Two representations of women Essay Example for Free

Two representations of women Essay When writing literary works most, authors will agree that it is difficult to write a story without any inspiration. The writers will often have some motive, either from past experiences or something that can inspire an idea for a particular story or essay. Although the story or essay can be fictitious it can still change how society feels about a certain issue. The two works The Female Body by Margaret Atwood and The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin romanticizes the view of women in their own opinion, emphasizing ideas such as women being portrayed as common housewives, objects, emotional delinquents, and submissive individuals. The similarities include both authors has their own distinct impression of how women are being depicted in society and the conflicted roles of husbands versus wives or man versus women. The obvious comparison when comparing these two works is the aspect that they are both written by feminist. In The Female Body, Atwood is trying to express her point of view, or sway the readers to understand the properties of the female body. Atwood uses words that she believes society would view the female body. In the first section she refers to the female body as being a topic because it is constantly being talked about. My topic feels like hell. (Atwood 73) Atwood uses her body assuming that all other females feel the same way. Atwood goes and develops the female body as a renewable one luckily (Atwood 75) and that the female body will not always be accepted in society. When the body is young it has uses; It sells cars, beer shaving lotion, cigarettes(Atwood 75). However she mentions that those things wear out so quickly (Atwood 75) She explains that society holds a supernatural image of what the perfect female looks like in their minds. When most women do not satisfy that image they go in search of a renewable look, they can go out and be made of transparent plastic or acquire cosmetics to enhance their beauty, and lose weight to appeal their significant other. (Atwood) When Atwood suggests that the female body is renewable she blames society for making it that way because most females go under the impression that they are designed to look a certain way or please a certain audience. Kate Chopins The Story of an Hour present its readers with Mrs. Mallard, an old lady whose husband supposedly died. In this story the author depicts the common stereotypes that separate men from women, and as the reader progresses they find out that Mrs. Mallard shows an emotional weakness, vulnerability and most importantly dependence. Kate Chopins goal of this story is to suggest to the audience that women are expected to preserve the role that society implies on them. In the early 19th century females were dependant on males to go out and work in order to bring back the necessary money for survival. The female would be a housekeeper nurturing the children and cooking meals- typical qualities for women during those times. However as the story progresses the stereotypes start to diminish. Go away Im not making myself ill (Chopin 92) During the span of the hour Mrs. Mallard went from dependent and fragile to strong and independent when she told Josephine to go away. Additionally to the similarities of the two works exposing the generalization of how women are being expected in society, there is an idea that the authors highlight the importance of the conflicted roles between male and female. Atwoods The Female Body implies that the male brain has a thin connection and all their thoughts are sealed off in each compartment and thats what separates males from females. Good for aiming though, for hitting the target when you pull the trigger. Whats the target? Whos the target? Who cares? What matters is hitting it (Atwood 76) Atwood states that the male shows no emotional comfort in anything he does. Atwood also connects the simplification of the powerful and the powerless. The females body intention is to please the males by being used as a door knocker and a bottle opener. (Atwood 75) Women always try to please the men by using their body and sex appeal. Some advertisements for example show a vivid image of a female in nothing more then a skimpy bikini selling products like beer or cigarettes. In the contemporary world individuals never see the male body used to sell beer. The Story of an Hour also reveals an excellent example of the different roles between males and females, in this case husbands and wives. In this story Mrs. Mallard is tired of being caught doing the chores that her husband  expects her to do; she seeks freedom and liberation. Although death is ought to be a sad time, not all conditions would maintain that statement. For example if someone were suffering horrendously, it would actually be a good thing if he or she died. In the story it shows that Mrs. Mallard died at the end of the story but prior to that event it stated that Mrs. Mallard did actually love her husband, but often she did not. (Chopin 92) The story also suggests that she believed that her husband was frustrated with the marriage and assumed that she was too. This conflict revealed the sign that Mrs. Mallard was struggling for freedom, and when she sees that her husband is alive, she must die. This is the only way to be literally free from his gasp. When she had died of the joy that kills it leaves the reader to wonder about how she had died. Whether from the heart attack or she thought she had finally escaped her husband and is free at last. In conclusion, the similarities of Atwoods The Female Body and Chopins The Story of an Hour both imply the how women are being seen by the eyes of society and the important clashes between how the role of women and men reflect the common stereotypes. Works Cited Atwood, Margaret. The Female Body The Mercury Reader. A Custom publication compiled by Angus Cleghorn. Boston: Pearson 2002. Chopin, Kate The Story of an Hour The Mercury ReaderA Custom publication compiled by Angus Cleghorn. Boston: Pearson 2002.

