Social Traditions in Medea, The Piano, and The Age of Innocence
Traditions demonstrate a set of social norms that have been followed and adapted to for an elongated amount of time. In each of the plots, Medea, The Piano, and The Age of Innocence, the standard set by society was broken and the consequences imposed took form in varying degrees and shapes of violence. Whether it was outright murder as in Medea, or a more subtle but intense struggle as in The Age of Innocence, these consequences serve as the community's opinion of this breach of its expectations for its members.
All societies have many traditions set up, and each of the characters in the books either plays the role of someone who helps to uphold these traditions by following them and imposing consequences on those who don't, or someone who disregards tradition and attempts to point out its pitfalls and shortcomings in modern society. The first role, the person who reinforces tradition, is generally someone who refuses to think outside the box, or does not like the product of going against the tide. This person is comfortable with the way that society has set itself up as far as social norms and expectations. Edith Wharton's character of Newland Archer describes May Welland's innocence as a "helpless and timorous girlhood...she dropped back into the usual, as a too adventurous child takes refuge in its mother's arms." (Wharton 123) May Welland and her family are quite content living within the boundaries that New York society has erected for them, and they fear the changes and consequences of acting otherwise. The adventurous spirit of Newland Archer is dangerous to their precious social norms and unwritten rules for how to conduct oneself in society. Howev...
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... when his son learns a story of his relations with Ellen and speaks to him about it many years after (Wharton 41). The lesson that he learns is that society is very concerned with the affairs of its members and even his wife had heard the rumors about the two cousins. While May was busy upholding her traditional role as faithful wife, she also was acting within social norms and ignoring his infatuation with her cousin Ellen, and allowing a facade of a strong marriage to continue. The violence presented in this book, while not as obvious as that in The Piano or Medea, is no less intense. May's innocent look but underlying manipulation of Archer's feelings towards her and his feelings of obligation demonstrate a great struggle between the "innocent" May Welland who looks "blankly at blankness" and the "fiery beauty" of Ellen, and both of their desires for Archer.
“Master Harold”…and the Boys, St. Joan, and An Enemy of the People show that society shows hate and cruelty to people who are different or who do not share similar ideas as other people do. For example, in “Master Harold”…and the Boys, Hally’s racist attitude toward Sam and Willie is a result of his experiences in society. In Frankenstein, society is cruel and hateful to the monster because he looks different than other people. In An Enemy of the People, society persecutes Dr. Stockman because he attempts to gain support for the repair of the Baths. The stories that are presented here illustrate the cruelty and hatefulness of society.
Societies standards are what everyone wants to fit into it is the norms that are used as a guide to living life. The grandmother and the misfit in O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find” follow the way of social values, thoughts, and way society sees one another closely in 1953. Both the grandmother and the misfit are different in many ways, but have one common value of society’s views are important to them. The way society views and judges people causes both the misfit and the grandmother to act differently but subtly makes them more alike than either of them could tell. The shared value of society’s point of view on a human being can explain both characters views, behaviors, and actions because of how heavily it weighed on the grandma and
...rs and situations to help explain the societal issues surrounding the time period. The dreadfulness comes from the controversial issues and feelings these characters experience. These characters must overcome these dreadful experiences in order to change what society deems as acceptable in the future.
The reader is introduced to an insight of Titus Andronicus’ cruel nature, after he ignores Tamora’s cry to have her first-born son saved from his sacrifice to revenge the lives of his sons that her Goth people took. This new interpretation of Titus as a ruthless murderer heavily contradicts the reader’s first impression of Titus that Marcus gave the reader. Marcus initially leads the reader to except that Titus is good and honorable man. Titus’ sudden act of violence makes the reader realizes that he has two sides to his character: the relentless warrior and the beloved hero. However as the play unfolds, an individual can realize that everything that occurs throughout the play is connected to the initial sacrifice. It is evident that Titus’ character goes through many changes, the not one but many sides of his personality are revealed.
Imagine if a romantic relationship collapses as a result of getting seduced by a younger person. Which is better to seek revenge or be the bigger person? Medea is a tragic play about a heartbreak who is seeking revenge as her own pleasure. She uses different techniques to cause her ex-husband to suffer for example, killing the mistress and killing her own children. She is a cruel mother who was selfish enough to behave in this way than accepting reality. Jason is willing to take care of his loved ones even after the betrayal, but Medea closes the doors and takes matter into her own hands. She commits 3 different crimes as she feels betrayed and heartbroken. As this situation could have been in a peaceful way, she is a lunatic for killing innocent souls. Medea in psychological lens, suffers from ID, Parental Alienation Syndrome and has a crisis.
...ely with one another and lived in peace as partners, the ease of human transgression permits no romanticized view of this Agolden age.@ Finally B and this is a much more fragmentary conceptualization B the story refuses its hearers the luxury of demonizing, suppressing or repressing violence. Violence is not something that others do to us, but something we inflict upon others. The story consequently demands that we confront and internalize deeply the consequences of violence, and in this alone offers a profoundly important model of response.
Aeschylus and Eugene O'Neill have populated their trilogies with cannibals and vampires. Family members feed off one another both literally and figuratively. For the houses of both Agamemnon and Ezra Mannon, this bloodlust is insatiable and inherited, an inescapable curse. A family curse provides the dramatic force necessary to push characters toward pivotal actions and events. At the conclusion of both trilogies the curse is finally broken (or at the very least supplanted). While O'Neill and Aeschylus articulate the destructive and violent effects of the curse in similar terms, each playwright breaks the curse to achieve distinctly different thematic goals. The curse is described and decentered in order to be critiqued.
