The battle between what is right and wrong is a classic struggle that has existed from the beginning of time. The most honorable people face the crossroad of choosing either the angel’s path or the devil’s; one path leads to an honest yet difficult life while the other is an easy and selfish one. Throughout history, women have been portrayed as the reason of Man’s downfall. The male dominated world has created stereotypes to blame females for their defeats due to ignorance. Leo Tolstoy’s “The Devil” explores the dichotomy of the objectification of women as the angel and the devil.
Stereotypes are assumptions that are made about an entire group of people based on observations of a few; they act as scapegoats for prejudice behaviour and ideologies.
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She is able to give Evgeny a daughter, Mimi, and is successful in keeping Evgeny happy in their relationship. She provides him with affection as well as a good reputation since she is a well-respected woman in their society. Evgeny realizes that Liza is the perfect woman and that is why he is disgusted in himself when he is tempted by Stepanida. To Evgeny, Liza is an angel that is able to provide him with everything he has ever wanted in a marriage due to her innocence, purity and devotion. “Liza understood at once what her husband’s ideal of life was and tried to achieve and succeeded in achieving in the arrangements and order of their house the very things he wished,” (Tolstoy 180). When Evgeny’s successful marriage is tested by Stepanida’s trap he is sickened with himself because he is not able to control his yearning for another woman when he already has the perfect one. “‘How can I not be a scoundrel, when I, Liza’s husband, Liza’s! – you must know her purity, her love – when I her husband, want to betray her with a peasant wench!’” (Tolstoy 199). Liza is the 19th century stereotypical ideal woman characterized as a housewife that provides a family, while adhering to her husband’s needs; she is Evgeny’s …show more content…
Objectifying a woman is the result of stereotypes in conjunction with ignorance and degradation. When a person is objectified, it is easier to treat them impersonally, hence they are belittled. In “The Devil”, the issue of female objectification is quite apparent; Liza as the trophy wife and Stepanida as a sexual object of desire. Although it seems that Evgeny is in love with Liza, he is actually in love with her ability to satisfy his needs and desires. The meaning of love is to have intense feelings of not only affection but trust and understanding. Love is when a person is able to surrender their mind, body and soul to another who they have complete faith in. Liza’s attributes makes her the trophy wife Evgeny owns. He is happy with his marriage and seems to “love” Liza however, the love he has for her is actually for her purity as an angel. Liza is able to give up everything for her husband’s happiness. She understands her husbands every move and emotion and supports him no matter what the disposition is; for example when he is displeased with her mother she takes his side and tells her mother to move
Like the Good Other Woman, the Evil Other Woman often spends much of her life hidden away in the castle, secret room, or whatever, a fact suggesting that even a virtuous woman’s lot is the same she would have merited had she been the worst of criminals. The heroine’s discovery of such Other Women is in the one case an encounter with women’s oppression-their confinement as wives, mothers, and daughters-and in the other with a related repression: the confinement of a Hidden Woman inside those genteel writers and readers who, in the idealization of the heroine’s virtues, displace their own rebellious
The Death of Ivan Ilyich is a story written by Leo Tolstoy in 1886. Leo Tolstoy was born in 1828 into a Russian society. Tolstoy had a rough childhood growing up. By the age of nine, both of his parents died and he was force to become an orphan. As Tolstoy grew older, he became known for being a womanizer and gambler. He engaged in premarital sex with prostitutes and these women became his downfall. Then he went under an acute conversion. Although Tolstoy converted, he did not adapt the traditional beliefs of a Christian conversion. He rejected the idea of afterlife which plays a role in Death of Ivan Ilyich. This story is about the life of an average man named Ivan Ilyich, who faces the fact that he is eventually going to die. Death is very
...seful miscommunication between men and women. Lastly, when looking through the imagined perspective of the thoughtless male tricksters, the reader is shown the heartlessness of men. After this reader’s final consideration, the main theme in each of the presented poems is that both authors saw women as victims of a male dominated society.
Leo Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Illych has proven to be a profoundly important work in the understanding of mortality. By adding to this understanding, Tolstoy implores readers to accept the ultimate reality that death is inevitable. If there is one thing Tolstoy makes quite clear, it is that nobody lives forever and death can be a horrifying, painful, and sobering experience. Ivan Illych, a successful man of the law, ends up fatally injuring himself whilst putting up curtains. With his health in decline, the reader gets to experience death through Ivan’s eyes. Tolstoy attempts to have the reader feel the same anxiety that Ivan feels and in some sense the same pain. And indeed, Tolstoy brilliantly conveys this agony to the reader. Specifically, Tolstoy decides to focus on two very important threads of the cloth that makes up death. From Ivan Illych’s perspective, Tolstoy focuses on regret with one’s life and the utterly different mindset the dying adopt versus the living.
