According to Corey Marvin’s “Understanding Binary Oppositions in Literature,” binary opposition describes “a pair of theoretical opposites or thematic contrasts.” In both Euripides’ Medea and The Bacchae, there are several binary oppositions that can be found in the text. There are many conflicts within the plays: the three most noticeable oppositions are supernatural versus natural, appearance versus reality, and native versus foreigner. The contrast between supernatural versus natural is basically
Binary Oppositions in Leda and the Swan Yeats' "Leda and the Swan" uses the binary oppositions of the beauty and viciousness of Zeus as a swan and the helplessness and eventual strength of Leda, Yeats reveals that even the mightiest entities may suffer the consequences of their misuse of power. In "Leda and the Swan," the beauty of the swan is contrasted with the physical attributes of a swan who acts out his male animalistic power over his female prey, demonstrating the raw male and female
Binary Oppositions in Heart of Darkness In Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad used a series of reversed traditional binary oppositions to convey the theme that every man has his own heart of darkness that is simply masked by the superficial light of civilization. The novella focused primarily on the adventurer Charlie Marlow's journey into the African Congo, but dealt with larger themes. Marlow was from Europe and understood the basic premises of imperialism, but was unprepared for the
transform facts into values/themes, the reader creates “supplementary meaning” to the text by unconsciously setting up tension, also called binary opposition. Culler describes this process in his statement “The process of thematic interpretation requires us to move from facts towards values, so we can develop each thematic complex, retaining the opposition between them” (294). Though supplementary meaning created within the text can take many forms, within V... ... middle of paper ... ...eedom
This essay will examine an advertisement for the Palm Centro cellular phone with regards to the techniques referred to as “The Method” by the authors of the book Writing Analytically (Rosenwasser 26-52). This essay will then describe how the ad for the Palm Centro appellates the viewer, and what meanings are then transferred from the advertisement to the viewer. Advertisements have an enormous effect on the collective conscious of consumers today. Advertisers, through advertisements, have the ability
the unborn child or to abort. However, the author uses binary opposition of life and death to portray the polemic argument a couple encounters regarding abortion. As a symbol for the binary opposition of life and death, he represents the couple’s expressions, feelings, and the description of nature. One can analyze the story of “Hills Like White Elephants,” in the form of the structuralist perspective by using the system of binary oppositions. Robert DiYanni states in the text “Literature Approaches
The Importance of Sports to Mass Communication Understanding of mass communication without attention to sport coverage is practically impossible. Through the mass media, millions and even billions of viewers, listeners and readers are brought into the experience of a great sports performance. The emotional power of sports performance enchanted by slow-motion video and musical sound track, can take you to breath away or bring tears to you eyes. There are a lot of massive spectacles like the Super
When analyzing Shakespeare's Hamlet through the deconstructionist lens various elements of the play come into sharper focus. Hamlet's beliefs about himself and his crisis over indecision are expounded upon by the binary oppositions created in his soliloquies. Hamlet’s first soliloquy comes in act one scene two, as Hamlet reflects on the current state of events. The chief focus of this soliloquy is essentially the rottenness of the king, queen and the world in general. In this passage the reader
The form of these contrasts and purpose of these contrasts in the opening later brings out a meaning to form the character’s whole life story, from which a theme propagates. There are lots of contrasts and binary oppositions in the syntax of chapter one, like irony and oxymoron’s. In the beginning of the chapter the narrator describes a group of people sleeping in a gym, “We slept in what had once been the gymnasium” (3) and this gym was a place for games “for the
become increasingly concerned with the problem of how to represent subjects in a technologized world. Traditionally, dominant conceptions of the subject have relied on Western metaphysics; naturalized monolithic categories arranged in hierarchic binary oppositions: male/female, human/machine, subject/object, etc. In this system, the discourse of science maintains an isomorphic and mutually reinforcing relationship with the discourse of heterosexuality, since each posits an active, masculine subject and
