Analysis of characters in the yellow wallpaper
Characters . Plot the course of the narrator's descent into madness. Are there any significant turning points? From the very beginning of 'The Yellow Wallpaper' the narrator's isolation in her psychotic state is evident. '...people like John and I'. We know the name of the narrator's husband (John), but not her own. She is nearly anonymous; her identity is John's wife. 'And what can one do?' Gilman uses this noun to describe how the narrator disguises her autonomy and conveys the narrator's helplessness and perceived inability to change her uncomfortable situation; the repetition of 'one' creates a haunting echo of anonymity and demonstrates a sense of conventional acquiescence. Gilman uses exclamation marks to reveal the woman's psychotic, agitated, mental state. Along with questioning features of her surroundings, the woman also makes many exclamatory remarks. This questioning and exclaiming indicate the wide swings in her mental state. 'but that would be asking too much of fate!', '...I am sick!' As the novel progresses, however, Gilman uses many linguistic and syntactic features to convey the changes in the narrator's attitude. The use of first person reveals a dramatic change in the narrator's identity and self -awareness at the point when the dominant text of her actions compromises her sanity and dooms her to madness. The increased use of 'I' demonstrates a
In the writing of Edgar Allan Poe, we see investigations into abnormal psychological states and obsessive behaviour. By comparing The Tell-Tale Heart and The Cask of Amontillado explain to what extent you think this is true.
In the writing of Edgar Allan Poe, we see investigations into abnormal psychological states and obsessive behaviour. By comparing 'The Tell-Tale Heart' and 'The Cask of Amontillado' explain to what extent you think this is true. Both 'The Tell-Tale Heart' and 'The Cask of Amontillado' reveal a psychotic narrator unravelling a macabre tale of irrational fear or revenge. But how does Poe so convincingly evoke the distorted mind of such a character? One way that Poe achieves this is that both stories employ the first person narrator -a technique which allows the reader a privileged view inside the character's mind. In TTH, the unnamed narrator and in TCoA, it is Montreso. Everything that is told to us has to pass through the narrator's perception and this allows us to judge his trustworthiness, his biased viewpoint, his state of mind. In both stories, the protagonist in both stories reveals immediately, in fact in the very first line of the story, that they both victims to mania. The protagonist of TTH is clearly mad. His first utterance with the exclamation , staccato phrasing, pauses , repetitions gives the effect of a highly agitated mind who immediately asks us to concord with him that he is completely sane: "True! - nervous - very, very dreadfully nervous I had been, and am; but why will you say that I am mad?" The question only serves to confirm in our minds that he is
Italo Calvino's use of a suit of armor in "The Non-Existent Knight" to satirize the conventional portrayal of a medieval knight.
Italo Calvino's use of a suit of armor in "The Non-Existent Knight" to satirize the conventional portrayal of a medieval knight. "The Non-Existent Knight", by Calvino, is a short story which features Agilulf, a knight who purportedly does not possess a human body, yet is able to exist as a suit of armor amalgamated with 'will power' and 'faith'.1 Even though Agilulf is devoid of a human body, he is well respected and revered, and is viewed by compatriots as a superior knight. In this way, Calvino utilizes Agilulf's suit of armor as a focal point from which to express the imperfection of knights. As knights tend to be portrayed as flawless and ideal characters in literature, the author seems to be attempting to offer a more realistic depiction of knights. The features of a knight which are satirized include the exaggerated honor, strength and romance that society believes they exude. I believe that it is the precise notion that a knight is incontrovertibly a quixotic character which is confronted by Calvino, through the use of a suit of armor in "The Non-Existent Knight". Calvino employs a suit of armor to portray the way in which a knight's honor is exaggerated. A knight's honor is exhibited through the suit of armor that he wears, as it is proof of his rank and value. However, as the suit of armor is used as an exhibition of a person's honor, the flaws of the person
Explore Maria Edgeworth's use of the theme of names and titles within Castle Rackrent which may help the reader to understand the theme of social ranking or inequality in Ireland at the time in which the novel was written.
