In ‘The Monk’, Matthew Lewis’ portrayal of virginal, innocent Antonia is a key characteristic of the heroine of sensibility in gothic literature. At the same time, Matilda is written to be the binary opposite of Antonia: seductive but secretly blasphemous and conniving, ultimately leading to Ambrosio’s breaking of his monastic vows and eventually his ultimate demise at the hands of Lucifer. ‘The Monk’ categorises Antonia and Matilda in parallel to the idea of “bad desire”(Jones 1990, p. 133) and “good desire”(Jones 1990, p. 133) as recurring motifs throughout the novel. That is, Antonia is the embodiment of bad desire wherein “desire is repressed”(Jones 1990, p. 133) and therefore becomes warped to the point it can never be properly satisfied. …show more content…
127). As a character Antonia is shown to be inherently intuitive; Lewis describes her as having an “inbred sense of modesty”(Lewis 1796, p. 127), which causes her to cover herself before she enters the bath, despite unknowingly being watched. Oxymoronically, Lewis also conveys Ambrosio’s sexualisation of Antonia’s innocence and body, “the voluptuous contours and perfect symmetry of her person”(Lewis 1796, p. 127), with the mirror through which Ambrosio watches acting as a physical and metaphorical barrier between himself and his latent desires. He cannot be with Antonia in this scene, but “passively observes the mirror’s images, which then influence his actions” (Jones 1990, p.131). When the linnet lands on her, “smiling Antonia [strives] in vain to shake off the bird”; she may be smiling due to embarrassment, which links back to her intuitive nature – she does not know she is being watched: yet it almost seems as if she is aware someone is looking at her. Additionally, as the heroine of sensibility Antonia does not show any explicit emotional response to this instinctual feeling until this moment, which is when the sexualisation of her breasts is exemplified “in an exaggerated, almost parodic fashion” (Jones 1990, p. …show more content…
The veil in gothic literature is present in a “variety of forms”(Sedgwick 1981, p. 256). These can range from a literal “cloth or garment”(Segwick 1981, p. 256) to a “form of words”(Segwick 1981, p. 256). In the first chapter Antonia is hesitant to remove her veil “I never unveil in public”(Lewis 1796, p. 9). In the mirror scene Antonia’s hair may be symbolic of another veil that has been removed. It is to be noted that Lewis deliberately describes Antonia as having her hair tied up - this could be a direct reference to the first chapter of the book, wherein Lewis highlights the attractiveness of Antonia’s neck “which for symmetry and beauty might have vied with the Medicean Venus” (Lewis 1796, p. 9), when it is mostly hidden underneath her veil. Gothic fiction is rife with “images of containers and containment” and the veil is one of these. The veil is often used to denote desire and is “suffused with sexuality”(Sedgwick 1981, p.256). In the mirror scene, Antonia’s hair could be seen as a secondary veil and by tying it up, Lewis could be symbolically showing the simultaneous containment and consequential exposure of Ambrosio’s bad
On the surface, a beautiful, poisonous girl and a preacher shadowed by a black veil share no similar characteristics. However, in the works of Nathaniel Hawthorne, these characters share two remarkably comparable stories. The Minister’s Black Veil and Rappaccini's Daughter both share the symbolic use of colors, yet the characters’ relation to the outside world deviates. Hawthorne expertly contrasts colors to illustrate the battle of good against evil. In The Minister’s Black Veil, Mr. Hooper’s black veil contrasts sharply against the pale-faced congregation, just as Beatrice’s likeness to the purple flowers, described as being able to, “...illuminate the garden,” contrasts the darkness of Dr Rappaccini’s black clothing. These clashes of colors
She is very close to her father so this impacts her deeply. She feels the need to step up and care for her family. This turns Antonia into a very hard worker. She begins working with Ambrosch, her brother, by plowing the fields. She takes on the responsibilities of a man. This makes her stop going to school. This worries Jim until he finds out that Antonia is actually very hurt by the event of her father dying. Antonia cries in secret and longs to go to school.
While literature often follows some pattern and can be predictable, it is often evolving and can change in an instant depending on the author. In most Gothic literature, a derivative of Romanticism, there is a gothic space in the work – a limited space in which anything can happen in contrast to the normal world in the work. In addition, normally, order is restored at the end of Gothic literature – the good is rewarded and the bad is punished. In his Gothic novella, The Terrible Vengeance (1981), Nicolai Gogol decided to expand the ‘normal’ idea of Gothic literature by, in the work, transforming the traditional Gothic space to encompass anything and everything; in addition to the use of space, through the ending in which there is no reward, Gogol conveyed the idea that evil is prevalent everywhere and in everyone.
Antonia and Jim of My Antonia In Willa Cather's My Antonia a special bond is formed, shattered, mended, and eventually secured between the main characters, Antonia Shimerda and Jim Burden. Jim and Antonia seem to be destined to affect each other's lives dramatically, from the beginning of the novel. Starting at a young age, the main characters lives are intertwined. They form a special bond, which have both positive and negative affects on their relationship.
By describing Miranda’s reaction to the old women’s’ questioning, Porter conveys the sense of embarrassment Miranda felt. She describes Miranda’s reaction by using a simile: “with her powerful social sense, which was like a fine set of antennae radiating from every pore of her skin . . . “ Miranda is ashamed because she knew it was rude and ill-bred to shock anyone although she had faith in her father’s judgment and was perfectly comfortable in the clothes.
