Strong Women in James Joyce's Eveline, Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House, and Spera's My Ex-Husband
"My Ex-Husband" by Gabriel Spera, "Eveline" by James Joyce, and A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen all feature strong women as central characters. These women show their strength by standing up for themselves, making self-sacrifices for the benefit of others, and rebelling against society's stereotypes.
The female persona in Spera's "My Ex-Husband" finds the strength to stand up for herself and her beliefs when faced with a cheating spouse. As the poem begins, the woman is preparing to leave on a date when her new beau notices a picture of the woman's ex-husband. She soon finds herself telling him the story behind their divorce. "He seems like any woman's perfect catch" (Spera 633), but she ultimately discovers that her spouse is disloyal to her, and he doesn't care "how slobbishly he [carries] on his affairs" (Spera 633). "Most women believe that if you love your partner, you wouldn't even be interested in an affair; therefore, if someone has an affair, it means that they don't love their partner and they do love the person they had the affair with" (Glass). The woman in Spera's poem feels that the man to whom she was married betrayed her, therefore she stands up for herself and leaves him behind.
Although it is not easy to pursue your dreams, it is even more difficult to give up those dreams for the interests of others. Eveline, the main character in James Joyce's short story by the same name, is torn between staying in her unhappy home with her father and leaving to find a life with her lover, Frank. Eveline made a promise to her dying mother "to keep the home together as long as she could" (Joyce 6). But because of her unfulfilling job and her verbally abusive alcoholic father, she begins toying with the idea of leaving with Frank. She believes if she goes with Frank, he will "give her life, perhaps love, too" (Joyce 6). Eveline is willing to sacrifice her chance of finding true love just so she can escape the confines of her life with her father. In the end, however, she chooses to keep her promise to her mother, and surrenders her dreams of a life of her own. Even though she desperately desires to leave, she finds the strength to stay in an unhappy situation so she can care for her father.
On the other hand, the speaker in Spera’s poem is female. This is a slight variation between the two. The speaker of both the poems is pointing out how the wronged spouse was treated and you see that both marriages come to an end through the imagery provided within both poems, as well as the tone. In the poem “My Last Duchess” quotes such as “Herself be lessened so, nor plainly” (Line 40) and “I gave commands; then all smiles stopped together” (Lines 45-46) The Duke had the Duchess killed, which is the display of how he had wronged his wife because in his eyes the wife didn’t give her all of her attention and gave too much to other men. This implies jealously. Spera’s poems idea of being wronged in betrayed seems to lay within the sign of adultery which in the end ended in divorce. “How slobbishly he carried on affairs” (Line 30) The ex-husband committed adultery, this creating jealousy from women and causing the end of their marriage. You see the end of the betrayal with the following lines “So, I made some calls, filed some claims, All the kisses Stopped together.” (Lines
freedom and independence. In the story “The Story of an Hour” Ms. Mallard experiences a moment of liberation from her marriage due to the sudden
In the play Othello by William Shakespeare, the character Othello is portrayed as a fairly good man. By some, he may be known as a bad person but he has become greatly beneficial to the growth of Venice and the state of Cyprus. Othello is a good man even if he committed murder to his wife because he is a great war general and contributed to Cyprus in time of need.
“Eveline,” by James Joyce, is a story about a woman who is all alone and can’t escape the life that she is living. She is naïve and wants to move on to have a better life but has many things holding her back. The main thing being her promise to her mother. The whole story she sits in the house alone in a chair surrounded by dust. Eveline is isolated from the rest of the world but can’t leave when she has a man right in front of her that she thinks she loves.
