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Essay on female figures in literature
Essay on female figures in literature
Essay on female figures in literature
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Traditional character roles and expectations can have an immense impact on the way readers interpret literature. These reader interpretations could potentially change if typical character schemas were ignored. Shirley Jackson’s gothic tale We Have Always Lived in the Castle depicts the relationship between two sisters, Constance and Mary Katherine Blackwood, who live with their uncle Julian. Mary Katherine, often referred to as Merricat, is Constance’s childish younger sister. However, she does not conform to the traditional younger sibling role. Although she is the younger sister and Jackson portrays her as juvenile, Mary Katherine actually functions as her older sister’s keeper and attempts to shield Constance from every danger that …show more content…
One example of her juvenile disposition is the game she always plays as she walks throughout town. When she embarks on her shopping trip, Merricat explains, “I played a game when I did the shopping. I thought about the children’s games where the board is marked into little spaces and each player moves according to a throw of the dice… The library was the start and the black rock was my goal” (6-7). Mary Katherine essentially plays a board game in her mind when she moves around town, and she also mentions different rules existing, such as “lose one turn” when she crosses the street (8). Whether she possesses an overactive imagination or is simply behaving childishly, it is apparent that Merricat’s behavior is extremely juvenile for her age. Another instance of Mary Katherine’s immaturity is her penchant for burying assorted valuables around her family’s estate, such as “the box of silver dollars [she] had buried by the creek” (59). She later remarks, “All our land was enriched with my treasures buried in it, thickly inhabited just below the surface with my marbles and my teeth and my colored stones” (59). Merricat’s childish actions now turn into almost …show more content…
While she still has her childish disposition, Merricat focuses on shielding Constance and keeping her safe. This focus begins to develop after Charles enters into her family’s life. After struggling to control her anger at Charles, Merricat notes, “Constance needed guarding more than ever before and if I became angry and looked aside she might very well be lost” (115). Because of Charles’s intruding presence, Merricat understands the importance of protecting Constance and fully accepts this duty. As the story continues to progress, Merricat is eventually forced into direct action as her sister’s keeper. When a fire begins to consume the Blackwood residence, Merricat realizes that she will have to hide Constance from the crowd that is soon to come. Once they exit their house, Merricat describes how she “took Constance along the porch to the corner where the vines grew thick, and [Constance] moved into the corner and pressed against the vines” (149). As the firemen pour into the flaming house, Merricat further notes, “I held her hand tight, and together we watched the great feet of the men stepping across our doorsill” (149). Merricat physically shields Constance from the outside world so that she will not need to face the scrutiny of the public. She also comforts Constance and keeps her calm through the whole ordeal. Merricat then proceeds
In medieval literature, the role of women often represents many familiar traits and characteristics which present societies still preserve. Beauty, attractiveness, and grace almost completely exemplify the attributes of powerful women in both present and past narratives. European medieval prose often separates the characteristics of women into two distinct roles in society. Women can be portrayed as the greatest gift to mankind, revealing everything that is good, pure, and beautiful in a woman's life. On the other side of the coin, many women are compared to everything that is evil and harmful, creating a witch-like or temptress quality for the character. These two aspects of European culture and literature show that the power of women in medieval narrative can be portrayed through both evil and good, and more often than not, power is derived from the latter.
Like all compelling characters, Merricat is both strong and weak, both villain and hero. If you spoke to her, she might sprint off into the woods with her cat Jonas, but if you anger her she might set one’s room on fire. Merricat would be impossible to live with, which is why Constance fears her. As some may say Constance is weak and is still paralyzed by the townspeople, Charles their cousin, comes to town to challenge her ways and is tested to see if she will follow him into the outside world or be subsumed into Merricat’s fantasy. As the novel goes on, the reader learns that Merricat killed her whole family except Constance. This shows that Merricat
Although the relatability of characters does not qualify a novel as being ‘of literary merit,’ it is notable when the novel is more than one hundred and fifty years old, and the characters were created with a completely different ‘set’ of moral and social ideals in place. For example, it is more difficult for a modern teenager to relate to a medieval princess than to, say, a character of a similar age and era (four sisters in Civil War-era Massachusetts is hardly a challenge when faced with Romeo and Juliet for the first time). Even angelic Beth, an example of the old female archetype that shall be mentioned later, is relatable in her shyness or ...
Parry, Joseph D. "Interpreting Female Agency and Responsibility in The Miller's Tale and The Merchant's Tale." 80.2 (2001): 133-67. Academic Onefile. Web. 16 May 2013.
In eighteenth century novels, a common means of discussing the role of women in society is through the characterization of two good sisters. The heroine of such a novel is a pure, kind young woman who also has a streak of spunkiness. Her sister may be more good and kind, but she is more submissive and reserved. I would like to look at these sisters (and their mothers) in Ann Radcliffe’s A Sicilian Romance , and The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole.
