We Have Always Lived In The Castle Susan Blackwood

808 Words2 Pages

Not one single relationship is ever the same. In We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson, two sisters, Mary Katharine Blackwood, commonly referred to as Merricat, and Constance Blackwood, share a riveting relationship. The two sisters live secluded on the Blackwood property with their uncle, Julian Blackwood. The rest of their family died six years ago due to arsenic poisoning. The villagers in the village despise the Blackwood family and even go as far as to plunder their house. Constance represents a motherly figure to Merricat, and these sisters love each other, although the arrival of their cousin, Charles Blackwood, introduces stress in their relationship. To begin, Constance is a motherly figure to Merricat. Constance …show more content…

When Merricat comes home from the town on Tuesday, Constance waits at the end of the garden for Merricat and welcomes her home (19). She expresses deep concern for Merricat when she leaves for town and is extremely happy to see Merricat when she returns. In a similar way, Merricat cares deeply for Constance. When Constance remarks that spiders frighten her, Merricat replies, “Jonas and I will see it that no spider ever comes near you. Oh, Constance,’. . . ‘we are so happy’” (146). The fact that Merricat is willing to protect Constance and feels happy with only Constance around indicates that Merricat deeply loves and cares for Constance. However, much like any other relationship, there are obstacles that can stress the bonds of love. The obstacle that threatens the happiness of Merricat and Constance is Charles. With Charles living in the house, Constance becomes increasingly impatient with Merricat. Merricat observes that Constance “was increasingly cross with [her] when [she] wanted Charles to leave” and before “Constance had listened and smiled and only been angry when Jonas and [her] had been wicked, but now she frowned at [Merricat] often”(78). The arrival of Charles causes Constance to change her view on many topics, like her actions towards Merricat and Uncle Julian, and these conflict with her previous views that she shared with

Show More
Related

  • The Suspicions Of Mr. Whicher Sparknotes

    1062 Words  | 3 Pages

    She then asks the maid to get her a glass of water and she is left in the room for a very short period of time. The maid states that Constance was in the same spot that she was before the maid left her, but Constance could still easily take the nightgown and put it up her dress after she asked for a glass of

    Read More

  • Fear In 'We Have Always Lived In The Castle'

    903 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • We have always lived in the Castle

    1017 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...this building could be called anymore. She had said "What have I done to my baby Merricat... No house. No food. And dressed in a tablecloth; what have I done?" (p.136) The only solution she could find in order to protect herself and her sister is to isolate themselves once again. She found that isolation was much more friendly towards her than the villagers. In a sense, Constance had let herself get carried away with change up until it cost her the house.

    Read More

  • Mary Katherine Blackwood Analysis

    568 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • The Castle

    796 Words  | 2 Pages

    Australia has the terrible condition of having an essentially pointless and prefabricated idea of “Aussiness” that really has no relation to our real culture or the way in which we really see ourselves. We, however subscribe to these stereotypes when trying to find some expression of our Australian identity. The feature film, The Castle, deals with issues about Australian identity in the 1990’s. The film uses techniques like camera shots, language and the use of narration to develop conflict between a decent, old fashioned suburban family, the Kerrigans and an unscrupulous corporation called Airlink. Feature films like The Castle are cultural products because they use attitudes, values and stereotypes about what it means to be Australian.

    Read More

  • Wuthering Heights Deception

    787 Words  | 2 Pages

    Which drew Catherine towards him; she describes him as “handsome”, “pleasant to be with,” and “cheerful,” and “rich”. Linton turns Catherine from a wild child to a well-mannered lady. They meet when Catherine got bit by a dog, and then the Lintons take her in while she is healing, this lasts for five weeks. Edgar tames her in a way, his overall persona clashes with hers in a perfect way. His love gives Catherine safety a security in the society. Heathcliff on the other hand is almost obsessed and can't give her the attributes she needs and wants; such as, commitment and how he won't sacrifice anything. However, those exact qualities attract Catherine to him. “She was much too fond of Heathcliff. The greatest punishment we could invent for her was to keep her separate from him: yet she got chided more than any of us on his account.”(Brontë 41) According to Levy, “As a result of the Unlove that they were made to suffer, both Heathcliff and Catherine, by opposite means and in distinct circumstances, turn loneliness into a community of rejection over which they wield absolute control. Heathcliff does this by persecuting those he hates; Catherine, by persecuting those she loves.” Edgar and Heathcliff have a good angel bad angel complex, of course Heathcliff is the bad angel and Edgar is the good angel. The reasons behind this is simply the characteristics portrayed;Edgar

    Read More

  • The Secret Place Character Analysis

    1673 Words  | 4 Pages

    The novel “The Secret Place” by Tana French tells the story of four friends and their journey through a mysterious death at their boarding school. They all share a close bond that is until someone disrupts their peaceful family. Holly, Salena, Rebecca and Julia are sister like friends who do everything together until Salena becomes close with a boy named Chris from a nearby boy’s school. All the girls soon become distant from one another once they find out that their vow has broken but Rebecca takes a different route about this and ends up killing Chris to protect their “Family”. These girls keep creating problems for themselves wanting to go back to the happier times but instead just keep digging holes for themselves. Each girl struggles between doing the right or wrong thing to protect one another. But one of the girls took it to another level, Rebecca seems to have an obsessive relationship with the girls that is not healthy. She is a character that leaves people asking many questions about her and why she has these problems and how this could have

    Read More

  • Free Glass Menagerie Essays: The Destruction of Laura

    1116 Words  | 3 Pages

    Laura's mother and brother shared some of her fragile tendencies. Amanda, Laura's mother, continually lives in the past. Her reflection of her teenage years continually haunts Laura. To the point where she forces her to see a "Gentleman Caller" it is then that Tom reminds his mother not to "expect to much of Laura" she is unlike other girls. But Laura's mother has not allowed herself nor the rest of the family to see Laura as different from other girls. Amanda continually lives in the past when she was young a pretty and lived on the plantation. Laura must feel she can never live up to her mothers expectations. Her mother continually reminds her of her differences throughout the play.

