Apart from that, there are also certain attitudes along this social comedy expressed by the main female characters, Gwendolen Fairfax and Cecily Cardew, which reinforce the gender roles of the Victorian society. For example, when both women meet, they immediately start talking and develop a friendship. However, it stops when they discover they are engaged to the same man.
Cecily. [Rather shy and confidingly.] Dearest Gwendolen, there is no reason why I should make a secret of it to you. Our little county newspaper is sure to chronicle the fact next week. Mr. Ernest Worthing and I are engaged to be married.
Gwendolen. [Quite politely, rising.] My darling Cecily, I think there must be some slight error. Mr. Ernest Worthing is engaged
…show more content…
Mr. Worthing, I have something very particular to ask you. Much depends on your reply.
Amusingly, their actions do contradict their words and they end up forgiving Jack and Algernon easily and rapidly. Their attitudes reinforce the idea that women should not be given the power to take decisions as women ‘were ill-equipped to meet the demands of the outside world’ which was reserved for men.
Nevertheless, there are passages in which the female characters in this play take up men’s roles and are presented as the reflection of the figure ‘New Woman’. The concept of ‘New Woman’ referred to the feminist women of the 1900’s who rejected and challenged the prevailing male hegemony and, as a consequence, attempted to challenge the Victorian society’s expectations of female demeanour and morality. For example, throughout the character of Lady Bracknell, who is Gwendolen’s mother, in the following text.
Gwendolen. I am engaged to Mr. Worthing, mamma. [They rise together.]
Lady Bracknell. Pardon me, you are not engaged to anyone. When you do become engaged to someone, I, or your father, should his health permit him, will inform you of the fact. An engagement should come on a young girl as a surprise, pleasant or unpleasant, as the case may be. It is hardly a matter that she could be allowed to arrange for herself . .
Nora and Mrs. Wright’s social standing when compared to the men in each play is inferior. Both works expose their respective male characters’ sexist view of women diminishing the women’s social standing. Each work features egotistical men who have a severely inflated view of their self-worth when compared to their female counterparts. The men’s actions and words indicate they believe women are not capable of thinking intelligently. This is demonstrated in “Trifles” when Mr. Hale makes the statement about women only worrying about mere trifles. It is also apparent in “A Dollhouse” when Torvalds thinks his wife is not capable of thinking with any complexity (Mazur 17). Another common attribute is of the women’s social standing is displayed as both women finally get tired of feeling like second class citizens and stand up to the repressive people in the women’s lives (Mulry 294). Although both women share much in common in their social standing there subtle differences. Torvald’s sexist view of Nora is more on a personal level in “A Dollhouse” while the male characters’ sexist views in “Trifles” seem to be more of a social view that women are not very smart and their opinions are of little value. This attitude is apparent in “Trifles” as Mr. Hale and Mr. Henderson’s comments about Mrs. Wright’s housekeeping (Mulry 293). As the women in both works reach their emotional
Each play represents the issues faced by each gender during the time period in which it was written. However, many of the issues are similar in each time period, as well as throughout most of history. These issues will likely continue to affect both women and men for a long time in the future.
Seeing that the two youngsters were very nearly an engagement, Lefroy's family sent him home instead of giving him a chance to connect himself to somebody as poor as a minister's little girl. Austen's second brush with marriage happened at age twenty-seven, when the well-off Harris Bigg-Wither proposed and Austen acknowledged. The following morning, in any case, Austen altered her opinion, surrendering the riches and security inborn in such a match since she didn't love him. In spite of the fact that Austen never wedded, the accentuation of romance and marriage in her books exhibits the effect that these encounters had on her and her enthusiasm for adoration and marriage (Harcourt,
Elizabeth uses the stereotypes of her gender and knowledge of both literature and when to manipulate her gender to explain why she needs
The character analysis of Mary Anne Bell in comparison and contrast to Martha and Elroy Berdahl implores the audience to consider the idea that gender is not inherent.
