Catharina In 'The Girl With A Pearl Earing'

169 Words1 Page

In the first few pages of The Girl With A Pearl Earing Catharina is presented as quite dominant and melodramatic. As she entered the room her husband was behind her and ‘following her’. This shows her dominance as her husband is following her and she is leading him. Husbands are generally the leaders of households, but in this case Catharina seems as if she is the leader. When she knocks the knife off the table ‘she cries out’, this shows her clear melodramatic nature. A knife falling on the floor is not a big deal, the way she cries out as if the knife had hit her shows that she makes a big deal of small things. Her character is very bold but she does have some insecurity. When her husband is chatting with Griet, she says ‘that’s enough prattle’

Show More
Related

  • Macaria’s Daughter

    1636 Words  | 4 Pages

    Macaria’s Daughter, by Americo Paredes, is a murderous tale of male dominance and female virtue where there is a sacrifice between an altar of the Virgin of Guadalupe and the marriage bed of two distinct cultures. This story is set in south Texas and surprises the reader with the murder of a beautiful young woman named Marcela. She is found in the bedroom, lying on the floor in a pool of blood, 30 to 40 knife stabs decorate her breasts, while the local men gaze indifferently on her lifeless body. Her husband, Tony, who is at the scene, hands over the knife to the local authorities, the Texan police, who are dressed in tall, spiffy Stetson hats.

    Read More

  • Catharine Maria Sedgewick's Hope Leslie

    863 Words  | 2 Pages

    The title character of Catharine Maria Sedgewick’s novel, Hope Leslie, defies the standards to which women of the era were to adhere. Sedgewick’s novel is set in New England during the 17th century after the Puritans had broken away from the Church of England. Hope Leslie lives in a repressive Puritan society in which women behave passively, submit to the males around them, and live by the Bible. They allow the men of their family to make decisions for them and rarely, if ever, convey an opinion that differs from the status quo. However, Hope Leslie does not conform to the expected behavior of women during that time, behavior that only further expressed the supposed superiority of males. Hope portrays behaviors and attitudes common in a woman today. Hope is capable of thinking for herself, is courageous, independent, and aggressive. Sir Philip Gardner describes Hope as having “a generous rashness, a thoughtless impetuosity, a fearlessness of the… dictators that surround her, and a noble contempt of fear” (211). In comparison to Esther Downing, Hope is the antithesis of what a young Puritan woman should be, and in turn, Hope gains a great deal of respect from the readers of the novel through her “unacceptable” behavior.

    Read More

  • The Chrysanthemums Compare And Contrast

    835 Words  | 2 Pages

    Her lionhearted clothes reflected her valiant and strong attitude. However – Elisa Allen hid her true feelings. She was deceitful in interpersonal communication. Her tongue spilled bittersweet black smut like that of industrialized coal engines. However – it was compassionate, her concern and subtle behavior. A girl screaming to escape maiden life, but only knew it was disrupt order. “Her face was eager and mature and handsome; even her work with the scissors was over-eager, over-powerful. “The chrysanthemum stems seemed too small and easy for her energy.” Verily, she had the heart of a lion and the appearance of a virgin.

    Read More

  • The Power of Women in Richard III

    1485 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Shakespeare's The Tragedy of King Richard the Third, the historical context of the play is dominated by male figures. As a result, women are relegated to an inferior role. However, they achieve verbal power through their own discourse of religion and superstition. In the opening speech of Act 1, Scene 2, Lines 1-30 Lady Anne orients the reader to the crucial political context of the play and the metaphysical issues contained within it (Greenblatt, 509). Lady Anne curses her foes, using strong language to indicate her authority. She speaks in blank verse, by which she utilizes imagery to emphasize her emotions and reinforce her pleas. Her speech clearly illustrates the distinction between the submissive female role within the male sphere of war and the powerful female voice within the realm of superstition.

