AINSLEY STOLLAR
ENGL 390
ESSAY #1 1250-1750 words
The Physical House Versus the Symbolic Enclosure
Analyzing Structure in the Film Sense and Sensibility
The film Sense and Sensibility (dir. Ang Lee) gives the audience a visual representation of one of the most well-known Jane Austen novels by producing delicate scenes hidden with mountains of symbolism and major themes straight from the pages of the book. While character representation is crucial for any film adaptation, I chose to focus camera tricks, colors in the film, and dialogue relate to a larger theme of a women’s constraints in the physical house and the symbolic enclosure. Early nineteenth century culture was ripe with both physical and psychological stereotypes thrust upon the female gender, creating a very rigid
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This still shot is prefaced by a scene that creates a contrast to the one I chose to analyze. Before Marianne walks into her new physical house for the first time, we see her walking through the tall green grasses of the outside world, while being ushered by the Dashwood’s’ new landlords, Sir John and Mrs. Jennings, almost as if the two are symbolically entrapping the women in their new
physical house and their figurative constraints of the symbolic enclosure. (Figures 2 and 3) The contrast between the two still shots is incredibly important if we assign the inside world and the outside world different genders. For the sake of my argument, the society within the home will be given the female gender, while the society outside the home is male in consideration to which gender is dominant within each society. While looking at the scene inserted above (figure 1), there are a few key things that stand out to the
Gender stereotype, or the over-generalization about the characteristics of an entire group based on gender, is evident in any culture or community, no matter how much gender equality is promoted. Brought on by centuries of tradition, it had become a pre-established belief that women were inferior to men, in that the dominance of men was already considered to be a norm of society. Though women in the past were responsible for household chores and raising children, a new age called for new ideals and a need for change in the attitude towards women. In the Southside of Chicago in the mid 1950’s, the members of the Younger family act as a prime example in portraying the difficulties associated with going against conventional expectations. The two prominent female characters
These images enhance the main plot, by building upon the fear that it evokes. Without these images, the episode does not seem as
Children's Literature is everlastingly framed by variable ideologies; this represented the standards and values of a didactic society in the nineteenth century, which was controlled transcendently by the church. Enforcing religious perspectives on the idealistic family life, gender roles were compulsory in respectability, and a woman's place was inside the home. The nineteenth century was an extremely confusing time, with its firm Victorian qualities, class limits, industrialism and expansionism. It was the time when society was a male dominated society in which women were controlled by the male figures in the society.
In her writing, Jane Austen used literary techniques to display her character’s integrity, poise, grace and charm, or lack thereof. Throughout most of Austen’s works, a common theme is women and their behavior. In Emma, Jane Austen weaves a story between the differences of society through the actions of a young woman, Emma Woodhouse. The strongest literary technique in Jane Austen’s Emma is the use of a foil.
In William Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream the circumstances surrounding love have been put into question, this occurs when a magical nectar is put in the eyes of three major characters, and changes their feelings towards the people in their lives. Titania, Lysander and Demetrius all have had the nectar put into their eyes, though Demetrius avoids having this done to him in act 2 scene 2 which is the scene that the focus of this paper will be looking at. Throughout the play, we focus largely on the love life of Helena, which unfortunately does not seem to exist. She is in love with Demetrius, whom does not care for her in the same way, he does not cherish her at all before he is under the influence of magic. Once Lysander declares
Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey is a Bildungsroman, a coming of age story that focuses on the psychological development of the protagonist, Catherine Morland. This essay will analyse the language and narrative techniques of the extract, and discuss how it suggests vicissitudes in Catherine’s personal perspectives and relationships. In addition, it will discuss the ‘domestic gothic’ and abuse ubiquitous in ordinary situations. Furthermore, it will argue how Austen’s rhetorical techniques work to encourage reader interest as well as exercising perception when distinguishing between appearance and reality. Finally, it will conclude by briefly discussing the significance of the extract within the novel’s wider themes.