It felt like when Charles had visited Constance put on an act, in order to show Cousin Charles that she wasn’t like her sister Mericat or her Uncle Julian. To demonstrate she was capable of making decisions and that she is still in her right mind. Because if she seemed just as crazy as the other two Charles would of had more leverage to do what he wanted with all three of them and take the money for
Every great story includes a morally ambiguous character, often either a Byronic hero whom everyone loves despite his utterly depressing nature and moral flaws (such as Hamlet in Hamlet and Sidney Carton in A Tale of Two Cities) or a strict, principled character who unfortunately earns the readers’ hostility as his moral ambiguity is somewhat deeply offensive to many. The example of the latter is St. John Rivers, a morally ambiguous character in Jane Eyre, written by Charlotte Bronte, who is a compassionate man but has a quite misogynistic characteristic that he vainly attempts to have a loveless marriage with Jane Eyre, expecting her to be subservient. Nevertheless, despite his moral flaws, as St. John makes a moral determination that surprisingly resembles that of Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte allows the protagonist to project her own image onto St. John, the morally ambiguous character of the novel. As a consequence, St. John Rivers contributes to the work as a whole by drawing the very meaning of the text, Jane’s quest for love and self-respect, and allowing Jane Eyre to appreciate herself in her entirety and realize the true meaning of self-respect.
The inability to have control and excessive control in the novel ultimately leads to the downfall of Antoinette and Rochester’s marriage which is seen as inevitable. The theme is presented in the novel culturally, socially and mentally. Rhys’s purpose in reacting to these topics is to identify the contextual issues within the novel, such as the struggle for control and power surrounding women’s role in society and traditional conventions within marriage.
With Catherine Morland and Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen has set a new benchmark for what a heroine and novel can be. Through Catherine, Austen shows the danger of becoming immersed in reading and its ability to hinder the judgment between fact and fiction. Reading is a dominant theme throughout the novel, as in both the reading of the gothic novel and the reading of a person's character. When these two notions clash, the reader is forced to decide which activity holds more importance. Austen ingeniously gives the reader an interactive role as a main character in her story by making one realize Catherine's reading ability is directly proportional to her coming of age.
Moreover, the narrator manifests signs of transgression as she comes to identify with Rebecca and comes to terms with her adult sexuality. For most of the narrative, the narrator displays a plain shy, innocent, docile character. However, Blackford points at the erotic nature of the narrator’s post as a female companion to Mrs. Van Hopper (234). The same post is suggested again by the narrator with Maxim “I’ll be your friend and your companion, a sort of boy” (du Maurier 269). Horner and Zlosnik emphasize this prospect through declaring that the narrator’s identity is more complex than it might appear and more importantly that in writing her tale she hints at the “most mysterious secret of all: the nature of female identity” (Daphne du
Throughout the novel, We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson, we notice by Mary Katherine Blackwood’s thoughts, actions, and words that she is not completely mentally healthy and may have several mental illnesses, one of them being paranoid schizophrenia. This disorder makes it difficult for readers to understand what is real and what is a figment of Merricat’s imagination. Through other characters’ speech towards and about her, we can better understand Merricat’s thought process.
She explicitly believes in different types of magic that will keep Constance and her safe from the rest of the village. One of these magic techniques include the three safe words Mary Katherine creates but are compromised when she exclaims “Their names were Melody Gloucester Pegasus, and we were safe until they were said out loud” (Jackson 82). She blames this mishap for the reason why Charles unctuously comes to her home and disrupts the cyclical routine she has had for the past six years. Another consequence of the magic that Mary Katherine thinks led to Charles coming is “because the book had fallen from the tree; [Mary Katherine] had neglected to replace it at once and our wall of safety had cracked” (Jackson 83). Mary Katherine relies on all of her magic to maintain her barrier of safety while making it her prerogative to protect
In Northanger Abbey, Austen intended to reflect a contrast between a normal, healthy-natured girl and the romantic heroines of fiction thorough the use of characterization. By portraying the main character, Catherine Moorland, as a girl slightly affected with romantic notions, Jane Austen exhibits the co...
Margaret is an intelligent, articulate, and ambitious woman who desires to rise up in social status by marrying a man of higher social rank. She attends to those above her, in hopes of elevating her status as she becomes closer to the upper-class. As a minor character, she plays a small yet crucial role in advancing Don John’s plot to slander Hero and spoil her wedding. As a lower-class character, Margaret serves as a foil to the rich girls, particularly Hero, who embodies every attitude and mindset Margaret does not. But she also offers an alternative perspective on the upper-class characters in the play. Because Margaret is victimized because of her social ambitions, punished for wanting to rise above her ...
Another characteristic of gender roles is the gothic heroine. A gothic heroine is a female character who somewhat defies the traditional ways of the people around her and fights the patriarchal culture. The heroine in this novel, the Governess, places herself in an imaginary world. She uses her imagination to escape and have her own freedom; as she does this she believes that she is not as innocent as she may appear. There are no “damsels in distress” that can be found throughout this novel. All the women know how to take care of themselves and rarely need the help of men. Although “An unknown man in a lonely place is a permitted object of fear to a young woman privately bred; and the figure that faced me was… as little anyone else I knew as it was the image I had in my mind”(James 310 - 311), this quote shows that the perspective on the relationship of men and women in this time period is that there is a threat of violence towards women at any moment. The Governess, after figuring out that there are ghosts pursuing the children, believes that she can save Miles and Flora from the destruction the spirits may cause