The Hidden Homo In Leo Tostoy’s The Kreutzer Sonata Posdnicheff is experiencing what can be best described as a dysfunctional relationship. After murdering his wife, many things come into play: the question of love, jealousy, and the idea of marriage itself. But one thing I found the most engaging is Posdnicheff’s homosexuality. Posdnicheff’s jealous rage and poor relationship with his wife and all women in his life are result of his own homosexual emotions. Posdnicheff is gay because there is no way he sees equality in women. The reason Posdnicheff doesn’t see equality is because of the jealousy women hang above men’s’ heads in society. Posdnicheff even explains that for women “the attraction of the greatest number of men is ideal of life, and it is for this reason that they have no feeling stronger than that of the animal need of …show more content…
After listening to the piece it seemed to have some connotations to it. The feeling from the song is certainly an exciting one. It also has an intimate feeling though. One that I think reflects Posdnicheff’s wife’s feelings towards the violinist. Although it’s hard to say whether or not she loves the man, she certainly enjoys spending time with him, and the piece that they practice during that time reflects the relationship, itself. I think this is relevant to Posdnicheff because it’s a situation he can actually learn from. His wife doesn’t seem to care about almost anything that has to do with him. Their relationship is haywire and according to Posdnicheff their kids don’t even make his wife happy. Posdnicheff, as I mentioned before, believes that relationships just excuses to have sex all the time. But his wife’s affair seems to point otherwise. The violinist enjoys spending time with Posdnicheff’s wife. After hearing Posdnicheff’s theory on the pointlessness of marriage and reproduction it made me think of human
In reading the comedies of Aristophanes, modern readers are able to catch a rich glimpse of the gender norms and expectations of his time. Visions of power-hungry, crafty women and bumbling, foolish men pervade his plays and reveal ancient Greek views and stereotypes regarding male and female roles. One of the more complicated concepts to grasp, however, is Aristophanes’ true sentiment regarding homosexual love and practice. The aim of this paper is to compare Aristophanes’ presentation of homoeroticism in The Women at the Thesmophoria to that of his speech in Plato’s Symposium and attempt to clarify the playwright’s stance on the matter. In these two works, Aristophanes offers a mix of mocking and approving sentiments oh homosexual men and the practice of homosexuality itself. As he is a comedian, Aristophanes immerses his characters in satire in order to gain laughs from the audience; by looking carefully at the texts, we can see he does not actually see homoeroticism as an institution to be derided and ridiculed.
Not only was the idea of love shared between two females carried out throughout the play, but between two males as well. There is an unceasing controversial topic of men dominating women in all social aspects, which I find significant to Jastrem’s view. Jastrem highlighted the lesbian romance in response to the patriarchal society because she felt that male relationships got too much attention. However, it is important to explain that the homosexuality was shared between both male and female in the play to prevent the analysis that lesbian romance is of higher importance than a homosexual relationship between two males.
He attempts to convert A into an ethicist by using conjugal, or companionate love, as an example of how leading an ethical life does not mean surrendering all enjoyment and pleasure. Marriage falls under the umbrella of conjugal love. In “The Aesthetic Validity of Marriage,” Wilhelm offers an enlightening comparison of romantic love (in the aesthetic form) and conjugal love, arguing that the aestheticism of romance is not lost with long-term companionship or marriage and the challenges and responsibilities that come with it. Rather, marriage speaks to a higher form of aestheticism because it includes both love and sensuality — not just fickle lust (Kierkegaard). Those, like Johaness, who view long-term love with cynicism either marry for convenience or end up alone because they are blind to the possibility of anything
The ominous and tragic atmosphere infusing the consummation of their relationship gives a foresight into what is going to happen in the rest of this relationship which is ill-fated. Their love fails to give them the perfect happiness that they envisioned and therefore they begin blaming the social circumstances for their dissatisfaction. The social and familial disapproval that Vronsky encounters angers him. "They have no conception of what happiness is, and they do not know that without love there is no happiness or unhappiness for us, for there would be no life" (Tolstoy, 167). After the fulfilment of their initial desire for each other, they strive to satisfy another desire, a further one. They need to be set free from the need for dissembling and lies, "it was necessary to put an end to all this falsehood, and the sooner the better" (Tolstoy, 168). Vronsky puts it, "throw up everything and let us two conceal ourselves somewhere alone with our love" (Tolstoy, 168). The two lovers eventually achieve
The short story “The Storm” by Kate Chopin, deals with the subject of adultery. The story takes place in the early 1900’s. There are two main characters, Calixta (the wife) and Alcee (the former lover). Alcee must take refuge from a passing storm in Calixta’s house, while he is there the two end up making love while Calixta’s husband and son have to wait out the storm at the local store. By doing this Chopin implies the theme that is, adultery is natural and does not necessarily have negative consequences. Through out the story the constant changing of imagery plays a great role in the development of characters and their ability to demonstrate the theme.
The poem talks about how time goes quick for the two lovers, and how every minute is important to them. When it says “we find an hour together, spend it not on flowers”. This suggests that do not want to waste time on doing the typical romantic stuff and spend time with each other. This is because they know that they do not have enough time. Moreover, when the narrator refers to a mythology “Midas”. This implies that there time together might be tragic. The story ends as Midas changes his loved one to gold. This left him having no-one, this how love can end being a tragedy. This highlights that love does not end good always and something bad could happen. This links to “Sister Maude” by Rossetti it shows how love does not end well and something or someone can destroy
The relationship between Oscar Wilde’s text, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and Queer Theory appears in subtle aesthetic references due to Oscar Wilde’s inhabitance of a society highly intolerant of homosexuality. Queer theory relies on the idea of mismatches between sex, gender, and desire. Wilde portrays the young protagonist Dorian Gray with his obsession for beauty and the ultimate youthful appearance as well as subtle homosexual characteristics towards Basil Howard, the artist. Thus, Dorian effectively represents an androgynous character through his blurred boundaries between the roles of man and woman in the late 19th century society. Another idea of Queer theory acknowledges the gap between the actions of a character and the actual identity and feeling of the same character and the languages regarding homosexuality derive from a mainstream culture. Therefore Lord Henry, a respected nobleman, and his marriage remains questionable, as he often speaks ill of the institution of marriage and yet continues in his marriage due to societal expectations. The androgyny of Dorian Gray, the homosexual tendencies of Basil Hallward, and the detestation of marriage by Lord Henry, all affirm the idea of Queer Theory throughout Wilde’s writing.