is through constructs like metaphor and metonymy. These work within a text, simultaneously concealing and betraying meaning. Metaphor an... ... middle of paper ... ... the characters oppose each other. The tension becomes too much, and the binary opposites cancel each other out, literally - the orderly murders his captain and then dies himself. Truly, "The Prussian Officer" is bound up in a language of its own. Signification is dynamic, moving with increasing speed toward destruction. Meaning
Phylogeny versus misogyny, arguable one of the greatest binary oppositions in a work of literature, is present in Henrik Ibsen’s 1879 Norwegian play A Doll’s House. The title itself suggests a misogynist view, while the work mainly consists of feminist ideology, as Ibsen was a supporter of the female as an independent, rather than a dependent on a male. Nora knew herself that her husband did not fully respect her, and this became a major conflict in the play as Nora progressively became more self-reliant
In North Africa and the Middle East, a widespread ritual prevails among many young men: a ritual which I once enjoyed daily, but now no longer partake in. Egyptians call it by many names—khabur, dabus, cubea—but the ritual remains the same. Every evening, and particularly Thursday evening, tens of thousands of middle class men from around the capital come home (to their parents’ homes until they get married), eat dinner, and go out to meet their friends and smoke hashish in the street. They send
to life. This essay will examine several aspects of story. First, I will examine the relationship between story and humans’ lives and how it is limited by language. Second, I will examine the differences between myths and parables and their polar opposition within the field of a story. Third, I will examine the Prodigal Son to illuminate the necessary elements of a parable. Stories serve to define humans’ reality and the use of specific types of stories evokes different reactions from their audience
Seix Barral. 1990. Morrison, Toni. Tar Baby. 1981.New York: Plume, 1982. NOTES 1 Luce Irigaray, This Sex Which Is Not One (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1985) 217. 2 Critics have noted that what I call "multiple interpretations" and binary oppositions are characteristic of Morrison's works. 3 Trudier Harris, Fiction and Folklore: The Novels of Toni Morrison (Knoxville: U of Tennessee P, 1991) 116. 4 On the Sea Bird II he thinks of "women" (6), later with the same contextual references he
A Deconstructionist Critique of Chopin’s The Awakening The multiplicity of meanings and (re)interpretations informing critical studies of The Awakening reveal a novel ripe for deconstructionist critique. Just as Chopin evokes an image of the sea as symbolic of Edna’s shifting consciousness (“never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander in abysses of solitude,”138), likewise the deconstructionist reading of a text emphasizes fluidity over structure: “A text consists
and of his fear. A core motif apparent in ‘Donnie Darko’ is the use of the eyes v-vas the eyes are used as a portal. These themes, symbols and motifs all link to Claude Levi Strauss’ binary opposites; and utilising conflict is the way opposites are used to create interest in the movie. In ‘Donnie Darko’ the main binary opposites are dark versus light, youth versus old and fear versus bravery. Donnie is introduced to us while sleepwalking, directed out of his house by a rabbit named Frank, dressed
plural meaning, disunity, aporia, conflicts,binary oppositions.The first way to deconstruct a text is that one should read very attentively and analyze all interpretations.The s/he should try to reveal the conflicts of these interpretations.Thet is to say, binary oppositions should be defined.The third step is to find the messages and find the new interpretations after the conflicts.The last one is to deconstruct these ideologies, binary oppositions, text to Show the undecidability and disunity
Female Power, Maternity and Genderbending in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra The 19th century essayist and literary critic William Hazlitt wrote of Cleopatra, "She is voluptuous, ostentatious, conscious, boastful of her charms, haughty, tyrannical, [and] fickle," which are "great and unpardonable faults" (Hazlitt 2-3). Much of the criticism of Antony and Cleopatra has recycled this judgement, depicting Cleopatra as a villainess uses her eroticism and sexuality to motivate Antony to seek power
rational analysis. The identity of humanism is associated ... ... middle of paper ... ...cognise that is not green, or red, etc. In addition post-structuralism also recognises a variety of contextual meanings the term may have creating a more complex binary. Criticism of the humanist meaning making model also comes from Saussure when looking at his study of semiotics. Humanists believe the relationship is pre-determined and fixed whereas post-structuralism disagrees. The proposal that the word and object