The nineteenth century brought about the results in cultural, political, and socio-economic transformations which distinctly affected the underlying changes in the roles of women, especially in Great Britain. Throughout the era, the private sphere was reacted positively and negatively, gender roles were developed dynamically, and general expectations shaped the way of living. As a result of Industrial revolution, Britain was successfully approved to be the world's most greatest economic power and had changed society and social life. Particularly, Moreover, the separate spheres shaped by 'inherited' characteristics of gender purposely characterized the condition of women's living that were totally different from men's. The images of victorian
Racial barriers are often used as a means to manipulate a member of a minority group. in The tragedy, Othello, was written by William Shakespeare(1564-1616) an English poet and playwright, who is often contemplated as the greatest writer in the English Language. The story begins with Othello, a black general in the Venetian army who secretly marries Desdemona, a white woman. Early on, Othello promotes Michael Cassio as his lieutenant over Iago, fostering mass jealousy. Desperate to get even with Othello, Iago creates elaborate plans to ruin his marriage with Desdemona. Iago’s effective manipulation skills lead Othello to take his wife's life and then his own. Iago is successfully able to deceive Othello because of their many differences, mainly racial, and Iago's understanding of how manipulation works.
It is clear that the race of Othello is a factor in his downfall. A
“I asked her to wear something revealing, so she showed up in a prophet's toga.”(CITE) Jarod Kintz’s words are an example of miscommunication, or failure to comprehend meaning. In this case, it is implied that one person misunderstood the message of another, but incomprehension also applies to problems other than falsely interpreted requests. Incomprehension can occur when people misinterpret another’s words or intentions, or when a person misreads situations or events. The outcome described in Kintz’s quote is unexpected and unintended, but there are instances of incomprehension that have consequences of greater severity. Perhaps a classic tragedy with a high body count falls under these parameters.
Should the Flu Shot Be Mandatory? Vaccines have been proclaimed by many people as one of the miracles of modern medicine. Vaccines are credited with saving thousands of lives and wiping out many contagious diseases. Recently, there has been a tremendous debate whether annual influenza vaccines should be mandatory. Influenza vaccines should be voluntary because people have the right to examine data on vaccinations and make their own informed decisions.
are examined closer, it is evident that he is a limited and vain person who is overly concerned with
A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen is a realistic drama that explores how the imbalanced treatment of women can dictate who they become. Nora Helmer embodies the need for evolution in regards to women and their roles within the family. The importance of this play, which was written in 1879, is still relevant in the modern world. This play helps to bring attention to the characters people play as a result of their circumstances.
Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and George Eliot’s Middlemarch are based on events from their personal experiences. The events that lead Ibsen to feel the need to write A Doll’s House makes his approach on the feminist stance a bit more unusual from other writers. Ibsen shows his realist style through modern views and tones that are acted out by the characters in this infamous story. In the viewers’ eyes, it is the women in A Doll’s House that makes it so popular, Nora and Christine give readers a real sense of Ibsen’s feminist stance. George Eliot makes her feminist stance in Middlemarch in much the same way as Ibsen. In Middlemarch, one of the main female characters, Dorothea, wants control of her life and chooses happiness over wealth. These female characters from these well-known works are represented in such a way to give readers a grasp of the social conditions involving women.
"Eveline" is the story of a young teenager facing a dilemma where she has to choose between living with her father or escaping with Frank, a sailor which she has been courting for some time. The story is one of fifteen stories written by James Joyce in a collection called "Dubliners". These stories follow a certain pattern that Joyce uses to express his ideas: "Joyce's focus in Dubliners is almost exclusively on the middle-class Catholics known to himself and his family"(the Gale Group). Joyce's early life, family background, and his catholic background appear in the way he writes these stories. "Where Joyce usually relates his stories to events in his life, there are some stories which are actually events that took place in his life" (Joyce, Stanislaus). James Joyce in his letter to Grant Richard writes:
arrived at the hotel and checked in. While my dad was checking in I bought a
A Doll House showed how women were treated unfairly and unequally. Nora, Anne Marie, and Ms. Linde were examples of women in the world during that time period. Nora was an example of what became the start of the women’s liberation period. Henrik Ibsen showed a lot of modern realism by bringing out the struggles of women using these three characters. Life in the Victorian Era was very difficult for women.