James Bond is known as the worlds’ greatest spy, Superman is known as the worlds’ greatest superhero and Harry Potter is known as the worlds’ greatest wizard. These gentlemen are present as the “world greatest”, but there was a struggle for them to get that title, a struggle for recognition. Recognition has been a struggle for people for a long time in history and it is mainly displayed within literature. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was a great philosopher who explains the struggle for recognition by using the master-slave dialectic. This analytic is common among humans especially within relationships. Hegel explains that the goal of the master is to stay the master, while the goal of the slave is to become the master that means the roles can indeed switch but there is a struggle between the two.
The topic of homosexuality has become a constant issue throughout our society for many years. Many people believe that being gay is not acceptable for both religious and moral reasons. Because being gay is not accepted, many homosexuals may feel shame or guilt because of the way they live their everyday lives. This in turn can affect how the person chooses to live their life and it can also affect who the person would like to become. Growing up, David Sedaris struggled to find the common ground between being gay as well as being a normal teenager. He often resorted to the conclusion that you could not be both. Sedaris allows us to see things through his young eyes with his personable short story "I Like Guys". Throughout his short story, Sedaris illustrates to the reader what it was like growing up being gay as well as how the complexities of being gay, and the topic of sexuality controlled his lifestyle daily. He emphasizes the shame he once felt for being gay and how that shame has framed him into the person he has become.
Chopin starts the story with introducing a character, Mrs. Mallard, having “a heart Trouble” (485). Since the story was written in late 19th century, the heart trouble might indicate married women not being able to portray their true feeling and
When people think of marriage they think of a wonderful life complete with the white picket fence and kids playing on the lawn. Levertov, in this poem, talks about how marriage is not glorious all the time. In the first stanza she is talking about the physical aspect of marria...
Thus, they promoted rituals such as recreational sex and orgy porgy to mask the true emotions associated with love. "But seriously," she said, "I really do think you ought to be careful. It's such horribly bad form to go on and on like this with one man. At forty, or thirty-five, it wouldn't be so bad. But at your age, Lenina! No, it really won't do. And you know how strongly the D.H.C. objects to anything intense or long-drawn. Four months of Henry Foster, without having another man—why, he'd be furious if he knew…" (3.93). Fanny is trying to convince Lenina that it is morally wrong to have feelings for only one man. Fanny’s negative emotions towards monogamy stem from the way the World State conditioned her. The citizens of the World State are unable to express emotions such as love because of their society's norms and the way they were conditioned. Therefore, they must undergo practices such as orgy porgy and recreational sex in order to release their sexual urges, completely undermining the true feelings associated with love. The World State made them sacrifice true emotions to sustain social
Frued’s research explains that “certain abnormal types of personality…may be influenced by repressed anal desires,” including homosexuals, who “are forced to experiment with extra-genital erogenous zones” (Puig 141-142). Puig includes Freud’s research to inform readers of the cause of Molina’s homosexuality. Puig assumes readers are as clueless to homosexuality as Valentin is, so he includes the research to make readers empathize with Molina’s character rather than Valentin’s. Readers begin to understand the “why” behind Molina’s actions, especially to his actions regarding Valentin’s “accidents.” Frued’s abnormal personality types fostering anal desires present “an obsession for order and cleanliness [because of] the guilt which they have felt on account of their impulse to play with feces” (Puig 141). While Molina is ill, Valentin does nothing to help besides listen to his stories for a short time. While Valentin is ill, however, Molina offers to help keep him clean by wiping him after his “accidents” and offering his clothes and sheets. According to Frued’s research, Molina is not afraid to clean up after Valentin because he used to do play with feces himself as a child, which also explains Molina’s homosexuality. All of this research, should the reader agree with it, provides deeper insight into Molina’s character and why he makes various
In 1906, “Imre: A Memorandum”, a novel written by author, Edward Prime-Stevenson was the first English- language novel that did not belong to a specific genre openly dealing with the positive outlooks on homosexual passions. The novel is narrated
Mamzelle Aurlie continues her thought process by presenting how she sobbed like a man and not like a woman because her sobs were loud and they shredded her soul and spirit one step at a time. When the author includes this detail into the end of the story to wrap her piece up, I feel very sympathetic and sorry for Mamzelle Aurlie to see that she finally had importance in her life to make her feel appreciated and loved but the loss of the children in her home made every little aspect of her life empty and meaningless. Also, the part where Mamzelle Aurlie’s soul is ripped to shreds makes an image in my mind of how her mind and heart seem so useless in her head. This heavy wordplay leaves a negative and brutal consonance in the tone and it magnifies the real amount of pain that is actually felt by Mamzelle Aurlie by a ton. However, the statement reaches to my heart and I can feel the pain that she feels by losing the very things that gave her happiness and hope for a better life for herself and them. Reading these last few thoughts that Chopin had used to end her writing made me sorrow for Mamzelle Aurlie even more and it has made me appreciate the love and spirit that my household