A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE According to the Aristotelean concept of tragedy, the hero (chief protagonist) is held in high esteem by the rest of society. However, he has a fatal flaw (hamartia) or a failing in his personality. In this case, it is Eddie’s inappropriate love for his niece/adopted daughter Catherine. He then becomes aware of his ‘fatal flaw’, but however, is powerless to stop it. On this occasion, Eddie doesn’t realize how strong his feelings are for Catherine until the very end. The consequences are usually dire, and this is reflected by Eddie’s death at the end of the play. At the beginning of the play, Catherine looks up to Eddie, and thinks very highly of his opinion. She says: “I’ll get you a beer” to try and make him feel secure and comfortable. This shows that she knows Eddie well and knows what relaxes him. When she tries on a new skirt, she asks: “I just go it. You like it?” Although Eddie replies: “I think it’s too short, ain’t it?” Catherine nonetheless remains loyal to him and instead of just accepting the fact that he does not like it, she relentlessly tries to persuade and convince him that: “It’s the style now.” When the stage directions explain: “(almost in tears because he disapproves),” it shows that she wants his approval for even the smallest of things; it also shows that she admires Eddie as a father figure and values his judgement. Catherine’s adulation for Eddie as a father, inadvertently spurs Eddie on to find different feelings for her. This makes the audience feel slightly irritated at Catherine for unknowingly urging Eddie to express his feelings for her. When Catherine tells Eddie that she has got a new job at plumbing company, he overreacts. He comes up with absurd excuses... ... middle of paper ... ...tes matters. He lets the situation with Catherine spiral out of control and has to resort to increasingly drastic measures to keep Catherine under his control. It soon becomes evident that he just doesn’t want Catherine to become independent, because he wants her all for himself. Catherine’s innocent fondness for Eddie is normal for any girl and their father. Catherine looks up to Eddie and wants his recognition. However, the audience rapidly grasp on to the idea that Eddie is too attached to Catherine and has to let go, otherwise there may be severe repercussions. However, Eddie refuses to release Catherine from his firm clutch and becomes so devoted to destroying Rodolpho, he doesn’t realise who he’s really hurting. Miller tries to make it clear to the audience that Eddie will not let go of Catherine, no matter what, and his demise soon becomes inevitable.
...periences in life. The most important one is search for freedom. Catherine is always locked up in her chamber, or trying to get away from the suitors. Throughout in the book she thinks about going to the abbey, leaving the manor, or going on an adventure. In the end her marriage with Stephen shows her that now she is “… at least less painfully caged” (Cushman 164). The story was very exciting when you wait to see what she would do to another suitor. I learned that as much as you try to fight something sometimes you cannot and it’s bound to you. As seen with Catherine and marrying any one of the suitors. “If I was born a lady, why not a rich lady” (Cushman 4). I think the author wrote this because she wants to show how medieval Europe was like, the social classes, education, religion, and especially society’s look on marriage.
The Jericho Covered Bridge in Kingsville, Maryland was built in 1865 and restored in 1982. The bridge is 100 feet long and cased in cedar planks and timber beams. Legend has it that after the Civil War many lynchings occurred on the bridge. Passersby were supposedly captured on the bridge and hung from the upper rafters. The bridge is very close to my house and I have driven over it several times. The storyteller, age 19, also lives a couple minutes away from the bridge. He has lived in Kingsville, Maryland his entire life. He recalled a dramatic story he had heard from his older brother involving the haunted bridge.
