Both Jane Austen and Fay Weldon write against the values of their own contexts. Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice, and Weldon’s epistolary text Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen symbolize the opposing values each had to her own society, and express similar opinions on the topic of education for women; similarly each writes in a style that undermines her own form in the hopes of morally educating readers. These connections between the two works highlight the values and contexts of each text, as well as exposing the tension between each author’s personal values and those of their society. Education for Georgian women was generally limited to the art of accomplishments that were undertaken in order to better attract a husband. Austen, however, is at tension with her society’s values of education.
The industrial revolution, particularly in England at this point (where the revolution first gained momentum), served to weaken the position of women in society in a number of ways, for even the women not immediately drafted for labor in the factories, would be inevitably repressed by the institutionalized and newly refined forms of degradation, that came along with the “rationalization” of society (the “civilization” of middle-class women, she argues, degrades them much more than laboring women). That the state of women in 1790 is the product of circumstance and imperfect education, rather than nature, is what Wollstonecraft attempts to prove (and successfully so). Wollstonecraft begins her argument with one simple, logical premise: That the intentional and artificial elevation of one man over others breeds malaise and corruption in such individuals, and
Romeo and Juliet By: Steff Commentary This section may appear to readers as unimportant because it is just Capulet and Tybalt talking and nothing happens. On the contrary, this passage illustrates how the characters handle situations given. This may foreshadow problems for each character such as maybe future aggressive conflict with Tybalt. The character Capulet is all a façade. He appears warm hearted and eager to end the conflict at first but then you see his real intentions and his real state of mind is focused on “what the people want” and not what is best for Romeo under the given circumstances of the families’ feud.
In comparison, throughout ‘A Doll’s House’ we pick up hints that Nora is a secretive woman and later come to realise that like Mrs Arbuthnot she has being hiding a large and important secret from her loved ones, and that is that she has taking a secret loan out in her husband Helmer’s name which presents woman to be extremely devious. The fact that woman had to hide their secrets demonstrates they would have been looked upon as more shameful than a man because of their lower status. In ‘A Woman of No Importance’ Wilde presents woman in contemporary society to be of a much lower class than men by constantly mentioning how woman are a lot less under achieving than most males and that it is the way that men like society to be. “But good women have such limited views on life.” By Lord Illingworth saying this to Gerald whilst
AP English Open-ended Prompt: 1987 Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen seems to challenge the traditional order of society in her time and age, where women marry not out of love but rather for wealth and an establishment of a stable household. She presents this progressive stance through the contrasting relationships of couples who had a love marriage such as, Darcy and Elizabeth as well as Jane and Bingley, as opposed to couples who did not - Mr. and Mrs. Bennett as well as Lydia and Wickham. From the very beginning of the novel, it is clear to the readers that Mr. and Mrs. Bennett do not have a very loving nor compatible relationship, despite the frequency to which she addresses him as ‘my dear’. In fact, it is evident that even
Censoring a novel because of its use of certain words without examining the context is absurd. Dr. Sarah Churchwell explains, “The fault lies in the teaching, not the book, you can’t say I’ll change Twain because it isn’t compatible with my teaching methods.” When a work contains content that could be considered hurtful it is important to teach the context behind the content, not avoid the work of literature
Thus, Austen highlights the danger of relying too heavily on the manner in which a person presents themselves for, if Elizabeth Bennet, was less enthralled by Wickham’s physical attraction, she would be able to appreciate that Wickham delays relating his story before he has identified how well acquainted Elizabeth is with Mr Darcy. It is significant that there are substantial dues to suggest that the reader should not trust Mr Wickham for his words contradict his actions. While professing it is not his ‘right to give his opinion’ he projects a humility which is undermined totally when he continues to relate his account of his and Mr Darcy’s history. Ironically, his criticisms of Mr Darcy are his own fault. This is further emphasised when he states that the world only see Mr Darcy as ‘he chuses to be seen’ By using Elizabeth as a centre of consciousness, the reader is encouraged to perceive events from her angle.
Elizabeth Bennet is a woman who does not care about her reputation as much as other women do. Most women do not speak freely about what is on their mind, but Elizabeth is honest and witty, which is one of the reasons she catches the eye of Mr. Darcy. Reputation does not pertain to only one person, but rather the whole family. The behavior of the Bennet family gives them a bad reputation, which endangers Elizabeth’s chance of finding a husband. The theme appears in the beginning of the novel when Elizabeth travels to Netherfield, on foot, to visit a sick Jane.
Ismene wants Antigone to accept Creon's decree regarding their brother. In her opinion, women should not interfere with man's laws and that a subservient mind is best applied to men in general which she bases on the “fact” that men are stronger than women. Antigone, being the strong willed woman that Ismene isn’t, ignores her sister and continues on her objective. Even though Ismene is disregarded by Antigone, she still attempts to help her (she does not help in burying the body, but she insists on sharing the blame with Antigone. Ismene's conflict revolves around both her sister Antigone and Uncle Creon.
Through both direct and indirect character interactions, we learn the importance of looking beyond ones façade to find where the truth lies. The theme of the truth being concealed is portrayed by multiple interactions between Beatrice and Benedick. A significant contributing factor to this was the self-deceit both characters relied on. Shakespeare writes Beatrice and Benedick’s characters as ‘lone wolf’ types, neither is hurrying to fall in love and get married, in fact the idea repulses them. Beatrice and Benedick hide the fact that they love each other- not only from one another, but from themselves.