George Eliot provides a valuable look into the lives of historically unremarkable and ordinary people in her novel Middlemarch. This insight allows the reader to discover the established society within 19th century Provincial England, and how that society shapes a relationship with the individual. Eliot uses Middlemarch and its disdain for the tropes of conventional romance to embody unimportant people –rather than magnificent journeys, struggles, and victories of princes and kings – whom are affected by the social web in which they inhabit and interact with each other. This human social web is the main focus of the novel, and, therefore, a world in which characters are free to imagine themselves free from social pressures, such as marriage idealism, that determine their lives is created.
The world of Middlemarch is socially complex with the way its characters interact with and treat each other. With its macabre and upsetting tone, Eliot uses unconventional characters, such as Dorothea and Edward, and Tertius and Rosamond, to reveal the cruel realities of marriage, and the true hardships people face in a society filled with idealistic visions. This major theme of marriage failure is inter-weaved throughout the novel, and is a result of people refusing to see their spouse’s imperfections or faults. The bonds between these characters fail because the mistakes made are only realised until after marriage, and the tragic reality destroys their once ideal visions of their partners and themselves. This relates back to the statement that an individual’s inner ideal version of themselves will never overpower who they really are as a person, and the harsh realities they have to face determine who that person is. When they see and learn the...
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...to support and stand by both Edward Casaubon and Tertius Lydgate – when the town alienates him – is socially criticised behaviour within Middlemarch. Standing by her strong beliefs and going against the social expectations of provincial Middlemarch allows her to pursue and emerge into a new role, away from Middlemarch, in which helps her achieve a happy ending with her second husband and highlights a change for the better of the relationship between women and society at the time.
Unfortunately, not many characters are as respectable as Dorothea, and there are contradictions in the character of the individual person throughout the entire novel. These contradictions are evident in the shifting sympathies of the reader. For example, Casaubon can be greatly sympathized with at one moment, and then Eliot causes the reader to harshly and critically judge him the next.
Sometimes the way people act around you isn’t the way they act around other people. A good example of this is Shirley Jackson’s, “The Possibility of Evil”. The main character, Miss Strangeworth, isn’t as nice as she may seem. Miss Strangeworth’s character can be analyzed by considering what she does, what the narrator says about her, and how other characters interact with her.
examines the effects of Eliot’s first marriage on his views of love and time. She
Dorothea Brooke is a very bright and beautiful young lady that does not much care for frills or getting ahead in society. She wants more than anything to help those around her, starting with the tenants of her uncle. She desires to redesign their cottages, but Arthur Brooke, her elderly uncle with whom she and her younger sister Celia Brooke lives with, does not want to spend the money required. So Dorothea shares her dream with Sir James Chettam, who finds her fascinating, and encourages her to use the plans she has drawn up for the tenants on his land instead. He falls in love with her, but does not share his feelings for her quickly enough. Edward Casaubon, an older scholarly clergyman asks Dorothea to marry him, she does not accept until she finds out Sir James means to seriously court her, then turns around and tells Casaubon yes. What she does not te...
Imagine yourself, dear reader, transported to Shakespearian Verona, a bustling, peaceful city (aside from the occasional death or two), with its obligatory social classes going about agreeably (aside from the occasional brawl or two), and all people happy and successful (aside from the occasional poor wretch or two). The Verona in which Shakespeare’s tragedy Romeo and Juliet takes place in is made sinister by the deadly consequences than ensue from its strict, unbending society. Romeo and Juliet paints a tale about two young lovers, Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet, whose attempts to be together are cruelly thwarted by society. Society’s fixation on honor and disgrace, poverty-creating laws, and austere social roles all have crucial functions in causing the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.
In Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet’s journey to love and marriage is the focal point of the narrative. But, the lesser known source of richness in Austen’s writing comes from her complex themes the well-developed minor characters. A closer examination of Charlotte Lucas, Elizabeth’s dear friend in Pride and Prejudice, shows that while she did not take up a large amount of space in the narrative, her impact was great. Charlotte’s unfortunate circumstances in the marriage market make her a foil to Elizabeth, who has the power of choice and refusal when it comes to deciding who will be her husband. By focusing on Charlotte’s age and lack of beauty, Austen emphasizes how ridiculous and cruel marriage can be in this time.
Gender conflict is based on the beliefs various societies have established on the roles men and women play in those cultures, and the change and breakdown of these roles is vital in the disintegration of all three texts. Eliot's 'The Waste Land' uses sex as a landmark to illustrate how low society has fallen, the separation of sex from love to Eliot stripped any beauty sex in the modern world could hold, as all significance is lost along with its connection to love. The loss of love is perhaps most clearly shown by the 'carbuncular' clerk for whom love, passion, nor even response is required in order for sexual gratification, his 'Exploring hands encounter no defence; His vanity requires no response, And makes a welcome of indifference.' The typist neither speaks nor acts in her own defence and so the clerk assumes a right to his own pleasure, it seems he almost hopes for her indifference, the attitude shown here starkly contrasts 'The change of Philomel, ...
Other images of Eliot’s, in contrast, are much larger than Shakespeare, but again succeed in making Eliot’s character look small and insignificant in comparison. Eliot describes the enormous amount of adornments around the room, including her ‘vials of ivory and coloured glass’, which contain many perfumes, which are described as ‘drowning the sense in odours’ and again it is the lack of subtlety t...
