Jealousy and Love in The Lady, or the Tiger? by Frank R. Stockton
Women will do almost anything for love, to be loved, or to keep love. That is their mission. When women become jealous, however, the love they want to hold onto disappears, becomes selfishness, and one does not know if it is love anymore. In the short story “The Lady, or the Tiger?” written by Frank R. Stockton, a semi barbaric princess motions which door her lover, the accused man, must open to either receive punishment or a reward. The punishment is to be devoured by a fierce tiger and the reward is to be married to a lovely damsel of the court. This semi barbaric princess loves the man and chooses which door the man deserves to open. Like many women in love, this princess would not dare to let another woman take her lover away from her. Instead, jealousy takes over and the door that opens will emerge a tiger because she will go berserk to see her man happy with another woman, and will prefer to have him eaten by a tiger and await the princess herself on a heavenly earth.
According to Frank R. Stockton, he states, “How in her grievous reveries has she gnashed her teeth and torn her hair, when she saw his start of rapturous delight as he opened the door of the lady” (150). Obviously, this describes her frenzied actions as the lovely damsel appears at the door on the right. If she leads her lover to the door with the damsel behind it, this princess will be green with envy to see him happily marrie...
The Other Side of the Bridge by Mary Lawson is a book that depicts two different people, that mainly focuses on jealousy, rivalry and the power of obsession over half a century. There are many characters in the novel and they build relationships with one another that eventually become intertwined. The relationships that are built end up having an effect on the character, and contributes something different to his understanding of himself and the decisions he makes. Ian in the novel is an example of that, where the relationships he builds with the others, helps him find who he is as a person and affects the decisions he makes. Specifically through the relationships with Pete, his father, and Jake, he gains something different from each character which proves to be vital to who he is. Without these characters, Ian would be very different, as each character contributed something to Ian’s ultimate understanding of himself.
"Love in L.A.," written by Dagoberto Gilb, is a story full of irony and multiple themes. The story is set in Hollywood during the summer time. Written in third person objective, "Love in L.A." guides the reader along through the story as opposed to an omniscient point of view.
At what point does work life start interfering with family life to an extent that it becomes unacceptable? Is it when you don’t get to spend as much time with your family as you would like, or is it the point where you barely get to see your family due to long hours at work? Is it even possible to balance work with family life? Anne-Marie Slaughter, the author of “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All”, believes this balance is impossible to achieve in this day and age. In contrast, Richard Dorment, the author of “Why Men Still Can’t Have It All”, believes that there will never be a day when someone will have it all, certain sacrifices will always have to be made. Both of these articles are similar in the respect that they both examine balancing a demanding career with raising children. The two authors’ views on the subject differ greatly, especially regarding how gender roles have a significant impact on our society.
For over two hundred years, slavery engulfed America as one the largest economic opportunities. As soon as millions of Africans forcibly left their homeland for the new founded states, they immediately began their new lives controlled by their relentless owners. Not only did slavery corrupt the slaves, but also the slave owners. The idea of absolute power over others led to the longing of total dominance at all times. Fredrick Douglass’s narrative clearly depicts the perception of mental corruption as a tyrannical slave owner. As slave owners experienced a constant craving for power, they utilized a variety of evil schemes and actions to fulfill their desires.
The Lais of Marie de France is a compilation of short stories that delineate situations where love is just. Love is presented as a complex emotion and is portrayed as positive, while at other times, it is portrayed as negative. The author varies on whether or not love is favorable as is expressed by the outcomes of the characters in the story, such as lovers dying or being banished from the city. To demonstrate, the author weaves stories that exhibit binaries of love. Two distinct types of love are described: selfish and selfless. Love is selfish when a person leaves their current partner for another due to covetous reasons. Contrarily, selfless love occurs when a lover leaves to be in a superior relationship. The stark contrast between the types of love can be analyzed to derive a universal truth about love.
The short story What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, by Raymond Carver, is about two married couples drinking gin and having a talk about the nature of love. The conversation is a little sloppy, and the characters make some comments which could either be meaningless because of excessive alcohol in the bloodstream, or could be the characters' true feelings because of excessive alcohol in the bloodstream. Overall, the author uses this conversation to show that when a relationship first begins, the people involved may have misconceptions about their love, but this love will eventually die off or develop into something much more meaningful.
Venus in furs is the story of a man who loves one woman so much that he chooses to become her slave in order to not lose her. Severin meets his Venus in furs one night in a garden near his home; a red-headed woman with pale white skin and piercing green eyes. The first time he sees her, he runs away from her, but the second time, on his balcony, they make their acquaintances. She says that she was made curious about him from a picture he left in one of the books he lent her. So they discuss their differences in views of love and marriage and the relationship between men and women. She is of the opinion that the Christian viewpoint of marriage is flawed. One cannot expect a woman to stay in love with one man forever and ever. Severin expresses his opinion that in any relationship either the man or the woman will take the reins in a relationship. If the man does not quickly establish his place over the woman, then it is in her innate nature to take the reins and subjugate him. They continue their dialogue over time and he becomes more and more in love with her. She is resistant to his quest for marriage because she does not know yet if he is the man she can respect and therefore have a lasting relationship with. She asks to live with him for a year and then if the love is true she would marry him. In order not to lose her and to satisfy his desire to be controlled by his Venus, he asks that he may become her slave. At first she is resistant; she doesn’t think she has the predilection to be so cruel. But as the story unfolds she agrees to it with the warning to him that he may incite such cruelty that he may not want or expect from her.