Of course, one almost intuitively understands that the novel’s leading women adhere rather closely to socio-gender norms; both Adeline and Clara, the two women who most represent Radcliffe’s idealized morality, are traditionally beautiful, focus on emotional intelligence via poetry and music rather than on scientific pursuits, and represent the appealing innocence of ingénues. In the same manner that Adeline’s unconsciousness contributes to her integrity, it also appears that her extensive physical beauty results in part from her inherent saintliness, her beautiful eyes linked to some intrinsic purity (7). Further highlighting this ethical preference for femininity, Adeline exhibits fear related directly to the presence of men; in the Marquis’s chateau, her terror specifically abates when she realizes that “elegant” and “beautiful” women surround her, and later the inverse occurs as she balks in fear at “the voices of men” (158, 299). On some level, Adeline seems to recognize that masculinity poses a significant threat to her, and instinctively shies away from its
The 1995 film adaptation of Sense and Sensibility, directed by Ang Lee and originally written by Jane Austen, has timeless elements in its composition. Starring Emma Thompson, also the screenwriter, and Kate Winslet as Elinor and Marianne Dashwood, the movie tells of two heroines and their struggle between balancing idealism and reality. As young, female adolescents of the 1800s, they are responsible for finding husbands that can support them financially; and following their father’s death and loss of money, this becomes even more emphasized. But, they come to struggle when having to choose between what their hearts crave, and what their minds know is best. Elinor’s ideal partner is the initially dull Edward Ferrars, who is discovered to be secretly engaged
To develop the setting of the house, Gilman uses vivid diction to craft an image of the house to show how men a imprisoning the minds of women in Victorian society. Gilman introduces the house as a “colonial mansion, a hereditary estate, I would say a haunted house, and reach the height of romantic felicity” (1066). Although her description uses the words “romantic felicity” which seem to carry a light tone, these words are preceded by the dark statement that the estate is a “haunted house”. By contrasting these two tones, Gilman foreshadows that the house in which the narrator is interned for treatment might seem magnificent and grand, but in reality, the house and the rest cure will turn out to be her doom. The foreshadowing hints that Gilman uses the contrasting description of the house to point out how physicians like John are oppressing women by denying them their right to a postpartum experience with their baby, a thing of “romantic felicity,” and instead, turning it into an ordeal as nightmarish as a “haunted house.”
Gone with the Wind Analysis While watching the film Gone with the Wind most people would pay little to no attention to details like camera angle or lighting. However, Gone with the Wind is a great example of mise-en-scene ,what is physically being shot in the scene without editing and can include, but is not limited to camera movement, lighting, focus and scenery, in many different ways. Mise-en-scene actually appears during the first scene when Scarlett is sitting on the steps of Tara, her family’s plantation, along with her two of her male companions. Scarlett is sitting on the top stair while the twins are sitting on stairs below hers almost as if they were worshipping her. Scarlett is also looking down upon the twins as if she were superior to them.
It may skew her thinking and at times be subjective. The intended audience is someone who is studying literature and interested in how women are portrayed in novels in the 19th century. The organization of the article allows anyone to be capable of reading it.
In the Victorian era, women were forced to marry, as they needed the security of a man. However, Austen uses logos to question the real inequality in the Victorian era’s ideology, that a woman is incomplete without a man. This allows the reader to analyse the state of society from a different perspective. Austen also starts her sentence with an assertive tone further supported with her firm word choices, through using the words, ‘…truth universally acknowledged’. These words are important in her building ethos allowing her to deliver her controversial message.
Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility is a great example of her works that looks at the role of women in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Austen shows us the gender roles inflicted on women during this time period and how they are perceived. We see the strict gender roles that women were adhered to and the struggle for identity as a woman. Central to this novel is the vulnerability of women and the expectations surrounding gender influence everything and produce define results. Gender definitely determines and structures the world in which these characters live.
Though at first the melodrama and overplaying of the imagination scenes may seem to be a typical blunder on the part of the movie makers, they are actually consistent with Catherine’s character and poke fun at the melodrama often portrayed in movies of similar genres to Northanger Abbey. This parody on other films mirrors Austen’s parody of the gothic novel. Still, on the whole, there is something to be desired when looking at how the gothic does and does not find its way into the movies. Though the imagination scenes certainly do portray gothic scenarios as Catherine perceives them, they poke more fun at overdramatized film adaptations of romantic and 19th century novels than they do at the genre’s themselves. Furthermore, the imagination scenes are
In Jane Austen’s novel, Sense and Sensibility she discusses feminism through the challenges women may face in marriage. Austen’s portrayal of her characters Elinor and Marianne demonstrate the struggles and pressures women face. These challenges can be seen through primogeniture, Elinor and Marianne’s approach to love and marriage, and a man’s ability to ruin or help women. The familial succession of assets typically went to the first-born son or the next male heir. In the case of John Dashwood, he inherited Norland estate after the death of his father leaving his half-sisters and stepmother “to quit the neighborhood Norland” and move to a small cottage in Devonshire.