In these first three chapters, Lisa’s identity is entirely obscured, first as the ambiguous and mysterious author of a nonsensical duo of erotic texts, and second as a subject under Freud’s microscope, given alternate traits to obscure her true self. There is great significance in the concealment of her career as an opera singer, as, metaphorically, her voice has been taken away, similar to the fact that in Don Giovanni, The Gastein Journal, and Frau Anna G., Lisa never narrates her own story. At this point in her life Lisa is almost without agency. She has fallen victim to these episodes of psychosomatic hysteria and grown dependent upon her aging aunt to support her as her illness has both ravaged her body and addled her mental faculties, …show more content…
Over the course of the opera three women, Anna, Elvira, and Zerlina, fall victim to his charms and are each instrumental in his finding retribution for his indiscretions swallowed up by the pits of hell. Donna Anna first encounters Don Giovanni when he sneaks into her home, masked, with the intent to seduce her. Misled by his disguise, she believes him to be her fiancé Don Ottavio, but when she discovers otherwise she cries out for help. Her father, the Commendatore rushes in and Giovanni, in desperation, challenges the man to a duel. Giovanni comes out victorious, slaying the Commendatore, and Anna vows revenge on her father’s unknown killer. Though her major motivator over the course of the opera is vengeance, the loss of her honor and the tainting of her reputation through her accidental involvement with Giovanni also scar Anna. She blames her own careless actions for her scandalous state and carries this undertone of guilt with her throughout the show. Similarly, Lisa is deeply shamed by her own past sexual exploits, though very few people know about them. She is prone to self-degradation and thinks herself no better than women of “…the lowest class who sold their favors?” (Thomas 174) despite the fact that her deviant impulses are an uncontrollable symptom of her psychosexual hysteria. Like Anna’s …show more content…
The Health Resort sees Lisa several years after her encounter with Freud, almost entirely cured of her hysteria, though still given to brief lapses, and making progress in her operatic career. She has been asked to sing the role of Tatiana in the classic Russian opera Eugene Onegin, taking over the role for renowned soprano Vera Serebryakova after a broken arm ends her run in the production. In addition to the fact that Lisa’s true identity, pseudonyms aside, is now unveiled, for the first time she is seen actually performing a role rather than merely referencing her career, symbolic of the notion that she has regained her “voice” both figuratively and literally. She is now capable of acting as her own agent having been able to move past her incapacitating illness. As homage to her regained talent, Thomas even includes an understated reference to La Traviata (translates directly to ‘the fallen woman’), in which, upon meeting Lisa, Serebryakova claims to have seen her sing the lead role, Violetta, many years before and was a “fervent admirer of [Frau Erdman’s] voice…” (Thomas 152). Violetta is courtesan who suffers from tuberculosis, an infliction that tragically claims her life at the end of the opera. Thomas’s selection of this particular opera for Serebryakova to have seen Lisa perform
In the book, Giovanni and Lusanna, by Gene Bucker, he discusses the scandalous actions of a Florentine woman taking a wealthy high status man to court over the legality of their marriage. Published in 1988, the book explains the legal action taken for and against Lusanna and Giovanni, the social affects placed on both persons throughout their trial, and the roles of both men and women during the time. From the long and complicated trial, it can be inferred that women’s places within Florentine society were limited compared to their male counterparts and that women’s affairs should remain in the home. In this paper, I will examine the legal and societal place of women in Florentine society during the Renaissance. Here, I will argue that women were the “merchandise” of humanity and their main objective was to produce sons.
Her mother and father snub her off completely overlooking her serious unstableness. Luckily, she has friends that care enough to help her. The main conflict of this book is the struggle to convince Lisa’s parents that she is ill and needs serious help. Her parents did not pay attention in the beginning when Lisa started to act a little different. This is rather understandable.
Over the course of history there have been numerous works of literature which presented the reader with great descriptions of story characters and their overall personalities, and one of the most prevalent examples of such use of character depiction is shown in the story “A New England Nun,” written by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman. In this short story, Freeman is able to illustrate a woman who is struggling with the commitment of marriage after waiting fourteen years for her fiancé Joe Dagget to return from Australia while also maintaining a lifestyle that involves monotonous, domestic activities in her home. However, more importantly, Freeman is able to clearly establish the character Louisa as someone who is suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder by outlining her behavior as being precise, organized, and compulsive, as well as depicting her traits of perfectionism. One of these compulsive tendencies involves Louisa constantly sewing to the point of perfection, in the sense that she often rips out her sewing in order to remake it again.