Lessons are learned through mistakes and experiences, but to completely understand the lesson, a person must be smart enough to profit from their errors and be strong enough to correct them. However, this was not the case for the main character in the short story; A Good Man is Hard to Find written by Flannery O’Connor. In this tale of manipulation and deception, O’Connor depicts the main character, the grandmother, as a shrewd self-centered woman, who considers herself morally superior than the other individuals. Throughout the entire story, she is seen using her manipulative tactics on everyone, which brought her to a sinister ending. O’Connor expertly portrayed the grandmother as a character that did not correct her negative characteristics throughout the story. To prove this statement, the use of time will be applied to help focus on the main idea of the grandmother not changing her deleterious ways throughout this story.
The biological differences that set apart the male and female gender throughout any culture remain eminent. Men are perceived as the stronger and dominant gender; women play the role of the weaker. In each culture the expectation of the manner in which men and women behave are influenced by the ideals and customs of that culture. In most predominant cultures, the man undertakes the role as a leader, and the woman devotes her life to the husband. Throughout history, traditions and literature provide a template to the identities of various cultures. Sleeping Beauty’s classic tale of a beautiful princess takes a central precept that previous patriarchal archetypes dominated during the 17th Century. The archetypal perceptions of women resulted from conscious and unconscious literature influenced by male-dominated perspectives and social standards.
"They turn casually to look at you, distracted, and get a mild distracted surprise, you're gone. Their blank look tells you that the girl they were fucking is not there anymore. You seem to have disappeared.(pg.263)" In Minot's story Lust you are play by play given the sequential events of a fifteen year old girls sex life. As portrayed by her thoughts after sex in this passage the girl is overly casual about the act of sex and years ahead of her time in her awareness of her actions. Minot's unique way of revealing to the reader the wild excursions done by this young promiscuous adolescent proves that she devalues the sacred act of sex. Furthermore, the manner in which the author illustrates to the reader these acts symbolizes the likeness of a list. Whether it's a list of things to do on the weekend or perhaps items of groceries which need to be picked up, her lust for each one of the boys in the story is about as well thought out and meaningful as each item which has carelessly and spontaneously been thrown on to a sheet of paper as is done in making a list. This symbolistic writing style is used to show how meaningless these relationships were but the deeper meaning of why she acted the way she did is revealed throughout the story. Minot cleverly displayed these catalysts in between the listings of her relationships.
The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis suggests that choices made on earth have a consequential effect towards our acceptance into heaven or our plummet into hell. In this book pride manifests itself in a hundred subtle ways as souls whine about perceived injustices or irrational motives. Thankfully, a few tourists do humble themselves, become transformed into marvelously real beings, and remain in heaven. But most don't, about which the great Scottish author George MacDonald, Lewis' heavenly guide, says, “They may not be rejecting the truth of heaven now. They may be reenacting the rejection they made while on earth”.
Despite the fact that this lady was supposedly untouchable due to her status as “taken” this man or rather knight made it his mission to win her over or it was his mission to please her. This Knight would go to great lengths sometimes setting into long journeys, battling other knights and going into chivalric adventures in what is known as the other world. This knight or the courtly lover is like a slave to this passionate, romantic love for example in the tale “Le Chevalier de la charrette”, a courtly romance whose hero obeys every imperious and unreasonable demand of the heroine. A slave willing to put his own life at risk in order to show his love and passion for this one woman. For example, In “Lancelot, the Knight of Cart” Lancelot first part is a physical quest though driven by love, the knight tries to rescue Guinevere. However, once he finds her, he does not stop, he continued to quest in order to deserve her love. Even after they consummate their relationship in the tower, he must continue to do her bidding, suggesting that the quest for love never ceases. We see this untouchable love through his love and adulterous feelings for the queen, Lady Guinevere, this lady made untouchable through her marriage to King
... beloved wife has made the decision for him. After going through this incredible journey of his, not only did he study women but he had to explain what women most desired to the queen. Otherwise he would have been beheaded, but was spared because of his looks. Was this justice? Indeed it would have been justice back in the 1300’s because if you were beautiful you could be spared and do a noble deed for the king/queen as they asked. If you did not complete it who knows what could have happened. But for the knight, he completed what he was told to do and in fact after he raped the woman and he was being prosecuted, the journey of his made him find the true knight inside of him. The old woman choice that was offer to the knight demonstrated that he learned his lesson through his sufficient punishment and redemption for his crime.
The Chaser,” by John Collier is a short story about a young man, Alan Austen, who is desperate to find love. Finding true love takes time and some people may not ever find it. Alan Austen has had a rough time finding true love and is looking for a way find it quickly. He is willing to try anything for love. Austen is searching for a potion the will make someone Diana fall in love with him. He does not want just anyone to fall in love with him; he wants Diana. Unfortunately, he is pursing is a fake love and he will live a miserable life if……. Austen will realize living without love is better than forcing love. In John Collier's "The Chaser," Alan Austen feels desperate to make Diana love him and ignores warning signs, but will eventually regret his rash decision to seek out the old man's potions.
“The Wife of Bath’s Tale” is written in an entertaining and adventurous spirit, but serves a higher purpose by illustrating the century’s view of courtly love. Hundreds, if not thousands, of other pieces of literature written in the same century prevail to commemorate the coupling of breathtaking princesses with lionhearted knights after going through unimaginable adventures, but only a slight few examine the viability of such courtly love and the related dilemmas that always succeed. “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” shows that women desire most their husband’s love, Overall, “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” shows that the meaning of true love does not stay consistent, whether between singular or separate communities and remains timeless as the depictions of love from this 14th century tale still hold true today.