Silas Marner as a Fairy Tale In this novel, by George Eliot, 'Silas Marner', there are many fairy tales like aspects. Silas Marner is indeed a fairy tale, but it isn't purely a fairy tale. It also has realistic aspects. Fairy tales always have happy endings and they always represent the power of good over evil. They also have a timeless and universal quality towards them and they often contain some form of magic. In the novel there are many characters that like characters that you would expect in fair tales. However, although there are fairy tale like characters in this novel, there are also those that are more realistic characters. Therefore, it can be said that the characters in this novel are divided into those that are fairy tale characters, and those that are realistic characters. Also, in this novel there are a few characters that are partially fairy tale like characters, and partially realistic. The novel, in that case is divided into three types of characters; fairy tale characters, mixed characters, and realistic characters. Between the three different types of characters, they are also divided into some heroes and some villains. There are quite a few fairy tale characters in this novel. In most fairy tales, there are similar characteristics. In this particular novel, there are many good characters that end up heroes in the end of the book. The fairy tale characters in this novel include Eppie, Aaron, William Dane and Dunsey. These are the two-dimensional characters and we do not know much about them. These are all characters that have similar qualities about them that you would never find in real life people. These f... ... middle of paper ... ...ects like humans in her character. Another fully realistic character in this novel is Molly. She is a realistic character in this novel with a very small part. She is hardly mentioned in the novel, but she is the drunkard who Godfrey is married to at the start, and she is Eppie's natural mother. She is a character who is addicted to drinking and she is also depressed. This shows some realism in her character, as many human beings are addicted to drinking. The two themes of fairy tale and realism are present throughout the book. The characters in this book are clearly divided between those that are realistic characters and those that are fairy tale characters. This novel by George Eliot is quite similar to 'A Winter's Tale'. There is good balance in the book between the two aspects of fairy tale and realism.
Everyone remembers the nasty villains that terrorize the happy people in fairy tales. Indeed, many of these fairy tales are defined by their clearly defined good and bad archetypes, using clichéd physical stereotypes. What is noteworthy is that these fairy tales are predominately either old themselves or based on stories of antiquity. Modern stories and epics do not offer these clear definitions; they force the reader to continually redefine the definitions of morality to the hero that is not fully good and the villain that is not so despicable. From Dante’s Inferno, through the winding mental visions in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, spiraling through the labyrinth in Kafka’s The Trial, and culminating in Joyce’s abstract realization of morality in “The Dead,” authors grapple with this development. In the literary progression to the modern world, the increasing abstraction of evil from its classic archetype to a foreign, supernatural entity without bounds or cure is strongly suggestive of the pugnacious assault on individualism in the face of literature’s dualistic, thematically oligopolistic heritage.
The Victorian Era started when Queen Victorian inherited the throne in 1837 and lasted till 1901. Over those years, England underwent “technological, commercial, and social developments that fundamentally changed English life, replacing the world into which Victoria was born with one that looks much more familiar to the twenty-first-century eye.” (Nelson 1). According to Houghton “never before had men thought of their own time as an era of change from the past to the future.”(1). England was in the period of transition, the change from the Middle Ages to the modern period. The old doctrines and institutions were attacked and modified and a new order was proposed. The Victorians had to live between two words,
... typical archetype. These characters are obviously supposed to mirror the archetypes that are common in fairy tales, but their flaws are contradictions to the archetypes that they are supposed to represent; through this Goldman mocks typical and standard fairy tales.
Unfortunately, the only character that is not developed in this way or at all is Curley’s Wife, who is portrayed brilliantly by Steinbeck, but is shadowed by the clarity of other more important themes in the novel. For example, she is introduced by Curley asking George if he had seen “a girl”, which generalises her as a representation of all women in 1930s America, something which is additionally highlighted by the fact that she is the only female character in the novel. In some ways this could be Steinbeck’s overall view of women at the time, especially as she is reflected as some sort of voluptuous symbol in “her rouged lips” and “sausage-curled hairs”. These also represents how fake and again, how dynamic she could become as a character
As we progress though the novel, we a introduced to a variety of characters in the story like Rachel Turner
When creating a literary work, authors often write what they know. It isn’t uncommon for an author to weave their own experiences, ideals, and opinions into their writing. Especially for a work of fiction, it is much easier for an author to create a believable and likeable story when they can extract details from the life they have already lived. Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë, is no exception. The original novel, Jane Eyre: An Autobiography, published under Brontë’s pen name, Currer Bell, was titled as such because Brontë modeled Eyre after herself so much. In fact, in a conversation with her sisters, Brontë said she would show them “a heroine as plain and small as” herself (“Introduction”). It is for
There is a great deal of useful information to be found on the Internet but sorting through it can often be a hassle. There are some sites that are useful and give a great deal of helpful information but there are also many sites that just don't meet up to those standards. Since anyone can put information on the web, it is often hard to tell a good site from a bad one. Today, I am going to go through a few sites relating to Geoffrey Chaucer and his book The Canterbury Tales and give examples of good and bad sites relating to them.