A common trait for Willa Cather's characters is that they possess a certain talent or skill. This art usually controls the lives of these characters. According to critic Maxell Geismar, Cather's heroines who possess a skill often either do not marry or marry men whom they dominate; if they do marry the marriage is without excitement because their passion is invested in their art. In a sense, Geismar accuses Cather's heroines of sacrificing their marital roles for their art (172). However, marriage is not the only aspect that raises the subject of sacrifice for Cather's protagonists - there is also the issue of family. This is because a woman artist, or any woman, is judged not only on her art but also on her personal life, especially by her submissiveness to man in the role of daughter, wife and mother. If a woman is unable to commit towards one of these roles, she is blamed for renouncing her expectant role for something that is associated with a man's world - talent. Many readers judge Thea Kronberg and Lena Lingard according to these female roles, and hence place the accusation of sacrifice upon them. Thea Kronberg and Lena Lingard in Willa Cather's The Song of the Lark and My Antonia, respectively, are accused of sacrificing too much for their art because they apparently choose to overlook their families and love relations in respect to their art. On the surface, it appears as if Thea sacrifices her relationship with her mother and her love with Fred Ottenburg in order to achieve her musical desires. Similarly, Lena is depicted as a female who sacrifices her bond with her mother and her prospects for marriage for the life of an indepe...
Annemarie's whole life circled around the lie about Aunt Birte, plus others. Her life changed, her relationship towards the adults changed, and last but not least, she learned the meaning and the way of
Anne’s diary began on her thirteenth birthday. She had a normal life for a girl of her age, and valued the same things as any girl; she loved being with her friends, enjoyed school and already had established a passion for writing which she expressed through her diary. She first wrote “I hope I will be able to confide everything to you, as I have never been able to confide in anyone, and I hope you will be a great source of comfort and support,” it is established that Anne, although a very social young girl, felt that she could not confide in her friends. The tone with which she wrote and the trivial matters that she wrote about exemplify her young age and lack of maturity. She wrote for the sake of writing, and wrote about the happenings in her life. When the first signs of anti-Semitism started to show, signs of worry showed through her writing, but she never wrote too deeply about it.
Both the essays have the similarity that they discuss about the weaknesses in the protagonists life. They describe the social stigmas and the fear of being objected or feel guilty about wh...
Paglia, Camille. Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson. New York: Vintage Books, Inc., 1990.
The comedy, “Much Ado About Nothing” depicts the story of a group of high-ranking soldiers who travel through a town called Messina. They had been to the town before, and this time Claudio confesses his love for the governor’s daughter, Hero. Because Leonato is so fond of Claudio, the wedding is set to be a few days away. This gives Don John, Claudio’s bastard brother, a chance to show his true hatred for Claudio. He comes up with a scheme to make Claudio think that Hero is cheating by dressing Margaret in her clothing and perching her near the window with another man. When Claudio sees this, he says that he will humiliate Hero instead of marrying her.
In Ann Beattie’s, Janus, the story of Andrea, a successful yet obsessed real estate agent, is found to be conflicted with her life. The symbolic bowl, depicted perfectly in her mind, becomes her main focus. The bowl manages to keep Andrea content, but the importance of it, is a reflection of the protagonist’s experiences in life. Throughout the story, the theme of deceit and emptiness is existent. Deception is the most problematic element in all her relationships.
“The Demon Lover” exhibits much support of the one critic’s claim that “The Demon Lover” is “a masterful dramatization of acute psychological delusion”. Elizabeth Bowen does this through her uses of literary elements, specifically characterization and occasion. But although she has many details that support a story of a woman with psychological delusion, her main intention may have been to create a ghost story to disguise the woman’s psychological issues. Ultimately, it was a story of a woman with a mental
"Subtly of herself contemplative," a phrase echoing Pater's famous description of the "Mona Lisa," highlights Lilith's attitude of "voluptuous self applause," an attitude which was so visually apparent in Rossetti's painting (Baum 185).
Bianca is a victim of circumstance and unknowingly involved because of her love for Cassio. I believe that Shakespeare wrote this play to illustrate the injustices done to women during his time, among other political messages that are entwined into the plot. Works Cited: Shakespeare, William. Othello. Ed.
She hides her actions and attempt to justify them until she is expose by the letter from the paper regarding her novel entry. She is ignorant to her unrealistic judgements about Cecilia and Robert and attempts to fix the problem when she made it worse. She realizes her mistake when the letter questions the conflict of her novel and she witnesses her attempt to hide the true horror behind her decision. While she attempts at hiding her problem in the draft, she made it more noticeable to the paper and drain the luster of the plot. Her realization of her ignorance honor the lovers’ romance and made her strive to atone her former
The persuasive attempts in both literary works produce different results. The effectiveness of the mother’s guidance to her daughter is questioned since the girl cannot recognize the essence of her mother’s lesson. Despite that, the mother’s beneficial instruction serves as a standard for the daughter to reflect her future behaviors in order to live up to the community’s expectations. On the other hand, Anne’s value of candid expression and lasting relationship dissuades her from obliging to her family’s meaningless duty to place her love and interest above to experience fulfillment in life.