“Oleanna” Power Shift During the course of this play we see a significant power shift between the two main characters, John and Carol. John is trying to help his student Carol understand, but he goes a bit too far when he tries to empathize with her (Ward-Smythe, Kate). She mistakes it for something more, and goes on to accuse him of sexual harassment. When we are introduced to the characters, John is undoubtedly in control. He is the professor, while Carol is his student. However, as the play progresses we see Carol gaining more confidence paired with power when she accuses John. Many instances of miscommunication contribute to the huge power shift during the play, like when John wants to restart the course or when he makes a sexual …show more content…
His student Carol comes into his office, because she doesn’t understand the class and is failing. It is also important to note that she stutters a lot during this visit, and has a hard time expressing herself. She has come to John to seek help, but when she fails to grasp what he is talking about, John decides to restart the course. She responds by saying that the class is only half over, and that they cannot start again. John replies: “I say we can. (Pause) I say we can” (Oleanna, Act 1, pp. 26). Even though this might not seem like a very significant example of power, it shows that he can do whatever he pleases in his course. He tells her: “We’ll start the whole course over. Your grade is an “A” (Oleanna, Act 1, pp. …show more content…
John is no longer able to get his tenure or his new house, and his career is basically over. The final words of the play are from Carol, when she says “Yes. That’s right” when John beats her (Oleanna, pp. 80). She now has absolute control, he will lose his job, tenure, and new home unless he bans his book. This is shown by how John goes crazy and began to physically assault Carol (Oleanna, pp. 79), she got what she wanted. She pushed John to his breaking point, and he lashes out in an uncharacteristic way (Ward-Smythe, Kate). He knew there was nothing he could do but physically hurt her, since he had no real power
John is a loving husband. He proves that by telling Elizabeth, “It is well seasoned” (p. 48) in reference to the rabbit she cooked, in which he had to add salt to. He likes to make her happy, which shows he loves her, and so he asks, “Would that please you?” (p.48) He is asking in reference to buying a heifer for her if the crops are good. He assures her he will “fall like an ocean on that court” by which he shows his love in caring for her freedom (p.73). To the court he admits he has “known her” he is talking about Abigail and their affair (p.102). He is showing his love towards his wife by throwing away his freedom, life, honor, dignity, and pride to prove Elizabeth’s innocence and have her freedom. He tells Elizabeth to “show honor now” as he is to be hanged in the gallows (p. 133). He is showing his love for her by letting her know he cares about her enough to want her to be strong even though he is to die.
As the play continues, John is still in prison, but is now signing the paper confessing he is a witch. Doing this will save his life, but it will be a lie. After he has signed this he realizes that this is horrible decision to make.
Elizabeth is angry that John was having an affair with Abigail. John feels that he has endured enough. He knows what he did was not right, but he demands to Elizabeth that he needed a passion that she was not giving him. John uses emotional appeal to enforce his claim. She is offended at his suggestion that it was her fault that he was cheating on her. John says that he is only
John has trouble telling the court about Abigail and the girls false accusations because he has no witnesses, so he can’t prove it. The real reason he is trying to avoid telling the court is because he had an affair with Abigail and he doesn’t want Abigail to tell the court. If the court knows, it will ruin his good image. Although, he didn’t want to tell the court in the beginning because he still cared for Abigail and he did not want to hurt her, he soon discovered that she was a very nasty person and was not going to change. He was disgusted and ashamed of himself for his infidelity and didn’t want anyone to know about it. Eventually, he did tell the court but it was to save his wife from being arrested. His good reputation was ruined by his mistakes and he had to live with
One of the two categories of people must change in order to resolve the conflict, and three main characters display this need to change more than any others. The first person is John Procter, who changes somewhat throughout the play. The second is Abigail Williams, who attempts to change the people around her. And the third is Reverend John Hale, who changes quite dramatically throughout the play. All of these characters recognize that change is needed, but approach the problem from different perspectives. & nbsp; John Procter is the first person to change the play.
This ‘insane’ act serves only to show how lost the narrator’s mind is. The narrator also reveals that she has a rope that she will use “if that woman does get out, and tries to get away, I can tie her” (236). The woman is a symbol of the narrator’s pre-nervous disorder personality. She essentially uses the statement to say that if the woman she once was escaping, she will hang herself. Finally, the story reaches its climax, in which John and the narrator have a final standoff in the now wall paperless bedroom (237).
