The Archetype of The Prostitute With a Heart of Gold
I chose the archetype “The prostitute with a heart of gold”.
An archetype is defined as a universal idea that can take
many forms, appearing “spontaneously, at any time, at any
place, and without any outside influence” (Pygmalion’s Word
Play, Carl Jung, p. 82). When present in the unconscious,
an archetype shapes thoughts, feelings, moods, speech, and
actions. The ‘prostitute with a heart of gold’ originated in
early Greek mythology as the story of Pygmalion. Next, a
more modern version called My Fair Lady was written and
performed in the 1950’s. Then in the 1980’s the movie Pretty
Woman came out, which has the same story line as the other
two, although it is a lot more modernized and the theme of a
‘prostitute with a heart of gold’ is much more evident than
in of its predecessors. Although ‘the oldest profession’ was
just as large a factor in society in 1912 when George
Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion play was released as it is today,
it was talked about much less freely and the idea of
reforming street girl was not as feasible as it is today.
“My Fair Lady” was one of the first versions of a poor
street girl metamorphasizing into an elegant, proper lady.
Pretty Woman can closely trace its roots back to “My Fair
Lady,” because both women reform to a better life that they
never dreamed was possible, the most striking difference
being that Pretty Woman is a more modernized version and the
evidence of prostitution is much more evident.
In the story of Pygmalion, he wanted a wife, yet he saw
too much corruption in women and always doubted their true
motives. He was a very talented sculptor, and one day he
began sculpting an ivory maiden statue. No woman wa...
... middle of paper ...
...and
Richard Gere all each take the risk of helping these women,
and society could view them negatively for their involvement
with the lower class. Eliza and Julia take a big risk in
being stepped on and being ridiculed lower than they already
are compared to the men’s lifestyles. They are archetypal
heroes because they have strong character and are willing to
change. These women have the confidence and ability to
change and this shows society that again, anything is
possible. The only downfall was the verbal abuse both women
took from the elite class, as they were learning to adapt.
High society doesn’t appreciate or care for prostitutes, but
for everyone to be fooled and convinced of this new woman
shows their absurdity. A person has a heart of gold
regardless of their status even if it is not evident to the
naked eye.
Bibliography:
Everyone has once been someone that they aren’t necessarily ashamed of, but something they aren’t anymore. When you’re in school, everyone is different; between the popular kids, the jocks, the cheerleader, the dorks, the Goths, and all the other “types” of people. In “Her Kind,” Anne Sexton shows that she has been a lot of different women, and she is not them now. In this paper we will be diving into the meanings behind the displaced “I,” the tone and reparation, and who Anne Sexton really is and how that affects what she is trying to let people see through this poem.
The basis of the story the narrator wishes to write is the idea of the fabrication of letters that he will sell for money, the premise actually coming from the original proposal that Lerner wrote for the book that came to be 10:04. This story, which is based on a story that the narrator hears from his old professor, is an actual truth, turned into fiction, but is ultimately cut from the story (Lerner 37). Instead of focusing explicitly on the way that fiction functions as a type of fraudulent activity, Lerner and the narrator want to spin the ‘real’ details of life into something that is “just as it is now – the room, the baby, the clothes, the minutes – just a little different” (Lerner 54). By translating the story into terms that exist almost exactly as they exist in the real world into the fiction world, the potential for the reader to recognize the ‘fictional truths’ is heightened.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, also known as PTSD, was recognized as a disorder with specific symptoms and was added to the Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 1980. However, prior to this acknowledgement, father of psychology, Sigmund Freud, had already developed a theory on it. Freud’s Seduction theory states: “both forgotten childhood trauma and a variety of adult stresses could cause neurosis”, such as we have seen in Euripides’s Medea; in which Medea acted irrationally after having gone through traumatic events. Whether it was Freud in the 1890s or Euripides in 430 BC the idea that PTSD is present in one’s daily live has always been a suggestion.
As I dart through "the desert" in the last game of the day, with only
Walking up dilapidated stairs, my friend and I enter into the chapter room of Beta Sigma Psi, where the Little Sisters of the Gold Rose meets every week. The fraternity house smells of stale beer and sweat, and has clear signs of past parties and shenanigans. However, we have officially become activated members of the service sorority and were attending our first chapter meeting with the entire sorority. In that chapter room we discussed future service events, volunteering opportunities, and then went around the room for anyone to share news and announcements with the group. It was at this moment that I felt like a true active member in LSGR, when everyone was interested in hearing about each other’s lives and wellbeing. While as a rushing
Throughout history, women’s place and role in society has changed. Women are often seen as a lower status and have a need to be taken care of by men. There are conflicts with the idealization of women as they are often overlooked and viewed as secondary characters. This idealization is well established in the characters of Desdemona in Othello and Daisy in The Great Gatsby. In F.Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby and Shakespeare‘s play Othello, Desdemona and Daisy are both responsible for their tragedies due to the manipulation and impact of the outsiders, their loss of innocence, and their vulnerability as women.