Jean De Meun :: Essays Papers

Jean De Meun Jean de Meun, a French poet, was born in 1240 in Meung-sur-Loire and died in Paris around 1305. Some sources state that the name Clopinel comes from the fact that he was lame while others claim that it was his last name. Jean was a member of the bourgeois class, educated at the University of Paris, a Christian, and an admirer of Latin authors such as Cicero. He had knowledge of several languages and this is noted by the fact that he translated "The Consolation of Philosophy" into medieval French. Other than these facts, little is known about his life. His works were satirical and allegorical and influenced later authors such as Geoffrey Chaucer. Jean is most famously known for his work on the allegorical, 21,750-line poem, "The Roman de la Rose" ("Romance of the Rose"). This poem was started by Guillaume de Lorris in 1225 and completed by Jean de Meun four decades later. Lorris wrote roughly four thousand verses before his death and Jean added some 18,000 lines afterwards . This poem is considered to be the most important work to come from Old French literary tradition and it enjoyed a considerable amount of success among medieval scholars, with over two hundred manuscripts made of it at that time. However, scholars today have a hard time understanding the true meaning of the poem. "The Romance of the Rose" was translated into Italian, Dutch, and English by the late fourteenth century, a marvel for a literary work of that time period. Jean strove to convey to the nobility ideas of courtly love and other medieval ideas and as a result, his work converted the poem into a medium to communicate topics and ideas that would captivate his readers. The text contains topics ranging from classical heroes and theories on astronomy, to the importance of the middle class and problems such as greed. Some of these topics created controversy, but nonetheless held the reader's interest. In the poem, Jean tries to dissuade the lover, but the god of Love later reproaches the lover or lending an ear to Reason. In the course of the lover's turmoil he has occasion to reflect, among other things, that possessions are burdens, that charity and justice are by no means equal, that power and virtue never go together, and that, even in destroying, Nature carries on her struggle against death.

