06/14/2012 YASH PANCHAL Love and Seduction “My Last Duchess” by Browning and “To His Coy Mistress” by Marvell are examples of two men searching for the right words to express their emotions towards a woman. The speakers in both poems are talking about love and seduction. Even though they both are written in two different centuries, both pieces have remarkable similarities as well as some of the common expected differences. “To His Coy Mistress” values women and their love they give, while “My Last Duchess” totally humiliates the role of women in society. “My Last Duchess" and "To His Coy Mistress" shows the act of the men in these two poems.
Marie de France does this to criticize and combat the societal expectations and inherent inequalities in Norman England. The poem begins by Marie immediately introducing and defending herself as a writer. She declares that in her culture, People should praise anyone who wins admiring comments for herself but anywhere there is a man or a woman of great worth, people who envy their good fortune often say evil things about them. (5-10) This introduction reflects the negativity her society has against female writers. Where Marie de France comes from, many people disagree with women having power through literature.
Back in the 1600s Shakespeare wrote plays that would specifically please the Monarch, as there was more pressure to gain acceptance; his comical plays would restore Social Class in the form of marriage. Abigail's Party fails to follow this structure that is used even in modern plays and films, which is why I refer to it as a Social Tragedy, where the social class was broken. Like in Shakespeare's Tragedy 'Romeo and Juliet' the two lovers are married, then torn apart by death as a consequence of a conflicting social class, this can be loosely mirrored in Abigail's Party. A typical example within the play of an unhappy marriage would involve Beverly and Lawrence. Though they are married, which implies a certain amount of love and a strong relationship, they seem to fail at every part of the stereotypical marriage.
Explore the presentation of marriage in Oscar Wilde’s ‘A Woman of No Importance’ and Henrik Ibsens ‘A Dolls House.’In both Oscar Wilde’s ‘A Woman of No Importance’ and Henrik Ibsen’s ‘A Doll’s House’ the playwrights seem to imply through their plays that the institution of marriage in the Victorian era had become centered around superficial values, such as social status, rather than love. Both Ibsen and Wilde use their plays as vehicles to criticise the society they perceived around them, exposing the faults of the upper classes through naturalistic settings and witty banter. The naturalistic setting of both plays, allows the audience to see how the ideas and events within the plays were based on realistic ideals and the witty banter, particularly pronounced within Wilde’s play that explicitly follows the conventions of a comedy of manners, allows both playwrights to satirise and pass judgment on society in a slightly tongue in cheek manner, so as not to cause offense to the very people being mocked who would see the performances. Because Wilde has written his play as a comedy of manners, the characters that he has created can be perceived more like caricatures, which allows him to exaggerate certain characteristics that the audience will be able to recognize and yet still be able to laugh at. Ibsen however takes a more moralistic approach to portraying Victorian society; by doing this he makes the characters more realistic.Both writers position the argument that marriage was being undermined as increasingly society seemed to show a lack of trust and respect within marriage.
It allows lines to move on by removing punctuation. Structurally she presents a poem illustrating the stereotypical dominance of authoritative members in society. This structure effectively enhances the concept of the power struggle between the titian haired girl and the academic scholar Professor Eisenbart. Professor Eisenbart is presented as superior to the schoolgirls and the headmistress through his superior intellect. The use of alliteration ‘head in humbler black’ and ‘superb in silk and fur’ indicates that even the headmistress is dwarfed by his presence because of how elegant and classy he is.
I believe, Jane represents a new type of hero the revolutionary feminist ideology of equality between men and women. Jane realizes that she holds something more important than beauty or accomplishment, she is an intellect, and through Blanche, Jane learns the true value of her character, and her importance to society. Another way in which Bronte, portrays the role of Blanche, is when Rochester gives her complete attention," I saw his attentions appropriated to a great lady…" he seeks her company and her affection alluding to their marriage, he openly confesses his intentions on marrying her to Jane. Rochester manipulates Blanche; she served him as a catalyst to strengthen his relationship with Jane. He deceives Blanche and dupes her into believing an affinity
Consider the effect conventional society has on the protagonists within both Wuthering Heights and Tess of the d’Urbervilles. In both “Wuthering Heights” and “Tess of the d’Urbervilles” the female characters are seen as subservient to their male counterparts and characters such as Heathcliff and Tess are treated as inferior as a result of their lower status. Both novels were considered to be unconventional because the authors explore taboo subjects such as ghosts, child abuse, rape and murder. The Protagonists are affected by societies expectations of the Victorian era that are forced upon them, which affects their actions; preventing their happiness and true love from flourishing. Victorian society held strong, conservative religious views.
It all starts with Myrtles lies and her affair. She is a very dishonest, earthy, vital, and a voluptuous woman. Myrtle adds to the theme of class and wealth as well. She insists that she got married below her social class because George told her things that were not true. Fitzgerald ridicules Myrtle for insisting she is in the upper class.
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.
Her actions ultimately lead to the murder of her first husband Camillo, her sexual presence and beauty creating jealousy and envy in the men that meet her. Vittoria is not an innocent character, but she is a product of women’s social limitations in the patriarchal society Webster has chosen to set the play in. Vittoria is undoubtedly the central character of the novel, the events throughout are as a result of her liaison with Brachiano, sparking a journey of murder and treachery. The title of the book ‘The White Devil’ describes Vittoria well, and helps display that she is not an innocent character. Being compared to the devil in a novel set in a heavily catholic country shows that she is evil, and the subtitle ‘The Tragedy of Paulo Giordano Ursini, Duke of Brachiano, With the Life and Death of Vittoria Corombona the famous Venetian Curtizan’ supports this.