Pride and Prejudice
Explore in detail how Austen creates an untypical regency woman through the views and actions of the character Elizabeth Bennett. Pride and Prejudice was first published on the 28th of January 1813, it is one of the most famous of Jane Austen's novels and is one of the first romantic comedies in the history of the history of the novel. The manuscript was first written between 1796 and 1797, it was initially called 'First Impressions' but it was never published under that title. The novel opens with the line, "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife". In the late 18th century England, women were downgraded to the minor roles in society in relation to property and social responsibilities. For example, women were not allowed to visit new arrivals to the town (such as Mr. Bingley) until the male, head of their household, had done so first. Women were under enormous pressure to marry for the principle of securing their financial futures and making valuable connections between their families. Consequently, marriage, although it is romanticised, was in many ways a financial contract and social agreement, rather than a subject of love. Although Jane Austen did not condone loveless marriages, as she stayed single all her life, she did approve of matches having equal opportunity in a range of aspects such as
Thomas Hardy "The Withered Arm" and "The Sons Veto".
Thomas Hardy - The Withered Arm/The Son's Veto Thomas Hardy born in 1840 in the county town of Dorset is a world famous author. His short stories were written in the 19th century inspired by family tales and personal experiences. From his characterisation of women in his short stories we sense that Hardy disapproved of how women were treated by society. 'The Withered Arm.' Hardy was inspired to write 'The Withered Arm' by the circumstances of an old woman who had a wasting disease like Gertrude in this story. Hardy portrays two women in this story in different paths of life from different classes. Rhoda Brook, the abandoned mistress of Farmer Lodge and an isolated mother of an illegitimate child is a milkmaid who lives as an outcast, 'Their course lay apart from the others' shows us that she lives on the outskirts of the town and as we progress through the story we find out why, She is treated like an outcast as she is from a lower class than the others. We also see that she is only as she keeps to herself and away from the community. 'A thin fading woman of thirty milked somewhat apart from the rest.' We know that Rhoda had an illegitimate relationship with Farmer Lodge, a prosperous farmer of the town. The relationship between Rhoda and Farmer Lodge had been ostracised by society as they both were from different social classes. The society in the 19th century was a rigid
The Withered Arm.
The Withered Arm The opening of the story, among the milkmaids, is much more innocent in terms of the tension and terror than the plot turns out to be although tension is shown here because of the mystery. This is similar to many of Hardy's other novels. Terror is mainly brought out in the end when everyone passes away except Rhoda who may be the most evil character in the plot. In most of Hardy's short stories written he uses unexpected twists to create terror and tension. This may link to the sort of life style in those times. Rhoda wants her mysterious unnamed son to observe the new Mrs. Lodge as Farmer Lodge and Rhoda have had a certain relationship. At this point of the short story the reader is bought to ask what type of relationship they had; we gradually learn that they have had a son together. Gertrude Lodge is much prettier than Rhoda, therefore Rhoda wants to know what type of person she is and how she had been bought up. Rhoda does this by sending her son for the second time to inspect her hands to see if they were rough, if so that would mean she would have done some work before. If Gertrude did not work this would mean that she would have been raised from a rich family who employed people like Rhoda to do the work for them. "You never told me what sort of hand she had," Tension is created by the fact that she is so inquisitive about Gertrude but she
Theory Of Knowledge.
Name: Sun Xing Teacher: Mr. Gardner Due Date: 23rd Oct 2003 Theory Of Knowledge Big Essay "A historian must combine the vigour of the scientist with the imagination of the artist." This sentence itself is quite a controversy and a paradox. It makes people wonder; if this is plain old history we are talking about. To enhance with our understanding, we can perhaps divide the sentence into two parts. It is easy to link history with science as they both are subject to changes when new facts are discovered; although historical accounts do not change as rapidly as scientific inventions. A historian, like a scientist, on discovery of new evidence, must fit into the big picture of previously gathered information like a piece in a jigsaw puzzle. He also has to check and countercheck many times in order to increase the accuracy and to ensure authenticity of the historical account. Thus we can conclude that vigour is a "must" quality in a historian because making changes in historical documents is usually a lengthy and tedious process. So far, so good. The real difficulty lies in what follows after. How do we equate a historian with an artist? As we all know, an artist makes a living based on his creativity and imagination as he aims to create ideal yet unreal worlds to allow people to find a temporary escape from the harsh reality. However, the mission of a historian is the direct
Who suffers most in 'The Withered Arm'?