Parent and children relationships in Shakespeare are shown in a very creative and enthusiastic manner. The drama of Shakespeare characterizes how children get along with their parents. Some of the family relationships shown in Shakespeare drama is strict with many rules that everyone in the family needs to follow. Some examples of works written by Shakespeare are: “The Merchant of Venice,” Romeo and Juliet,” and “King Lear.” There are many pieces by Shakespeare’s which include children not obeying their parent’s wishes; whereas there are other plays written by Shakespeare which includes children obeying to their parents wills. Each and every text of Shakespeare’s gives the audience a different objective as well as a different point of view. There are also symbols used throughout the plays which often indicate a significant meaning. Irony, foreshadowing as well as figurative language is used to show a sense of understanding within the characters. In the two plays that will be discussed in this essay, the audience will find out about these significant elements that were used throughout...
Enmity towards one another often results in brutality and, conclusively, homicide. This issue is depicted several times in literature and in real life. The brutality in fiction and reality demonstrates that violence and bloodshed never culminate into virtuous outcomes. This recurring theme is prominent within the works of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Lord of the Flies, Animal Farm, and To Kill a Mockingbird; it is even prevalent in real life circumstances, under the recent Charlottesville flash mob. These situations, fictitious or not, all contain violent acts that do not end in morally good results.
As a culture, again with religious fundamentalist and perhaps politically-correct feminist exceptions, we pretty much take these literary forms for granted in terms of their violent and seemingly antisocial content. Parents lovingly read their children to sleep with images of forced drudgery, painful mutilations, and vengeful retribution. Teachers and preachers alike use these quasi-historical and metaphorical tales of aggression and hostility to inspire and enlighten. Little thought, if any, is given to the possibility that we are putting dangerous ideas into the heads of our youth that will result in violent displays of antisocial mayhem. And, in fact, there seems to be little evidence that this true. For the most part, our children seem to have a healthy relationship to these stories in which the violence and sexuality does tend to help th...
The day was past when that sort of thing was possible: the country was in possession of the bosses and the emigrant, and decent people had to fall back on sport or culture.” (Wharton, p81) Archer keeps getting signs that if he wants to still be a part of society, he should keep his morals. He recalls times when some men did not follow New York’s morals and ended up getting excluded from society, having to go their own way. “In reality they all lived in a kind of hieroglyphic world, where the real thing was never said or done or even thought, but only represented by a set of arbitrary signs… quite as , in the books on primitive man that people of advanced culture were beginning to read, the savage bride is dragged with shrieks from her parents’ tent.” (Wharton, p28) Although the people of New York seem to be glamorous and perfect, New York, in all reality, has a very tribal society; worshipping idols and caught in superstition.
Imagine yourself, dear reader, transported to Shakespearian Verona, a bustling, peaceful city (aside from the occasional death or two), with its obligatory social classes going about agreeably (aside from the occasional brawl or two), and all people happy and successful (aside from the occasional poor wretch or two). The Verona in which Shakespeare’s tragedy Romeo and Juliet takes place in is made sinister by the deadly consequences than ensue from its strict, unbending society. Romeo and Juliet paints a tale about two young lovers, Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet, whose attempts to be together are cruelly thwarted by society. Society’s fixation on honor and disgrace, poverty-creating laws, and austere social roles all have crucial functions in causing the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.
Reckless actions lead to untimely deaths. In Shakespeare’s tragedy “Romeo and Juliet”, both protagonists fight for their hopeless love. Bloodshed and chaos appear inevitable in fair Verona; Romeo and Juliet come from enemy households, the Montegues and the Capulets, who have sworn to defeat one another. The young and handsome Romeo weeps over his unrequited love for Rosaline, until he lays his eyes on Juliet. Strong and independent, Juliet seeks to escape her family’s will to marry her off to Paris, a kinsman of the Prince. Fate ties these adolescents’ lives together binding them to witness the ill-fortunes of Romeo and Juliet’s love. Romeo and Juliet prove themselves woefully impulsive through their words and actions, which ultimately lead them along a series of unfortunate mishaps.
One of the larger reasons that classic literature skews a child’s social growth is that classic literature displays questionable ethics and moral grey areas that are unacceptable today. Children learn by mimicry, when they read or hear stories from the more gruesome classic literature they begin to think that such behavior is okay, and even a good idea (Smith 1). Many instances of classic children’s literature favor certain characters who are horrible role models. These characters often partake in risky dangerous behavior and journeys. Often times these characters are favored because they sneaky, scheming, selfish, or simply lucky (Hyde 1). Classic fairytales and children’s literature had its very own brand of vigilante justice and loved the idea that if you were sneaky enough, the world belonged to you (Hyde 2). Take, for instance, Jack and the Beanstalk, the tale is literally about a boy who goes into someone’s home, steals all of their perilous things, escapes without punishment, kills the person he stole from, and is proclaimed a hero. Now, was the person he stole from
Austen’s novel focuses on the social class known as the rural landowning gentry, and the people whose education or family connections enable them to associate with the gentry. Austen uses Marianne Dashwood to represent the "sensible and clever; but eager in everything; her sorrows, her joys, could have no moderation, she was everything but prudent" counterpart to her sister Elinor Dashwood who had "strength of understanding and coolness of judgment," neither of whom belong to the land gentry any longer. Austen juxtaposes the two sisters journeys as a way to shed light on the corruptness and instability of the social class system. By surrounding Marianne and Elinor with social climbing characters such as John Willoughby, John Dashwood and Edward Ferrars, Austen illuminates the ruthlessness that surrounds the sisters. The three men are too preoccupied with either getting...