Alienation in Victorian Society
by Shivam Ray
The Victorian period is often defined and pictured by its antique images of flowers, corsets, standard 18 inch waists and rosy-cheek children. However, Kate Chopin shatters this image in her Novel “The Awakening” published in 1899. The authors child hood experiences of tragedies in her family and a true story of a lady from New Orleans and her scandals greatly influence the matter of this novel. In reality, Victorian period was characterized by rigid repression of women’s independence and were considered to be property of men and their children. Though there was theoretical “freedom” in Victorian society and culture, its existence was for the sole purpose of portraying civilization and was considered healthy only to the point where no one seriously acted upon it. Women were supposed to sacrifice all their individuality and conform to the identity outlined by social convention. In her novel, Kate Chopin uses the character of Edna Pontellier to highlight the values of Victorian culture and to reveal the surrounding society’s assumptions and moral values. Her novel, though at first discarded by the public as “unhealthy”, it is now her most famous work and a keystone of feminist writing.
Kate Choppin constantly uses the structure of love and marriage in Victorian era to reflect upon the dimensions of the society and its values. In the Victorian society, the mother-woman “idolize” their children, “worship” their husbands, and regard it as a “holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow winds as ministering “angels.” Husbands of the time treated their wives like their property and valued their physical appearance and the entertainment they could provide. Woman were allowed to play music or dance, but for the sole purpose of providing entertainment at social gatherings, any other purpose would be considered “wicked.” This is exactly the kind of turmoil Edna Pontellier faces throughout the novel, she feels that marriage enslaves her to an identity for which she is not suited. She thinks of her marriage to Leone as a form of imprisonment. But Leonce love is the kind of love a man might have to his dearest possessions. A respectful Victorian woman’s life would go through the stages of romantic courtship, enslaving marriage, a prolonged motherhood and devout widowhood if one would survive longer then her husband. Choppin carefully use the characters of lady in black and Adele to portray this. However, Edna does not believe in a life molded by such a societies moral values. Thus, she looks for an outside source of love and turns to Robert. But, his love to his infested by the notion of owning the woman who loves him and keepin’ “it” protected as any other valuable property.
Другие работы по теме:
Mrs Dalloway
– Analysis Of The Film Essay, Research Paper Upon viewing ?Mrs. Dalloway? I was not impressed. The movie seemed to jump from the present to the past. The character Septimus didn?t appear to have any purpose in the storyline. Clarrisa also seemed to be tightly bound by the Victorian lifestyle of the day to make her interesting to me.
Victorian Jewelry Essay Research Paper The quaintness
Victorian Jewelry Essay, Research Paper ?The quaintness and eccentricity of some of the jewels, particularly from among the less expensive lines, was partly a reflection of the mood of the times but was also the result of trading conditions? (Hinks6). Jewelry makers produced new ideas every season, whether they were practical or idiot because the competition between domestic rivals was so intense.
Emily Bronte Essay Research Paper Bronte name
Emily Bronte Essay, Research Paper Bronte, name of three English novelists, also sisters, whose works, transcending Victorian conventions, have become beloved classics. The sisters Charlotte Bronte (1816-1855), Emily (Jane) Bronte (1818-1848), and Anne Bronte (1820-1849), and their brother (Patrick) Branwell Bronte (1817-1848), were born in Thornton, Yorkshire.
The Modern Temper Essay Research Paper In
The Modern Temper Essay, Research Paper In the time period from 1915-1945, America was undergoing dramatic changes. These changes were noticeable in everything from the economy to they way authors were writing. Many of the authors in this time period turned to humor and most stories held a sense of alienation.
Jane Eyre Essay Research Paper Caretakers had
Jane Eyre Essay, Research Paper Caretakers had an important role in the renaissance and the Victorian period. Mainly women were accepted to be a caretaker while their class was usually a low one. Their duty changed from period to period, their class was not bound to be low, but still, it was lower than the person who hired them.
Jane Eyre As A Typical And Atypical
Victorian Woman Essay, Research Paper The image of Jane Eyre was certainly a startling one to the Victorian public. On the surface Jane Eyre seems like a quintessential heroine of Gothic and Sentimental literature: a plane and poor girl who, having virtuously defied the temptation of being seduced, is rewarded for her outstanding morality and chastity by the crowning elements of propriety and desirability –a husband and a fortune.
Metamorphosis Essay Research Paper MetamorphosisEssay written by
Metamorphosis Essay, Research Paper MetamorphosisEssay written by AnonymousMetamorphosis is a book that is easily related to this ever so cruel world and the life each of us livetoday. Each of us experience alienation just as Gregor did in the story. We experience from friends and even worse family. When changes arrive that we can’t cope with, we sometimes except them grudgingly, or we simply run away from that change.