The protagonist of Great Expectations is Pip. At the beginning of the novel, Pip (whose real name is Phillip Pirrip) is young, shy, and timid. He lives with his sister and her husband, Joe. They live in Kent, England, in a small, marshy area. Pip falls in love with Estella, who is a young girl who is incredibly immoral and rude. Pip seems hard on himself, if he does something wrong, he has a hard time forgiving himself. He always tells himself that he needs to improve his behavior, because he sometimes treats his close friends coldly. There is not one antagonist in this novel. There are different characters at different times that caused some sort of grief towards Pip. Many characters change and some that seem bad at first, like Abel Magwitch, turn out to be good in the end. There are many other major characters in Great Expectations besides Pip. Joe Gargery is a gentle blacksmith and is a good friend of Pip. He is uneducated and embarrasses Pip at times. Joe was still kind and took care of Pip even after he was treated with ruthlessness. Herbert Pocket is introduced towards the beginning of Great Expectations...
John the Carpenter is a good man, but he makes a mistake by marrying a
2. Edmund Spenser's "The Faerie Queene" is considered a Romantic epic poem. What is the definition of an "epic"? Does Spencer's poem appear to you to be an epic? Why, or why not?
In the novel, women were affected by racism and gender role equality more than men. Pecola is one if the main characters, and she deals with the figure of a man who violates her. The female characters in the novel were apprehended by females roles that made them feel like they were non existent. Each character had their own personality. Claudia, another character in the novel escapes her suffering by pulling apart from Shirley Temple dolls. The expectations of theses women in the novel have been created through our society, and how we view our gender
Pip, Estella, Miss.Havisham, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth and, the three witches are examples of characters that portray appearance vs. reality in both novels. For example, Pip believes Estella is me...
It is this element of hope in a true fairytale that creates the support for a protagonist to overcome the opposing force that has been thrust onto them. A genuine fairytale is said to have the element of, “A innocent character [placed against] the evil character who normally loses somehow,” (Gokturk) which is seen as Cinderella is chosen by the prince over the evil step-sisters at the ball. As human beings with a developed moral system, it has been seen that the more deserving, mistreated character is favored to succeed in the story. Cinderella is seen as this “underdog” character in her quest to find love with the prince and overcome her step-sisters’ mistreatment. As Cinderella is mistreated by her new family, sympathy is built for the emerging protagonist and hope of her to conquer her situation follows. The underdog of this story grows in favorability to be picked by the prince due to the societal belief that the more deserving candidate should overcome their opposition. If there was no sense of hope thought the story of Cinderella, this story could not be categorized as a true embodiment of a
Illusion vs. reality has been a major running theme in all the plays we have read in class. By interpretation, the idea of illusion is a way to build an alternate fantasy world for oneself where he/she can escape from reality. From all the characters analyzed in class, Blanche from A Streetcar Named Desire would definitely be the one character who is so steadfast on illusion that she lets it shape her life as she believes it is her only way towards a happier life. As seen in the above quote, Blanche chooses to dwell in illusion, for it is her primary defense against the troubles in her life. Illusion has had a freeing enchantment that protects her from the tragedies she has had to endure. However, Blanche is not the only character with this fixation on illusion. In this paper, I will be analyzing other characters like Nora from A Doll’s House, Eliza from Pygmalion and Mrs. Hale from Trifles, who just like Blanche have also succumbed to the world of illusion as opposed to reality.
The discussion will take place first in Silas Marner novel. It is taken to be first since it needs full concentration of the reader.