The tale of ‘Rip Van Winkle’ can be read as a political allegory of Britain’s relation with her American colonies and as an Anti-Feminist discourse. These readings can be defined through analysis of the dynamics between Rip Van Winkle and the Dame. From this one can explore the themes of Monarchy, the Ego, Marriage and Motherhood.
The strong and dominate character of the Dame and the Passive idleness of rip creates a strong allusion to the relations between Great Britain and her colonies. The Dame can be seen as a Monarchical figure through her demands on rip.
‘What courage can withstand the ever-during and all-besetting terrors of a woman’s tongue?’
This quote suggests that the Dame’s tongue is a continual source of trouble for Rip; from this the one can infer that the Dame is a symbol for Great Britain’s taxation on goods going to and from the colonies and also the sustained British military presence through out colonial territories. Moreover, if one sees the Dame as a monarch, Rip can be seen to be representative of the colonists who seek to escape authority and live by their own rules.
‘He was fain to draw off his forces, and to take to the outside of the house-the only side which, in truth, belongs to a henpecked husband.’
This quote illustrates the power the Dame has over Rip and how he is forced out of society and into the wilds for solace. The word ‘forces’ has militaristic undertones and creates a sensation of hierarchy with the Dame at its peak. One could suggest that the house symbolises Europe as the home of Monarchy and the Dame whilst Rip’s escape into the woods symbolises the repressed elements of European society escaping to the new world to create their own communities and live by own values. One...
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...otherhood, with the dame seen as the mother nation giving authority to the childish colonists. The superego’s moral identity is created by the mother teaching right and wrongs to children at a young age. Thus we can argue that the theme of motherhood runs through both readings, political and feminist.
Thereby, one can see that the theme of motherhood is running theme that threads the political and the feminist readings together. Whether the Dame represents the monarch, the super ego, the wife, one can find aspects of motherhood within each. For every authority that the Dame represents Rip is constantly antithetical to her position as the colonist, the ego and the husband, each of which similar due to there essential need to challenge authority. Thus it is productive to read ‘Rip Van Winkle’ as a challenge to authority in the feminist and political ideologies.
In this novel, many female characters are considered to be possessions. In fact, they are considered to be the servants of men. “I have a pretty present for my Victor—tomorrow he shall have it.” (Mary Shelly, Pg. 70) For instance, Elizabeth is given to Victor as a gift without any consideration for her feelings. As a result, Victor has the power to “protect, love and cherish” (Pg. 21) Elizabeth or neglect and isolate her. As well, Elizabeth’s main role in this novel is to comfort and alleviate Victor’s feeling of guilt and sadness. She is always there for Victor as a source of comfort. In contrast, Victor leaves Elizabeth to explore his passions. For instance, after Victor goes to university, he doesn’t come back for two years. During this time, he expects Elizabeth to wait for him as if she was his property. Moreover, Elizabeth is not the only female character who is under Victor’s control. In fact, Victor presents the female monster to the creature as a bargaini...
...the introduction of the English forces introduces another level of patriarchy. It is clear that patriarchy is a dominant theme in both texts, and it beautifies the flow of each story in a unique approach. Despite all the similarities and differences between characters, the success and failures comes down solely to the audience viewing it.
The female characters in Young Frankenstein and One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest are, stereotypically, satiric and parodic renditions of oppressed or emotionally unstable feminine personalities. The theme of the treatment of women is not only played out in the external relationships the women interact within but also in the basic mentality and roles they embody within their personality. The women of Young Frankenstein add a comical element to the film which a direct contrast to the insignificance of the female in Mary Shelley’s novel. The women of One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest are either almost terrifying when thinking of the potential evil lurking just beneath the surface or effectual props in the healing of those who need it.
...hetypes of these primary characters, both of these novels make a parallel statement on feminism. The expectations of both themselves and society greatly determine the way that these women function in their families and in other relationships. Looking at the time periods in which these novels were written and take place, it is clear that these gender roles greatly influence whether a female character displays independence or dependence. From a contemporary viewpoint, readers can see how these women either fit or push the boundaries of these expected gender roles.
In “Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving he writes about a simple man, Rip Van Winkle, who does just enough to get by in life. He lives in a village by the catskill mountains, and is loved by everyone in the village. He is an easy going man, who spends most of his days at the village inn talking with his neighbors, fishing all day, and wandering the mountains with his dog to refuge from his wife the thorn on his side. On one of his trips to the mountains Rip Van Winkle stumbles upon a group of men who offer him a drink, and that drink changes everything for Van Winkle. He later wakes up, twenty years later, and returns to his village were he notices nothing is the same from when he left. He learns that King George III is no longer in charge,
‘The woman’ of the poem has no specific identity and this helps us even further see the situation in which the woman is experiencing, the lost of one’s identity. Questions start to be raised and we wonder if Harwood uses this character to portray her views of every woman which goes into the stage of motherhood, where much sacrifice is needed one being the identity that was present in society prior to children.