”Women have been taught that, for us, the earth is flat, and that if we venture out, we will fall of the edge”(Kramarae, Treichler). This notion is exemplified through both novels, Antigone by Sophocles, and A Doll’s House by Leo Tolstoy. Both novels provide a different look at women, with the two main characters showing qualities that weren’t common in this era such as determination, intelligence, rebellion, hubris, and stubbornness.
In today’s society, women have overcome many hardships to become able to vote, able to run for public office, and even able to hold high business positions. Some people believe that such accomplishments are because of literary examples that have, over the years, lead women to believe in themselves, motivate them-selves, and stand up for themselves. In Aeschylus’ infamous Greek tragedy, The Oresteia, Clytaemestra, the leading woman, overcomes the Greek society’s slighting attitude towards women, grasping the most powerful position attain-able in Argos. Even after gaining power, Clytaemestra clutches this leadership desperately, unrelenting in her hopes to keep it forever. Although Clytaemestra uses intellect, inner strength, and self-motivation to capture power, she does it evasively and by hurting others. Therefore, Clytaemestra is not a respectable woman role model.
If there is nothing intrinsically precious, but only superficially glorious, there is nothing to stay. It is the same with marriage. Just as Robert Frost conveys in his poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay," even gold cannot stay no matter how beautiful it is. Comparing to Robert Frost's masterpiece, we witness how an ostensibly joyful marriage turns out to be a catastrophe in Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House. In this play, we can perceive honor and pride, but the main qualities a marriage requires are innocence and truth. Between the poem and the play, we can perceive many similar perspectives.
... as being an ideal and virtuous women because she is dignified and views marriage as a form of prostitution, making her a character that is not sexualized. Because Eliza is embodied as being a perfect woman, she is similar to women in earlier works. The Country Wife is a more ideal representation of what women are because real women are flawed and as the play suggests, women should be allowed to be what they want to be instead of allowing others to decide for them. Despite Pygmalion’s advocacy of equality between men and women, it idolizes flawless women, which contradicts with its’ message of equality.
Women were often subjects of intense focus in ancient literary works. In Sarah Pomeroy’s introduction of her text Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves, she writes, “Women pervade nearly every genre of classical literature, yet often the bias of the author distorts the information” (x). It is evident in literature that the social roles of women were more restricted than the roles of men. And since the majority of early literature was written by men, misogyny tends to taint much of it. The female characters are usually given negative traits of deception, temptation, selfishness, and seduction. Women were controlled, contained, and exploited. In early literature, women are seen as objects of possession, forces deadly to men, cunning, passive, shameful, and often less honorable than men. Literature reflects the societal beliefs and attitudes of an era and the consistency of these beliefs and attitudes toward women and the roles women play has endured through the centuries in literature. Women begin at a disadvantage according to these societal definitions. In a world run by competing men, women were viewed as property—prizes of contests, booty of battle and the more power men had over these possessions the more prestigious the man. When reading ancient literature one finds that women are often not only prizes, but they were responsible for luring or seducing men into damnation by using their feminine traits.
Mathilde Loisel lived the life of a painfully distressed woman, who always believed herself worthy of living in the upper class. Although Mathilde was born into the average middle class family, she spent her time daydreaming of her destiny for more in life... especially when it came to her financial status. Guy de Maupassant’s short story, “The Necklace”, tells a tale of a vain, narcissistic housewife who longed for the aristocratic lifestyle that she believed she was creditable for. In describing Mathilde’s self-serving, unappreciative, broken and fake human behaviors, de Maupassant incorporates the tragic irony that ultimately concludes in ruining her.
...lf. The problem of how to survive no longer worries her. She struggles for her right to be cared for and to be loved and to live in a dignified way. When the former poor flower girl transforms into a strong-minded independent woman both externally and internally, even Higgins, the stubborn, arrogant scholar respects her heartily: "Now youre a tower of strength: a consort battle ship. You and I and Pickering will be three old bachelors together." Eliza now is regarded as equal to man. She can stand on her dignity as a true woman. The internal transformation is exactly what Bernard Shaw preaches. In this sense, the drama Pygmalion is a play of women's revolt.
The elements that are illustrated within Pygmalion support the theme of language being the distinctions amid the social classes. The characters prove themselves through their speech to belong to their appropriate classes. The transformations are seen from the young girl still in training alongside her already sophisticated mother, and the impact Higgins’ criticism has had on Eliza. The purpose shown within the play is further supported that being educated will result in a new world of opportunities, while it will never change the true self worth of the individual. Conclusively it establishes that social classes themselves are superficial, and to judge on the content of character will always be more important than imagine on the outer surface.
In recent literature we frequently see a negative view of women from male characters. These writings are a direct reflection of society’s views today; but what needs to be recognized is since the dawn of the world’s first authors the negative view of women has consistently been prominent in literature. The view of women as undesirable lovers was an extremely important view in ancient Greece. In Plato’s Symposium the idea that male-male relations were much more beloved and genuine than female relations, and that a woman’s existence was important solely for the element of reproduction, which would allow for humanity to continue on. In Plato’s book, the characters spend ...