Being a maid is hard, but being a maid and having a relationship with the wealthy boss is even worse. Griet is a beautiful young maid with an eye for art and natural beauty. Her looks cause complications between her and other characters, especially the wife of her boss, Catharina. Tracy Chevalier brings fear to scenes with clever word play and realistic possibilities. She did very well making you see punishments from Griet’s point of view. Griet worries that Catharina might catch Vermeer and she working together. Tracy Chevalier also used the beauty of the girl in the original painting to add to the story. For example, there are many occasions in the book when Griet is faced by men that are overly attracted to her. This makes Catharina worried from the beginning about Vermeer and Griet. The appliance of Griets beauty makes The Girl With The Pearl Earring a much more interesting novel. …show more content…
He is so careful that not even his wife, Catharina, is able to enter. This has always angered Catharina. Griet’s being aloud inside makes it even worse. At first, Griet only enters the office to clean, but that soon changes. One time, when Vermeer sees Griet in a position he wants to paint. He stops her and repositions her. He says, “Look over your shoulder again”(86). This inspires him to paint her. Then this leads to complications in their relationship. This secret is kept from Catharina in fear that Griet could be punished or even fired. With Griet living above the studio, it is easy to find time for them to work. Because of Catharina’s pregnancy and Griet’s quick escapes to her room, they feel
The tableaux vivants scene in Edith Wharton’s House of Mirth is pivotal to the understanding of Lily Bart as a character. The passage not only highlights her precarious state in high-society, but it also contains one of the only instances where Lily feels truly comfortable and confident. Over the course of the description of Lily’s staging of her own tableaux, she goes from being a piece of art on display, to an artist carefully working to exhibit her own beauty. However, the contradictory reception from the audience to her intentions when her tableaux is presented, conveys her hubris in both her beauty and her ability to create visual representations of art. The scene concludes with, Gerty Farish, in response to seeing Lily’s tableaux, saying,
...vie, the actresses that played them actually fit the role. Women usually do not have impacts on things, but in this novel, major things happened as a result of these women. These things include dishonest marriages, love affairs, wealth, power, and jealousy. This goes to show that women are not always the innocent ones in novels, or any other type of literature.
The Great Gatsby reinforces the idea that women are feminine. For instance, Daisy always wants to look great to impress everyone because she wants men to tell her she is beautiful and matters. Earlier in the novel, the first time we hear from her, she is mentioned
The writer, Tennesse Williams uses symbolism and imagery to help convey the idea that Blanche is deceptive, egotistical and seductive. We can clearly discover how deceptive Blanche is by the symbolism that Williams uses throughout the play. One can note how Blanche continually wears white dresses or a red kimono when she is being especially flirtatious, so that she makes people think that she is innocent and pure. In Scene Five Blanche's white dress, a symbol of purity is stained which is symbolic of the fact that Blanche if far from being pure. Blanche's world hinges on illusion and deception as can be seen when Blanche pours her heart out to Stella in scene five, "soft people... have got to be seductive... make a little - temporary magic". Blanche feels that she must trick and deceive in order to survive in a world where she is "fading now!" and her looks are leaving her. We are introduced to Blanche as a "delicate beauty" that "must avoid strong light". Williams, portrays Blanche as an uncertain character who hides behind the veneer of outer beauty and who when is placed under the spotlight, fails to live up to the person she would like people to think that she is. Williams also provides strong imagery of her as a moth, as she is dressed in white clothes and is fluttering. This imagery of Blanche as a moth is further emphasised when Blanche herself later states, "put on soft colours, the colours of butterfly wings and glow".
Overall F. Scott Fitzgerald’s visualization of women in The Great Gatsby demonstrates women living a life controlled by men and fortune. It is apparent that Daisy is conscious to this and decides she’d rather continue leading a materialistic life under Toms control. Fitzgerald’s female characters all follow a rigid pattern of social code, making them uniform and almost object like. Not only are the social contexts of the 1920’s highlighted throughout the text but also is the use of blatant sexism towards women, especially the violent mistreatment of lower class women. Jordan Baker breaks the social conformity of the 1920’s, creating the possibility of a brighter future in the gender balance between men and women in the future.
In the story The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the role of the female characters Daisy, Jordan and Myrtle find themselves in conflict with society’s expectations of them. However, they each negotiate the conflict and resolve it. By examining Daisy, Jordan and Myrtle’s roles, one can contemplate how they went about resolving the issue.