Nora and Mrs. Wright’s social standing when compared to the men in each play is inferior. Both works expose their respective male characters’ sexist view of women diminishing the women’s social standing. Each work features egotistical men who have a severely inflated view of their self-worth when compared to their female counterparts. The men’s actions and words indicate they believe women are not capable of thinking intelligently. This is demonstrated in “Trifles” when Mr. Hale makes the statement about women only worrying about mere trifles. It is also apparent in “A Dollhouse” when Torvalds thinks his wife is not capable of thinking with any complexity (Mazur 17). Another common attribute is of the women’s social standing is displayed as both women finally get tired of feeling like second class citizens and stand up to the repressive people in the women’s lives (Mulry 294). Although both women share much in common in their social standing there subtle differences. Torvald’s sexist view of Nora is more on a personal level in “A Dollhouse” while the male characters’ sexist views in “Trifles” seem to be more of a social view that women are not very smart and their opinions are of little value. This attitude is apparent in “Trifles” as Mr. Hale and Mr. Henderson’s comments about Mrs. Wright’s housekeeping (Mulry 293). As the women in both works reach their emotional
Leo Tolstoy, author of The Death of Ivan Ilyich, suffered numerous tragic losses such as his parents and his aunt, Tatyana Ergolsky who created a tremendous impact during Tolstoy’s childhood. Overtime, Tolstoy was cultured and for Tolstoy it was common within his community. During the 1840, Tolstoy developed a strong, eager interest for the studies of moral philosophy. In The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Tolstoy suggests that although people can find happiness in materialism, they need spirituality during a crisis.
The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy shows reader how not to live their everyday life. Of course we have to work day in and day out to provide for our families, but there comes a time when your work life should be put on hold. No life is ever perfect, we must make the best out of what we can accomplish. The Death of Ivan Ilyich teaches us about three themes: the right life, your mental “phony” life versus reality, and the unavoidable death to come.
“Ivan Ilyich’s life had been most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible.” – Omniscient narrator (Tolstoy 746)
In Oroonoko, the hero is Oroonoko, the vice of the first part is the old king, and the second part white men in the colony. In contrast to their husbands, both heroines—Desdemona and Imoinda—seem more like "function characters" who are merely trapped in their husband's fates, occasionally becoming some motivation of their husbands (like Desdemona is Othello's motivation to rage, Imoinda's pregnancy drives Oroonoko restless to escape). While Shakespeare and Behn put much effort in moulding them, to many readers they are merely "perfect wives". This paper aims to argue that, Desdemona and Imoinda's perfect wifehood may be the product of compliance in male-dominated societies, where women are absolutely vulnerable.
Atwood’s speech “Spotty-handed Villainess” highlights how gender construction is inherently influenced by certain social delimitations which consequently contorts reality as the real nature of woman is overlooked in literature successfully belittling the idea of gender equality. The oxymoronic allusion “Angel/Whore split” in her exordium compels the audience to process the dichotomous image of women portrayed in literature. The inclusion of this academic allusion enlightens the understanding of the audience as explored in Campbell’s: Four Ends of Discourse, as the audience are coerced to question the neat categorisation of women in literature that has lead to “bland” female characters. Atwood furthers the pursuit of gender equality as she appoints
In the Victorian Era of mid nineteen to early twentieth century, a woman’s role in society remained to be in the household, away from the business and cares of men. The feminine side is portrayed as negative, powerless, and lacking (Kileen 49). Society discouraged women from having power in society and neglecting women represented normal in the eyes of most men and women. However, Victorian novels such as The Picture of Dorian Gray illustrate the consequences of disregarding women. In Oscar Wilde’s only novel, the lack of importance surrounding the female characters and their careless treatment from men results in the selfishness of the male characters exemplified through Dorian Gray’s acts of evil.
Death is the most important and abrupt stop in life. With no other option, man is forced to reflect back on a life that has no chance of future redemption. Of course, the concept of death features prominently in both The Death of Ivan Ilyich, by Leo Tolstoy, and Death in Venice, by Thomas Mann. The drab Ivan Ilyich, hailing from The Death of Ivan Ilyich, only realizes the faults in his life when backed against the inevitable wall of death. In the critical view of Tolstoy, “Ivan Ilyich’s life had been most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible” (818). Ivan always followed the Apollonian lifestyle, only acting in proper ways based on the structure of society. As such, the greater portion of his existence was incredibly dull and unexceptional. However, in attempting to live this way, Ivan suffers a fall that leads to his subsequent illness and bitter end. This locks Ivan in a state of self-reflection and depression. Unable to leave the prison of his own illness, this becomes his only option. In this torture, Ivan finds comfort in the presence of the youthful Gerasim. In fact, Ivan feels Gerasim’s presence “such a comfort that he did not want to let him go” (Tolstoy 838).
In a nation brimming with discrimination, violence and fear, a multitudinous number of hearts will become malevolent and unemotional. However, people will rebel. In the eye-opening novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns written by Khaled Hosseini, the country of Afghanistan is exposed to possess cruel, treacherous and sexist law and people. The women are classified as something lower than human, and men have the jurisdiction over the women. At the same time, the most horrible treatment can bring out some of the best traits in victims, such as consideration, boldness, and protectiveness. Although, living in an inconsiderate world, women can still carry aspiration and benevolence. Mariam and Laila (the main characters of A Thousand Splendid Suns) are able to retain their consideration, boldness and protectiveness, as sufferers in their atrocious world.
...present powerful characters, while females represent unimportant characters. Unaware of the influence of society’s perception of the importance of sexes, literature and culture go unchanged. Although fairytales such as Sleeping Beauty produce charming entertainment for children, their remains a didactic message that lays hidden beneath the surface; teaching future generations to be submissive to the inequalities of their gender. Feminist critic the works of former literature, highlighting sexual discriminations, and broadcasting their own versions of former works, that paints a composite image of women’s oppression (Feminist Theory and Criticism). Women of the twenty-first century serge forward investigating, and highlighting the inequalities of their race in effort to organize a better social life for women of the future (Feminist Theory and Criticism).
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.