Written in 1818, the latter stages of the Gothic literature movement, at face value this novel embodies all the key characteristics of the Gothic genre. It features the supernatural, ghosts and an atmosphere of horror and mystery. However a closer reading of the novel presents a multifaceted tale that explores
My Antonia, by Willa Cather, is a book tracing the story of a young man, Jim Burden, and his relationship with a young woman, Antonia Shimerda. Jim narrates the entire story in first person, relating accounts and memories of his childhood with Antonia. He traces his journey to the Nebraska where he and Antonia meet and grow up. Jim looks back on all of his childhood scenes with Antonia with nearly heartbreaking nostalgia. My Antonia, is a book that makes many parallels to the sadness and frailty, but also the quiet beauty in life, and leaves the reader with a sense of profound sorrow. One of the main ways Cather is able to invoke these emotions in the reader is through the ongoing theme of separation. Willa Cather develops her theme of separation through death, the changing seasons, characters leaving and the process of growing apart.
2. How is the following and accurate depiction of Antonia? How are the enumerated traits revealed throughout the story?
Miller begins his argument by pointing out that many critics "have felt the unified emotional impact of My Ántonia and have grappled with the puzzling problem of the book's actual lack of consistent central action or unbroken character portrayal" (Miller 52). Miller argues that there seems to be no consistent character portrayal, "The action in My Ántonia is episodic, lacks focus and abounds in irrelevancies"(Miller 52). But Miller believes that there is a consistency within the novel, that of the evocation of feelings which the reader has.
"Tremble also at each other! Have men avoided me, and women shown no pity, and children screamed and fled, only for my black veil? What, but the mystery which it obscurely typifies, has made this piece of crape so awful? When the friend shows his inmost heart to his friend; the lover to his best beloved; when man does not vainly shrink from the eye of his Creator, loathsomely treasuring up the secret of his sin; then deem me a monster, for the symbol beneath which I have lived, and die! I look around me, and, lo! on every visage a Black Veil! (Monterio 8).
The two main characters depict the characteristics of chastity; they are pure, innocent and sustain the ability to refrain from being distracted and influenced by hostility, temptation, or even corruption. The readers are immediately introduced to Susanna, in the tale of Susanna at the Beach, as a captivating young girl, intoxicating her spectators with her beauty and vulnerability; just as Susanna had with the judges of Daniel and Susanna. Gold describes Susanna, “She had fled all the billboard schemes of the life of a pretty girl. Lips soft and half-parted for a grand design rather than a Lucky Strike, hands taking the measure of ambition rather than the bottle of a Coca-Cola, she has come to perfect her diving in a worn black cotton bathing suit which was already too small after her summer’s growth” (Gold, 643.) Gold is characterizing her as a young woman who surpasses the beauty of a media-driven image and foreshadows a simplistic wholesomeness that defines chastity. As the reader continues, Susanna is clearly a character una...
King, in introducing the little convent girl to the reader, goes to great lengths to present her as a dreary and uninteresting creature. She wore dark clothing, sat rigidly upright, secluded herself in her room, and displayed little zest for life. Therefor, when King uses the work "blac...
The novel is the ideal example of a gothic novel because it encompasses all the themes that typify the gothic novel. The main tenets of gothic literature include, terror, violence, threatening of a women’s virtue and women being in constant danger. This can be seen in the case of Antonia He has gained the trust and approval of everyone around him and he takes advantage of that. This contrast in power well-known and highly prevalent in Gothic Literature. “The Gothic world is fascinated by violent differences in power, and its stories are full of constraint, entrapment and forced action” (Bowen).
Next, the minister’s black veil symbolizes darkness around his face and neighbors. His frame shuddered; his lips grew white, and rushed forth into the darkness. He said, “Know, then, this veil is a type and a symbol, and I am bound to wear it ever, both in light and darkness, in solitude and before the gaze of multitudes, and as with strangers, so with my familiar friends” In this light and darkness black veil, he is bound to wear it ever.
Myra, who is dying of illness, escapes the confinement of her stuffy, dark apartment. She refuses to succumb to death in an insubordinate manner. By leaving the apartment and embracing open space, Myra rejects the societal pressure to be a kept woman. Myra did not want to die “like this, alone with [her] mortal enemy” (Cather, 85). Myra wanted to recapture the independence she sacrificed when eloping with Oswald. In leaving the apartment, Myra simultaneously conveys her disapproval for the meager lifestyle that her husband provides for her and the impetus that a woman needs a man to provide for her at all. Myra chose to die alone in an open space – away from the confinement of the hotel walls that served as reminders of her poverty and the marriage that stripped her of wealth and status. She wished to be “cremated and her ashes buried ‘in some lonely unfrequented place in the mountains, or in the sea” (Cather, 83). She wished to be alone once she died, she wanted freedom from quarantining walls and the institution of marriage that had deprived her of affluence and happiness. Myra died “wrapped in her blankets, leaning against the cedar trunk, facing the sea…the ebony crucifix in her hands” (Cather, 82). She died on her own terms, unconstrained by a male, and unbounded by space that symbolized her socioeconomic standing. The setting she died in was the complete opposite of the space she had lived in with Oswald: It was free space amid open air. She reverted back to the religious views of her youth, symbolizing her desire to recant her ‘sin’ of leaving her uncle for Oswald, and thus abandoning her wealth. “In religion , desire was fulfillment, it was the seeking itself that rewarded”( Cather, 77), it was not the “object of the quest that brought satisfaction” (Cather, 77). Therefore, Myra ends back where she began; she dies holding onto