Superficial is the first impression that Blanche gives when she enters the play. Consumed by appearance and face value, she is unable to see that Stella’s new lifestyle is not as horrid as she imagines. In comparison to Belle Reve, it is true that these New Orleans slums may not meet Dubois standards, but Blanche is unable to see beyond the way things appear in order to realize that Stella’s world does not revolve around material items. This flaw is intertwined with her vanity and her need keep up appearances. On the surface, Blanche appears to be snobbish and conceited.
...e relationship with men, as nothing but tools she can sharpen and destroy, lives through lust and an uncanny ability to blend into any social class makes her unique. Her character is proven as an unreliable narrator as she exaggerates parts of the story and tries to explain that she is in fact not guilty of being a mistress, but a person caught in a crossfire between two others.
The narrator's detailed description of the wallpaper makes the reader understand the woman is well educated and has a keen eye for detail. The wallpaper evokes an emotional response from her, such as her statement, "It is dull enough to confuse the eye in following, pronounced enough to constantly irritate and provoke study . . . " (793).
Throughout Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby,” the role of women can be examined to demonstrate anti-feminism. Initially, Daisy is viewed as an innocent, loving character, but once her true motives are revealed, it is clear that she is very corrupt, desiring only money and power. This is used to show the stereotypical female who lives under the man for his possessions, and lacks the self-respect to stand against the opposite gender. She is not the only female to act like this, there are many, but her case is the most important because it directly influences all of the main characters. Gatsby is also portrayed as a stereotype: the boy who wants his true love and will do anything and everything to get her, even be accused of murder. Once each character
Other details in the story also have a similar bearing on Mathilde’s character. For example, the story presents little detail about the party scene beyond the statement that Mathilde is a great “success” (7)—a judgment that shows her ability to shine if given the chance. After she and Loisel accept the fact that the necklace cannot be found, Maupassant includes details about the Parisian streets, about the visits to loan sharks, and about the jewelry shop in order to bring out Mathilde’s sense of honesty and pride as she “heroically” prepares to live her new life of poverty. Thus, in “The Necklace,” Maupassant uses setting to highlight Mathilde’s maladjustment, her needless misfortune, her loss of youth and beauty, and finally her growth as a responsible human being.
It was a dark, menacing night as she stood there in the shadows. Waiting for the finale of the show that was playing, she glanced toward the exit through which people would soon be leaving. The rich, as patrons of the theatre house, promised her a salary at least for today. Her tattered clothes revealed the effects of personal destitution; the emaciated frame, that presently existed, harked back upon a body she must have once possessed. Driven by poverty to the realms of "painted cohorts," she makes up her face daily, distinguishing her life from the respected (264). She is an outcast, a leper, a member of the marginalized in society; she envelops the most degraded of positions and sins against her body in order to survive. As she looks up, her eyes reflect a different kind of light, a glimmer of beauty that has not yet faded despite her present conditions. She was, at one time, a "virtuous" woman, most likely scorned by a dishonest love. Finding no comfort or pity for her prior mistakes, she must turn to the streets and embrace the inevitable - the dishonor and shame from her previous engagement will follow her unto death. Shunned from society she becomes the woman who sells herself for money and sadly finds no love. She is the abandoned, the betrayed, and the lost, embarrassed girl; she is "of the painted cohorts," the female prostitute of the streets (264).
As the play proceeds, we increasingly gain knowledge of Blanche and the real person she is juxtaposed to the actual being that she would like everyone to think she is. Tennessee Williams did an amazing job incorporating motifs such as lighting and flirtation in the play and without them we would be puzzled and left confused because their would be no inside view of Blanche and her mind. Using the fore mentioned motifs, we can contemplate that Blanche is deceptive, narcissistic and seductive and the use of motifs helped develop Blanche into the character she is.
“The Necklace”, narrated by Guy de Maupassant in 3rd person omniscient, focuses the story around Mathilde Loisel who is middle class, and her dreams of fame and fortune. The story is set in 19th century France. One day, Mathilde’s husband brings home an invitation to a fancy ball for Mathilde; to his surprise Mathilde throws a fit because she doesn’t have a dress or jewelry to wear to the ball. M. Loisel gets her the beautifully expensive dress she desires and Mathilde borrows a diamond necklace from Mme. Forestier, a rich acquaintance of Mathilde. Mathilde goes to the ball and has a night she’s dreamed of, until she gets home from the ball at 4 A.M. to find
While a quick glance at the painting reveals a soft, gentle female form with a background of intriguing landscape, further study introduces an added layer of mystery. The way the woman glances slightly to the side as well as her small smile makes viewers feel that she knows some secret. Yet, at the same time, she appears to be a very kind, friendly and approachable.