Dose Poetry Matter Essay Research Paper Does
Dose Poetry Matter Essay, Research Paper Does Poetry Matter? To me poetry does not matter. I do not like poetry because a poem is just a passage that contains a hidden meaning and I can never figure out what a poem is about. If poetry was not around then authors would just come out and say what they wanted to say . Their thoughts would not get confused and people would not miss the meaning that the author is trying to get across.
Scarlet Letter Essay Essay Research Paper Alienation
Scarlet Letter Essay Essay, Research Paper Alienation Among Many Through out Nathaniel Hawthone?s The Scarlet Letter, the main characters suffer psychological damage as a result of different forms of alienation. The character traits they posses make them more susceptible to certain types of alienation.
Hemmingway 2 Essay Research Paper The themes
Hemmingway 2 Essay, Research Paper The themes of alienation and isolation go hand in hand with the role nature plays in Ernest Hemmingway s short story The Big Two-Hearted River. Nick Adams, whose life and personality parallels that of Hemmingway, constantly retreats to nature to find a quiet place of reflection and self-examination.
Marx Alienated Labor Essay Research Paper Marx
Marx Alienated Labor Essay, Research Paper Marx on page 327 of his essay “estranged labor” is describing what to him were the fundamental conditions of labor under capitalism and why he found them
Genocide Essay Research Paper GENOCIDEThe word genocide
Genocide Essay, Research Paper GENOCIDE The word ?genocide? has not been in existence for a very long: it was the jurist Lemkin who coined it between the two world wars. The thing itself is as old as humanity and there has never been a societ whose struture has preserved it from committing this crime.(Jean-Paul Sarte)
The Glass Menagerie Essay Research Paper In
The Glass Menagerie Essay, Research Paper In The Glass Menagerie there was a character that was alienated. Writers often highlight the values of a culture or a society by using characters who
Victorian Literature Essay Research Paper Victorian literatureThe
Victorian Literature Essay, Research Paper Victorian literature The first decades (1830s to 1860s) of Queen Victoria’s reign produced a vigorous and varied body of literature that attempted to come to terms with the current transformations of English society, but writers in the latter decades (1870s to 1900) withdrew into AESTHETICISM, a preoccupation with sensation as an end in itself.
Bartleby Essay Research Paper Bartleby The Scrivener
Bartleby Essay, Research Paper Bartleby- The Scrivener In Herman Melville s Bartleby the Scrivener , the author uses several themes to convey his ideas. The three most important themes are alienation, man s desire to have a free conscience, and man s desire to avoid conflict. Melville uses the actions of an eccentric scrivener named Bartleby, and the responses of his cohorts, to show these underlying themes to the reader.
Victorian Dogamatism As A Gift From The
Romantic Age And Prior Essay, Research Paper Victorian Dogmatism as a Gift from the Romantic Age and Prior Walter E. Houghton prefaces The Victorian Frame of Mind by noting, “the
Bronte Essay Research Paper emotions
Bronte Essay, Research Paper emotions — both joyful and sad. By creating an emotional see-saw from the encounters between Jane and Rochester, the novelist indicates that these intense emotions define true love. Bront ’s emphasis on the importance of passion in a good relationship adheres to some of the doctrines of the Evangelical religion, which dominated the Victorian age.
Jane Eyre Role Of Women Essay Research
Paper A traditional woman of Victorian Society was seen as a caring mother and a loving wife. She was born to give and to love. Often, the upper-class women were taught languages and the arts; this made them very well rounded and appealing to the gentlemen. In Jane Eyre, the women characters that are encountered have both traditional and non-traditional characteristics of the Victorian Society.
Amy LowellS Patterns Essay Research Paper On
Amy Lowell?S ?Patterns? Essay, Research Paper On the outside, the speaker in Amy Lowell’s “Patterns” acts the way Victorian society expects of her. However, on the inside, she expresses her emotions and what she
Alienation Essay Research Paper A L I
Alienation Essay, Research Paper A L I E N A T I O N I guess you could say I live off alienation. It seems in my life I have always asked to be alienated from my surroundings. Just like many great authors and artists I found alienation to be a great tool to teach people the age-old lesson that one should not “judge a book by its cover.”
Alienation In Scarlet Letter Essay Research Paper
The Worshiped and the Damned There are many ways in which one can describe the idea of alienation and the relationship between an individual to a society. Whether or not people believe alienation to be beneficial to a person or group, the fact is that it has become a large part of what makes humanity so diverse.
