Reading The Great Gatsby has opened my eyes to see the truth behind people’s actions and how to see the characters beyond the page. Not only do we see Daisy transform from a cynical, depressed wife, to a life-loving women, we also see that your happiness can not depend on who you are around but it does affect your thoughts, words, and deeds. We learn throughout the novel that Daisy is a conniving, deceitful, cowardly woman afraid of her own shadow, but we also learn that she doesn’t know how to be anything else because of the way she was raised. Daisy incapability of learning to let go and be who she wants to be, is the reason why Gatsby, the man she loves, and Wilson, the husband of Myrtle, die. In the novel, Daisy is the villain, she takes people’s lives, turns them upside down, blames it on someone else, and walks away unharmed and unscathed.
In all probability Daisy would have watched her mother play the role of the good wife, a role she herself would be expected to play and a role her daughter would be anticipated to play too. Women of that time would’ve been seen and not heard, their husbands’ infidelities were not challenged, and to leave your husband would have been far more scandalous. Daisy is a victim of the cultural norms of that time, in that she was born a female, and her learned helplessness is a result of her own family life, watching and learning from her
The Bell Jar explores how American food culture limited the opportunities available to women. Women at that time were expected to have sufficient skills in the art of domestication to satisfy the needs of their husbands. Thus, further illustrated by the notion that if a woman did not know how to cook, society would have frowned upon them. Esther Greenwood seems to be ashamed by her inability to carry out such domestic duties, feeling “dreadfully inadequate” (Plath 72). However, she also attributes her freedom to the belief of not needing to conform to such duties, as she “hated the idea of serving men in any way” (Plath 72).
Moreover, Lady Macduff has this vulnerable air about her, she is defenceless against anyone who would want to do her harm because of her kindness, and so, she was doomed because of it. Many believe her to be the ideal woman, and they are correct. In the play, a character was impressed by her resolve when she found out about her husband’s predicament, she only had her son left, so he was her top priority. This person told her face to face, and I quote; “Bless you, fair damme.” Those words alone speak volumes on Lady Macduff’s character. Moreover, Lady Macduff was incconect throughout the entire happenings of the play, she did not take part in anything remotely suspicious, and did not take a single life, as such, she did not have anything to feel guilty about, so she felt no remorse in
With their questions and concerns on what a woman should and should not do, both characters represent the role confusion shared by many 1920s women. Bernice prides herself in her family’s old fashioned values, that a woman must be polite and gentle in order to be feminine. However, since she never was allowed to fully express herself, her social skills turned awry and she fails to win the attention of men. Therefore, she seeks her cousin,
These women are ultimately judged not by their manipulative actions but how they perform as wives through those actions. Although Bisclavret’s wife schemes to steal Bisclavret’s humanity, her worst offense is that she has failed to fulfill her wifely duties and uses her position as Bisclavret’s wife to manipulate him. Bisclavret, after telling her of his condition, is hesitant to disclose where he hides his clothes because, if he loses them, he cannot transform back into a human, and his wife responds: I love you more than all the world; you mustn’t hide anything from me or fear me in any way: that doesn’t seem like love to me. What wrong have I done? For what sin of mine do you mistrust me about anything?
She is exactly as an angel should be. She is young, innocent and beautiful. Her aim in life is to get married and have children, but the price she must pay for her wish scared her ‘Ernestina wanted a husband, wanted Charles to be that husband, wanted children; but the payment she vaguely divined she would have to make for them seemed excessive.’ (Fowles, 29). From this point of view she fulfilled the Victorian requirement, yet she is jealous, because she thinks that she cannot forgive Charles for his past with a French countess and she is not that submissive ‘Ernestina had certainly a much stronger will of her own than anyone about her had ever allowed for—and more than the age allowed for.’ (Fowles, 29). Here she moves away from the passive and obedient nature of the ‘Angels’.
Emma and jane Fairfax Jane’s situation in life is much grimmer than Emma’s, and represents the faith of many women at her time. Being an orphan meant that if Jane does not marry, she must become a governess, because she lacks any money of her own. While Emma can afford to practice feminine activities such as drawing, only for the sake of impressing the people surrounding her, and act as coquet to receive male attention, for Jane, attracting a respectable man and marrying him is the only way to have a decent life. Accordingly, she excels in many talents a young lady of those times was supposed to have. Despite being inferior to Emma in social standing, thus not representing a real threat to her social standing, it not surprising Emma takes an immediate dislike towards her.
Even at such young ages, girls were held at these same extreme beauty standards as their mothers were, believing that they had to be this ideal beautiful ‘cookie-cutter’ woman, or else they won’t be beautiful at all. Women, including young girls, felt as though they could only be beautiful if society said so and as soon as society said so, then all of a sudden they must be beautiful. These standards aren’t fair to women because women shouldn’t have to be judged by society for their looks, and society shouldn't be able to tell them when they are beautiful and when they aren’t. Society put these standards into women’s heads, and Austen realized that they need to be taken out. She tried to do this by writing in a satirical tone in hopes that readers would see that these beauty standards are wrong and need to be changed.
Abstract: This paper questions the role of marriage through Ismat Chugtai’s short story ‘Morsel’ in achieving a respectable social status for women in society. She ridicules the undue attention given to the marriage ignoring women’s achievements. It highlights how chugtai raises a concern towards the emotional well being of unmarried girls due to the nerve wrecking match making in their daily life. She sarcastically makes a mention of the respectfully married women and gently hints that everything is not so well in their world as well. Finally she ridicules the mythical deliverance of women through marriage in which we so blindly believe as a society.