He documents a complex woman’s struggle to cope, as she is suffocated by the male dominated society that she has been forced to subject herself to. The following essay will in particular discuss the relationships between the women of Hedda Gabler. Ibsen uses the themes explored in the play to examine and challenge the role of women in society. This is evident through the relationships that Hedda has not only with the male characters in the play but from those that she has with the two other prominent female characters in the play; Thea Elvsted, the delicate love interest of Ejlert Lövborg and Aunt Julie the benevolent aunt of Hedda’s new husband Jörgen Tessman. Both women are contrasting representations of Hedda.
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. She could be imagined as distinguished, beautiful, proud and even in her defiance of her surroundings and in the gesture of her suicide. Hedda is pitiful because she is a tormented creature caught in an era that society imprisons women in limited choices, as a victim, in spite of her desperate to control the fate of others. With Hedda’s manipulative character, her desire of a “beautiful” death and her fear of scandal are the core characteristics that compels her to manipulate Lovborg in killing himself and leads herself to commit suicide. When Hedda first appears in the play, she is a cool character who has control of her emotions and actions.
While analyzing the reasons of the triggers of The Trojan War, the fact of “woman” cannot escape from the attention of reader. As a result of the beauty competition that had not been mentioned clearly in The Iliad, goddesses took their sides in The Trojan War. As a matter of fact, it is the real reason of The Trojan War which is “love of Helen and Paris”. Homer’s Iliad includes strong female characters with no doubt. For instance, Hera and Athena are respected as the most reputable and powerful women in the book.
She says that ‘I should freelier rejoice in that absence wherein he won honor than in the embracements of his bed where he would show most love”. Volumnia is a highly ambitious and tactical woman that she would employ any means possible to achieve her goal whether it be by sweetly persuading or manipulating Coriolanus. Volumnia persuades him to humble himself to the plebeians in Act 3 scene 2 “ I prithee now, my son, go to them, with this bonnet in thy hand…here be with them”. In a more severe situation she begs for Coriolanus not to destroy Rome where she kneels “unproperly “ and asks young Martius to do the same. Her actions are in contrast to Virgilia who is full of remorse in
Desdemona is Othello’s wife, and she has the biggest role of the women in the play. Roderigo is in love with her, but her father, Brabantio, does not allow Roderigo to marry her. We can conclude from this that at least Desdemona and Emilia are important characters, as they are the wives of the main characters, and Bianca seems to be just a minor character, but in order to find out more about the importance of women in Othello, we have to look at the roles of Desdemona, Emilia and Bianca in the play. Bianca receives Desdemona’s handkerchief from Cassio, and unknowingly makes Othello believe that Desdemona is cheating on him, when she gives the handkerchief back to Cassio, which was Iago’s plan, as he was trying to convince Othello that Desdemona was cheating on him, and this was the thing that made Othello believe him. (Bianca (Othello)) Emilia is the one who finds Desdemona’s handkerchief after she accidentally leaves it, and she gives it to Iago, because he has asked her before to steal the handkerchief.
In this essay I will be discussing the representations of Sycorax and Miranda as embodiments of alternative versions of femininity in The Tempest. I will discuss how Sycorax is a representation of a strong, independent and feared woman, whose power and ugliness makes her an outcast to Elizabethan society and how it portrays its women, in that woman were seen as objects to possess and control, and I will also discuss how in contrast, Miranda is seen as an ideal woman of her time, through her beauty, obedience to her father, thus submissive to mans rule and through her naivety. Using the passage in The Tempest where Prospero reminds Ariel about Sycorax, we get an impression about Sycorax, who she is and how she looks to Prospero and Ariel. Prospero Describes Sycorax as a non-white, “Algiers” (1.2.261), who is an old and ugly woman whose outwards appearance seems to mirror her inner malevolence. He describes her by referring to her as a “Blue-eyed Hag”(1.2.269) which is seen supposedly as a mark of imperfection on a woman as at that time the eyes of beauty were most frequently seen as grey or brown, thus symbolically describing Sycorax herself as being an imperfection to society.
Although critics disagree on how the vastly different gender perceptions within the play are used to portray the theme of women’s power within law and justice, all of their arguments tie back to the fact that the women in the story act as a surrogate for the female society of that time, showing them that they have more power than they realize. Phyllis Mael asserts in "Trifles: The Path to Sisterhood," that the evolution of the women's relationships from acquaintance to co-conspirators illustrates the female psyche. Mael says the she feels the play's "moral dilemma" stresses the inherent differences between male theoretical sense of morality and female sensitive ethical sense which includes "moral problems as problems of responsibility in relationship" (Mael, 282-83). Although the women draw closer to solving the crime as the men, using "abstract rules and rights," make comments that "trivialize the domestic sphere," ethical agreement comes only after Mrs. Peters moves from "acquiescence to patriarchal law" to
Not only was she a prize in a contest, she was a prize for the runner up. This is a very demeaning and degrading position. Women were also portrayed as weaker than men in several scenes, in both the physical and the mental sense. The opening quote can be used as evidence for this, when Hector tells the women of Troy to go back to doing the projects of women, such as working on the loom and the distaff. In other words, Hector is saying that this is the only work women are suited for, certainly not the works of war which occupy men.
The Friar tries to dissuade Giovanni from commencing the relationship despite there being little effect from his words. Annabella is harshly reprimanded by the Friar, so much so that she sees sense to confess to her sins. Despite her confession however, she is still punished grotesquely towards the end of the play. Giovanni does not confess; instead he sees his actions as necessary to deal with the problem that he is the main cause of. The final line “Who could not say, ‘Tis pity she’s a whore?” can be seen as directed towards her and so she is blamed for everything that has occurred.
In Sophocles’ and Anouilh’s versions of Antigone, the playwrights have very strict guidelines when portraying their female characters. This portrayal is supported through the reversal of gender roles, as well as stereotypical appearances of women. Through the breaking of gender stereotypes and the failure to abide by gender law, the characters in both versions of Antigone succumb to the temptation of suicide. By examining the characters in each play, it is clear that those who follow gender laws and have pleasing appearances are given choice over their fate, and those that do not must die, their death allowing them to achieve the concept of true beauty. Those that break assigned gender laws will have no choice but to submit to an inevitable death.