Love is Close at Hand: The Age of Innocence
November 1998, written for FILM 220: Aspects of Criticism. This is a 24-week course for second-year students, examining methods of critical analysis, interpretation and evaluation. The final assignment was simply to write a 1000-word critical essay on a film seen in class during the final six-weeks of the course. Students were expected to draw on concepts they had studied over the length of the course.
INSTRUCTOR'S COMMENT: Brilliantly observed and beautifully written.
The Age of Innocence is a film about confinement, restraint, and stoicism. Characters drift from tea, to the opera, and home again. They attend lavish parties, and observe the rigidity of English decorum; marry, have children, and die. Emotion is mollified by these various diversions, and all of upper-class New York appears to be content being anaesthetized by the idle task of upholding wealth and reputation. Only Countess Ellen Olenska and Newland Archer, with their feverish love for one another, test the bounds of this suffocating social structure.
Newland and Countess Olenska's love is in strong contrast with the emotional vacuity of their peers, and it is this very contrast upon which the pathos of their story hinges. The lovers relish the moments they manage to steal with one another, absconding to a remote log cabin or savoring a clandestine carriage ride. The film is permeated by this sort of foreplay, teasing the viewer from beginning to end with auspicious meetings between the two lovers. Each time, however, the promising moments are snuffed by the pressures of New York high-society. Conjugal constraints force Newland and Countess Olenska to repress their longings, and in the drudgery of everyday ...
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...untess Olenska's hand slides off Newland's as she leaves the table, and disappears from his life. Newland is left with a sculpture of May's hands, petrified and cold, sitting in his study to forever remind him of the Countess's delicate touch, and the ostensibly shallow and frigid wife who denied him his happiness.
Referred to as his family's "strong right hand", Newland's composure slips and shatters over the course of the film as he becomes increasingly obsessed with Countess Olenska and the allure of her forbidden touch. The camera plays close attention to hands, reinforcing the rigidity and frigid decorum that pervade the film, offering the notion of touch as an escape from the pedantic lifestyle of upper-class New York. Ultimately, the simplicity of hands becomes the essence of life, love, and happiness, in a film saturated with customs, pageantry and pomp.
Thomas Hobbes and John Locke have authored two works that have had a significant impact on political philosophy. In the “Leviathan” by Hobbes and “Two Treatises of Government” by Locke, the primary focus was to analyze human nature to determine the most suitable type of government for humankind. They will have confounding results. Hobbes concluded that an unlimited sovereign is the only option, and would offer the most for the people, while for Locke such an idea was without merit. He believed that the government should be limited, ruling under the law, with divided powers, and with continued support from its citizens. With this paper I will argue that Locke had a more realistic approach to identifying the human characteristics that organize people into societies, and is effective in persuading us that a limited government is the best government.
Novels such as “The Age of Innocence”(The Editors of), which discusses a “ picture of upper-class New York society in the 1870s” (The Editors of), strongly relates to Wharton and her background. “The Age of Innocence” is considered Wharton’s “finest work” (The Age Of). The novel is based off Newland Archer and May Welland’s troubled marriage. At first, the married couple live in harmony and joy, however this dramatically changes throughout the book. Once Newland meets “May's cousin, the Countess Ellen Olenska, on the run from an unhappy marriage” (The Age of Innocence), Newland immediately falls in love. Society plays a major key role in this book. Therefore, Ellen cannot divorce her husband or make a public announcement of her feelings for Newland. As Newland’s feelings grow deeper for Ellen he feels a strong need to run away with her and live their life together. However, Newland knew that severe consequences would be upheld against him if he were to run away with Ellen. Such as, being disowned from his family. However, he never cared much about the consequences and put Ellen as his main focus. May is a sharp woman and figured out their feelings toward each other and as a result, the day they planned to leave was the day May announced her pregnancy with Newland. The book ends with May and Newland carrying on their unhappy marriage and kids while Ellen and Newland’s relationship is forever
In Edith Warton’s novel, The Age of Innocence the main character Newland Archer has a complex personality that is filled with hidden desires and ideas; some of these ideas are controversial in the society that he lives in. The arrival of Ellen Olenska and the harsh realization of living in a boring society help expose these unseen traits.
studies of the film in the seventies and eighties were a little more critical of
Shane picked an individual that would resemble him as a child, from the physical aspect as well as actions and dialogue. The psychological study of the main character shows through his actions and dialogue by avoiding conflict and complains about his clothes to his mother as he was bullied at school. This film gave me great insight of society during this time and how they reacted in certain situations.
Louise Mallard is a woman who enjoys freedom and independence. She feels soaring relief and fiery triumph upon realizing that, yes, she is finally free. She is free of the weighted ropes of marriage. She fantasizes of her days ahead, living for herself and only herself. “A kind intention or cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime as she looked upon it in that brief moment of illumination” (Chopin 234). She views the imposing of one’s will on another person as a crime, no matter the intention behind it. She has a taste of freedom after Mr. Mallard’s death and can finally see days without stress ahead of her. Prior to her husband’s death, young Mrs. Mallard feels tied down and even oppressed. “She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength” (Chopin 233). Despite the typical oppression of women throughout the centuries prior to the 1920s, Mrs. Mallard possesses a free spirit.