John's decision to commit suicide was the right thing to do to make Ann happy. John thought that killing himself would make it easier for her to stay with Steven, who he thinks that she loves. John made a decision about his own life so he has the right to choose to kill himself. He also just wants Ann to be happy. He is "naively proud of Ann. He had bewildered by it once, her caring for a dull-witted fellow like him: then assured al last of her affection he had relaxed against it gratefully, unsuspecting it might ever be less constant than his own." (Pg.49) In John's mind he was making the right decision, so he was free to make it.
...man controlling the life of the woman who must accept it, until the very end. At the end of the story, the narrator says, “I have escaped in spite of you and Jane, and I’ve pulled of most of the paper so you can’t put me back!” (Gilman, 1892, p.193). At this point the narrator made the connection between her and the woman she sees in the wallpaper and explains how she has finally escaped, suggesting her breaking out of the bars that controlled her. She shows rebellion against John when she does not open the door and makes her own choices, which not only makes her free it destroys the sense of the gender roles in the relationship, as she pretty much emasculates her husband.
All sense of individuality and self worth is taken way from the narrator when her name is never revealed to the audience. Furthermore, John continues to belittle his wife by giving her the command to not walk around at night. Although the John thinks in his mind that he is looking out for the best interest of his wife, in actuality, he is taking away his wife’s abilities to make choices for herself. There is a possibility that John’s controlling personality is one of the factors that led to his wife’s psychosis. Such a controlling life style more than likely limited the narrator’s ability to live any life outside of the home.
...ssion and intrusiveness. John’s lack of having an open mind to his wife’s thoughts and opinions and his constant childish like treatment of his wife somehow emphasizes this point, although, this may not have been his intention. The narrator felt strongly that her thoughts and feelings were being disregarded and ignored as stated by the narrator “John does not know how much I really suffer. He knows there is no reason to suffer, and that satisfies him” (Gilman 115), and she shows her despise of her husband giving extra care to what he considers more important cases over his wife’s case with a sarcastic notion “I am glad my case is not serious!” (Gilman 115). It is very doubtful that John is the villain of the story, his good intentions towards doing everything practical and possible to help his wife gain her strength and wellbeing is clear throughout the story.
John realizes that his good name was at risk of being destroyed due to his edgy marriage. After his wife is accused against, he sacrifices his good name himself to get his wife to be released. Elizabeth has the reputation to never tell a lie, and John knows this so he decides to confess to the court about his affair with Abigail while Elizabeth isn’t in the room because he thinks that she will tell the truth about the affair and not lie to keep his name. But when Elizabeth came in she lied to save his name, because she did not know what he did. Having this occur, shows that John And Elizabeth may be lying about the whole situation which makes them look
...,” (Gilman, 649). John’s complete lack of interest in his wife’s well-being is a whole new form of oppression that even borders on abuse. She had been dependent on him for so long, and then, in her greatest time of need, he abandoned her.
The narrator is trying to get better from her illness but her husband “He laughs at me so about this wallpaper” (515). He puts her down and her insecurities do not make it any better. She is treated like a child. John says to his wife “What is it little girl” (518)? Since he is taking care of her she must obey him “There comes John, and I must put this away, he hates to have me write a word”. The narrator thinks John is the reason why she cannot get better because he wants her to stay in a room instead of communicating with the world and working outside the house.
power as occurring in a situation where "A has power over B to the extent he can
When John sees his dad at the store, his internal conflict develops and this leads to his conflict with Grace. People in relationships tend to get into arguments with each other. It is a very realistic representation of his character. It would be unrealistic if a couple never argues. He accuses her of being a snob and this leads to the argument which is revealed when the narrator says, “They had never talked in this way, and now they were both quickly eager to hurt each other” (4). This illustrates that they were growing as a couple and were opening up to each other about their feelings. John finally lets his inner anger out on Grace and shows that he cares about her opinion on different matters such as how she views people from lower social class (3). John is a hypocrite since he calls Grace a snob when in reality he, himself is a snob because he is embarrassed of his dad’s lower social status. He is assuming that Grace would not like to be associated with him after finding out the truth. This is shown when he asks Grace, “You don 't like the kind of people you bump into here, … he asks recklessly, full of a savage eagerness to hurt her” (3). He is being naive for forcing his anger on Grace and not realizing the reason that is causing it. People tend to make foolish decisions when they are angry; likewise, John is trying to hurt Grace because he thinks he