to the “flophouse” (a cheap hotel, or brothel) is enough of women for George, and he has no desire for a female companion or wife. Curley’s wife, the only woman to appear in Of Mice and Men, seems initially to support George’s view of marriage. Dissatisfied with her marriage to a brutish man and bored with life on the ranch, she is constantly looking for excitement or trouble. In one of her more revealing moments, she threatens to have the black stable-hand lynched if he complains about her to the boss.
Of course MAAN follows Shakespeare’s traditional comedy structure but modern critics have their own agenda that a comedy, being such a complex genre, should conform to. Since the time of the ancient Greeks critics have struggled to define it, Plato described it as a series of events you would ‘blush to practice yourself’. Susan Snyder who writes for the Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare Company, states that - ‘Comedy involves men of middling estate, its perils are small scale, its outcomes peaceful’. This is an excellent summary for the majority of Shakespeare’s plays; however it is not necessarily accurate in relation to MAAN. It is true to say that a comedy involves ‘men of a middling estate’, in MAAN the protagonists share the company of the Prince Don Pedro, and are socially superior to the watchmen such as Dogberry and Verges.
'The Fool is more important to the play than he may at first seem.' By considering the dramatic presentation of the Fool, evaluate this view. The Fool is more than just a jester who is present to provide some comic relief in the tragedy of King Lear; like many of Shakespeare’s fools, he is shown as a highly intelligent character who the audience likes not just for his entertainment, but his insightfulness. Therefore, he is central both to the plot, as he criticises and advises Lear, potentially setting his later clarity into the motion, and to the audience’s understanding of the characters in the play. The first impression most have of the Fool is that his presence serves as form of comic relief, in order to set a lighter tone to the play; however, because of this, his death is crucial to the bleak ending of the play.
While she prepares to exterminate the current king, she cries out “Unsex me here,/ and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full/ Of direst cruelty.” (Shakespeare. 1.5.48-49). Lady Macbeth is portrayed as a strong female character in the play because she goes against all expectations in order to become an ambitious and dominating female. She does not perform the typical maternal role as the weaker gender but gives up her female qualities in her pursuit of power and ambition. Because of this digression from the norms of society, Lady Macbeth stands apart from the other women of her society.
To what extent is Desdemona presented as a tragic figure in Act 4 Scene 3 and Act 5 Scene 2? How could an audience react to her death? On the one hand, Desdemona is presented as a strong female character; publically defying her father by marrying Othello, arguing with Iago regarding the role of women and breaking free of the gender expectations of a woman in the 16th century by denying her privileged but sheltered life to marry a black man of her own choosing, a hugely rebellious act at a time when women were seen as lesser and were expected to obey their fathers and then husbands unconditionally. However, on the other hand she is portrayed as naive, and full of doubts and fears. She does not stand up to Othello when it really matters, and accepts her own death far too easily, even to go as far as selecting the bed sheets she is to be murdered on.
she demonstrates the absurdity of the men of the industrial era’s repeatedly and calls attention to the erroneous and backwards thinking of the times through comedic satire. A powerful example of such satire from Howe's speech is in her introduction. she sarcastically proclaims “woman suffrage is the reform against nature” and continues to point out the ladies present in the crowd and their physical, mental and “general debility”. she sarcastically demonstrates the “debilities” of women to a point which they couldn’t possibly mark a ballot or drop it in a box and continues to lay on the sarcasm as the possibility of a woman completing such a simple and menial task is impossible because “all nature is against it. the laws of man cry out against it.
Tessie Hutchinson, one of the main characters represents women who are being tyrannized by society because of their gender. Devices such as symbolism and plot illustrate the condemned roles of women in the gender hierarchy. Also, the use of ideas such as betrayal within the strong marriage bond due to the traditional sacrifice, the senior figure of society, and the following of tradition passed down from generation demonstrate the power of females in this generation are brought up to the podium to be arguably conversed. The plot of “The Lottery” is that men had the most dominance over political decisions. This left no room for woman’s input or acknowledgment.
Instead of acting in a mature manner like an adult, she becomes hysterical and exaggerates, “...now here’s Mr. Bennet gone away, and I know he will fight Wickham, wherever he meets him, and then he will be killed, and what is to become of us all?” (192). The fact that she questions the fate of her family if anything should happen to her husband implies that even she is aware of her insufficient mothering. Additionally, her ability to ignore the real issues and magnify the trivial ones, as aforementioned, further glorifies her foolish character and ability to make
(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. The women's energies were spent toward each other, but even Mrs. Slade held no resentment for Delphin and the role he may have played, she only hated Mrs. Ansley, "'I knew you were in love with Delphin - and I was afraid; afraid of you, of your quiet ways, your sweetness...you...well, I wanted you out of the way, that's all'" (Wharton, 1074). She felt that Delphin had no accountability for making his own decisions, she only blamed Mrs. Ansley. Mrs. Ansley reinforces this by confirming that upon receiving the "invitation", Delphin could not pass up the opportunity for intimacy, "'But of course he was there. Naturally he came-'" (Wharton, 1076).
As a result of Hedda’s catty personality, the audience cannot draw pity or fear from what becomes of her and therefore she cannot truly be considered a tragic figure. The reason being Henrik Ibsen writes Hedda Gabler as a social problem play, and although it and its characters may contain elements of the tragic, Hedda Gabler is not meant to be viewed tragedy. What Hedda Tesman boils down to is nothing more than a selfish, bored and manipulative housewife with daddy-issues. As daughter of General Gabler, Hedda is accustomed to luxurious, yet rigidly militant lifestyle; thusly, all Hedda wants is independence. However, she acts in ways counterintuitive of her want: she decides to marry an amiable scholar with whom she shares no love, connection or feelings.