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton is a book that gave the word “love” many other meanings, such as impossible, meaningless and incomplete. There were many unbearable obstacles that Countess Ellen Olenska, one of the main characters, had to face because of love. She was treated badly by many people and always longed for love but never obtained it. With everyone cursing her, betraying her and hurting her, there was one person who was always there for her. Newland Archer wasn’t only sympathetic towards her; he also began to fall in love with her. The love she always wanted. He was the man who truly cared for her and always helped her make decisions. Out of all the selfish people in New York who degraded her, including her very close relatives, Newland Archer was one person who was there to listen to her problems and helped her solve them.
Johannes Gutenberg, a creator of the Renaissance, invented one of the greatest devices of all time, the printing press. Gutenberg was born in 1398 in Mainz, Germany to his parents, Friele and Else Gensfliesch. He also had two brothers. Not many people during Gutenberg’s time could read. But he was determined to be able to read. The only books back then were written by hand by monks and were very hard to come by. These books were also very expensive and would take a couple months to make. Because of this inconvenience, all books were preordered ahead of time so that the monks could have enough time to write them and get them to the person buying them when they needed the book. Gutenberg had a few other jobs before he became an inventor. He was a gemstone cutter and polisher and he was also a goldsmith before his inventing days. He also made designs in metal; this is where all his ideas and thinking began.
Hobbes’ Leviathan and Locke’s “Second Treatise of Government” are two critical works of modern political theory. Both works try to explain the origin and purpose of civil society and government while answering the questions of what is the state of nature and how did society organized itself in the beginning. However, these authors hold opposing views on how man fits into the state of nature, the means by which a government should be formed, and what type of government constitutes people the best. These fundamental differences arise from the authors’ different conceptions about the condition of human nature and the behavior of humans in “the state of nature.” Hobbes’ Leviathan proposes a system of power that answers to an absolute or omnipotent
Hobbes’ Leviathan and Locke’s Second Treatise of Government are considered prevalent political writings, posing crucial theories, particularly the concept of a social contract; both philosophers reiterate the importance of transitioning from differing States of Nature to governed societies, but essentially vary as to the reason of ‘escaping’ the State of Nature. I argue the basis of the disparities between some of their theories lie in their definitions of human nature, which attributes to their descriptions of the State of Nature (and its compositions), which ultimately forms the foundations of their respective social contracts. This progressive effect stimulates the identification of key differences to which this response will discuss.
The characters in the novel get caught up in a frenzy of hate, scandal, and love. Newland Archer is a wealthy societal man who views his wife, May, as the reason for his unhappiness. In addition, Newland Archer get swept into the scandal and falls in love with Ellen, who he sees as a route to independence. Ellen Olenska, the cousin of May, brings a tornado of scandal to New York and becomes the center of criticism in society. In The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton, Archer and Ellen describe the desire for freedom in order to portray society as an oppressor.
Hobbes’ Leviathan and Locke’s Second Treatise of Government comprise critical works in the lexicon of political science theory. Both works expound on the origins and purpose of civil society and government. Hobbes’ and Locke’s writings center on the definition of the “state of nature” and the best means by which a society develops a systemic format from this beginning. The authors hold opposing views as to how man fits into the state of nature and the means by which a government should be formed and what type of government constitutes the best. This difference arises from different conceptions about human nature and “the state of nature”, a condition in which the human race finds itself prior to uniting into civil society. Hobbes’ Leviathan goes on to propose a system of power that rests with an absolute or omnipotent sovereign, while Locke, in his Treatise, provides for a government responsible to its citizenry with limitations on the ruler’s powers.
Barsam, R. M., Monahan, D., & Gocsik, K. M. (2012). Looking at movies: an introduction to film (4th ed.). New York: W.W. Norton & Co..
Thomas Hobbes and John Locke were both social contract scholars. Social Contract Theory is the speculation that one's ethical commitments are indigent upon an implied understanding between people to structure a general public (Friend, 2004). Both Hobbes and Locke utilize a social contract hypothesis as an issue of clarifying the beginning of government. Hobbes and Locke are principally prestigious for their showstoppers on political reasoning; Hobbes' Leviathan and Locke's Two Treatise of Government. Each one contains altogether different originations of a social contract in any case, both hold the focal thought that individuals in a State of Nature would be ready to repudiate their freedom for state security (Kelly, 2004, p. 202). While both
A first date, a tender touch, a gentle kiss, can all be described as expressions of affection. Innocence often has to do with the fondness and adoration displayed in relationships. The movie, Love Actually, starring Hugh Grant, focuses on different ways of making love work by showing the lives of different people. The film, from time to time, shows a little boy who is falling in love with a girl in his school. He thinks that the best way to win her heart is to become a rock star and so he joins his school band as a drummer. He practices the drum everyday until it’s time for the Christmas concert where he plays his best. At first, the girl does not notice him and he is heartbroken and to make matters worse, she’s leaving the country. He goes to the airport to find her, and, when he does, he kisses her and lets her know that he likes her. While the film does not tell the audience what happens in the future, it can be assumed that there will be a new love blossoming.