How viable is it to read Moll Flanders as a feminist text?
Charles Prichard Mr. Terrence Wright Moll Flanders How viable is it to read Moll Flanders as a feminist text? Daniel Defoe chose to write a book with a woman as the leading character of it. In fact, he writes it from the perspective of this woman. In order to do this and make the book seem more realistic, Defoe has to get into the psyche of the female mind and therefore adopt a persona that views the world the way a woman would see it. Of course, Defoe would have to use his own opinions of a woman's thoughts to influence his writing. By making this woman the leading character, it is essential for him to give her a strong character, one that will be able to carry the book and make it appealing to the reader, who at the time Defoe was writing was part of a male-dominated society. This puts Defoe in a position where he has to write about a woman who is going to be independent of herself and therefore does not see the male as the dominant sex. Has Defoe given himself no choice but to try to be feminist? Moll Flanders, which is a name given to her through her partners in crime, is surrounded by women from the start. Indeed, there is no real male influence in her life for her first few years. Born in a prison in Newgate, there is no real mention of her father and her mother gives her away almost immediately. After passing through the hands of a group of gypsies, she ends up in
The Men of Jane Eyre.
The Men of Jane Eyre In many works, gender relationships play a significant role. In Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, the main character has, to state it meekly, an interesting relationship with males. The novel is considered a bildungsroman. A bildungsroman is a novel that tells the story of a child's coming of age, so to speak. It is the narration of the maturation including all childhood experiences, situations, and the emotions that follow with them. Knowing this, the audience can ascertain that Charlotte Bronte's life involved many disheartening situations and relationships with men. In the novel there is no significant completely positive male characters. Having viewed some biographies on the author, I fell it is safe to say that this is consistent with Bronte's real life. Being a male, I must state that the novel is upsetting in the fact that it appears at first glance to be quite feminist. However, if that is how her life truly transpired, who am I to judge her novels intention. A motif is a recurring theme, structure, or literary device used in a given work. The goal of this essay is to observe the motif of gender relationships in the early part of this novel through the male characters. I will specifically analyze Jane's relationships early in the novel with John Reed, Mr. Brocklehurst, and Mr. Rochester. The aim is to show the male influence to deny
Enacting of modern themes and literary devices in To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf.
UNIVERSITATEA TRANSILVANIA BRASOV FACULTATEA DE LITERE SECTIA ID Enacting of modern themes and literary devices in To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf Prof. Stefania Mihalache Catinean Ligia Danuta An III Filologie I D Româna-Engleza BRASOV 2003 To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf In two of her essays Modern Fiction and Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Brown she said that the novels are a protest to traditional novel which really too much on the exterior reality on the surface. Virginia Woolf found necessary to create new methods and techniques, to invent a new form of novel, capable of expressing her own vision of life. She is interested in finding what is beyond things, in finding the essential truth of life. Her novels attempt both to "dissipate" character and to reintegrate human experience within an aesthetic shape or form. She seeks to represent the nature of transient sensation, or of conscious and unconscious mental activity, and then to relate it outwards to more universal awareness of pattern and rhythm. The momentary reaction, the impermanent emotions, the ephemeral stimulus, the random suggestion, and the dissociated thought are effectively 'bent' into a stylistic relationship to something coherent and structured. The characters may often seem to be dissolved into little more than ciphers, what they come to signify is part of complex iconographic
In her novel The Professor, author Charlotte Bronte details and develops the life and experiences of narrator and main character William Crimsworth.
Elsbeth Loughrey Writing 125 February 19, 2002 In her novel The Professor, author Charlotte Bronte details and develops the life and experiences of narrator and main character William Crimsworth. After graduating from Eton College in England, Crimsworth is in need of an occupation. He stubbornly refuses offers from his uncles, and consequently finds himself with no other choice than to work for his tyrannical brother in the menial position of clerk. However, his conditions soon become unbearable, and through an acquaintance's recommendation, William secures himself employment as a professor at a boys' school in Brussels. William's arrival in Belgium presents him with new opportunities both professionally and personally, as he almost immediately meets two women who are to change his existence dramatically: Zoraide Reuter and Frances Henri. Bronte creates and emphasizes many differences and similarities between these two women using various techniques and methods, which primarily include comparison and contrast. Zoraide and Frances each have their own significant and individual role in the life of and interaction with William Crimsworth. Each woman possesses different kinds of physical and mental attributes, comes from a unique background, and enters into and affects his life in a contrasting way. These differences, along with a few similarities, are explored
Compare and contrast the representation of femininity in Pygmalion and Wide Sargasso Sea
Compare and contrast the representation of femininity in Pygmalion and Wide Sargasso Sea This paper will attempt to compare and contrast the representations of femininity in the novel Wide Sargasso Sea (WSS) and the play Pygmalion. It will investigate any ways in which the works reflect or challenge commonly held social representations of femininity, and will compare and contrast each representation of femininity and then investigate any themes. It will also consider the counterpoint of masculine representation, and lastly the limitations of a comparison between two texts of different disciplines. These two titles were products of very different cultures; Pygmalion was written in 1912 by the thoroughly British Bernard Shaw, a self-proclaimed feminist, while WSS was written in 1966 by Jean Rhys, a Caribbean Creole (like her main characters) who immigrated to England in her teens. These texts were not intended to be textbooks, or represent any views other than the authors, but by comparing these texts we may find how the ideas of femininity have changed in the intervening years. Shaw's feminism might be expected to have influenced his portrayal of the female characters in his work, so the reader should be aware of a possible feminist subtext. WSS is set in the Caribbean of the 1830's, and was written for a primarily English audience. The author might therefore be expected to
The Women of Shirley.
