‘The Light Princess’ is a tale which explores themes of sex through using sexual symbols (McGillis 38). However, not only is the tale playing with such symbols, it also engages in two fairy tales which deal with issues of sex as well. MacDonald’s fairy tale shares similarities with the brother Grimm’s ‘Briar-Rose’ and ‘The Devil with the Three Golden Hairs’. In relation to ‘The Devil with the Three Golden Hairs’, both use a reptile to drain a source of water. How, in ‘The Devil with the Three Golden Hairs’, a toad is used which represented an embryo, whilst in ‘The Light Princess’ a snake is used, a distinctly phallic symbol and the implications of this will be touched upon later on (Roheim 7). Yet, the main focus is the relation between …show more content…
Mentioned beforehand, the lake in the tale can be read as symbolising the female genitals. This can be contrasted with the snake created by the witch Makemnoit. The snake, according to Freud, is the most important ‘symbol of the male member’ (Freud). Yet, this snake is not natural. Instead the snake is created through witchcraft using a ‘piece of dried seaweed’. The uncanny nature of the snake emphasis the snake as a created phallus, not a natural one (MacDonald 40). Instead of giving life through ejaculation of seminal fluids, the snake drains the water which allows the witch to cast a spell that proceeds to drain all the lakes in the Kingdom, effect the Light Princess gravely, and make babies cry without sheading a tear (42). The infertility which is presented echoes fears over women masturbating, that it would be cause infertility and damage to society (Moodie 2). The aim of this is only to grant her revenge (MacDonald 40). The revenge only grants pleasure to the witch, causing the rest of the land to become dry. In the end, the witch is punished for her obsession with revenge for her own pleasure by being crushed by her own house (53). The language within the sentence reflects that no sympathy is felt towards her, even from her brother the King, she is left buried under the rumble and forgotten about (53). Therefore, through the lens of the sexual context and culture given, the witch can be seen to represent a woman who only aims to satisfy herself through masturbation in the guise of revenge. The problem and anxiety of Scottish women masturbation is outlined by Moodie, influenced by his own interactions. Where the sexual desire of the Princess is necessary to her development, the witch’s self-desire is punished and seen as problematic not just to an individual, but to a society as a whole. This is conveyed in another of MacDonald’s text, ‘The Giant’s Heart’. The
There are several events in the play which at one point or the other take a tragic turn which constantly undercut back into the play by speeches. What is set out in the play is a festive mood where people were engaged in activities of ‘Maying’ where people get together to sing and dance in the woods, activities that led to the maids’ belief that the pursuit if true love can be scored only through divination dreams (Barber 18). The fairy’s existence is conceptualized from the act of fusing pageantry together with popular games in a menacing way bring out their actual image of a relaxed
Shakespeare’s Macbeth documents a man’s desire for power, and the murderous acts that he commits in order to gain it. Nevertheless, it equally focuses on his power-crazed wife and her amplified drive for control. Macbeth and his wife are joined by more than holy matrimony. Shakespeare creates an intriguing relationship that traces the downfall of not a single person, but an entity comprised of two. The concentration is directed on this oneness through the plot progression within Macbeth, in which the roles of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are reversed.
The story of Lady Macbeth throughout Macbeth is one unlike those of its time in its unusually forward-thinking portrayal of a woman with thoughts and actions which would have been considered indecent. This is seen through the representation of her relationship with Macbeth and how they interact. It is also illustrated through Lady Macbeth’s morals and their effect on how she acts and reacts in situations which would weigh heavily on most peoples’ conscious. Her power-hungry attitude is one often reserved for men, especially in this era of literature. All of these factors create a character in Lady Macbeth which is dissimilar to the classic portrayal of women in the seventeenth century.
Lady Macbeth is one of William Shakespeare’s most famous and frightening female characters. As she is Macbeth’s wife, her role is significant in his rise and fall from royalty. She is Macbeth’s other half. During Shakespearean times, women were regarded as weak insignificant beings that were there to give birth and look beautiful. They were not thought to be as intelligent or equal to men. Though in Shakespeare's play, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is the highest influence in Macbeth’s life. Her role was so large; in fact, that she uses her position to gain power, stay strong enough to support her unstable Lord, and fails miserably while their relationship falls apart. Everything about Lady Macbeth is enough to create the perfect villain because of her ability to manipulate everyone around her. It appears that even she can’t resist the perfect crime.
This shows her femininity as a strength, as she can use it to influence Macbeth and show him as the weak spouse.
Characters in Macbeth frequently dwell on issues of gender. Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband by questioning his manhood, wishes that she herself could be ?unsexed,? and does not contradict Macbeth when he says that a woman like her should give birth only to boys. In the same manner that Lady Macbeth goads her husband on to murder, Mac...
We see how a vigorous Lady Macbeth; initially in association with the witches’ predictions, at-tempts to mirror their disturbance of gender in psychological terms by desiring to "unsex" herself in order to carry out such a powerful action [murder], otherwise, being impossible for a woman to carry out (no offence or sexism is intended when I state this).
