Question: How was your understanding of cultural and contextual considerations of the work developed through the interactive oral?
Works used: The Seagull by Anton Chekhov
Many ideas were brought up through our reading of Chekhov’s play, which lead to an interactive oral where several ideas about the different aspects of The Seagull were discussed. This discussion lead to a greater understanding of the cultural and contextual considerations of the play, including place and time. Chekhov writes in a time period when the aristocracy is dying out which helps convey his opinions on such people.
Chekhov’s writing was heavily based on the aristocracy and the problems they brought along. It was easy to understand that the female characters are
…show more content…
One of the main relationships explored in the play is the relationship between Masha, Paulina’s daughter and Shamarayev, the manager for Sorin’s farm and Medvedenko, lower middle-class schoolteacher with a great deal of worries about his financial status. Masha is always seen wearing black, “I am mourning for my life. I am unhappy” she states (Chekov, Anton, The Seagull, Translated by Ann Dunningan, Signet Classics, Middlesex, 1964, page 105). She does not have a positive attribute towards life; she is a heavy drinker and often takes snuff (Chekov, 106). The reasoning behind her negative approach to live is not due to her economic problems, which seems to be the main concern for some characters such as her husband, but rather the fact that she cannot return Medvendenko’s love; “Your love touches me, but I can’t return it. That’s all.” (Chekov, 106) What Masha does not understand that is the fact that this unrequited passion that medvedenko expresses is not towards her but his passion for money and material goods. Masha’s lack of sympathy remains after the birth of her child. Her reluctant attitude towards Medvedenko is also seen towards their child. While visiting Sorin in is house Medvedenko imploringly asks Masha to leave with him as their child has been left alone to which she replies “Nonesense. Matryona will feed him” (Chekov, 152). Chekov makes a social comment with the baby of Masha and …show more content…
Arkadina’s son Treplev struggles to find his place in the writers’ community, and is living in the shadow of his mother’s success. Treplev has a constant need of love and attention from people around him, especially his mother. When Treplev attempts suicide he requests his mother to take care of him, “Mother, change my bandage. You do it so well.” (Chekov, 143) This is a way in which Treplev asks his mother to show him affection and to love him as she neglects her son very often. Aside from love, Treplev also seeks approval from his mother hence gets angry and upset when Arkadina snobbishly mocks his work. Right after Arkadina mocks Treplev’s stage affects he flares up and loudly says’ “The play is over! That’s enough! Curtain!” and takes off shortly (Chekov, 116) On the other hand the nineteen-year-old Nina is Sorin’s neighbor. Nina is portrayed as a naive romantic who aspires for a career on the stage. Nina eventually moves away to fulfill her dreams, which leaves Treplev devastated. When Nina returns after her failure to become an actress she tells Treplev she loves him. Even then she is distracted by the presence of Trigorin, “Ah well… So he’s here to… well it doesn’t matter… he didn’t believe in the theater, he always laughed at my dreams, and gradually I too ceased believing and lost heart.” (Chekov, 167) Even in a conversation where she says she loves Treplev,
Furthermore, the context of this situation and the lack of response on Mameh’s side indicate her absolute submissiveness and silent endurance to her husband’s gibes. Additionally, there isn’t mention of any resistance or opposition to the abuse directed towards her, and she instead chooses to remain loyal to Fishel throughout
Marita's life is not the life of a typical
Both Parwana and Masooma are infatuated with the same man, however, while Parwana loved Saboor from afar, Masooma and Saboor were growing closer. Masooma understands that her “existence is a punishment” (Hossenini, 72) for Parwana because she devotes her entire life to taking care of her. Following this realization, Masooma demands that Parwana leave her in a dessert to die so that she can “go and marry Saboor” (Hossenini, 73) to pursue her dreams and regain her happiness. Therefore, Masooma made this sacrifice altruistically as she is willing to give up her life along with with everything that made her happy so that her sister could finally be happy. Additionally, in Nineteen Eighty-Four, Winston ends up sacrificing his happiness by conforming to the Party’s regime in order become free.
After doing so and being gone for some time, the daughter realizes that she misses and loves her mother very much. However, when they meet up again, the same sort of physical fight happens. The daughter is then sent to stay with her grandmother. After more time spent apart, both parties realize their love for one another. Lola also realizes, after talking to her grandmother, that she is so much alike her mother.
Quite the opposite Marusa does not value the Doukhobor traditions as her mother does, instead, Marisa has her own ways “Her mother always had great expectations for Marusa” (99, Plotnikoff).
He survives a train ride because he eats snow from the roof, he becomes friends with a Polish guard because he teaches him to speak English, and he teaches himself how to mend shoes and becomes the official cobbler of the camp. He is always thinking about the next step towards survival. The author respects this quality in his father but is also critical of how it has shaped Vladek into a very compulsive
His father, Pavel Chekhov, “...believed it was his duty to beat goodness into his children” (Bloom 9). Pavel Chekhov beat his children
Beneatha also faced a hardship in her life, but herr 's was different from the rest. She face problems with education. Her family did not fully support her decision of wanting to become a doctor. Beneatha wants to become a doctor but her family is not that wealthy.
Relatively all authors are very fond of creating an underlying message to criticize society. Authors do this through social commentary. The book “The Picture of Dorian Gray” is no exception. The author, Oscar Wilde, criticizes the upper class through the consistent underlying idea that people are often deceived by one's beauty and are unable to understand the poison that fills the world is corrupting it. From the beginning of this book, the social commentary towards the upper class begins with the structure of the novel.
Chopin also creates contrast in the woman’s place in society by how she depicts the characters when they’re introduced. When a male character is introduced his job and accomplishments are highlighted. When a female character is introduced her body image and presentation are highlighted, no matter how great her accomplishments are. “She was a homely woman with a small weazened face and body that glowed. She had absolutely no taste in dress, and wore a batch of rusty black lace with
It may seem like Shakespeare treats his female characters worse than his male characters, but it is his female characters that drive the plot
In Shakespeare’s Othello and in Susan Glaspell’s Trifles women play an important role in the development of the plot. Shakespeare and Glaspell develop these women differently to enhance their message. In Othello, Emilia, Desdemona, and Bianca are all treated very poorly by their male counterparts.
Themes in Literature - Gender roles Gender roles are norms created by society. Our gender is given to us when born, either you are a girl or a boy, decided by how our body looks like. A girl is given norms to follow by society at a young age. A girl should usually be passive, nurturing and subordination, while those born male are supposed to be strong, aggressive and dominant. This paper will discuss how the genders are viewed and perceived in different literary periods.
This proved when the narrator’s mother always tried to get the narrator to do work that appropriate for a lady instead of outside work, however it was not something that she enjoyed. The narrator also was not considered of real helper to her father because she was a female. This proved when her father introduced the narrator as ‘his new hired hand’ to a salesman, he replied, “I thought it was only a girl” (line 76, paragraph 10).This shows how the society view girl as ‘just a girl’ at that time and it means that their roles are not really significant in the society. As being said by Alexander Pope (1688-1744), “Most women have no character at all.” (Bressler, C.E., 2011).
On the other hand, Mr. Smirnov came off as cold and closed off because he wanted to stop getting played by women after he had given so much to many relationships without getting that attention returned. Ironically, though, he instantly falls in love with Mrs. Popov. After having a few drinks, he states, “I like her. I’m even prepared to consider letting her off the debt… I never knew a woman like this before” (Chekhov 537).