How The Eustace Diamonds Changes Representations of Femininity in Vanity Fair
Since Anthony Trollope published The Eustace Diamonds (1872), readers have associated Lizzie Eustace with Becky Sharp of William Makepeace Thackeray’s Vanity Fair (1848) (John Hall 378). Both Becky and Lizzie perform a femininity made all the more dangerous by contrast to the femininity of their idealized counterparts, Amelia and Lucy. Both novels involve a man’s choice between satisfying his sexual desire for the dangerous girl and fulfilling his promise to the ideal girl. As is typical in Victorian novels, the narrators spend more time exploring the bad girl option than the less-exciting alternative. In the context of denying the novel’s focus on Lizzie, Trollope’s narrator furthers the connection between the two bad girls by recalling Becky:
Although the first two chapters of this new history have been devoted to the fortunes and personal attributes of Lady Eustace, the historian begs his readers not to believe that opulent and aristocratic Becky Sharp is to assume the dignity of heroine in the forthcoming pages (57).
Given the difficulty of imagining how Trollope could have spent more time telling Lizzie’s story, the novel itself belies this statement; readers know that the bad girls are the heroines of both novels.
Critics have noted the similarity between the two novels, but they have not really explored it. I want to argue that to understand the relationship between the good girl and bad girl in each novel, we have to move out from the dichotomy itself to the third term that determines the meaning of the other two: the woman who comes from abroad. I will argue that it is the shift that occurs in t...
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Catharine Maria Sedgewick’s heroine and title character of Hope Leslie does not convey the expected behaviors of a woman living in 17th century Puritan society. Hope Leslie is not a passive young woman that relies on the Bible for all advice and guidance. She does not stay quiet if something is on her mind. She refuses to allow the innocent to receive persecution for the wrong reasons. Hope is assertive, aggressive, courageous, bold, and quite outspoken. The characteristics that she portrays are atypical to those portrayed by 17th century women. Instead, Hope’s attitude and behavior more closely resemble that of a female from the 21st century living in an era not meant for her.
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Clearly a perfectionist in the art of deception, Becky Sharp, a young woman with serpentine sentiments, slithers her way into the aristocratic society that composes the hollow cortex of Vanity Fair. With unremitting cupidity, Becky exploits all those she encounters for the sole purpose of ameliorating her own situation, both financially and socially. Commencing her mission...
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Despite all the attention on the main character, Stephanie Meyer makes all the females in her series inferior and powerless. All the males; jasper, Emmett, and Carlisle have higher power over their females counterpart. Carlisle is head of the coven that brings in the money and power while Esme is the stay at home peace maker. Rosalie is the beauty and Emmett is the strength, jasper is the informative one while Alice is his mirror. Bella isn’t the only one we see with feminist problems. All females in the series are apparently degrading, te only ting they hav in common with the males re that they are vampires who have just as much potential as their husbands. The baffling part here I why didn’t Meyer let them stand on the same level with what the dominant men have
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In order to understand what changes happen to twist the views of the 2 main characters in both novels, it is important to see the outlook of the two at the beginning of the novels in comparison ...
In Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet’s journey to love and marriage is the focal point of the narrative. But, the lesser known source of richness in Austen’s writing comes from her complex themes the well-developed minor characters. A closer examination of Charlotte Lucas, Elizabeth’s dear friend in Pride and Prejudice, shows that while she did not take up a large amount of space in the narrative, her impact was great. Charlotte’s unfortunate circumstances in the marriage market make her a foil to Elizabeth, who has the power of choice and refusal when it comes to deciding who will be her husband. By focusing on Charlotte’s age and lack of beauty, Austen emphasizes how ridiculous and cruel marriage can be in this time.
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