Thomas Hardy's, 'The Withered Arm', was set in 1812; the story includes three main characters, Rhoda Brook, Gertrude and Farmer Lodge. In the story the two female characters suffer more then their counter part Farmer Lodge. I will examine who suffers most and why. Rhoda Brook was a milkmaid on Farmer Lodges farm, many years ago they experienced an unsuccessful relationship, Farmer lodges new young wife Gertrude was unaware of their past. Rhoda Brook has experienced a lot of suffering and hardship throughout the story. In spite of having a son with Rhoda, Farmer Lodge paid no sympathy towards her or the nurturing of their son, 'He ha'n't spoke to Rhoda Brook for years.' This left Rhoda poor and an outcast in the society as she was a single mother with an illegitimate child. With no help from Farmer Lodge she raised her son while struggling financially and living in poor conditions, '...built of mud-walls... surface of which had been washed by many rains...' One of the reasons for which Farmer Lodge had left Rhoda was because she had aged, which made her less attractive from her early life. '...dark eyes...once been handsome, seem handsome anew.' In those years men based all aspects of a relationship on the appearance of a woman; here Farmer Lodge leaves Rhoda because of the change in her appearance and some time later moves on to Gertrude, his young wife. This creates
The Things They Carried
The Things They Carried James Oberhofer English 101 D Mr. B. Moon 22-OCT-04 O'Connor remarks "The Things They Carried" is a short story that is written "as an experience not an abstraction" and that "the meaning has been embodied in it". These quotations are truly pure in description and interpretation of the short story as the reader, must look beyond the crude physical properties of the objects and actions chronicled and focus more upon their hidden meanings and messages. O'Brien uses the physical characteristics of weight to make an impact upon the reader to relate with the men. In emphasizing the soldier's everyday burden, the reader can easily relate to the situation in general. As the story progresses, the main attention of the story transfers from a physical sense of weight to an emotional sense of burden. It is through this shift that "the meaning is truly embodied in the story". This shift shall be focused on and elaborated in this essay. The men in the story carried many things upon their shoulders. Primarily, each man was assigned to carry the basic necessities of life, which was standard operating procedure. These basic necessities included objects such as bandages, knives, dog tags and uniforms. In saying this, all of the men were somewhat created equal in the fact that they were all ordered to carry the standard issued equipment assigned to them. They all
Wuthering heights
Examine the reasons for destructive relationships in Wuthering heights Bronte's Wuthering heights displays several characteristics of destructive relationships, stemming from jealousy, uncaring parents, and not knowing the true personality of a husband or wife. These situations are all present in the novel, and all cause a breakdown in communication between characters, resulting in hostility and separation. The destructive relationships between parent and offspring are shown through the characters of Hindley and his father, as well as Linton and Heathcliff. When Heathcliff first begins living with Mr Earnshaw, it becomes difficult for the relationship between him and his son to remain unaffected. Hindley becomes hostile towards his father as a result of being overshadowed by Heathcliff, who is favoured by Mr Earnshaw. Nelly reveals to the reader in chapter 4 that she had noticed Mr Earnshaw becoming increasingly fond of Heathcliff, disregarding the feelings of his own son Hindley. This resulted in a separation between Hindley and his father. The destructive relationship between them presents themes such as isolation and depression, typical of a gothic novel. "..and at Mr Earnshaw's death, which happened less than two years after, the young master had learnt to regard his father as an oppressor rather than a friend...". Bronte skilfully chose to continue the theme of