In the 19th Century, women had different roles and treated differently compared to today’s women in American society. In the past, men expected women to carry out the duties of a homemaker, which consisted of cleaning and cooking. In earlier years, men did not allow women to have opinions or carry on a job outside of the household. As today’s societies, women leave the house to carry on jobs that allow them to speak their minds and carry on roles that men carried out in earlier years. In the 19th Century, men stereotyped women to be insignificant, not think with their minds about issues outside of the kitchen or home. In the play Trifles, written by Susan Glaspell, the writer portrays how women in earlier years have no rights and men treat women like dirt. Trifles is based on real life events of a murder that Susan Glaspell covered during her work as a newspaper reporter in Des Moines and the play is based off of Susan Glaspell’s earlier writing, “A Jury of Her Peers”. The play is about a wife of a farmer that appears to be cold and filled with silence. After many years of the husband treating the wife terrible, the farmer’s wife snaps and murders her husband. In addition, the play portrays how men and women may stick together in same sex roles in certain situations. The men in the play are busy looking for evidence of proof to show Mrs. Wright murdered her husband. As for the women in the play, they stick together by hiding evidence to prove Mrs. Wright murdered her husband. Although men felt they were smarter than women in the earlier days, the play describes how women are expected of too much in their roles, which could cause a woman to emotionally snap, but leads to women banding together to prove that women can be...
Many or all the male characters in the play hold strong anti-feminist views. Women are largely seen by them as “ma...
Stromquist, Kat. “Royal Weddings In Romantic Britian.” Britian 79.4 (2011)” 42-45. Master File Elite. Web 5 Mar. 2014.
(Essay intro) In the modern day, women have the luxury of belonging to themselves but unfortunately this was not always the case. During his life, William Shakespeare created many positive female characters who defied the traditional gender roles and brought attention to the misogynistic patriarchy of Elizabethan England. One of these true feminist icons is ‘Much Ado about Nothing’s. Beatrice. The women in ‘Much Ado about Nothing’ defy traditional gender roles. Beatrice represents a brave and outspoken woman who defies the oppressive, traditional gender roles for the female sex. Her cousin Hero, however, represents those women who were successfully oppressed by the patriarchy and accepted the traditional gender roles without much complaint.
Gwendolen and Cecily act like air-heads and are easily won over by the men they plan to marry. Gwendolen simply wants to marry a man named Earnest. She tells Jack “my ideal has always been to love someone of the name of Ernest” (I.381-82). The mere idea of marrying a man for his name shows how easily Gwendolen can attach herself to a man. Marriage is the most serious of all relationships and Gwendolen is foolish to deter...
Firstly we will commence by discovering how women are presented in Shakespeare’s play .Through-out the play women are presented as immature , impuissant characters : Lady Capulet & Juliet ,all women are regarded as possessions of men ,for them to do as they please . They are ornaments, they cannot speak their minds nor can they make their own decisions. Women are in the men’s shadows.
`Plays and Poetry by early modern women are primarily concerned with negotiating a position from which women could speak. A concern for ideas of gender, language and silence is, therefore, central, though its expression is sometimes open, sometimes covert.' Discuss with reference to Aemilia Lanyer and / or Elizabeth Cary.
William Shakespeare’s The Tempest provides dialogue that portrays the social expectations and stereotypes imposed upon women in Elizabethan times. Even though the play has only one primary female character, Miranda, the play also includes another women; Sycorax, although she does not play as large a roll. During many scenes, the play illustrates the characteristics that represent the ideal woman within Elizabethan society. These characteristics support the fact that men considered women as a mere object that they had the luxury of owning and were nowhere near equal to them. Feminists can interpret the play as a depiction of the sexist treatment of women and would disagree with many of the characteristics and expectations that make Miranda the ideal woman. From this perspective, The Tempest can be used to objectify the common expectations and treatment of women within the 16th and 17th Centuries and compare and contrast to those of today.
Gwendolen and Cecily were lied to and made to look like a fool because of the men they fell in love with, Jack and Algy. Jack and Algy told Gwendolen and Cecily their names were Earnest and led these women to believe they lived a crazy lavish lifestyle of spending relative’s money and jetting across the country. These women took the news fairly well after finding out their fiancés names weren’t real and every story told was a lie, but even after the deceitful lies they still agreed to marry them, and had the support of family members and friends for this marriage. Women in the 21st -century don’t particularly care to be lied to. Pretending to be someone you’re not in this day and age is called “cat fishing”, and is quite the scandal. Most women wouldn’t agree to marry a man if he faked his way into her life. If Gwendolen and Cecily
Announcing their engagement Prince William said: "The timing is right now, we are both very, very happy." Miss Middleton added that joining the Royal Family was a "daunting prospect" but said: "Hopefully I'll take it in my stride."