The Character of Eustacia Vye in the Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy Analyse Hardy’s presentation of Eustacia Vye in Book One in the light of this comment. In “Return of the Native” we first come across the character of Eustacia Vye in Chapter 7. In this chapter Hardy gives us an in depth description of the character, for example we learn that she “was the raw material of a divinity”. Here Hardy is comparing her to a godlike figure which immediately gives us an impression of a character that is above the rest of the characters of the heath. Further divine imagery is used throughout this chapter, other examples are, “On Olympus she would have done well with a little preparation”, “In heaven she will probably sit between the Heloises and the Cleopatras.” And “She had the passions and instincts which make a model goddess, that is, those which make not quite a model woman.” All of these add together to present her as something not of this world, this in a way shows the audience how she doesn’t belong with the ‘lower’ members of society. In a way Hardy is also ambiguous about the presentation of Eustacia, as he seems to be torn between her divinity and her humanity. This is particularly apparent in the quote “She had the passions and instincts which make a model goddess, that is, those which make not quite a model woman.” Although we are presented with a goddess like character, we also know how she is human as we learn about her past, that she is an orphan and how Egdon is not really her native birthplace, but instead she is presented as the native of a seaside resort, this could be an attempt to make the character appear mo... ... middle of paper ... ... In class we could not decide whether or not we actually liked her, but the criticisms painted her not only as a tragic figure, but also as a tragic figure that had no part in her own tragedy. In other words, the criticisms seemed to say that Eustacia was a sad victim of circumstance and fate; she was a brilliant woman stuck in a confining atmosphere. As one critic says, “Eustacia finds her potential for effective activity cripplingly limited…emotional power over other individuals is the only kind of influence [she] can exercise.” I found myself feeling sorry for her despite the fact that she is immature, impulsive, manipulative and completely selfish. Perhaps these character traits would disappear had she been allowed to express herself in an atmosphere, and with people, equalling her brilliance and passion.
Yet, despite the fact that no two women in this epic are alike, each—through her vices or virtues—helps to delineate the role of the ideal woman. Below, we will show the importance of Circe, Calypso, Nausicaa, Clytaemestra, and Penelope in terms of the movement of the narrative and in defining social roles for the Ancient Greeks. Before we delve into the traits of individual characters, it is important to understand certain assumptions about women that prevailed in the Homeric Age. By modern standards, the Ancient Greeks would be considered a rabidly misogynistic culture. Indeed, the notoriously sour Boetian playwright Hesiod-- who wrote about fifty years before Homer-- proclaimed "Zeus who thunders on high made women to be evil to mortal men, with a nature to do evil (Theogony 600).
The title of this paper takes as its cue Blondell et al's Women on the Edge: Four Plays by Euripides, [1] which argues in its introduction that "[w]omen in tragedy often disrupt 'normal' life by their words and actions: they speak out boldly, tell lies, cause public unrest, violate custom, defy orders, even kill." (Blondell, Gamel, Rabinowitz, Sorkin and Zweig. 1999, x) The four plays selected by the editors - Alcestis, Medea, Helen and Iphigenia at Aulis offer "examples of women who support the status quo and women who oppose and disrupt it." (Blondell, Gamel, Rabinowitz, Sorkin and Zweig. 1999, x) Sometimes, however, it is enough that a woman merely be present for 'normal life' to be not only 'disrupted', but irrevocably altered. Further, a woman's transposition from one sphere to another, and her corresponding transition from one state to the next, may change the very nature of the cosmos itself. This article will discuss several shared characteristics in the myths of Pandora, Persephone and Helen as presented in some of our earliest ancient Greek literary sources. Specifically, I shall look at those dating from the 8th to 6th centuries BCE: Homer's Iliad and Odyssey; Hesiod's Theogony and Works and Days; the Homeric Hymn to Demeter and Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite; and finally, the Greek epic fragments.
In a novel where everything is turned upside down and every character plays a role they probably shouldn’t, Nelly Dean’s role is the most ambiguous. As both Lockwood’s and the reader’s narrator, Nelly plays the role of the storyteller. Yet at the same time, Nelly is also a character in the story that she tells, occupying a vast array of roles. As a character within her own tale, Nelly attempts to manipulate the actions of her fellow characters. The best way for the reader to understand both Nelly’s role in the novel and her manipulative actions is to see Nelly as being representative of the author. Authors occupy roles that are similarly as ambiguous as Nelly’s role, acting as both writers of and characters in their own stories, often unwittingly writing aspects of themselves into a large variety of roles within their own novels. Furthermore, Nelly’s manipulative actions and biases are analogous to an author’s exertions to move the narrative in accordance with her artistic vision. The multiplicity and ambiguity of Nelly’s roles as well as Nelly’s clearly manipulative maneuvers to alter the plot ultimately implicate Nelly in the meta-fictional role of representing the author.
