Lady Macbeth is undoubtedly Shakespeare’s most vicious and cunning female character. Throughout the play, she proves to be much more ambitious and certainly more ruthless than Macbeth. From the beginning, she is plotting her plan to power and by the end of the final act, she’s killed more than a few innocent people. One could argue that Lady Macbeth is nothing more than a completely masculine individual embodied as a woman for the convenience of the story. In every way she exemplifies the archetype of a man rather than that of a woman.
She had to deal with the considerable emotional trauma she had experienced over the years and the changes involved in being a spy on a daily basis. Sydney was highly skilled in hand to hand combat and was also a linguist being able to speak many languages while undercover. Even though she wore revealing clothing, this technique often allowed her to fool men who thought she was of no threat to them because of her sexy appearance. Sydney Bristow served as a strong and self-sufficient female character in an arena that usually lacks them. Despite the occasional positive examples of women in roles that defy stereotype, too often they are forced to adhere to stereotypes or are even ridiculed for failing to adhere to stereotype.
Both Dora and Jane are quiet young when they first encounter some kind of hysteria, or symptoms of hysteria. In Jane’s case her first encounter would we the incident at the Red Room (Bronte 12). The Red Room incident is perhaps most important in establishing the rigid structure of patriarchy because we see that the image that appears before her in the ghostly pale moonlight as she imagines is that of her dead uncle, Mr. Reed (Bronte 12). We see earlier in the story that Jane is being punished by Aunt, for “misbehaving” with her cousin John (Bronte 10). The idea that her aunt would lock her away in the Red Room, the place where her husband had lain before his death, shows us what kind of fear her aunt wants to invoke in the child.
She will not let this go so she regrettably hides in her dream world. Her fatal flaw will ultimately lead to her downfall when she becomes an alcoholic with nowhere to go to make the polka music go away. Therefore, characters take advantage of her and have sexual relations with her easily. Blanche is a tragic heroine because she has all the factors that make up a tragic hero. Other factors that make Blanche a tragic hero is those tragic heroes are responsible for his/her own fate.
Along with being sexualized women are also portrayed as submissive, week, desperate, psychotic, emotional, or gentle and affectionate while men are aggressive, independent, ambitious and self-confident. If a woman’s role is to play the characteristics of a man she would most likely be considered cold, crabby and a few other not so nice words. Much work needs to be done to improve the status and portrayal of women in films. In the film Norma Rae and TV show, Roseanne we are able to see two aggressive, ambitious and confident women as well as affectionate but the roles of working class women like Norma Rae and Roseanne are rare, “contemporary American audiences are simply unaccustomed to seeing interesting, strong and resourceful working-class women. Whether ordinary or extraordinary, working-class women of all races and backgrounds, need greater representation”(Johnson, 2014) Too many times, working class is thought of as lazy, unproductive failures of society who are going nowhere instead of hard working women who struggle by the unfair and unequal social, educational, political and economic
For this analysis I have chosen Fatal Attraction and Basic Instinct and I wanted to talk about the similarities and differences of the two, focusing on the powerful female character, the male protagonist and the female gaze. First of all, what we do observe in both movies is that the female characters, Alex Forrest and Catherine Tramell, are strong women and are the ones who lead the action. Although traditionally men hold power, in these two films the roles change. Everything happens in a particular way because the women want to or because their actions trigger certain events. As Sherwin observes in her article Deconstructing the Male: Masochism, Female Spectatorship, and the Femme Fatale in Fatal Attraction, Body of Evidence, and Basic Instinct Dan, the male character from Fatal Attraction is unable to fight against Alex and all his intents fail.
Hedda Tesman in “Hedda Gabler” By Henrik Ibsen Hedda Tesman in “Hedda Gabler” by Henrik Iben is a central figure as well as a dynamic character, which means she changes throughout the play. She behaves atrociously to everyone with whom she comes in contact, and her moral sense is defective. After all, the play is a tragedy since Hedda turned out to be all pity and petty. Hedda is not simply evil and preserve. She born as General Gabler’s daughter so she feels for a better destiny and imbues with romantic vision of making one’s own life a work of art.
Dennis Fernandez MAJ Marsden ENG041-03 September 7, 2011 Women’s Purpose For many centuries women have been considered inferior to men. Their roles are set since the day they are born. In the epic of Beowulf, there are many roles that are established among the women. The roles consist of being hostesses, the peace weavers, and most importantly, the role of the Queen. In contradiction to the good roles, there is the role of evildoer, Grendel’s mother.
As in Adam & Eve, history has proven time and time again that it is women who have always corrupted humanity. Ever since the shift from the ancient matriarchal society women have been depicted in a negative light in art and literature. Woman has been depicted as the catalyst for humanities corruption in western religions, from Christianity to Greek mythology. Whether depicted as innocent or malicious, woman always seems to corrupt man through indirect or direct methods. It is inevitable as death.
Barbie Doll has a few main themes that can be easily recognized; the main ones that Piercy addresses are the pressures of being a female and the desperate attempts to please others. In this poem, when the subject gets older she is told all the ways that she is not beautiful, while all of her good traits are ignored. Ultimately, it shows how the pressure of trying to measure up to society’s standards can cause an end to someone’s life. The poet makes the point at the end of Barbie Doll that for some women, fulfillment might only come in death. At the beginning of the poem the girl is portrayed as a typical little girl without a care in the world.