Hedda Gabler – A Glimpse of Actress Portrayals Serious actresses strive to embody the heart and soul of the character they are portraying. Hoping that their performance will move the audience into an understanding of what motivates the character as the action unfolds onstage. Sometimes these motivations are subtle suggestions to give the audience a mere glimpse of the characters inner struggle. Others actions are deliberate and sordid - - wreaking havoc in an attempt to have total control. This essay will discuss a few of the actresses that graced the stage as Hedda, in Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler, and how they portrayed this controversial character.
Mrs. Turpin’s judgmental attitude creates tension between herself and others. When a teenaged girl, Mary Grace, calls her “a hog” Mrs. Turpin is offended; however, Mary Grace’s judgment allows Mrs. Turpin to see herself in the realistic light of God’s eyes. Preceding her interaction with Mary Grace, Mrs. Turpin considers herself not just a woman of God but a woman like God, able to judge without be judged herself. To Mrs. Turpin, being a religious woman gives her the full and natural right to judge others. As soon as readers are introduced to Mrs. Turpin, they feel passing judgment in the doctor’s office: “She stood looming at the head of the magazine table[…]a living demonstration that the room was inadequate and ridiculous” (O’Connor 818).
In her speech, Atwood challenges the ideals regarding women presented in literature and society, and in doing this also challenges the ideas of extreme feminists. It is in her casual and conversation-like style in delivering, however, that she constructs textual integrity through the use of many rhetorical devices to enhance the style and message of her speech. Her style, although considered ‘rambling’, overall benefits her topic of ‘Problems of Female Bad Behaviour in the Creation of Literature’ in the way that her anecdotes and allusions to many other texts involving the role of women enhance her argument as pieces of evidence. Quite early on in the speech, Atwood uses a personal anecdote to display the role in which fiction plays in society. In the anecdote, involving a play including her nephew where the two lead roles did nothing but eat breakfast, Atwood
The purpose of the essay “I Want a Wife,” is to describe the many stereotypes women can be classified as in our everyday world. One literary element being used in the essay that I have identified would be the use of the writers plot creation. The writer did significant work using her own experiences and imaginary situation in order to engage the reader. She used Humor in order to demonstrate her hypothetical point of view. It is my opinion the writer used this element well, as it grabbed my attention and made it a fun and interesting reading.
Source E was written by an extremely devoted Protestant woman who was about to be burnt as a heretic. This makes the source less reliable as she would want to portray the Catholic people who were condemning her in a bad light and she would also want to strengthen her own cause and look more devoted which may have caused her to change or exaggerate situations, for example the fact that she lay still and didn't cry while being tortured on the rack. Another similarity between the sources is that they were both given a chance to repent for their heresy. In source A it says when referring to John Forrest that ‘he obstinately refused to repent.’ In source E she is given a chance to change her opinion when asked ‘if the sacrament contains the body and blood of christ.’ However in source A it says ‘the unique case’, this decreases the sources usefulness of the treatment of all religious opponents in general as it is subjective to one special
In letter 1, the reader is made to feel sorry for the narrator, Celie, as she must express her thoughts and feelings to God. This shows her appeal for help and in some sense forgiveness “I am I have always been a good girl.” Many critics have stated the epistolary form is a good way to see growth of a character’s emotions throughout the novel. Peck and Coyle show this in the following quote. “It is a method that offers great insight into the character’s minds.” Alice Walker also uses the narrator to express her opinions and thoughts on slavery and how black women were treated. This is shown clearly by the opening of the first letter.
A woman lacking these virtues is severely looked down upon by society, and is considered a “fallen angel”. Mary Eliza Herbert advocates True Womanhood values in her story, “Light in the Darkness: A Sketch from Life.” She does so by presenting two women, Ms. Dormer and her daughter Blanche, whom each posses these four virtues, therefore representing idealistic women of the mid 1800’s. The first virtue of True Womanhood is piety or religion, which Welter describes as the core of women’s virtue, and the source of her strength (152). A woman who is religious, participates in church activity, and follows the bible is assumed to lead a happy, sensible life. Ms. Dormer has a strong pious virtue, as she has a strong relationship with God which gives her strength and hope, and believes that God will provide for her and her family even at the hard times when she is without a husband.
However Evey changes throughout the text into a stronger and braver character. This change in character helped me to better understand Evey and the type of person she is as she voiced her thoughts through her actions similar to her activist parents that who challenged Norsefire and were killed because of it. They stood up for what they believed in which is the type of character Evey molds into through this text. This change is shown in the visual text from the visual and oral techniques costume, dialogue and In the beginning of V for Vendetta, Evey is a very feminine character. As the film continues Evey becomes less feminine.
She was given this temptation by a magazine titled True Confessions and her feelings about purity perhaps changed because of this. Layla says “maybe our sins are not big enough for god to fool with, grandma” (Marshall 997.) This quote stood out to me because it makes me believe that Layla Jay had to have been greatly influenced by True Confessions because she has always been taught to follow the bible and to not commit adultery. The magazine tells the stories of lust in such detail as “tingling sensations” and this makes Layla Jay tempted to experience these feelings. She is highly attracted to Bobby so when the chance came to kiss him she did it, regardless of what her grandmother taught her.
Thirdly, seconf wave feminisim enhance the education for women. And in the novel, celie find only one way to exhust her frustration and to console her, is the education, reading and writing. Her sister teaches her to read and write to escape from the mental and physical torture. Lastly,the very gunine point that relates to the second wave feminism is the solidarity amon the women. According to second wave feminist, women has the power to change her desinty when she make her voice strong with by joining her hands with other women, and rasining with them as one voice.