Introduction:In PygmalionGeorge Bernard Shawdepicts how wealthy men behave with women. Shaw also showshow women are treated in society and how class differences limited people to develop. In this play, there is unequal relationship between man and woman where man is superior and woman is inferior. The language professor is an upper-class gentleman who transforms the lower-girl into a duchess. Here the flower girl is in the position of a child beingcorrected, educated and remade by man. Mr. Higgingsuses Eliza as an object or experiment. Eliza succumbs to Higgins' brutality and works with him very hard to learn phonetics and manners until at last she realizes that she is still a flower girl no matter how perfect she speaks English. When Mr. Higgings …show more content…
In the Victorian period, people live in harsh condition and modernism arrived in England. Working classes tried to develop their social class and condition, but the outstanding idea of that time was: each person who was born in social class can’t change his or her class. There were many differences between high and low class of society. For example, the theater was only belonged to the educated people and common people were not allowed to go to the theater or a person from low class can’t marry to one from high class. Here George Bernard Shaw as an active member of Fabian society, destroys all of these convictions and insists on the equality of people’s income and right especially equality of man and woman in society. George Bernard Shaw showshow women are treated in society and how class differences limited people to develop. In Arms and the Man, class struggle is shown by introducing of play different characters. Pygmalion is no doubt the creation of woman, either the creation of a duchess from a flower girl, or the creation of a woman from duchess, in which man is creator, whereas woman is in the position of a child, a pupil, being corrected, educated and remade by man. As a free thinker, George Bernard Shaw supports women’s right, equality of income, sharing private property, and change in voting
Craft examines the usual roles of the Victorian men and women, passive women especially, requiring them to “suffer and be still”. The men of this time were higher up on the important ladder of that era. Craft believes the men are the “doers” or active ones in
Even though the article and the play have different storylines, both of them draw parallels when it comes to masculinity. Geoffrey Canada’s article,
Although being written centuries apart, the limited expectations of women presented in ‘Othello’ and ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ differ little from each other. The female characters are confined by society’s expectations of male dominance, female purity and virginity, and the many passive roles of women. Despite the differing legalities surrounding the position of women between the centuries in which the plays were written, both plays explore the impact of how societal conventions confine women and the ways they must comply to be safe in a patriarchal society. The behaviours and treatments of Desdemona, Blanche and Stella illustrate the attitudes enforced on and the behaviours of women throughout both periods in time and it is these attitudes and behaviours that impact the plays to the greatest extent. When characters in either plays defy their norms, or demonstrate a lack of compliance they induce negative consequences, such as the murder of Desdemona and the institutionalisation of Blanche.
She does not find it fair that only men are given the right opportunity to vote. Shaw’s tone is persuasive when she gives the definition of a republic to prove
It is a complex and nuanced exploration of the issues that shape adolescence and identity, with its portrayal of a diverse group of young women offering powerful meditation on challenges growing up in contemporary society. One of the central themes of the play is the idea of privilege and how it affects the girls' lives. Several of the characters come from affluent backgrounds and are grappling with the guilt and responsibility that come with their privilege. Others struggle with the limitations imposed on them by their social and economic
The diction of the play helps to advance the plot and the theme of this play immensely. The word choice between the genders is different; the women sound more educated whenever the men aren’t around. This goes to show that women were only expected to speak if they didn’t sound nearly as intelligent as the men did. Glaspells use of this gives the reader the impression that the women don’t even want to be speaking properly, for fear of rebuke from their spouse. The author’s use of diction helps us to understand the women and their importance in the society at the time.
She wanted real love and actively pursued that desire, proving her autonomy to all. However, this “real love” was tainted in a way she was unable to see, it was in fact seduction, not love. The seduction twists Eliza’s drive for independence and uses it against her. She attempts to decide her own fate, and society punishes her for it. The seduction ruins her name and her life, leaving her alone and with child, then eventually dead.
John Updike’s “A&P” demonstrates through several methods the struggle that unwritten principle can place on women in their search for individuality and personal freedom from oppression. Sammy’s thoughts demonstrate this very concept, as well as Queenie’s actions as an independent woman, and the unfair and morally unjust establishment of a woman’s place by the oppressive male characters. With these ideas, Queenie is clearly represented as an innocent feminist who is ultimately shunned by her male oppressors. Sammy, the typical male totalitarian, is very much condescending towards the story’s female characters, automatically assuming ignorance on the part of them.
In this the year, which marks, the centenary in which, women won the right to vote; this essay will be to ‘Discuss the presentation of the women in ‘The great Gatsby’. One cannot understand the writing of ‘The great Gatsby’ without considering the era in which it took place. The role of women first started to change after the First World War in United States of America. Before this war, women did not enjoy universal suffrage. However, that was to change.
The play “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell is largely based on stereotypes. The most prevalent one explores the difference between gender roles. Glaspell exerts the repression of women in the 1900s. During that time, women were highly looked down upon by men, and were only seen as the housekeepers and child bearers. This example is displayed throughout the play with the men, however, the women in this play prove that the stereotypes of gender roles held against them are completely wrong, which is shown through the characters, set design, and symbolism.
Oscar Wilde wrote his plays against the backdrop of the Victorian English society. It therefore helps to discuss the salient aspects of the Victorian society. Victorian England is known for many paradoxes -- glaring contrasts between the rich and the poor, insistence on morality on the one hand and the practice of cynicism on the other, blooming creativity pitted against blatant constriction, imperial grandeur since Britain was then ruling almost one fifth of the total surface of the earth and domestic squalor since the majority of people did not have decent means of livelihood, and finally collectivity dictated by tradition opposed to the rapidly developing individualism. The class system denied the talented members of the lower classes access to social and economic advancement. The upper classes alone had the privilege of working in the government, the armed forces, and the church, while trade was monopolized by the rising middle class.
The one-act play, “Trifles,” by Susan Glaspell, has several themes that are incorporated within it. There are several dominant ideas such as female identity, patriarchal dominance, isolation, and justice are themes that are all reflected in different ways throughout the play; however, gender is the main theme of “Trifles.” There is a considerable difference between the roles of the men and the women in this play. The men are expected to act in a more controlling, dominant way, while the women are expected to act in the typical ‘housekeeper’ fashion. The theme of gender is brought out through the play in many dramatic elements such as character, tone, and dramatic irony.
To begin with, George Bernard Shaw was an early and outspoken advocate for the rights of women, and as a playwright he created some of the most distinctive women characters of his day. He was deeply
During the setting and the publication of Pygmalion in 1912, sexism was slowly in decline; however, just the idea of sexism existing in the first place was what prompted Shaw to criticize all of society in his play Pygmalion. And it is quite clear that he was calling “attention to questions of femininity and gender” because of how “the title of Shaw’s play is taken from the myth of Pygmalion” (LitChart Sited). Similarly, in both the play and the myth, the protagonist is seen creating their own “perfect” ideas of what a woman is and how a woman should act (LitChart). In Shaw’s doing so of this, he is trying to show society how “unrealistic and even unnatural the expectations that society has for women are” (LitCharts).
Augustus Egg’s “The Travelling Companion” portrays two young women sitting in opposite direction inside a moving train carriage. The painting is almost symmetrical as there are many similarities between the two ladies. However, there are also subtle differences between them which enforces the main themes of this painting through symbolism adding layers of meaning in its reading. This painting was created in 1862 during the Victorian era, a time when industrialization took place, and hence having trains as a background in the painting.