Q: "For post - colonial readers (Castle Rackrent) takes on a new shape as a contribution to the literature of class, race and gender, a remarkably intuitive and far reaching portrait of an unequal society." (Marylin Butler) Using this statement explore Maria Edgeworth's use of the theme of names and titles within Castle Rackrent which may help the reader to understand the theme of social ranking or inequality in Ireland at the time in which the novel was written. Consider: * The significance of the Big House in Ireland. * The historical, political and cultural significance of the Big House in Ireland. * The views of other readers and critics. Maria Edgeworth, born in 1768 was a member of the Anglo-Irish tradition in Ireland, a tradition lasting over four hundred years. Through this time Ireland encountered much change, not only in a social, political and economic sense, but also in a literary sense, thanks to pioneers of Anglo - Irish literature such as Edgeworth. Therefore it must be assumed that the importance of the 'big house' tradition was immense and had a massive impact on both the outlook and content of Castle Rackrent. It would be foolish however to dismiss the novel as anything less than groundbreaking in its day in many ways, not least in exploring the theme of naming and titles, but also in critically analysing the social structure of the
THE BIG HOUSE. ISOLATED IN THE UNLOVING COUNTRYSIDE,IS AS MUCH THE SUBJECT OF THE NOVEL AS THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN IT.' EVALUATE BOWEN'S PORTRAYAL OF THE BIG HOUSE DANIELSTOWN IN THE NOVEL AND SHOW HOW FAR YOU AGREE WITH THIS INTERPRETATION.
'THE BIG HOUSE. ISOLATED IN THE UNLOVING COUNTRYSIDE,IS AS MUCH THE SUBJECT OF THE NOVEL AS THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN IT.' EVALUATE BOWEN'S PORTRAYAL OF THE BIG HOUSE DANIELSTOWN IN THE NOVEL AND SHOW HOW FAR YOU AGREE WITH THIS INTERPRETATION. In 1920, at their country home in County Cork, Sir Richard Naylor and his wife, Lady Myra, and their friends maintain a sceptical attitude toward the events going on around them, but behind the facade of tennis parties and army camp dances, all the characters know that the end is approaching, that is the end of British rule in the south of Ireland and the demise of a way of life that had survived for centuries. Their niece, Lois Farquar, attempts to live her own life and gain her own freedoms from the very class that her elders are vainly defending. Elizabeth Bowen, 1899-1973, is a central figure in London literary society, she is widely considered to be one of the most distinguished novelists of the modern era, "combining psychological realism an unparalleled gift for poetic impressionism." P. Tillsmen. Bowen was born in Dublin, the only child of an Irish lawyer and landowner, and spent the majority of her youth on the family's estate in County Cork, called Bowen's Court, the house and its land were the direct inspiration for the setting of Danielstown in The Last September. "The Last September" is a timeless, psychological yet
Boccaccio's Decameron
Boccaccio's Decameron Boccaccio's The Decameron is today acknowledged as a masterpiece of medieval literature, and its influence can be seen in the work of other great writers such as Chaucer and Shakespeare. Yet, the intellectual elite of his time rejected his masterpiece when it was first published, overlooking his wit and ingenuity and choosing instead to decry his lack of etiquette and political correctness. Clearly, he was prepared against just such attacks, for throughout his work he cleverly weaves in his defense against would-be detractors, using the narrative frames of himself in both the first and the third person points of view. In the Prologue, Boccaccio the author makes plain his ostensible purpose for writing - having survived a bout of lovesickness thanks to the encouragement of his friends, he now hopes to provide women afflicted by the same curse a diversion from their melancholy in the form of stories. This lovesickness is quickly juxtaposed with the image of the dreadfulness of the Black Death in the author's Introduction. Here, he sets the background of his tale in a time of which horrors would still be very much alive in the memories of his readers, and hence framing the extenuating circumstances for the ribaldry and impiousness that is to follow. Indeed, "in the face of so much affliction and misery, all respect for the laws of God and man had
A Literary Analysis of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass represent the importance of change in society: Old habits and customs can harbor a nation's growth culturally and politically. Lewis Carroll wrote his two famous novels with this underlying message to advise his fellow Victorians to change their ways of life, and recognize the wrongdoings of society in order to bring about a more modern view of life. By employing allegorical characters, creating parodies of common Victorian traditions, and deriding the church, Carroll is able to present a scornful and mocking view of society to his readers, with the hopes of change. Furthermore, Alice's frugal attempts to civilize the animal world by means of Victorian rules further intensify Carroll's mockery of nineteenth-century English ways of life. Various symbolic characters arise and develop during Alice's adventures. Among these, include her interaction with the Duchess and her baby. This scene mocks the civilized, somewhat robotic lifestyle of Victorians. They ran their households orderly, much unlike the duchess', in which the chaotic lifestyle represents the imperfection of humans. Nina Auerbach exclaims, "With baby and pepper flung about indiscriminately, pastoral tranquility is inverted into a whirlwind of savage sexuality" (2). This "pastoral tranquility" is the ideal lifestyle for which the Victorians
