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The portrayal of women in literature
Representation Of Women In Literature
Representation Of Women In Literature
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9. Valjean’s punishment certainly did not fit his crime. Neither did Fantine deserve the treatment she received in his factory. Discuss Hugo’s purpose in using these situations in his social commentary. Hugo’s social commentary focuses on three main concepts that he believes must be reformed in the French society: criminal justice, education and the treatment of women. By showing the unreasonable punishments both Valjean and Fantine shows how the social structure has turned innocent and good people into criminals. We can see the criminal injustice that Jean Valjean receives when he describes himself to the bishop as “Has been nineteen years in the galleys; five years for burglary, fourteen years for having attempted four times to escape.
(Hugo, 17)” and later when Hugo tells us that Valjean was given 5 years for stealing bread for his nieces and nephews. A hardworking man who only wanted to support his family is turned into a dangerous criminal because of one petty crime. We can also see that Fantine’s lack of education and ill treatment is what causes her to turn to the petty crime of being a prostitute. Fantine starts off as an innocent and naive girl who is abandoned by her lover named Tholomyes and has an illegitimate child. She is forced to work in hard sweatshop conditions to make money for her child. Though she tried to hide the existence of her daughter, her lack of education allows the whole town to know and she is treated very poorly. To make money for her daughter, she turns to prostitution and dies. Hugo shows good women like Fantine are broken by society and driven to illegal activities and death. Hugo’s commentary mainly focuses on the reformations needed in the French society and he shows this through his descriptions of the ill-treatment of both Valjean and Fantine.
The Return of Martin Guerre, written by Natalie Zemon Davis, is the tale of a court case that takes place in sixteenth century France. Martin Guerre is a peasant who deserted his wife and family for many years. While Martin Guerre is gone, a man named Arnaud du Tilh arrives at Martin’s village and claims to be Martin Guerre. Bertrande, who is Guerre’s wife, Guerre’s sisters, and many of the villagers, accepts the imposter. After almost three years of being happily married, Bertrande takes the fraud to court under pressure of Pierre Guerre, her stepfather and Guerre’s brother. Arnaud du Tilh is almost declared innocent, but the real Martin Guerre appears in the courthouse. Throughout this tale, many factors of the peasant life are highlighted. The author gives a very effective and detailed insight to a peasant’s life during the time of Martin Guerre. Davis does a successful job of portraying the peasant lifestyle in sixteenth century France by accentuating the social, cultural, and judicial factors of everyday peasant life.
The aim of this lesson will be to develop students understanding of crime and punishment in Medieval Europe. As outlined in AUSVELS, this will include investigating different kinds of crime and punishment utilised and the ways the nature of crime and punishment has either stayed the same throughout history, or changed over time.
Hugo, Victor. Les Miserables. Comp. Lee Fahnestock and Norman MacAfee. Trans. Wilbour, C.E. Only Complete and Unabridged Paperback Editon ed. New York, New York: Signet Classics, 1987. Print.
As the era of literature slowly declines, the expert critiques and praise for literature are lost. Previously, novels were bursting at the seams with metaphors, symbolism, and themes. In current times, “novels” are simply short stories that have been elaborated on with basic plot elements that attempt to make the story more interesting. Instead of having expert critical analysis written about them, they will, most likely, never see that, as recent novels have nothing to analyze. Even books are beginning to collect dust, hidden away and forgotten, attributing to the rise of companies such as Spark Notes. An author deserves to have his work praised, no matter how meager and the masses should have the right to embrace it or to reject it. As much of this has already been considered, concerning Les Misérables, the purpose of this paper is to compare, contrast, and evaluate Victor Hugo’s use of themes and characterization in his novel, Les Misérables.
Since he cares little for the affairs of the world, claiming they do not mean anything, then justice—a major concern of the world—also means nothing to him. His actions both before and after his decision to kill a man without provocation demonstrate his apathetic view of the world, and his indifference to justice. Therefore Meursault’s search for justice, culminated by the court’s decision to execute him, remains an example to all of the inability of society to instill justice in criminals. Meursault’s perpetual refusal to acquire a sense of morality and emotion instigates skepticism in all who learn of his story of society’s true ability to instill justice in the
-I chose this topic to write about because the roles of woman have changed from days of the past to today’s women roles. Being that I am a woman in today’s society I couldn’t imagine what it would have been like to be a woman of the past. The two women I have decided to compare are Marie Antoinette because she was born the same month and day I was born and Cathay Williams a.k.a. William Cathay who was the first African American woman to enlist in the U.S. Army; these two completely opposite woman I think would be an interesting topic. I will give you details about both women and compare their roles with each other, and how did their role affect other women during their time periods. I will also try to imagine, what both woman would think
Les Misérables (1862), a novel set in early nineteenth century France, presents a story of obsessions in honor, love, and duty, and through it redemption and salvation. It is the story of the poor Jean Valjean, condemned to an unfair amount of time in prison and a life on the run for stealing a loaf of bread for his starving family. The kind act of forgiveness from a Bishop with whom Jean Valjean stays one night, changes the course in which he chooses to live his life. Under a different identity, he becomes wealthy from a business he starts and later is elected mayor of the small town of Montreuil. He falls madly in love with Fantine, one of the workers in his factory. Because Fantine, one of the very poorest and most pitiful residents of Montreuil, has a child born out of wedlock, Jean Valjean as the respected mayor must keep his love for her a secret. When Fantine dies unexpectedly, Jean Valjean vows he will raise her daughter Cosette, and shield her from all the evils in the world. Through all of this, Jean Valjean is being pursued by Javert, a policeman whose entire life has been dedicated to finding Jean Valjean. While running from Javert, Jean Valjean and Cosette find themselves in Paris in the middle of the 1832 Revolution. As Cosette matures, she falls in love with Marius, a young revolutionist. Despite the objections of Jean Valjean, Cosette continues to secretly visit Marius at night. During the revolution, Marius is injured badly and Jean Valjean, after finding a love note from Marius to Cosette, quickly comes to the rescue of the wounded gentleman. Eventually Jean Valjean and Marius' Grandfather consent to the wedding of Cosette and Marius. In this novel, "there is a point at which...