The theme of social status and society is prevalent in the novel of Emma, through the characters Emma, Mr. Knightley, Mr. Churchill, and their situations and perspectives on life. Austen describes Emma as, “handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her” makes her outlook disparate from characters such as Harriet (Austen, Emma 3). Immediately through her description, Austen indicates Emma’s haughty perspective on society through her referencing her friends as “first set” and “second set.” Through Emma’s classification of her friends by their social status and importance, first set being the superior and second set being the inferior and locum, the reader is able to have a glimpse of Emma’s outlook on society and it’s classes. (Knowledge Notes). Emma once again portrays the theme of social status and society through her views of people in lower classes than she such as Harriet and Mr. Martin. After Emma meets Harriet for the first time, she immediately decides that Harriet’s “soft blue eyes, and all those natural graces, should not be wasted on the inferior society of Highbury, and its connections” (Austen, Emma 20). Because of the social class difference between her and Mr. Martin, Emma regards him as someone who is inferior and advises Harriet to refuse his proposal. She claims that though “his appearance was very neat, and he looked like a sensible young man, but his person had no other advantage; and when he came to be contrasted with a gentleman, she thought he must lose all the ground…” (Austen, Emma 27) and that Harriet deserves someone more advantageo...
Austen was raised in an unusually liberal family where her father was a part of the middle-landowning class. They had a moderate amount of luxuries, but were not considered well off. Unlike many girls of her time Austen received a fairly comprehensive education. She received this mainly through the undivided support of her family. Austen and her sisters, like most girls of their time, were homeschooled. Austen’s zealous parents encouraged the girls to play piano, read and write. Her parent’s encouragement led to her interest in writing. Austen’s father housed an extensive library filled with books which kept Austen occupied for years (“Sense and Sensibility” 119). Through her observant nature and passion to read and write, Austen was able to eloquently write of the many “hidden truths” of social and class distinction during her time. They included daily societal changes some of which foreshadowed future societal leniency. Familial support also extended societal norm of marriage. Her parents attempt...
Moody, Anthony David. The Cambridge Companion to T.S. Eliot. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1994. 121. Print.
The roles of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet in Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice are contrasted between a father who cares about what’s inside of people and a mother who only worries about vanity and appearance. Mr. and Mrs. Bennet’s parental guidance is unique to their personalities. Because of their two opposing personas, Mr. and Mrs. Bennet’s ideas of marriage are contradictory for their daughters; Mr. Bennet believes in a loving respectful marriage whereas Mrs. Bennet values a marriage which concerns wealth and social status. Their aspirations for Lydia, Jane, Mary, Kitty and Elizabeth mirror their conflicting ideologies. Mr. Bennet seems to have a quiet deep love for his daughters while, on the contrary, Mrs. Bennet’s love is over-acted and conditional. Both parents help to shape their daughters’ characteristics and beliefs: Lydia reflecting Mrs. Bennet’s flighty and excessive behavior while Elizabeth inherits Mr. Bennet’s pensive and reflective temperament. Looking past their dissimilar personality traits and contradicting convictions, both parents hold the family together and play an integral role in the household structure.
Jane Austen’s works are characterized by their classic portrayals of love among the gentry of England. Most of Austen’s novels use the lens of romance in order to provide social commentary through both realism and irony. Austen’s first published bookThe central conflicts in both of Jane Austen’s novels Emma and Persuasion are founded on the structure of class systems and the ensuing societal differences between the gentry and the proletariat. Although Emma and Persuasion were written only a year apart, Austen’s treatment of social class systems differs greatly between the two novels, thus allowing us to trace the development of her beliefs regarding the gentry and their role in society through the analysis of Austen’s differing treatment of class systems in the Emma and Persuasion. The society depicted in Emma is based on a far more rigid social structure than that of the naval society of Persuasion, which Austen embodies through her strikingly different female protagonists, Emma Woodhouse and Anne Eliot, and their respective conflicts. In her final novel, Persuasion, Austen explores the emerging idea of a meritocracy through her portrayal of the male protagonist, Captain Wentworth. The evolution from a traditional aristocracy-based society in Emma to that of a contemporary meritocracy-based society in Persuasion embodies Austen’s own development and illustrates her subversion of almost all the social attitudes and institutions that were central to her initial novels.
In Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice,” through strong characters she demonstrates how prejudice between social classes blinds the heart from falling in love. Austen’s flawless utilization of characterization and her ideas of society and class develop a timeless love story that invites the heart to become consumed with love. Each device that Austen uses paints a vivid picture in the readers mind and helps the plot of the story unfold. The characters that Austen uses each play a huge role in how the story will end and add suspense and interest while reading the entire novel.
One of George Eliot's challenges in Middlemarch is to depict a sexually desirous woman, Dorothea, within the confines of Victorian literary propriety. The critic, Abigail Rischin, identifies the moment that Dorothea's future husband, Ladislaw, and his painter-friend see her alongside an ancient, partially nude statue of the mythic heroine, Ariadne, in a museum in Rome as the key to Eliot's sexualization of this character. Ariadne is, in the sculpture, between her two lovers. Theseus, whom she helped to escape from her father's labyrinth in Crete has already left her, while the jubilant God, Bacchus, her next lover, has yet to arrive. "By invoking the silent visual rhetoric of ancient sculpture," writes Rischin, "George Eliot is able to represent the erotic female body far more explicitly than Victorian conventions of... language would permit... By juxtaposing the statue with Dorothea, Eliot displays Dorothea's erotic potential." Here, Eliot uses an allusion to another type of narrative to fully illustrate her own heroine, and empower her with emotions that Victorian women were not supposed to possess.
The movie Pride and Prejudice is based on a novel by Jane Austen. The story is about Elizabeth Bennett who is an independent young girl that lives in England with her four sisters, her mother, and her father. Elizabeth meets Darcy and she doesn’t really like him and avoids him as possible. Darcy is reserved at first but starts to like Elizabeth. However Darcy restricts his affection for her because he is rich and is part of the high class whereas Elizabeth is from a middle-class family.