The Disgrace of Melanie Isaacs
In a Post-Apartheid South Africa, J.M. Coetzee introduces us to a set of characters and their respective stories, their lives and, in them, the multiple faces of the disgrace. The novel Disgrace begins, and circulates around David Lurie, a divorced middle-aged, teacher by profession, father, lonely, and, in many aspects, a failure, one would say, although he does not recognize himself that way. Throughout the novel, sex is shown as a symbol for power, namely with David Lurie himself, linking the idea of authority with the body, explaining his patriarchal views towards females and sex. (Pearson, 2015). However, the study that will be carried out in the next lines would not be on this character but in, perhaps, an even more complex one, which, in this story, suffers the unfortunate coincidence of crossing paths with Lurie and succumbing to his dark intentions with her.
As a portrait of an abstract innocence and the passivity of a wounded race, we are introduced to Melanie Isaacs, a small, slender, young and gorgeous woman in the prime of her life and under David Lurie's tutelage. She is a drama student taking his Romantic Poetry class. "Not particularly bright", but failing that, beautiful. Beauty. A bounty that, according to David, “does not belong to her alone, but it is to be shared” (Coetzee, 1999), and this is
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There comes a point where it's pretty clear that she doesn't want to have sex with David, and he seems to know that too: "Not rape, not quite that, but undesired nevertheless, undesired to the core" (Coetzee, 1999). So, it can be said that Melanie was indeed a victim of sexual abuse, but could this situation be actually considered as rape? Though definitions vary, rape is defined in most jurisdictions as sexual intercourse, or other form of sexual penetration, by one person, the perpetrator, without consent of another person, the victim (Wijnhoven,
While Anna Williams views escaping the confines of marriage as a desirable thing, Charlotte Lennox’s greatest lament, as expressed by her poem “A Song,” is merely to have the freedom to love who she pleases. Although Charlotte Lennox has a more romantic view of men and love than Anna Williams, neither woman denies the need for companionship. Charlotte Lennox’s opinion towards love is expressed clearly in her piece “A Song.” The poem’s female speaker is experiencing unrequited love.
The society in question is refuses to reciprocate the equality envisioned by the narrator and without any intention of compliance continually uses this man to their own advantage. It is not only this exploitation, b...
Professor’s comment: This student uses a feminist approach to shift our value judgment of two works in a surprisingly thought-provoking way. After showing how female seduction in Malory’s story of King Arthur is crucial to the story as a whole, the student follows with an equally serious analysis of Monty Python’s parody of the female seduction motif in what may be the most memorable and hilarious episode of the film.
Kurtz’s “superb … magnificent” mistress who “[has] the value of several elephant tusks upon her” (Conrad 137) also exemplifies power. The Russian reveals the extent of her influence on Kurtz as he recalls how she once “talked like a fury”, but Kurtz “felt too ill that day to care, or there would have been mischief” (138). The Russian also feels threatened by Kurtz’s mistress, as he “has been risking [his] life everyday … to keep her out of the house” (138). The sexist and racist attitudes of that era, in addition to the idolized Kurtz’s savage behaviour towards the Africans, amplify the anomaly of an African woman instilling fear into colonial white men. Conrad establishes the influence that women can have, as it clearly contrasts Hardy’s insinuation of the powerless nature of females when compared to men.
Richard Gregory in ‘Shame’ described incidences of his childhood when he was made shameful every time by his ethnicity or by the fact that he did not have a dad. He describes a his childhood where he was humiliated in front of the whole class by his teacher and also loved helene . The teacher pointed out that he lived on the relief money collected by the class and had no dad which got him a scar in his memory as a shameful event . He could not forget how he was being on the side and everybody felt sorry for him, it was something that made him feel weak and guilty for no reason. Both of the essays portrayed the protagonists very strongly and had some of their weaknesses revealed which has notions connected with the perception of the people and society.