    Read More

  • Semi-Barbaric Ap Language Essay

    1434 Words  | 3 Pages

    Characterization: How is the princess portrayed? Do you feel sympathy for the princess? Why/why not? Is she a round or flat

    Read More

  • Ella Enchanted And Fairest Summary

    1531 Words  | 4 Pages

    The obedience curse in Ella Enchanted and the desire for beauty in Fairest are reflective of the expectation imposed by the gender norms of society and the obsession with appearance. The young female heroine in The Paper Bag Princess defies the social norms of women by courageously saving her prince. Much like Lady Wendylyn in The Knight Who Was Afraid of the Dark faces her fears to help Sir Fed the brave female roles stand out as more than the damsel in destress or the needy princess waiting for her prince to sweep her off her feet. The plots of all four of these books present the reader with a strong female character and a non-conventional spin on the gender norms we expect to read in a

    Read More

  • Gender Roles In The Taming Of The Shrew?

    1613 Words  | 4 Pages

    When someone is a female their first thought should not be weak or nurturing, just as when someone is male their first though shouldn’t always be powerful. Unfortunately it has becomes so ingrained in societies mentality that this is the way that things work. The Taming of the Shrew is a past writing piece that expands on a mentality that is modern. The male gender cannot be put into this same constraint. Petruchio is the epitome of what society would describe a male as. He thinks he is in charge and always the superior to women. He expects Katherine to always do what he tells her to do, because he believes that is her duty as his wife. Moreover he should not be expected to do that for her. Furthermore, Bianca is what many would describe as the perfect woman. She is nurturing and she does not speak out against what she is told. When she does speak she always speaks like a lady. She exists merely for decoration in the home and to serve her husband. Katherine is the inconsistency in this stereotype on femininity. Her purpose in the novel originally is to rebel against this biased thought on female gender roles. Katherine is not afraid to speak out against the things that she is told to do. If she disagrees with something she will act on it and she is just as strong as the men in the novel; which is why many of the men actually fear her. Katherine is not submissive and does not believe that the only reason that she exists is to serve a husband. Katherine does not want to be just the damsel in distress, she wants to be in charge. At the end of the novel there is a switch in the personalities of Katherine and Bianca. This alteration provides the purpose of showing that gender is not something that someone can be confined in just because they were born a female. A woman can have many different traits and still be feminine. It is impossible to put femininity in a box because there are no real qualities for what

    Read More

  • A Comparison Of Snow White And Tanith Lee's Red As Blood '

    324 Words  | 1 Pages

    In Snow, Glass, Apples the Princess is rather the antagonist. From the first appearance of the Princess, we learn that she is rather pale and has a black hair and has lips red as blood. She has sharp teeth. Her characteristics here is depicted as a scary character. The mood becomes dark and frightening as she enters in the piece. She goes to the Queen’s room

    Read More

  • p1

    831 Words  | 2 Pages

    From the beginning of “The Tiger’s Bride,” the female protagonist is immediately seen as an object of men. She is not viewed as her own person in this male-dominated society, only as a thing that can be purchased and sold for the pleasure of men. She clearly knows her worth in this culture when she says: “You must not think my father valued me at less than a king’s ransom; but at no more than a king’s ransom” (Carter 156). Her father could not resist his gambling addiction, even after losing all of his physical possessions. The only object of value that he has left is his daughter, so he decides to wager her too. Unfortunately, he loses her during his last game of cards with The Beast: “I have lost my pearl, my pearl beyond price” (157). She is gambled away by her father as a mere object. Carter also objectifies the heroine even more through her use of diction. The men use words like “pearl” and “treasure” when referring to her during the gaming transaction.

    Read More

  • Gender Representation In Game Of Thrones: Gender Stereotypes

    1842 Words  | 4 Pages

    The context in which the show is set is argued to to have an influence on the depiction. It takes place in Medieval Europe, although a fantasy version. Martin detailed on how the book and series reflects the patriachal society, "The Middle Ages were not a time of sexual egalitarianism. It was very classist, dividing people into 3 classes. And they had strong ideas about the role of women." The argument in relation to sexism in Game Of Thrones is not simplistic. The show has been widely critisized for its frequent nudity and sexual violence against women. Despite the critique, some of the strongest characters on the show are female. In the sense that they are often rebelling against the systematic and hegemonic abuse of the society. Brienne of Tarth defies the typical gender roles in the society. When introduced to the series, it is not made immediately obvious what gender Brienne Of Tarth is; she is a skilled swordsmen, having bested Jamie Lannister and self admitted rapist Sendor Clegane, who perfers chainmail to silk. Arya Stark is similar in taking up an interest in sword fighting from a young age and despite later losing most of her family, she is nobodys ' victim. In addition to that, Danerys Targaryean is one of the most iconic characters on the show, who is female. She was first introduced as a victim as she was sold into a warlord 's marriage bed, but however, she ended up outliving him and conquering numerous cities that were previously involved in slave trade. Cersei Lannister is a complex character that also challenges the patriachy. She is incredibly power but being female seems to stand in her way at every turn. She tells Sansa once that she could not understand how when she and Jaime were children, he got to go off and be a knight whilst she was stuck learning how to sing, curtsey and please. It is interesting as to how she responds to this; Cersei