Novel Frankenstein Essay

As he walks by the town inn, Victor comes across his friend Henry Clerval, who has just arrived to begin studying at the university. Delighted to see Henry, he reminds him of his family life after so many months of isolation and ill health. They go back to Victor’s apartment; victor enters first and is relived to find no sign of the monster. But, Weakened by months of work and the shock at the horrific being he has created, he immediately falls ill with a nervous fever that lasts several months. Henry nurses him back to health and, when Victor has recovered, gives him a letter from Elizabeth that had arrived during his illness. In the first paragraph we arrive at a climax of horror as Victor describes the anxious moment he has been anticipating two years for. With the way Shelley has created atmosphere of dull misery and dreariness, we can guess that victor has intense feelings. The animation of the creature is set on a dull and ‘dreary’ night of November. ‘The rain pattered dismally’; the ‘candle was nearly burnt out’ and there was a ‘glimmer of the half-extinguished light. ‘ Shelley is using negative descriptive to give this scene sense of horror that victor is feeling. This is an appropriately bleak and depressing scene for the opening of the ‘dull yellow eye’ of the creature. This atmosphere is used to open this paragraph to set the horror and anxiousness that the creature is going to create. In the opening paragraph Shelley refers to ‘infuse a spark to the lifeless thing. ‘ Here she is probably going on about galvanism, which is how the creature was brought to life in ‘Frankenstein’. Shelley was living in an age of scientific developments, and so her ideas would have been experiments and scientific debates of her time. Many scientists then looked to chemistry to give them the secrets of life, and Shelley would have done research on these matters. A scientist called, luigi Galvani believed that there was a different form of electricity produced by lightning, and the brain; contained in animals. This vital force was called galvanism’, which made muscles move. Experiments were done on galvanism, wires would be attached to the a human body and the corpse began to move, making it look as thought the body has been brought back to life. Shelley used this experiment in ‘Frankenstein’ to bring the creature to life. In the second paragraph Victor goes on to describes the creature’s appearance and his feelings towards this. Its like Victor has given birth and his new creature is his newborn child, frequently jaundiced, misshapeden, shrivelled, and often a great disappointment to the unprepared parent. ‘His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! – Great God! ‘ Victor is immediately horrified by the overall ‘wretch’ he has created, it’s a ‘catastrophe’. Victor is repelled and unable to look beyond the physical ugliness. ‘His teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriance’s only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun whit sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips. ‘ Victor saw beauty in the body parts when they were separate but hated the overall appearance. Victor is horrified by the ‘wretch’ he had created. He calls his creation a number of names, ‘Creature, Miserable monster, Demoniacal corpse, wretch. ‘ These names are negative names to be called, showing that Victor has a very negative attitude, thoughts and feelings towards his creation. Victor runs away, as he so often tries to run away from troubles, and attempts to forget in his sleep. But, Victor is ‘disturbed by the wildest dreams’, dreams that would frighten him. ‘I startled from my sleep in horror; a cold dew covered my forehead, my teeth chattered, and every limb became convulsed. ‘ Victor is obviously haughtd by this creature, but he doesn’t give the creature a chance. ‘His jaw opened, and he muttered some inarticulate sounds, while a gin wrinkled his cheeks. He might have spoken, but I did not hear; one hand was stretched out, seemingly to detain me. ‘ This took place in Victor’s bedroom. The first thing the creature desires are contact and affection, this remain his primary needs, as he stretches one arm towards Victor. This may seem touching, but still Victor ‘escaped and rushed down stairs, and took refuge in the courtyard; where he remained for the rest of the night, walking up and down in the greatest agitation, listening attentively, catching and fearing each sound. ‘ At this point Victors creation maybe feeling rejected therefore leading to the bad consequences that the creation is responsible later in the novel. Victor repeatedly misinterprets the creature’s expressions, seeing aggression where we see pleasure, affection, or a desire to please. Therefore Victor is selfish and only sees things from his point of view, not from his creations point of view and so is not the most reliable of narrators. As a result the reader may question what Frankenstein tells elsewhere in the novel about his creation. It seems to be the physical ugliness of the creature to which Victor reacts to. Here Shelley could be using the monster to criticise society and their reactions to outward appearance and people who appear different. What happens in rest of novel†¦ about when he tries to be nice but people react negatively because of his appearance†¦ In victor’s dream of the monster, Shelley may be encouraging us to consider the possible connections between ream and reality and opens up several possible layers of interpretation. The dream may be suggesting that in order of bringing the monster to life is equivalent to killing Elizabeth, in this way, not when Elizabeth changes into a corpse, the dream is prophetic. This is because victor has just given ‘birth’ by himself and usurped the role of woman, made her unnecessary. His ‘dream’ of finding the secret of life has effectively ‘killed’ the mother. These interpretations indicate the potential results of the creation. Dreams allow things that are normally kept buried come to the surface; this might be unacceptable desires or feelings which we are unable to face. In the time of 1816 it was a real crime, so God maybe punishing victor for interfering with nature. ‘Sometimes my pulse would beat so quickly and hardly, that I felt the palpitation of every artery; others, I nearly sank to the ground with horror, I felt the bitterness of disappointment; dreams that had been my food and pleasant rest for so long a space were no become a hell to me. ‘ This is one of the themes of the novel: angers of man interfering with nature and god, or dangers of scientific knowledge used incorrectly. As victor is walking by the town inn, Victor comes across his friends Henry Clerval, who has arrived to study at the same collage as victor, Henrys father has let him come at last. There is irony in Henry speech. ‘He has permitted me to undertake a voyage of discovery to the land of knowledge. ‘ Henry sees knowledge as a good thing but Victor’s use of scientific knowledge leads to tragedy. Also, Henry is one of the people who later die as a result of Frankenstein’s use of this knowledge. Henry saves Victor, but later is murdered by his creation. This tells us a lot about Henry’s appearance throughout this chapter. Henry is willing to spend months of hard labour nursing Victor back to health and treats Victor in great respect, but yet victor does not treat his family at all that well. Victor does not tell Henry anything about what he has done. This would influence the reader attitude to Victor to the rest of the novel in a way†¦. This gives the rest of the novel a theme of secrecy. Human nature and secrecy†¦ This chapter is the turning point to the novel or other words were it all happens; from Victor being excited with solving the secret of life to being horrified by his creation†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Mary Shelley section.

Erik Erickson s Theory Of Development - 1015 Words

Erik Erickson’s Theory of Development Erickson does not discuss psychosexual stages like Freud, but rather, psychosocial stages. There are eight different stages in this development theory, which may seem like a lot, but it delves deep into multiple stages and ages of life. Similar to Freud, he believes that a crisis happens at each stage of development, â€Å"these crises are of a psychosocial nature because they involve psychological needs of the individual (i.e. psycho) conflicting with the needs of society (i.e. social).† (Erickson, 1959) In this theory, each stage you successfully master, results in a healthy personality. The first stage begins at infancy and lasts until about 12 to 18 months. It is the â€Å"Trust vs. mistrust† crisis. Infants in this stage are uncertain about the world they are in, to help, infants look towards their primary caregiver for stability and and care. Erickson says, â€Å"Success in this stage will lead to the virtue of hope.â €  (Mcleod) If this is not developed within this stage than the opposite will happen, the infant will develop fear. â€Å"Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt† is the second stage. At this range of age, between the ages of 18 months and three, children are more mobile, and a little more independent. A child must be able to explore and test what they like vs what they dislike and it helps when the parent is supportive of this. The aim has to be â€Å"self control without a loss of self-esteem† (Gross, 1992). Success in this stage will lead to theShow MoreRelatedErik Erickson s Pyschosocial Theory Of Development937 Words   |  4 PagesWe can interpret the film â€Å"14 Up: Japan† using Erik Erickson’s Pyschosocial Theory. This theory of development emphasizes â€Å"the influence of society on the developing personality† (Papalia, 2015, p. 27). 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