Holden Caulfield, the main character in The Catcher in the Rye, suffers from a Madonna/whore complex, meaning he can only see women in two ways; as perfect and innocent or as dirty whores, without any ground in between. According to psychiatrists, this disorder may be caused by an excessive bond between one’s mother as a child, or conversely a lack of a bond, resulting in looking towards the one you love as a motherly figure, while nobody else can meet those standards. (Speyer) Holden’s experiences
into a rigid dichotomy of either being the “saint or sinner.” This is otherwise known as the “Madonna/Whore complex,” which is explored through the life of the novel’s protagonist, Hyster Prynne. Although the struggles Hyster experiences may seem exclusive to a highly-religious and regressive community, these are issues that women do continue to face in this day. Firstly, what does the Madonna/Whore complex even mean? According to Gottschall, it is defined as how “men and/or society divide women into
stories in the bible to today’s modern media. The woman is to be a sexual being, a vixen, a wild child; while at the same time remaining reserved, submissive and pure. This phenomenon is called the Madonna/Whore complex. Madonna refers to the Virgin Mary, the epitome of chaste and respectable lady, and the whore refers to the side of the woman that is most like Eve, a temptress and dangerous seductress. The most read and worshipped texts in the world are religious text, especially in the beginning of Western
“sinner.” This is otherwise known as the “Madonna/Whore complex,” which is explored through the life of the novel’s protagonist, Hyster Prynne. Her struggles and experiences through this dichotomy ultimately affect her both physically and emotionally as it represses her femininity. Firstly, what does the Madonna/Whore complex even mean? According to Gottschall, it is defined as how “men and/or society divide women into two binary types: virgins and whores.
but not before she is categorized within the Madonna ‘whore’ complex. Anne has a social and sexual dominant presence, who according to Freud, could be called a ‘Madonna complex.’According to Penn State, “Sigmund Freud developed a theory to explain men’s anxiety towards women’s sexuality, suggesting that men cast women into one of two categories to allay the uncomfortable dichotomy of fear and desire: the Madonna (women he admires and respects) and the whore (women he is attracted to and therefore disrespects)
Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, of 1927, is a German Expressionism, avant-garde, dystopic, silent film with prognostic visions of the future. Lang thematically communicates concerns which are prophetic of the present-day contemporary society. Through conveyal of themes such as urbanisation, technology and dehumanising impacts on society, the context of a 1927 Metropolis still resonates with contemporary audiences. To intensify these parallelisms, Lang uses dramatic filmic techniques, symbolism, imagery
From the inception of comic books to the current age of superhero movies, strong female characters are few and far between. The strength referred to here is not the ability to bench press a bus, but the characteristic of being able to stand alone without support from a male character. Why aren't there more strong female superheroes? With the sex ratio in just the United States at 96.99% (which means that for every 100 men there are 103.11 women) showing that there are just a few more women than men
In Arthur Schnitzler’s Fräulein Else, the story is told through Else’s point of view. Not only does Schnitzler allow the readers to see how the characters interact with one another through dialogue, he also incorporates Else’s thoughts and reactions to everything she experiences. Through the use of the stream of consciousness and describing her escapes to fantasy, Schnitzler is able to vividly convey to the reader the internal turmoil and conflicting emotions that throw Else into a void of hysteria
Only by considering a range of perspectives can we truly appreciate the world of Shakespeare’s Othello. It is through my exploration of these perspectives and their relationship with changing morals and values that has enriched my understanding of the play. One such reading of the play challenges the marginalisation and objectification of woman in a patriarchal Venetian society, while taking into account the changing role of women in modern society. Another interpretation of Othello examines its
‘For a women on this street, I must not lose,’ says Keiko to herself after suffering a chain of setbacks. As Russell points out in The Cinema of Naruse Mikio, the transition of modern city structure provide more women with more space and opportunity to survive, however, the level of female autonomy is tightly linked with the level of pecuniary status. From my perspective, this relationship resembles the shape of an hourglass, i.e., the more economically unprovided or self-sufficient you are, the