When Shakespeare was born in 1564, Queen Elizabeth had taken power a mere 6 years prior, and her justice system was very different from ours. In this paper, I hope to explore some of the ways punishments were different, such as how many crimes had individual punishments, often times depending on how severe the crime was. I will also go in-depth to one of the most infamous cases of the medieval period.
“It is precisely of him that I wished to speak. Dispose of me as you please; but help me first to carry him home. I only ask that of you.” Upon examination of Les Miserables, it is clearly evident that the elements of Forgiveness, Self – Sacrifice, and Courage are only a few of the main themes Hugo wanted to develop.
The relationship shared by Pierre and Helene is best described as a lustful charade. It is no coincidence that Pierre, one of the most introspective characters in the novel, first marries a shallow, inwardly-ugly adulterer. His first recorded attitude towards Helene is one of admira...
All humans have different morals that change based on their environment and circumstance. Jean Valjean, in the novel Les Miserables(1961), changes from someone with confused morals to a man with more morals than most whom with respect learns to love and share.
First of all, Foucault has addressed the movement of violent historical punishment to the emergence of the modern form of the prison as punishment in several different ways. He focuses on the use of discipline as well as surveillance which in modern society is used frequently. He ventures away from the thoughts of previous theorists in regards to class struggle in relation to punishment. Foucault’s states that there is a shift in the mode of punishment that occurs around 1750-1820. This is where he sees that punishment has shifted to be viewed in a more qualitative way as well as, punishment is now in place to target the soul of the offender. This basically can be inferred that there was a movement in which now the penal system wanted to understand
I pick the “good and right” from Victor Hugo. In the book Les Miserables, Jean Valjean in the beginning was not the best man. He would steal food to try to help with his family, but he would always get sent to jail. He was in jail for a long time until he escaped. Jean Valjean went to the bishop’s house and stayed there. The next day he got caught stealing the silver. The bishop told him to keep it, but do only good and what is right. So Valjean later did that, he changed his ways and became a good man. Firstly, Jean Valjean helped Fantine out by finding Cossett. So he went off to go get her and protect her. He was always by her side and would not let anything bad happen to her because Fantine would not have wanted that. Secondly, Valjean helped
" His novels have a purpose: historical, moral, social or all at once. &9;Their insistent vibrating style, and the frequent intrusion of the author's inflections may awaken a sense of strain; but they have kept their hold on others than school boys; and the grotesque, swarming, medieval crowds surging the huge cathedral (Notre Dame de Paris), the symbolic fight between man and the sea (Les Travialleurs de Mer). The epic allegories of vice, suffering and regeneration in the background of modern society of it's cruelty and indifference it has secured themselves a place among the French books that live" (Cazamian, 1964).
At the start of the revolution, in 1789, France’s class system changed dramatically (Giddens, 2014). Aristocrats lost wealth and status, while those who were at the bottom of the social ladder, rose in positions. The rise of sociology involved the unorthodox views regarding society and man which were once relevant during the Enlightenment (Nisbet, 2014). Medievalism in France during the eighteenth century was still prevalent in its “legal structures, powerful guilds, in its communes, in the Church, in universities, and in the patriarchal family” (Nisbet, 2014). Philosophers of that time’s had an objective to attempt to eliminate the natural law theory of society (Nisbet, 2014). The preferred outcome was a coherent order in which the mobility of individuals would be unrestricted by the autonomous state (French Revolution). According to Karl Marx, economic status is extremely important for social change. The peasants felt the excess decadence of the ancient regime was at the expense of their basic standards of living, thus fuelling Marx’s idea of class based revolutions and the transition of society (Katz, 2014). This can be observed, for example, in novels such as Les Liaisons Dangereuses, a novel that had a role for mobilizing the attitudes of the