Marriage As A Social Contract In Jane Austen's 'Pride And Prejudice'.
Marriage As A Social Contract In Jane Austen's 'Pride And Prejudice' "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife". With these famous words, Jane Austen launched into what has come to be regarded by many as the greatest romance novel of all time. Written in late 1790's England, in a time of radical social upheaval and political change, 'Pride and Prejudice' presents a mixed bag of social ideas relating to marriage, the meaning of femininity, love and the fluidity of class structure. The time of writing put 'Pride and Prejudice' in the middle of a fictional war of ideas between female writers of the time, arriving as it does at a sort of middle ground between the feminist views of Mary Wollstonecraft and the more rural traditionalist views of Hannah More (Jones, V., 'Introduction to "Pride and Prejudice"', (1996) London: Penguin). This lead to much confusion among critics as to exactly what Austen's views regarding marriage and feminism were, and in many cases continues to do so today. In this essay I will attempt to clear up some of this ambiguity, while closely examining the idea of marriage itself, the nature of the 'social contract', and the social and historical background to the idea of marriage as a social contract. In 'The Sadeian Woman', Angela Carter states that "The marriage bed is a
Jane Eyre, its film and sequels whatever their differences- always return to the eternal struggle between male dominance and female victimhood
"Jane Eyre, its film and sequels - whatever their differences- always return to the eternal struggle between male dominance and female victimhood" The novel Jane Eyre subverts the patriarchal society. Jane Eyre was wrote in a time when married women had no existence in the law and, and "female emancipation conjured spectres of sexual permissiveness and the masculinisation of women, threatened the patriarchal family and state" (xv). Right from the very start Jane continuously goes against the customs of how females should act, not only to the opposite sex but overall. Jane flies at "Master John" when he strikes her and even the women saw this as "shocking conduct", and perceived her as a "mad cat" to strike her "young master". Jane then replies that he is not her master and she is not a servant, to then hear that she is "less than a servant" (15). This is the first time we see Jane go against male dominance and this outburst ends in her been imprisoned because of her acts. Thus proving that male dominance is acceptable but a female has to take it dutifully to resist further punishment. The battle of dominancy continues at Lowood. This section not only shows a clash of dominance but it shows also what "class" you are, really has a difference on how a female body should be presented. We see throughout this section, Jane, Helen, and Miss Temple all fight against
What image of Cephallonia and its inhabitants do you gain from chapters three and seven of "Captain Corelli's Mandolin"? Discuss with particular reference to humour.
What image of Cephallonia and its inhabitants do you gain from chapters three and seven? Discuss with particular reference to humour. Both chapters are narrated by an omniscient third person, the benefit of this is that as a reader I am able to pick up on dramatic irony and the difference between character's thoughts and their actual dialogue, this all contributes to the humour created, mostly through the convention of comparison and reduction of status. The main purpose of these two chapters is to introduce Cephallonian characters to the reader and develop the relationships between them. Velisarios is described in chapter three 'garbed as a pantomime Turk in pantaloons and curlicued slippers,' he is first referred to with little dignity in a comic costume, which in itself creates humour, but the description of Velisarios' clothes juxtaposed with his status 'the strongest man who had ever lived' takes the humour onto a further level. Much of the comedy created is with reference to the individual status of the characters described. This humour is continued with Pelagia's response to hearing Velisarios is 'in the square' when she drops her duties and with that reduces her prestige as 'she put up the broom with which she had been sweeping the yard and hurried out to join the gaggle of the inquisitive and impressionable that had gathered near the well'. Although it is humorous
What influence has the experiences in Mary Shelley's life had on the novel Frankenstein?