The conflict Catherine faces is Person versus self. “Little Bird, in the world to come, you will not be asked ‘why were you not George?’ or ‘why were you not Perkin?’ but ‘why were you not Catherine?’ ” (Cushman 17). It is depicted that Catherine tried to be everyone else but not herself. Hence, Catherine’s conflict is internal because she must change her conceptions. Catherine must accept who she is. Catherine’s conflict is resolved in the resolution. Catherine understands the Jewish woman’s advice. “And it came to my mind that I cannot run away. I am who I am wherever I am” (Cushman 202). Catherine understands she cannot be like Perkin or George, and she will not be asked if why she was not like Perkin or George. However, Catherine will be asked why she did not act like herself, and why she was not
In the novel, The Other Side of the Bridge by Mary Lawson, the author capitalizes upon society’s expectation of a character to emphasize the struggle to achieving his goals. Ian, one of the central characters in the plot line, is heavily impacted by these expectations, which hold a substantial influence upon his decision’s regarding his future. To teenagers an expectation: a strong belief that something will happen or be the case in the future, is nothing but a restriction upon them. Ian believes he is contained within these expectations; to the point where he does not wish to follow this given path. In a time of adolescence, teenagers are compelled by the strong desire to denounce that which is expected of them; Ian is no exception to this. Societies expectations create a negative influence upon Ian’s struggles to achieve his goals. These effects are due to the following expectations: to leave Struan for a superior education, to obtain the opportunity to become successful; to strive for a medical career, since he excels at the trade already; and to settle into a happy relationship, to raise a family.
Catherine, like the McKees, makes an appearance at Tom’s apartment, and Nick first notes her “sticky bob of red hair, and a complexion powdered milky white”, which shows her attempt to maintain an appearance of class (30). Yet, she does not apply the makeup successfully, and the evident cosmetics and sign of effort speak against her sense of class and taste. However, Catherine makes an appearance at the end of the novel after the death of her sister, Myrtle. Catherine holds both her sister’s and her own image in great importance, and so when others convince her “that [her sister’s] ambulance had already gone to Flushing ... she immediately fainted, as if that was the intolerable part of the affair” (156). Flushing exists as part of the Valley of Ashes, while Catherine lives in a hotel, presumably on the outskirts of the city. The fact that her sister goes to the dirty, poor city instead of to a cleaner area disturbs her rather than the news about her sister, which suggests the importance of appearances over the safety or health of her own family. Therefore, perhaps Fitzgerald makes a commentary through Catherine that the pursuit of class and self importance motivates a
In this passage, McEwan demonstrates the sexual awkwardness which the newly-wed virgins, Florence and Edward, experience. The panicked tone in the passage clearly reveals Florence’s lack of experience and fear and her repression of desire, which leads to the sexual awkwardness evident between the couple throughout the novel.
...er 237 where Christopher recounts “Christopher, let me hold your hand. just for once. Just for me. Will you? And i said ‘i dont like people holding my hand.’. Through the implementation of truncated sentences, Judy’s yearning and longing for Christopher’s affection is exemplified. This enables the responder to acknowledge the highly emotional state in which she is in. The setting of Christopher and his mother being alone in the bathroom also aids to the emotional, intimate and highly sensitive nature of their conversation. Despite how affected Christopher may be in realising his mother is alive he is unable to recognise the plea in his mothers voice and fails to reciprocate the smallest morsel of physical affection towards her due to his desperation to keep things orderly and un-changing, therefore exposing the complicated nature of communication between the two.
Alice showed the first sign of conflict in the first page of the play. Alice had problems with her father drinking and returning home late eac...
When the two first meet, Catherine is still dealing with the death of her fiancé in battle. This presents her as a woman who knows the dangers and possibilities of war. As a nurse physically present during the war, she is rightfully not perceived as grieving and mortified by her fiancé¹s death. She did not marry him because he wanted to enlist in the war, ³I would have married him or anything ... But then he wanted to go to war and I didn¹t know² (Hemingway, 19). Typically, many women married their sweethearts in lure of the war. She goes onto say that she ³didn¹t know anything then,² but the fact that she did know that the war was not an excuse to get married presents her as perceptive and intellligent (19). The war alone could not justify her love for her life long friend and fiancé. This tragic event explains her confusing emotional behavior towards Henry at first.