The Madonna, the Whore, and the Mad Woman: Female Stereotypes of the Romantic Period In the 19th century, half of the population was so intensely stereotyped that they were barely allowed to leave their houses. Indeed, in the 19th century, women's place was thought to be the house, and nowhere else. Artists of the Romantic movement contributed to the oppression of women because of the way that they stereotyped women in their art. At first, it is easy to think that a woman, according to Romantic writers
Hans Christian Andersen, born in Odense, Denmark in the year 1805, is known for writing many ingenious fairy tales. His stories, some of which include “The Little Mermaid”, “The Red Shoes” and “The Ice Queen”, are still classics in the genre. While Andersen’s work life came to fruition, his romantic endeavors failed to provide him with a significant other. Andersen’s troubles- stemming from the fact that he never married, with sexuality, especially female sexuality, influenced the morals and themes
Despite the different representations and portrayals of female characters in Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man and Spike Lee’s Bamboozled, women in both of these works are overlooked and marginalized by African-American male characters who fail to see the parallels between their situations. In Invisible Man, Ellison introduces numerous one-dimensional female characters, who fall into sexually driven stereotypes. During the Battle Royal in the beginning of the novel, an unnamed white stripper provides
Mina, in ‘Dracula’ is portrayed in numerous ways; but she embodies the ideal woman of the era in every respect. She is prudent, intelligent, caring and above all humble. However, she can be considered a liminal woman. Whilst she isn’t portrayed as weak, which is proven when she uses her telepathic connection with Dracula to outsmart him, at the end of the novel, neither is she quite the ‘New Woman’ yet as her loyalties lie with Johnathan and her baby, as a loving wife and mother. The men in Mina’s
misogynistic rants at their wives’ expense. The female character who plays the most dynamic role in Othello is Emilia. In the duration of the play, we observe her evolution from a simple handmaiden, to a loyal wife enduring her husband’s maltreat, to a complex woman of conflicted feelings and fluctuating emotions. In this way, Emilia disproves the total weakness of women in Othello, and rises as her own sort of minor tragic hero, a preliminary feminist champion. In order to analyse Shakespeare’s women,
DeAndreah Hollowell WGS 343 Weekley Hip Hop Feminism: For Whom Do we Wreck It? Joan Morgan’s “Fly Girls, Bitches, and Hoes” begins with an excerpt from a Vibe Magazine essay detailing the narrator’s first hand experience in the hip hop community as a woman, who came to love the music of its emcees, while battling with the sexism present both in rap lyrics and the men who wrote them. The conclusion is rather bittersweet, with the narrator resolving to continue being a part of the community, despite
Understanding the way women both were controllers of and controlled by social, political and cultural forces in the medieval period is a complex matter. This is due to a number of factors- the lack of documentation of medieval women, high numbers of illiteracy amongst women, especially lower class, medieval sources being viewed through a contemporary lens and the actual limitations and expectations placed upon women during the period, to name a few. The primary sources: The Treasure of The City of
Alcoholic drifter Richard Speck stamped his name into the archives of American criminal infamy with the murder of eight student nurses in a Chicago student housing building on July 13, 1966. Even before his murderous rampage, he seemed obsessed with the criminal life, vowing that he would someday make headlines (Bachmann). A vast majority of Speck’s life was spent in prison or on the run, and his early life was no better. Born on December 6, 1941, to Benjamin and Mary Margaret Speck, Richard was
Today many teenagers are very sexually active. In fact, According to the Center of Disease Control, 47% of teenagers have reported being sexually active (http://www.cdc.gov 2013). These statistics illustrate the vital need for sexual education to be taught in all types of schools, and the importance of informing the teens on the risk of their behaviors, since this is where teenagers spend most of their time. In January 2014, over half of the states are required by the federal government to teach
“The original title of Fellini’s 8 ½ was ‘Beautiful Confusion,’ and Fellini branded his film as a comedy. Anyone who has seen 8 ½ cannot help but laugh at the eclectic and satirical humor that imbues Fellini’s work, but ultimately the feature does not come off as comic,” (Horak). While certain critics (such as Horak) argue that Federico Fellini’s 8 ½ (1963) evokes partial tragedy, one could dually aver that the film epitomizes a classical, “bathos” model; everything within the work, even the dramatic