Analysis: The Old Nurse's Story

As my freshman year comes to a close, I can’t help but smile as I look back on the past year. It was a year of firsts: my first time living away from home, my first roommate, and the first time I truly enjoyed the content in a literature class. I want to preface this paper by thanking you, Professor Asbeck, for truly being passionate about the materials you teach. It’s unbelievably refreshing to see a professor really engage the class and take the time to listen to our feedback, adjust as necessary, and keep the class entertaining. You really made this class enjoyable and I wanted to thank you for that. For me, half the content in this class was a refresher from my high school college prep English class. Nevertheless, I gained a deeper understanding

In works such as A Vindication of the Rights of Women, Goblin Market, Speech to the Troops at Tillbury, The Old Nurse’s Story and more, the authors incorporated feminist themes in a variety of ways. One of my personal favorites was Elizabeth I’s Speech to the Troops at Tillbury. In the 16th century when women in a variety of cultures saw little to no recognition, Elizabeth I faced her army and delivered a speech that solidified her status as the true Queen of England and in turn, as a proto-feminist icon. As the Queen of England, Elizabeth provided stability and helped create a national identity. Her fierce leadership and decision to remain unwed and childless went against the status quo of the time, where the societal expectation of women was to reproduce. In Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market, the feminist undertones were less apparent, but still prevalent. In contrast with a majority of the literature at the time, the protagonist of Goblin Market is a woman, as is the same with many of the stories we read this semester. This course did an excellent job of highlighting women authors and feminist themes that made it applicable to the social issues pertinent to our society today. These connections made me interpret the texts from a different angle than I would have typically used. Rather than just reading the story and understanding the plot, I analyzed the themes and then cross referenced them with the time period to understand the historical and societal influences on the author. Thinking about the text critically coupled with the class’s lectures and background information on different periods of literary writing really allowed me to appreciate not just British literature, but any literary work in general. Knowing the influences that inspired the works themselves can equip you with a much deeper understanding of the