The ending of The Yellow Wallpaper. Breakdown or Breakthrough
'The Yellow Wallpaper' is a document of the mental breakdown of a middle class Victorian woman, but beneath this, is the portrayal of her breakthrough that women are being treated as inferior by men, and her discovery in her insane and insecure state of mind, that woman are chained to a patriarchal society where men are the ones who have the majority of the power and control. But to what extent is it a breakthrough rather than breakdown? The narrator's insanity increases throughout the novel and the reader becomes aware of this by her language; her short and choppy sentences show her agitated state of mind and the fact that she is 'forbidden to "work" until she is well again' gives us more of an insight into her illness. The whole story is a record of her descending to insanity and depression, a document of her thought patterns as her mind becomes clouded as her vivid imagination unravels her strange and confused thoughts (or unravels the true allegory of her obsessive examination of the wallpaper). The end is ultimately a culmination of all her insane (yet allegorically relevant) thinking as she tries to find a 'conclusion' to the 'pointless pattern' that symbolizes the rules of society. As the story progresses, the mysterious yellow wallpaper becomes mentioned increasingly, and the reader is made aware of how unreliable the narrator actually is in this state of mind as
Analyze how The Yellow Wallpaper can be interpreted as a feminist story.
Analyze how "The Yellow Wallpaper" can be interpreted as a feminist story. Should women and men have the same rights? The question stated by feminists in early 1900s had power to change the world. Women finally are allowed to participate in a political life and vote. Schools and universities welcome everybody regardless of students' gender. Professional career is no longer a strict men's domain and raising children becomes a responsibility of both mother and father as well. Charlotte Gilman was one of the early feminists, so she had a chance to experience a life "at the social margin". In the world of "The Yellow Wallpaper", women are assigned a well defined position: a housekeeper taking care of her family. To talk about a society in which women and men have an unequal status, Gilman uses metaphors (yellow wallpaper) and a specific words choice. "The Yellow Wallpaper" contains description of a society and family model of the time. A woman does not act upon her own intentions for her husband makes all decisions in her name. She patiently fallows his instructions and recommendations, so she makes a dutiful and obedient wife. Even her nervous disorder is ignored and treated as a "slight hysterical tendency" (Gilman 399). The woman complains hopelessly "You see, he does not believe I am sick! And what can one do?" (399), as if she does not have any power of authority to do
Social outsiders are often treated in a cruel and unjust way. Explore the presentation of outsiders in the light of this statement. In your response, you should focus on Wuthering Heights to establish your argument and refer to t
Task: "Social outsiders are often treated in a cruel and unjust way." Explore the presentation of "outsiders" in the light of this statement. In your response, you should focus on Wuthering Heights to establish your argument and refer to the second text you have read to support and develop your line of argument. Outsiders is a big theme in both novels Wuthering Heights and The Color Purple. Wuthering Heights is described as a gothic novel and outsider is a key figure in the Gothic novel. An outsider lives beyond the bounds of conventional society or on the borderlands of it, he or she is seen as a suspicious and threatening entity, someone who must be excluded for the safety of society at large. Bront?'s Wuthering height explores outsiders in three different ways. The first and obvious example is of Heathcliff, the character that was an outsider until his death. The second is of Isabella Linton, whom has been taken from Thrushcross Grange to be become an outsider in Wuthering Heights. Finally but not least the third main outsider is Hareton, where Bront? here explores how a character being an outsider could transform into an insider. From the moment Heathcliff was introduced to the Earnshaw family, as an orphan that was found in the streets of Liverpool, Heathcliff was claimed to be an outsider and treated as one. In her description of Heathcliff, Nelly Dean, narrating