Like the Good Other Woman, the Evil Other Woman often spends much of her life hidden away in the castle, secret room, or whatever, a fact suggesting that even a virtuous woman’s lot is the same she would have merited had she been the worst of criminals. The heroine’s discovery of such Other Women is in the one case an encounter with women’s oppression-their confinement as wives, mothers, and daughters-and in the other with a related repression: the confinement of a Hidden Woman inside those genteel writers and readers who, in the idealization of the heroine’s virtues, displace their own rebellious
...present powerful characters, while females represent unimportant characters. Unaware of the influence of society’s perception of the importance of sexes, literature and culture go unchanged. Although fairytales such as Sleeping Beauty produce charming entertainment for children, their remains a didactic message that lays hidden beneath the surface; teaching future generations to be submissive to the inequalities of their gender. Feminist critic the works of former literature, highlighting sexual discriminations, and broadcasting their own versions of former works, that paints a composite image of women’s oppression (Feminist Theory and Criticism). Women of the twenty-first century serge forward investigating, and highlighting the inequalities of their race in effort to organize a better social life for women of the future (Feminist Theory and Criticism).
...remonde bloodline, most of which is innocent, must be exterminated to compensate for the deaths of her two siblings. The distinctions between the two women are especially evident when they engage in battle over the Evremonde family because they are speaking in different languages. Neither can understand the other linguistically, nor on a moral level. The message Dickens is attempting to convey through these characters is that of the many applications of passion, such zeal is best employed “with the vigorous tenacity of love [because it is] always so much stronger than hate” (365). In a decision between using one’s energy for love or hate, it is more productive and personally satisfying to choose the path of love because it is able to overcome that of hate.
Through juxtaposition, Katrina, “the only child of a substantial Dutch farmer,” being born into nobility represents the literal and metamorphic power of females. The farm is the central “stronghold” for the village that provides sustenance for the villagers. Similarly by depicting Katrina as “partridge or peaches,” Irving elicits Katrina literal power through wealth. Here the power of wealth is assign to a female character rather than men to illustrate how she is beginning to break the norms...
Beatrice's refusal to be controlled by men and Hero's subservience carries echoes of modern-day feminism. Comparing this novel to a contemporary society, women have made a substantial amount of progress in terms of gender roles. It is women like Beatrice, and the many others that choose to defy the expectations that are placed upon us by society, that help us progress to a more utopian civilization. This novel can be read by future generations to reflect back on how much we have changed and how much we have progressed, not only as women, but as humans in general. Additionally, this play also serves as one of the world's greatest odes to the single life known to man.
With imagery revealing the poor straits and desperation of the peasant class of France, Dickens influences the reader to pity them. He writes, “The cloud settled on Saint Antoine, which a momentary gleam had driven from his sacred countenance, the darkness of it was heavy—cold, dirt, sickness, ignorance, want were the lords waiting on the saintly presence—nobles of great power all of them; but most especially the last” (Dickens 22). Through hunger, want, etc. being personified and compared to nobles through language such as “nobles” and “lords”, Dickens shows the extent of the suffering of the peasants, their deserving to be pitied, and the human nobles’ apathy towards them. The peasants of Saint Antoine suffer in the 1770s, and the town’s name is made into a play on words with “saintly presence”, with the cloud of cold, dirt, sickness, ignorance, and want looming forming the imagery of irony. Another description of the peasants’ plight is revealed in the quote saying, “Ploughed into every furrow of age and coming up afresh, was the sign Hunger. It was prevalent everywhere...Hunger was the inscription on th...
Women roles have changed drastically in the last 50 to 80 years, women no longer have to completely conform to society’s gender roles and now enjoy the idea of being individuals. Along with the evolution of women roles in society, women presence and acceptance have drastically grown in modern literature. In early literature it was common to see women roles as simply caretakers, wives or as background; women roles and ideas were nearly non-existent and was rather seen than heard. The belief that women were more involved in the raising of children and taking care of the household was a great theme in many early literatures; women did not get much credit for being apart of the frontier and expansion of many of the nations success until much later.
These women authors have served as an eye-opener for the readers, both men and women alike, in the past, and hopefully still in the present. (There are still cultures in the world today, where women are treated as unfairly as women were treated in the prior centuries). These women authors have impacted a male dominated society into reflecting on of the unfairness imposed upon women. Through their writings, each of these women authors who existed during that masochistic Victorian era, risked criticism and retribution. Each author ignored convention a...
In an essay on feminist criticism, Linda Peterson of Yale University explains how literature can "reflect and shape the attitudes that have held women back" (330). From the viewpoint of a feminist critic, "The Lady of Shalott" provides its reader with an analysis of the Victorian woman's conflict between her place in the interior, domestic role of society and her desire to break into the exterior, public sphere which generally had been the domain of men. Read as a commentary on women's roles in Victorian society, "The Lady of Shalott" may be interpreted in different ways. Thus, the speaker's commentary is ambiguous: Does he seek to reinforce the institution of patriarchal society as he "punishes" the Lady with her death for her venture into the public world of men, or does he sympathize with her yearnings for a more colorful, active life? Close reading reveals more than one possible answer to this question, but the overriding theme seems sympathetic to the Lady. By applying "the feminist critique" (Peterson 333-334) to Tennyson's famous poem, one may begin to understand how "The Lady of Shalott" not only analyzes, but actually critiques the attitudes that held women back and, in the end, makes a hopeful, less patriarchal statement about the place of women in Victorian society.