The Women of Shirley In many works, authors use a type of process to lead towards the end of their work. In Charlotte Bronte's Shirley the two major female characters, Shirley Keeldar and Caroline Helstone, go through two different paths. Social status is the rank, for a better term, of a person in society. It is where an individual stands in regards to his or her respective community. Sometimes the presence or lack thereof a prominent business, wealth, political power, or family name plays a major role in a person's position in society. Social status can affect an individual's personality. Personality is the character of an individual; it includes how a person carries his/her self, attitude, and demeanor. Personality can affect the individuals' love life and interests. It plays a significant role on who an individual is attracted to, as well as who is attracted to said individual. To state this succinctly: Social status can affect personality, and personality can affect someone's love life and interests. The goal of this essay is to analyze the processes that Caroline Helstone and Shirley Keeldar go through. I will specifically analyze the idea of love and relationships regarding both characters. The aim is to show the paths these women take and how they determine their futures. The title character, Shirley Keeldar, is introduced relatively late in the novel in
The Role of Education in Charlotte Bront(TM)s Jane Eyre
Essay-The Role of Education in Charlotte Brontë's "Jane Eyre" Done by Diana Griciuviene Af 0606 U Charlote Brontë in her romantic novel Jane Eyre presents factual information and attitudes toward education in the19th century England. As far as is known, during this period people experienced the harmful effects of severe class division typical of the era. At all levels of society boys and girls were taught separately. The children of poor or workingclass families were taught in local schools and the children of upper and upper-middle-class families were enrolled in exclusive private schools (known as public schools). Additionaly, young children in upper-class and upper-middle-class families - both boys and girls - often received their earliest education from governesses. In other words, before 1870, education was largely a private affair. Throughout the novel, we can explore Jane's own education at one of the Victorian charity school , her work in education at one of the local school, her position as a governess and beneficial consequences of the education also. The Lowood School for girls, portrayed in this novel, can be described as one, which curriculum was designed particularly to train children to a lower-middle class occupation, such as becoming a governess or a school teacher, unlike private schooling for upper-class girls, which focused much more on acting like
Discuss the role of the narrator in Die Verwandlung.
Discuss the role of the narrator in Die Verwandlung. In this essay I shall look at the role of the narrator in the book Die Verwandtlung and discuss what effect it has on the way the story is told. I shall firstly look at the narration and discuss what form it takes, then I shall consider ideas about what effect it has, looking for examples in the book. I shall conclude by summarising the main points as to what form the narration takes and what effect it seems to have overall in the book. In the book the form that the narration takes is a complex one. It changes between a 3rd person narrator, focalised through Gregor Samsa and the seeming thoughts of Samsa himself. For example, in the second section we can see that the narrator only knows what Gregor can find out: "Mit welchen Ausreden man an jenem ersten Vormittag den Arzt und den Schlosser wieder aus der Wohnung geschafft hatte, konnte Gregor gar nicht erfahren..." However, at various times throughout the book the narrative lapses into thoughts that Gregor would probably be having. Like when he looks at the alarm clock on the first morning and sees that it is very late: "Sollte der Wecker nicht geläutet haben?...Ja, aber war es möglich, dieses möbelerschütternde Läuten ruhig verschlafen? Nun, ruhig hatte er ja nicht geschlafen, aber wahrscheinlich detso fester." This shows that the narrative is still in the
Male Heterosexual Desire as a Product of Power Differentials in M. Butterfly
Male Heterosexual Desire as a Product of Power Differentials in M. Butterfly What is the definition of the perfect woman, the symbol of male heterosexual desire? Is it a woman who has a picture perfect body, with a beautiful face, nice legs, and the rest of the body to match? Or is it something more, something other than just physical appearance? In Hwang's M. Butterfly, Gallimard seems to be attracted to a number of different characteristics in women, but he keeps going back to one woman in particular. Gallimard has his wife, Helga. The play hints that Helga is unattractive and not someone that a man would find desirable. Then Gallimard has his first affair with Song, a submissive Oriental woman, or so he thinks, who is attractive and modest. And lastly there's Renee, who is completely beautiful, the woman of every man's dreams. In M. Butterfly, the male heterosexual desire is a product of power differentials, where Gallimard is most attracted to the woman that has the least power, giving him even more. Helga is introduced in act one, scene five, where Gallimard himself hints that Helga is unattractive, or at least, not beautiful. This impression is given when he says, "the sad truth is that all men want a beautiful woman, and the uglier the man, the greater the want" (Hwang 14). Then later in the play, after Gallimard has met Song, his old friend from school,
Reactions to Patriarchal Oppression in Jane Eyre.
Reactions to Patriarchal Oppression in Jane Eyre In Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, the characters Jane Eyre and Bertha Mason are both oppressed by the patriarchal system of the nineteenth century Britain. Each woman refuses to conform to a patriarchal society, but the manner by which each rebel against culture determine a very different future. By depicting opposing reactions to the oppression, Bronte successfully depicts the plight of women in the nineteenth century. By the time Jane Eyre is nine years old, she has built up a great deal of resentment of the injustice she receives at Gateshead Hall. She decides to rebel against the harsh treatment that she receives from her family. They consider her desire to learn and her independent thoughts to be disobedient and her punishment becomes so intolerable that she could no longer restrain herself. She attacks the rich and spoiled John Reed, behaving "like a mad cat" (475) and is locked away in a remote, haunting chamber known as the red room. At Lowood Institution, under strict rules and regulations, and with the help of another orphan, Helen Burns, Jane learns that it is wrong to rebel against society. Helen states, "It is weak and silly to say you cannot bear what it is your fate to be required to bear (506)....It is not violence that best overcomes hate-nor vengeance that most certainly heals injury"(508). Jane