During the Elizabethan era, a woman did not have any say in the relationship with her husband, but Shakespeare’s Macbeth changes this accepted theory. Lady Macbeth is a woman ahead of her time; she is caught between today’s ambitious, powerful woman and a fragile, powerless creature of the Elizabethan era. At the beginning of this tragedy, she is vicious, overly ambitious, without conscience, and willing to do whatever it takes to get what she wants. As Macbeth becomes less dependent on his wife, Lady Macbeth loses control of her husband, but mostly of herself. She is so wrapped up in the greedy world Shakespeare creates that she fails to consider the consequences of her actions more realistically. Lady Macbeth lives as if she is a woman ahead of her tiime, but she dies like she is from the “golden age of drama”.
Additionally, the sisters in the story only wanted jewels, blamed Beauty for their dilemma, and acted as if Beauty did not exist when she came back whereas the brothers, “begged her to stay,” “declared that nothing should make them let her go,” and even offered to fight the beast when it were to come to take Beauty. Therefore making the women seem catty, weak, materialistic, but making the men appear as brave, strong, and caring. Again, the story presents misogynist views that are unhealthy to society. Lastly, the beast projects anti-feminist views. Although the beast speaks politely after Beauty refuses his marriage proposal, he repeatedly asks her and completely disrespects her answer. As mentioned before, women were treated horrible the era the story was written in making this story acceptable at the time, but presently this story should not be read to children. For many years, people viewed Beauty and the Beast as an uprising from misogyny, but when analyzing from a feminist perspective it is clear that the story is the complete
The biological differences that set apart the male and female gender throughout any culture remain eminent. Men are perceived as the stronger and dominant gender; women play the role of the weaker. In each culture the expectation of the manner in which men and women behave are influenced by the ideals and customs of that culture. In most predominant cultures, the man undertakes the role as a leader, and the woman devotes her life to the husband. Throughout history, traditions and literature provide a template to the identities of various cultures. Sleeping Beauty’s classic tale of a beautiful princess takes a central precept that previous patriarchal archetypes dominated during the 17th Century. The archetypal perceptions of women resulted from conscious and unconscious literature influenced by male-dominated perspectives and social standards.
maintaining the course of their true love. A long standing couple, even the king and queen of fairies face the complications true love brings from time to time: “Ever true in loving be, / and the blots of Nature’s hand” (5.1.425-426...
Lady Macbeth’s atypical and complex character directly challenged the archetypal principles and beliefs of the Jacobean era which as a result, drew major fascination through the ages. Lady Macbeth was Shakespeare’s device to not only stimulate audience’s emotions, but to also provide historical context and elicit dominant themes which reflected Jacobean society. Her ambiguous character and remarkable influences in the play raised a lot of controversy and fascination amongst both modern and Jacobean audiences. She can either be seen as linked to the witches in a feminist bid to overthrow the balance of power, or as a representation of the evil side of Macbeth. Nevertheless, it was her distinct characteristics and actions which ultimately catalysed the chain of conflicts of the play. Again, this reinforces her important role in the play.
Even though fairy tales don’t always end the way we want them to, we usually expect them to end with prince charming saving a princess. However, according to the Grimms Brothers version, “The Frog King,” the princess actually saves the prince. An innocent naive princess comes across a frog that once was a prince. Therefore, the only way he can overcome this curse is to ask a princess to fully have her assurance into becoming his companion. The moral of this fairy tale is express how appearances are deceiving. We don’t fully have an understanding what true beauty looks like until it is standing in front of us. The three main symbols that emphasize the true beauty in this fairytale is the frog, the fountain, and the golden ball.
A very old Shakespeare’s play “A Midsummers Night Dream” believed to be written in 1590 and 1596 was a classical idea of fantasy. It portrays the journey of four young lovers and their interactions with fairies. They story takes place in a mythical city called Athens with an enchanted forest, where a fairy king misguides the star-crossed lovers and plays tricks on his fairy queen by transforming a poor actor into a half-donkey. This work focuses on human interactions with falling in love.
Judith Butler’s concept of gender performativity suggests that there is a distinction between “sex, as a biological facticity, and gender, as the cultural interpretation or signification of that facticity” (Butler, 522). Performing certain actions that society associates with a specific gender marks you as that gender. In this way, gender is socially constructed. Alfar defines the societal expectation of women as the “constant and unquestioning feminine compliance with the desires of the masculine” (114). Considering Macbeth from a modern perspective and taking this distinction into account, it is necessary to determine if the play is concerned with sex or with gender. Before the action of the play even begins, the audience is warned that “Fair is foul, and foul is fair” (1.1.11). The first scene of the play casts the world of Macbeth as a land where everything is opposite or disordered. This line at the very start of the play cautions audiences to not take the play at face value because things are not always as they appear to be. Because of this, “all the binaries become complicated, divisions blurred. Thus the binary nature of gender identities, male/female, is eliminated” (Reaves 14). In the world of Macbeth, the typical gender constructions are manipulated and atypical. If the play does not deal with sex, the qualities of Lady Macbeth cannot be applied to all women but rather, representative of society’s construction of gender, “the patriarch, and the limited, restrictive roles of women” (Reaves 11). Within this reading of Lady Macbeth, Shakespeare’s examination and questioning of gender construction allows modern day readers to recognize the enduring relevance of