    Read More

  • Control and Power from Acting Weak: An Analysis of Samuel Richardson's Pamela

    3185 Words  | 7 Pages

    ...rotective of her. She, also through the marriage, arranges the rising of her family’s financial state and has power over Mr. B through her passivity. Though many readers see the marriage as a horrible triumphant of Mr. B, that he is able to torment her and gain her love, Pamela is willing within the marriage for personal and financial gain.

    Read More

  • The Wife Of Bath In Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

    1765 Words  | 4 Pages

    Going back to her prologue, The Wife seems to be criticized for something different she does by each of her husband 's. She can easily be seen as violent, demanding, too controlling, too lustful, and many other qualities. The Wife argues that no matter what women do or don’t do, they will always be criticized, “Thou seyst that som folk desiren us for richesse,/ Somme for oure shape, comme for oure fairnesse/ And som for she kan synge and daunce/ And som for gentillesse and som for/ daliaunce,/ som for hir handes and hir armes smale” (lines 257-262). While she makes a great point, she interjects these opinion’s during her tale as well. Interrupting the flow of her story to display her opinions in this way can lose the audience 's focus of the true meaning of the story. The story itself does a great job of bringing the role femininity into play without The Wife’s interjections. In the beginning of the tale, right after the queen orders the knight to go on his quest she gives him some hints. “Somme seyde wommen loven bset richesse;/ Somme seyde honour, somme seyde jolynesse,/ Somme rich array. Somme seyden lust/ abedde/ And oftetyme to be wydwe and weedde” (lines 925-928). This shows that women want more than materialistic things, contrary to popular belief. While these things aren’t bad to have, it means nothing if they do not have the power over their significant

    Read More

  • Tigers Bride

    853 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...r to the Beast during a card game. The father uses her as some kind of object and uses words like “pearl” and “treasure” to demonstrate how she is one. Carter uses these words to describe how the narrator is looked at for sale in the game the Beast and her father play as well. This shows shallowness of society's idea of a woman. According to society women were looked as dolls and they were winded up by their husbands and performed whatever tasks they wanted them to. Females appeared to not be able to think for themselves or be able to act upon their own natural instincts. Females also had to play this role of a doll by just using their appearance as a major feature in their marriage and doing what they were told by their husband without questioning it. In this story you see how the male gender has ownership over the female character and it was socially acceptable.

    Read More

  • Gender Roles In The Merchant Of Venice

    712 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the 16th century, women and men were defined as having specific and contrasting roles within society. Men were defined as being powerful and dominant while women were defined as being submissive and meek. These ideals can be seen across cultures and throughout time. With these definitions of gender roles in place, the text suggests that gender is a social construct therefore qualities of femininity and masculinity are subjective. This is shown when Portia cross dresses as the lawyer Balthazar (IV) and when the truths of the rings are discovered by the two women (V). The strong female characters in the play exemplify that women are not confined to their social construct as they manipulate the male characters. During the 16th century only

    Read More

  • Marriage in Ernest Hemingway's Cat in the Rain

    1138 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...ugh attention from who she most certainly should be receiving it from, her own husband. It is almost like she looks to him for the protection and care her husband cannot provide. This goes back to the immaturity issue, like she needs to be rescued or something, or maybe even seeking a father figure. The whole idea that she wants to rescue the cat from the rain reflects her own desire to be rescued. On her way to do so, the pardone happens to be there to help, or offer assistance and make her important.

    Read More

More about Catharina In 'The Girl With A Pearl Earing'

Open Document