Alienation Paper Hemmingway Essay Research Paper Alienation
Alienation Paper Hemmingway Essay, Research Paper Alienation Paper The novels The Old Man and the Sea and The Sun Also Rises are both written by Ernest Hemingway. Some of the aspects of the stories are similar, and some are different. Each book presents a character that has been alienated, but the method used to present the character varies.
Alienation Essay Research Paper The term
Alienation Essay, Research Paper The term, Alienation was taken from Webster s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary. Alienation is mental derangement by. An uncertainty or awkwardness of your surroundings. To the effects of Soldier s Home, the insecurities of how the war and the people back home perceived the events as opposed to the soldier upon their return home.
Review Of Ceremony Essay Research Paper Review
Review Of Ceremony Essay, Research Paper Review of Ceremony Ceremony, written by Leslie Marmon Silko, traces the alienation and destruction of a young Native American who must first come to terms with his past before he can overcome his post-traumatic stress. Throughout this novel, there are many symbols and examples of how not only the main character, but his culture as a whole was ignored, rejected, and destroyed.
Light In August By William Fau Essay
, Research Paper In the novel by William Faulkner, Light in August there is alienation in the novel. The alienation occurs with Joe Christmas. He is a stranger that comes into the town of
Urbanization In Britain Essay Research Paper Environmental
Urbanization In Britain Essay, Research Paper Environmental Problems in Britain during the Victorian Era: Several factors in Great Britain during the Victorian age came together to form numerous problems. One problem among many was the issue of the environment. The new technology of the Industrial Revolution caused many problems for the Britain s environment.
Madame Bovary Essay Research Paper Madame BovaryThe
Madame Bovary Essay, Research Paper Madame Bovary The Victorian era was a time of both beauty and elegance. Many wonderful novels were written during the period including Jane Erye by Charlotte Bronte and her sister Emily s famous work, Wuthering Heights. But in contrast there are novels that express Anti-Victorian sentiments as well.
Jane Eyre Passion Vs Reason Essay Research
Paper Many of Jane s values are based on reason but ultimately many of her actions and decisions are driven by the heart. Discuss The character of Jane in Charlotte Bronte s novel Jane Eyre, was entirely revolutionary for the Victorian era. Whilst her values were shaped by her environs, her actions and decisions were often driven by an intense passion often contrary to societies norms.
The Victorian Age Essay Research Paper The
The Victorian Age Essay, Research Paper The United States during the second half of the 1800s was in a stage called “The Victorian Age.” The basic style of this time was actually borrowed from the English or to be more exact Queen Victoria hence the name Victorian Age.
A Comparison Of Night Walker And Roselily
Essay, Research Paper Brent Staples’ Night Walker and Alice Walker’s Roselily both present a glimpse into the world view of African-American culture through human characters set in ironic situations. The tone of Roselily is one of sardonic condemnation, whereas the tone of Night Walker is one of melancholy and anger in the face of alienation.
Romantism In Essay Research Paper Even though
Romantism In Essay, Research Paper Even though it was written in the Victorian era, Kate Chopin’s The Awakening has several romantic qualities, especially with the main character, as she struggles between society’s obligations and her own desires. Chopin writes about a woman who continues to reject the society around her, a notion too radical for Chopin’s peers.
Women In The Victorian Era Essay Research
Paper In the Victorian Era (1832-1901), women faced many challenges. Women were not treated as they are today. They were treated unfairly and not heard. There was a need for women to express their own needs as human beings, and finally overcome their hardship. But the question remained, what was their position in life? Two pieces of literature that deal with this topic are A Dolls House by Henrik Ibsen and A Woman s Thoughts about Women by Dinah Maria Mulock.
Hardy
’s Use Of Jude And Sue In Jude The Obscure Essay, Research Paper Hardy?s Use of Jude and Sue in Jude the Obscure In Jude the Obscure, Thomas Hardy presents the characters Jude Fawley and Sue Bridehead, who violate the conventions of the repressive Victorian society while attempting to follow their natural instincts.
Dover Beach Vs Dover Bitch Essay Research
Paper Hecht’s parody “Dover Bitch” is a mockery of Victorian values shown in “Dover Beach”, as well as those of his own period. Hecht candidly exaggerates the speech, ideas and symbols in “Dover Beach.”.
Art Appreciation Essay Research Paper DARK ROCKS
Art Appreciation Essay, Research Paper DARK ROCKS Georgia O Keeffe ( oil in canvas) Victorian Bouquet Severin Roesen ( Oil in canvas) In this piece of art, Georgia O Keeffe transforms ordinary natural objects (rocks) into abstract things. By setting the dark rocks against the white background she magnifies the rocks.