Catherine was born into a rich solid family, where her father, Mr. Earnshaw, was a strict man, and her mother, Mrs. Earnshaw, was a pretentious woman. Through her conceited youth Catherine’s immaturity is clearly explained. Born with a very strong attitude; she is the type that throws a fit when doesn’t get what she wants. An example is, “when she learnt the master had lost her whip in attending the stranger, showed her humor by grinning and spitting at the stupid little thing” (33). Catherine was never love by her father, whom felt the need to tell her, “Nay Cathy, I cannot love thee; thou’rt worse than thy brother. Go, s...
...nt to creating a deeper, more harmonious relationship involved a mature acceptance of the dark, shadow sides of Kate. The “baggage” of her wounded past with all of its unmet needs had been waiting to be loved and transformed. In the radical courtship of Kate and Petruchio, all “buttons” got pressed, character armor was released, and in the mirror of lover and beloved, childhood vulnerabilities eventually diminished freeing up enormous reserves of creative energy. It is in this light that I appreciate Kate’s final impassioned speech to the other women who, in their selfish defiance of their new husbands had acted immaturely. For here, Shakespeare ironically exposes Bianca as the real, untamed shrew and reveals a very sagacious and loving Katherine.
The first, most obvious trait of Catherine’s heroism is that she values human relationships above materialism. Nothing is more important to Catherine than her lover, Henry, and as the novel goes on, her baby. When Henry is injured and sent to Milan, she has no trouble transferring to the new hospital there. Catherine loves Henry and would drop anything to be with him. Nothing material holds her back from being with him. Even when they live in Switzerland, they don’t have many material possessions. They live very simple lives because all the couple really needs is each other. In chapter forty, Henry describes their time together with this quote, "When there was a good day we had a splendid time and we never had a bad time. We knew the baby was very close now and it gave us both a feeling as though something were hurrying us and we could not lose any time together." Catherine obviously values her time with Henry more than anyone else, but it isn’t the physical aspect of getting out and doing things that satisfies her. What satisfies Catherine is the extra time she gets to spend with the love of her life b...
It seems both these critics have missed the point about Catherine, her inadequacies as a heroine, such as they are, exists because Austen tries to do too much with her – “to establish her both s a gooselike parody of the sentimental gothic heroine, and to advance claims for her as a human being who would learn good sense and learn even to go beyond it” .
Heathcliff and Catherine have loved each other since their childhood. Initially, Catherine scorned the little gypsy boy; she showed her distaste by “spitting” at him (Brontë 27). However, it was not long before Heathcliff and Catherine became “very think” (Brontë 27). They became very close friends; they were practically brother and sister (Mitchell 122). Heathcliff is intent upon pleasing Catherine. He would “do her bidding in anything” (Brontë 30). He is afraid of “grieving” her (Brontë 40). Heathcliff finds solace and comfort in Catherine’s company. When Catherine is compelled to stay at Thrushcross Grange to recover from her injury, she returns as “a very dignified person” (Brontë 37). Her association with the gente...
The play of King Lear is a tragedy like many of Shakespeare’s plays, and many of them deal with the tragic hero that end up meeting their demise thanks to their tragic flaw. The tragic hero of this play is King Lear, and he is a man that is a ruler of the kingdom of Britain in the 8th century B.C. He is a very old man surrounded by grave responsibilities, which are taking care of the land and taking care of the citizens of the kingdom. Lear the tragic hero must feel suffering and contrast those good times to the suffering, except his suffering leads to chaos and ultimately his death. The definition of a tragedy from our class notes is, “an honorable protagonist with a tragic flaw, which is also known as a fatal flaw. This eventually leads to his/her demise” (Class Notes). The definition of a tragic hero if laid out in black and white and King Lear meets all these requirements and his nobleness initiated his tragic flaw. King Lear is a tragic hero because he is a man that is very arrogant and does not see the world for what it really is. We can show how Lear is a tragic hero by using some of the elements of Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero that are nobleness, arrogance (tragic flaw), and reversal of fortune.