In the entire novel Hardy has highlighted his sympathy for lower class people of England society, particularly for rural women there is a considerable amount of controversy about the life of a women who was being exploited by the society and her purity and chastity is questioned upon throughout the novel. He became famous for his empathetic and often controversial portrayal of a younger women who became the victim by the superior rigidity of English society and his most famous depiction of such a young woman is in the novel. In the nineteenth-century society, there were two types of women: Bad women and good women. Good women were seen as pure and clean until they get married and their bodies were seen as pure as that of a goddess in a temple that could not be used for pleasure. Their role was to have children and take care of the house. Any woman who did not fulfill these expectations was dergraded by the society. While the Victorian society regarded Tess as a woman who has lost her innocence, Hardy seems to be representing her as a pure woman who being a young girl became a
Moss, Leonard. "The Critique of the Female Stereotype in Greek Tragedy." Sounding: An Interdisciplinary Journal 71.4 (1988): 515-32. JSTOR. Web. 18 Feb. 2014.
These literary works give us a vivid insight of what being a women in those times would have been like. Being that our society is widely liberated, a majority of current day female population would disagree on a multitude of terms as such. Since past time, our world has evolved tremendously for women of all races, ethnicities, and social standings. Although some parts of the world may still be in a traditional state, women of most cultures have has their chance to excel. In connection with my background of being a Hispanic Women, I would have been labeled as in the image of Eve; seeing that it is the 21st century, living in the independent image of Lysistrata is seen to be ideal in present
Georgiana's behavior in the 19th century from Nathaniel Hawthorne “The Birthmark”. By the 19th century standards she is expected to live by a certain way and do certain things to satisfied her husband. Georgiana lived up to her expectations as a women and as a wife.
Euripides shows his views on female power through Medea. As a writer of the marginalized in society, Medea is the prime example of minorities of the age. She is a single mother, with 2 illegitimate children, in a foreign place. Despite all these disadvantages, Medea is the cleverest character in the story. Medea is a warning to the consequences that follow when society underestimates the
To begin with, the whole story is told from Irene’s perspective where we can see a considerable measure of dissatisfaction and disdain on her side. Throughout the story, Irene and Clare has a strange relationship. Even though they were high school friends, they were never close with each other. Irene considers Clare as narrow minded, cold and hard. While Clare utilizes her physical appearance as leverage in the bigot and sexist society, introducing herself as a question of sexual yearnings, Irene stays unobtrusive with her sexuality and never endeavors to utilize her magnificence to pick up favorable position in any means. Even though it is appeared throughout the book that Irene doesn’t care for Clare, it is obviously clear that Irene is hypocrite
Whereas the extent of my poetic appreciation lies in a decided distaste for Dante and a zest for limericks concerning Nantucket - it behooves me to discuss a poem that my limited capacities can grasp. Fable by Nina Cassian is just such a poem. I view this piece as Ms. Cassian's perspective on life (a "sentence" or an obligation), death, and sadly, the fact that most people do not appreciate the beautific nature of existence.
Hardy's Presentation of Bathsheba and Fanny's Experiences in Far from the Madding Crowd. How does this novel reveal the social reality of the time? In this essay I will look at Thomas Hardy's Far from the Madding. Crowd. In the first section, I will look at the different ways Hardy works.
As the audience finished the play from the beginning to end, they could see the importance of the role of women. Unlike the protagonist, they were suppressed and didn’t have any authority. Medea’s characteristics were in opposition to the Corinthian women. Medea was the ultimate uncommon woman portrayed in the Greek theater. She was not an ordinary house wife because she killed her children and caused many other dreadful events. In the end, Euripide was showing a side of a woman that was different from the stereotypical role that women during the time was suppose to play.
novels that tell them of these tricks; but I never had the chance o’ learning in
...eable quality in a woman is her beauty. In addition, Duffy makes the protagonist annihilate her husband even though in the original myth, Medusa was decapitated, thereby challenging the speculations that a characteristic of women is to be defend less and insubstantial, dating back to ancient times, by showing that women too are vengeful conquerors.
Emily Bronte, who never had the benefit of former schooling, wrote Wuthering Heights. Bronte has been declared as a romantic rebel because she ignored the repressive conventions of her day and made passion part of the novelistic tradition. Unlike stereotypical novels, Wuthering Heights contains no true heroes or villains.