    Read More

  • Wuthering Heights Feminist Analysis

    604 Words  | 2 Pages

    Catherine is the first woman that Heathcliff is introduced to. He treats her well; Heathcliff has never struck her or curse her. Throughout their childhood and adolescence, the pair are inseparable. When Catherine is injured at the Linton’s he refuses to leave her side,

    Read More

  • We Have Always Lived In The Castle Mary Katherine Essay

    1211 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Heathcliff Character Analysis

    1009 Words  | 3 Pages

    The sympathetic part of Heathcliff shows through when he sees Catherine in the beginning stages of her sickness after childbirth. “He neither spoke, nor loosed his hold, for some five minutes, during which period he bestowed more kisses than ever he gave in his life before, I dare say…” (159). The sympathetic part of Heathcliff kicks in when he sees the woman he loves dying right before him. Heathcliff began to ask Catherine the questions he had not been able to ask her before, whether it had been due to his pride or to his absence - was insignificant., “‘...You loved me - then what right had you to leave me? What right - answer me - for the poor fancy you felt for Linton?” (162). When the novel begins, it is mentioned that Heathcliff is shouting, “‘Come in! Come in!’ he sobbed. ‘Cathy, do come. Oh do - once more! Oh! My heart’s darling, hear me this time - Catherine, at last!’” (28). Heathcliff attempts to get Catherine’s ghost to speak to him, because his main goal is to be united with her in death. Heathcliff’s character changes relatively fast when he sees Catherine dying in her bed. There is a sympathetic side shown that has not been quite expressed before, and also the feelings that Heathcliff kept bottled

    Read More

  • The Self-destructive Relationship in Wuthering Heights

    1235 Words  | 3 Pages

    Catherine is trapped between her love of Heathcliff and her love for Edgar, setting the two men down a path of destruction, a whirlwind of anger and resentment that Catherine gets caught in the middle of. Catherine is drawn to Heathcliff because of his fiery personality, their raw attraction and one certainly gets the sense that they are drawn together on a deeper level, that perhaps they are soulmates. C. Day Lewis thought so, when he declared that Heathcliff and Catherine "represent the essential isolation of the soul...two halves of a single soul–forever sundered and struggling to unite." This certainly seems to be backed up in the novel when Catherine exclaims “Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He's always, always in my mind--not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being...” This shows clearly the struggle Catherine feels as she is drawn spiritually to Heathcliff, but also to Edgar for very different reasons. Edgar attracts Catherine predominantly because he is of the right social class. Catherine finds him "handsome, and pleasant to be with," but her feelings for him seem petty when compared to the ones she harbours...

    Read More

  • The Power of Love in Wuthering Heights

    1397 Words  | 3 Pages

    Young Cathy’s love for Hareton is a redemptive force. It is her love that brings an end to the reign of Heathcliff. Heathcliff and Catherine have loved each other since their childhood. Initially, Catherine scorned the little gypsy boy; she showed her distaste by “spitting” at him (Brontë 27). However, it was not long before Heathcliff and Catherine became “very think” (Brontë 27).

    Read More

  • Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

    736 Words  | 2 Pages

    (4) Wuthering Heights’s mood is melancholy and tumultuous. As a result, the book gives off a feeling of sorrow and chaos. For example, Catherine’s marriage with Edgar Linton made Heathcliff jealous and angry. In retaliation, Heathcliff married Edgar’s sister, Isabella, to provoke Catherine and Edgar. Heathcliff and Isabella’s marriage ignited a chaotic uproar with Edgar and Catherine because Linton disapproved of Heathcliff’s character, and Catherine loved Heathcliff in spite of being married to Edgar. Inside, Catherine wanted to selfishly keep Heathcliff to herself. Their relationships all had tragic endings because Catherine died giving birth to Edgar’s child. Isabella also died, leaving behind her young son. Heathcliff and Edgar resented each other because of misery they experienced together. The transition of the mood in the story is from chaotic to somber.

    Read More

  • Character Analysis of Mrs. Mallard in The Story of an Hour

    1047 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mrs. Mallard’s repressed married life is a secret that she keeps to herself. She is not open and honest with her sister Josephine who has shown nothing but concern. This is clearly evident in the great care that her sister and husband’s friend Richard show to break the news of her husband’s tragic death as gently as they can. They think that she is so much in love with him that hearing the news of his death would aggravate her poor heart condition and lead to death. Little do they know that she did not love him dearly at all and in fact took the news in a very positive way, opening her arms to welcome a new life without her husband. This can be seen in the fact that when she storms into her room and her focus shifts drastically from that of her husband’s death to nature that is symbolic of new life and possibilities awaiting her. Her senses came to life; they come alive to the beauty in the nature. Her eyes could reach the vastness of the sky; she could smell the delicious breath of rain in the air; and ears became attentive to a song f...

    Read More

More about We Have Always Lived In The Castle Susan Blackwood

Open Document