Georgina’s Struggle for Freedom in The Cook, the Thief, his Wife and her Lover
In his work "The Cook, the Thief, his Wife and her Lover", Peter Greenaway displays the complexity of his main character Georgina. We witness her constant struggle to break free from her hateful and disgusting husband. She realizes her pernicious dependence on Albert. His coercion, oppression and abuse make Georgina's life unbearable. Her need for freedom is expressed in her involvement in a sexual relation with a man completely different from her husband and his cronies. Their relationship begins silently and is based almost entirely on sex. Sex gave her a measure of control in a world in which her real influence was limited and problematic (Giddens, p.70). The happiness that the lovers derive from the closeness, affection and tenderness of their sexuality are things that Georgina was missing in her inauthentic life. Passion appears as a strong element in their liaison and till the circumstances allowed them to make love unnoticed, their relationship was a carefree and happy experience. When their affair was discovered by Georgina's husband and Michael was afterwards brutally killed, Georgina is left with her confused feelings, unable to assess the real value of the relationship she had with Michael.
In the situation of Georgina there is a sentient need for a creative and rewarding relationship. This physical-psychological desire, however, does not have love as the basis of a long-term, deep emotional relationship between two individuals (Goldman, Philosophy of Sex, pp. 78-79). It is more the bodily desire for the body of another that dominates her mental life (Goldman, Philosophy of Sex, p. 76). In the Georgina's need for...
... middle of paper ...
...
Works Cited
Greenaway, Peter. "The Cook, the Thief, his Wife and her Lover". Dis Voir. Paris, 1989.
Singer, Irving. The Pursuit of Love. The John Hopkins University Press. London, 1994.
Soble, Alan., edited by. The Philosophy of Sex. Contemporary Readings. Revised Second Edition. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1991.
Rank, Otto. Beyond Psychology. Dover Publications. New York. Copyright (c) 1941 by Estelle B. Rank. 1958.
Lepp, Ignace. The Psychology of Loving. Translated by Bernard B. Gilligan. A Mentor Book from New American Library, Times Mirror. New York, 1963.
Giddens, Anthony. The Transformation of Intimacy. Sexuality, Love and Eroticism in Modern Societies. Stanford University Press. Stanford CA, 1992.
Schneider, David J. Social Psychology. University of Texas, San Antonio. Addison Wesley Publishing Company, 1976.
Foucault, M. (1978). The history of sexuality, Volume I: An introduction (R. Hurley, Trans.). New York: Vintage. (Original work published 1976)
“I was not aware that he was either, Commander; however, the code does match the one he used back when he was with us.”
It is of particular interest to look at sexuality in relation to the modern daily life. What may seem abnormal and even abject in daily life is constitutive in human sexuality. It goes beyond normal functioning, rationality, and purposefulness, making sexuality inherently excessive. The discrepancy between the sexual and daily life connotes the otherness of sexuality. Freud mentions this in Three Essays on The Theory of Sexuality in his contention that perversion should be used a term of reproach: “no healthy person, it appears, can fail to make some addition that might be called perverse to the normal sexual aim.” Although he may have been focusing on the abnormal particularities in normal sexual life, this idea expounds ...
Sachs, Harvey. The Ninth: Beethoven and the World in 1824. New York: Random House, 2010. Print.
Gall, S. B., Beins, B., & Feldman, A. (2001). The gale encyclopedia of psychology. (2nd ed.). Detroit, MI: Gale Group.
Despite that we often think of sex and sexuality as going hand in hand in today’s society, if we look back in history we see a major distinction in many cultures. It is obvious that there has always been sex, otherwise I wouldn’t be here writing this paper, but sexuality is another matter. I interpret sexuality to be a distinct preference for some sexual act with a specific partner(s) free of outside pressure. In some places and periods of history this distinction was a component of a sexual behavior, others not so much, and sometimes it’s unclear. Take for example the arguments made in David Halperin’s “Sex before Sexuality” and John Boswell’s “Revolutions, Universals, and Sexual Categories” regarding the sexual nature of pederasty.
Foucault, M. (1978). The History of Sexuality, Vol. 1: An Introduction. New York: Vintage Books.
Gall, S. B., Beins, B., & Feldman, A. (2001). The gale encyclopedia of psychology. (2nd ed., pp. 271-273). Detroit, MI: Gale Group.
Throughout time scientists, philosophers, and laymen alike have discussed questions of the complexity of sex. These questions range from what sex is, to what is a sexual perversion, and far beyond exploring every nook and cranny of the subject. One of the authors that is well know for this type of discussion for idea of how to explain sexual desire is Alan Goldman. During his writing of “Plain Sex”, Goldman tries to define what sexual desire is, what a sexual perversion is, and other claims relating to sexual desire, often shrugging off previously believed theories. His ideas lead away from the idea that sex has a means end and leads to a more primal basis that sex is a desire for physical contact and the need to fulfill this desire for physical contact. In the end I will argue that his definition leaves out our basic cognitive functions and defines humans as to primal form of being. This leads us into his central arguments for why he sees it logically necessary that sex is a need for physical contact and the pleasure that comes from it.
- Geppert, Alexander C. T. “Divine Sex, Happy Marriage, Regenerated Nation: Marie Stopes's Marital Manual Married Love and the Making of a Best-Seller 1918-1955”. Journal of the History of Sexuality, University of Texas Press (1998): 389-433.
Shmoop Editorial Team. "Brave New World Theme of Sex" Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008.
1.The 3rd person is now needed to hold up the Moon in between the Earth and the sun (making sure they, as a body, are not blocking the "sun's" light).
Wade, C. a. (2008). Psychology (9th ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc.
Edited by Raymond J. Corsini. Encyclopedia of Psychology, Second Edition, Volume 1. New York: John Wiley and Sons Inc.
Boston: Bedford/St. Martins,. 349. The. “Psychological Theories About the Dynamics of Love (I).” 01 Mar. 2005 http://psychology.about.com/library/weekly/aa022000a.htm Richmond, Raymond Lloyd.