What influence has the experiences in Mary Shelley's life had on the novel Frankenstein? Mary Shelley's experiences have had a large impact on the themes and issues in her novel Frankenstein. It is considered by some to be a birth myth, because of the influence Shelley's experiences of motherhood has had on the novel. Further, the novel reveals numerous allusions to Shelley's life. The novel explores the retribution visited upon Monster and creator for incomplete infant care, and several of the characters are representations of individuals in Shelley's life. This essay explores the issues of the birth myth and family relations that are identifiable in the novel and argues that Shelley's life and her experiences have inspired the themes of creation, birth and family in the novel Frankenstein. Frankenstein is perceived as a birth myth because of the themes of maternity and parenthood alluded to within the novel. Mario Praz comments, "All Mrs. Shelley did was to provide a passive reflection of some of the wild fantasies which were living in the air about her." These fantasies or issues that existed in Shelley's life are identified in the novel as issues of birth, creation, neglect, and confusion. For example, in Frankenstein, birth is presented as a hideous thing. For birth to be possible, Victor must collect bones and decomposing body parts, among other things, in order for
Murders in the Rue Morgue - A short story in the collection of stories by Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher
Murders in the Rue Morgue A short story in the collection of stories by Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher Shannon Ghramm Prof. Reeves Eng 212 Ses 1 6/15/01 'De nier ce qui est, et d'expliquer ce qui n'est pas' As the all American hero Forest Gump so cleverly put it, 'life is a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get." Mr. Edgar Allan Poe disagrees with that. He believes life is a game where "mind must conquer mind" and where the players must be keen and only be able to pay attention to detail, but they must be able to use that detail to their advantage. Life is a game of chess or checkers, and we stumble along in our lives playing one game after another, acquiring new opponents along the way. Our futures, as well as ourselves, are measured by how many of those games we win and the technique we used. This idea is exemplified in the short story Murders In the Rue Morgue by the cunning character Dupin. Also, this story is interestingly preceded by a commentary of Poe describing the games of chess, draughts (aka Checkers) and a card game. Out of these three one can gather that Poe rather likes Checkers and thinks that it is superior to chess because chess has "various and bizarre motions, with various and valuable values, what is only complex, is mistaken for what is profound." He explains that what is important in this game is attention to
Jane Eyre- Analysis.
Jane Eyre - Analysis Immediately the reader is positioned on Jane's side through careful novelistic craftsmanship. From the first page, Jane is oppressed, sent off while her cousins play. We learn through exposition from John that she is a penniless orphan, dependent on the heartless Reed family; indeed, social class will play an important role in the rest of the novel. She is also a sensitive girl given to flights of fancy while reading, but she also displays her strength in her defense against John. All the elements are in place for a classic "Bildungsroman," the literary genre originating in the German literally as "novel of formation" or, as it is generally known, the "coming-of-age" story. In the Bildungsroman, classic examples of which are Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther, Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn, and J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, the young protagonist matures through a series of obstacles and defines his or her identity. The red-room has both deathly associations (red as the color of blood, the room's containing a miniature version of the dead Mr. Reed, and Jane's belief that she sees a ghost in it) and is a clear symbol of imprisonment. Throughout the novel, Jane will be imprisoned in more metaphorical ways, particularly relating to class, gender, and religion. Ironically, although John is the root cause of Jane's imprisonment here, the three
In a continuous essay of not more that 1000 words, analyse this passage, discussing ways in which the narrative voice and dialogue are used.
In a continuous essay of not more that 1000 words, analyse this passage, discussing ways in which the narrative voice and dialogue are used. The passage extracted from Chapter 9 of Pride and Prejudice is, in line with the rest of the novel, written in the third person narrative voice. As is common throughout the Novel, focalization is often through the main character, Miss Elizabeth Bennet. Helping to aid the readers' comprehension of the Novel, the narrative voice has a free indirect style which shares commentary with the characters and moves imperceptibly and unobtrusively from character to group, from solitary scenes to social gatherings. The passage opens directly with dialogue between Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy. Dialogue is used to reveal the character of the speaker and it also adds drama to the story. Not only are the words that are spoken important, it is also significant how the words are said. Elizabeth's first line in the passage is spoken "impatiently". Quite ironically she is speaking of a gentleman ending his affection, and thereafter she speaks "knowledgeably" of love. She is neither knowledgeable nor experienced in either of these matters. Perhaps the "impatience" is more pertinent to the encounters she wishes to experience. In this way, Jane Austen uses irony in her narrative as a means of showing the truth about situations and people. 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
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