Paley, Grace. "Samuel." Literature for Composition: Essay, Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. 5th ed. Ed. Sylvan Barnet. New York: Longman, 2001. 190-192
The concepts of honour and loyalty seem intrinsically linked, packaged together under the overarching category of general chivalry. However, a closer look through the lens of Jeffrey Eugenides’ novel The Virgin Suicides reveals this to be a misconception. One can exist without the other; in fact, none of the Lisbon girls’ peers display both. While the neighbourhood boys may be loyal, they are not honourable. Furthermore, Trip Fontaine, who stands apart from the collective conscience of the other boys, can be considered the opposite. By examining this juxtaposition of vastly different approaches to interacting with the Lisbon girls, the falsity of both methods can be revealed. This, observed in conjunction with humanistic psychological theory,
The novel “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte, and the novella “The Turn of the Screw” by Henry James, both display the treatment of pride for upper and lower class similarly. Furthermore, the treatment of pride will be compared and contrasted in this essay to examine and understand how pride is treated. In novel and novella both the lower class characters believe their pride makes them superior beings. Although the pride of lower and upper-class characters led them to their corruption. Moreover, the upper-class characters in each narrative maintain their respectability by their pride. However, in “Jane Eyre” all casts must have their emotions controlled by their pride, or this will lead to inappropriate behavior. Nevertheless, in “The Turn of
Accordingly, this emphasis has impacts on the types of pleasure that men request and want to receive that primarily focuses on their pleasure and not that of the women (Kimmel & Holler, 2011, p. 292). Hence, this demonstrates the power of men that is demonstrated by the domination and the submission of women within the sexual interaction (Kimmel & Holler, 2011, p. 124). Thus, gender inequality is reproduced whereby the male is the recipient focus of power (Kimmel & Holler, 2011, p. 291). Additionally, this sex with a prostitute will assist the man in gaining hegemonic status due to his conforming behaviours to the masculinity type (Kimmel & Holler, 2011, p.
In The Murder of Helen Jewett, Patricia Cohen uses one of the most trivial murders during the 1800’s to illustrate the sexiest society accommodations to the privileged, hypocritical tunneled views toward sexual behavior, and the exploitation of legal codes, use of tabloid journalism, and politics. Taking the fact that woman was made from taking a rib from man was more than biblical knowledge, but incorporated into the male belief that a woman’s place is determined by the man. Helen had the proper rearing a maid servant, but how did she fall so far from grace. Judge Weston properly takes credit for rearing her with the proper strictness and education. Was Helen seduced at an early age and introduced to sexual perversions that were more persuasive that the bible belt life that the Weston’s tried to live? Was Helen simply a woman who knew how to use what she had to get what she wanted? Through personal correspondence, legal documentation, census reports, paintings, and newspapers we are able to make our own determinations. Cohen provides more than enough background and history to allow any one to make their own opinion how the murder of a woman could be turned into a side show at a circus.
...appearance with a sense of revulsion and harshness, which shows the differing nature in which males are able to evade serious repercussions as well as responsibility whereas females are left for judgment. In this way, the text appears to lower the significance and value of having knowledge and being informed while simultaneously highlighting the deceptive and complex nature that lies within each individual.
In City of Dreadful Delight, Judith Walkowitz effortlessly weaves tales of sexual danger and more significantly, stories of the overt tension between the classes, during the months when Jack the Ripper, the serial murderer who brutally killed five women, all of them prostitutes, terrorized the city. The book tells the story of western male chauvinism that was prevalent in Victorian London not from the point of view not of the gazer, but rather of the object. Walkowitz argues that the press coverage of the murders served to construct a discourse of heterosexuality in which women were seen as passive victims and sexuality was associated with male violence. Much of City of Dreadful Delight explores the cultural construction and reconstruction of class and sexuality that preceded the Ripper murders. Walkowitz successfully investigates the discourses that took place after the fact and prior social frameworks that made the Ripper-inspired male violence and female passivity model possible and popular.
The Marquis de Sade led a lifestyle that disgusted some but influenced others. “This was a life, then, of swashbuckling adventure, narrow escapes, wild abandon, and bloody crime” (Lever, introduction on front flap). He is famous for coining the term “sadism” from his known love for sexual violence in his own life and literature. The Marquis’ own libertine values, which allowed for him to escape the moral restraints of law and religion, allowed for his life and works of literature to challenge censorship.
The ethics of desire and shame include the main issues at the heart of Coetzee’s Disgrace. Coetzee remarks the issue of human sexual ethics in David Lurie’s desires. While some who read this novel feel distressed at David’s lack of control over his desire, David himself fairly confident in his manners. David feels no embarrasment for the actions of his manners, but rather disgrace for yielding to social pressure after taking an hypocritical apology and shame of his daughter’s raping. David claims that the relationship between Melanie lies in the ‘‘ rights of desire’’ (90). In this exclamation, David makes the contradiction between the right to desire and reproduction and opposite ideas of undesired love or rape. I will question whether the David’s treatment of women loving or immoral or David has the right to seduce or he goes into unethical areas through his desire. At the end, Coetzee claims that while it is ethical to have right to your own behavior, it is not ethical to harm others.
... men in the story are portrayed, exhibits the degradation of the value of the self-expression of a woman.