Love in Desire's Baby by Kate Chopin, The Passionate Shepherd to His Love by Christopher Marlowe, and The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd by Sir Walter Raleigh
The socioeconomic condition and status of a person greatly impacts whether or not love will be reciprocated. That is evidenced by the story of “Désirée’s Baby”, by Kate Chopin and the poems “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”, by Christopher Marlowe and “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd”, by Sir Walter Raleigh. All these literary works relate love with socioeconomic status and how love is subordinated to society’s norms.
“Désirée’s Baby” is clearly a story about the clash of love and social status. It takes place in Louisiana in a time where slavery was still present and dictated the way of life. It is a story about love and how it can be plagued by racial divide. Armand did not care that Désirée’s past was unknown and decided to marry her. He probably didn’t care that much because as the saying goes: “what you don’t know can’t hurt you”. At the time Désirée had her baby things started to change. When Madame Valmondé visited Désirée and the baby it was already obvious by her reaction that race and status were going to affect the love and the marriage. When Armand figured out that the baby wasn’t 100% white the marriage fell apart and it all ended. The fact that his wife was part black was to hard for him to bear, it was something unacceptable in society in those days. In an ironic twist of faith Armand then found out through a letter from his mother to his father that he was the one who was actually part black. The story clearly shows how status can interfere with love. As this passage shows it Armand loved Désirée:
The pass...
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...gh love is a personal feeling it still needs, most of the time, society’s acceptance to become concrete. If society and its norms judge that a love shouldn’t happen and that it isn’t real (even if it is) it usually will not work out, it will be destined to fail. It is said that “all you need is love”, but that is rarely the case. Most people feel like they need acceptance and that will not happen if they break society’s norms, even love is subordinate to those norms.
Works Cited
Schilb, John, and John Clifford, eds. Making Literature Matter: An Anthology for Readers and Writers. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2003.
Marlowe, Christopher. “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love.” Schilb and Clifford 846-847.
Raleigh, Sir Walter. “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd.” Schilb and Clifford 848.
Chopin, Kate. “Désirée’s Baby.” Schilb and Clifford 864-868.
Armand feels like he is the victim of betrayal by his wife Désirée. As the baby gets older it is clear that the baby is not white. Armand’s attitude quickly makes him assume that Désirée is not white giving Armand a feeling of deception. He denounces his love for Désirée and the child and casts them out of the house and his life. Désirée is stricken with grief about her treatment by Armand. She cannot believe how a man who loves her so much could treat her with such hostility and cruelty. Désirée develops a negative attitude towards herself and her baby. She is upset that she cannot change how Armand thinks of her because of her baby. This attitude causes Désirée to walk out of Armand’s life forever to her demise. Core beliefs also give to human behavior in “Samuel” and “Desiree’s
Roberts, Edgar V., Jacobs, Henry E. “Literature.” The Lesson. 470-475. Toni Cade Bambara. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. 2001
“Desiree’s Baby” can represent a timeframe status of how slavery and race were a factor that defined people. Armand was very ambiguous by the tone he would had towards Desiree and by his action. Desiree was faithful to her husband, in the other hand we are able to understand or presumed that La Blanche’s boy looked very alike as Desiree’s baby, which most likely Armand might be the father of both kids. Armand was in love at first, but then his pride and ambiguous.
Glaspell, Susan. Trifles. Making Literature Matter: An Anthology for Readers and Writers. Ed. John Schilb and John Clifford. Boston: Bedford / St. Martin's, 2000. 127-137.
Hansberry, Lorraine. ?A Raisin in the Sun.? Making Literature Matter: An Anthology for Readers and Writers. Eds. John Schilb and John Clifford. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin?s 2008.
Meyer, M. (2013). Bedford introduction to literature: Reading, thinking, writing. Boston: Bedford Bks St Martin’s.
Throughout the years many variations of the ideas on race, class, and culture have been presented based upon different factors. In earlier times people’s views were not nearly the same as they are presented today. Ideas that women belong in the kitchen or that African-American’s were an inferior race were common. Those views were very popular during the time of Kate Chopin’s book “Desiree’s Baby.” Chopin’s book explores the controversial areas of race and class as well as touching on the subject of culture. “Desiree’s Baby” shows the life of Desiree from a young child through adulthood. The young Desiree was found by a rich family alone on the streets. Even in a time where race and social class was important the wealthy, a rich couple took in young Desiree without knowing her ancestral background. Desiree lived a good life with the family. The story then switches to when Desiree was a young adult and falls in love with Armand Aubigny. Armand also comes from a wealthy background and still falls for Desiree without knowing her racial background. Eventually, the young couple has a baby but to their surprise the baby comes out with African traits. Armand is not happy and rethinks whether she has African in her background or if maybe she had an affair with a slave. Desiree’s mother offers to have her and the baby come back and stay with them but when Desiree leaves she disappears and is never seen again. Later, Armand finds out that it may not have been Desiree that carries African roots but himself, from his mother’s side. Overall, Chopin’s work looks into the controversial issues of race, class, gender and culture using ironies and the story-line to infer the views of these topics.
“Desiree Baby” by Kate Chopin is a very thought provoking short story that deals with racism, prejudice, and love. The story takes place in southern Louisiana, where Armand, a prominent landowner, marries a girl of unknown origin named Desiree. The story has a twist when their baby is born and is discovered to be of mixed race. Armand knew all along that he was OF mixed race, and I will prove it by analyzing characterization, diction, and imagery.
Glaspell, Susan. Trifles. Making Literature Matter: An Anthology for Readers and Writers. Ed. John Schilb and John Clifford. Boston: Bedford / St. Martin's, 2005.
In her story, Desiree’s Baby, Kate Chopin underlined the contrast between lust and love, exploring the problem of a man’s pride that exceeded the love he has for his wife. Armand, the main character of the story, is a slave owner who lived in Louisiana during the era of slavery. He married an adopted young woman, Desiree, and together they have a son who eventually became an obstacle in the way of his father’s happiness, thus removing out the true character of Armand. Desiree’s Baby, by Kate Chopin is a love story, love that ultimately proved to be a superficial love, a story that shed light on the ugly relationships between people. “Lust is temporary, romance can be nice,
Comparing The Passionate Shepherd to His Love and Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd. and the stark contrast of the treatment of an identical theme, that of love within the framework of pastoral life. I intend to look at each poem separately to give my interpretation of the poet's intentions and then discuss their techniques and how the chosen techniques affect the portal of an identical theme. The poem The Passionate Shepherd to His Love appears to be about the Elizabethan courtly ideal of living with the barest necessities, like.
Schilb, John, and John Clifford. Sonny Blues. Making Literature Matter: An Antology for Readers and Writers. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009. 337-60. Print.
These two poems are alike and different in their own way. The Passionate Shepherd to His Love and The Nymphs Reply to the Shepherd are both trying to mirror each other on their structure of the poems. Both Christopher Marlowe and Sir Walter Raleigh had a very unique way of writing and making these poems so similar, but throwing in different types of love and view points.
Clugston, R. W. (2010). Journey into literature. San Diego, California: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/books/AUENG125.10.2/sections/sec2.3
Abcarian, Richard, Marvin Klotz, and Samuel Cohen. Literature: the Human Experience. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2010. Print.