The Lady’s Dressing Room Assignment - Part 1 In “The Lady’s Dressing Room” by Jonathan Swift, the author educate and enlighten the readers by liberating both genders from false ideals placed upon them by society. Swift criticizes both men and women for adhering to gender stereotypes throughout the poem upon closer inspection. Men are criticized for believing in the gender stereotype placed on women by society. Swift liberates the men from this stereotype when stating, “But swears how damnably the Men lie/In calling Celia sweet and cleanly,” [17-18]. In this quote, men is used as an archetype for society and Celia for women, thus society lies in calling women these sweet and cleaning beings. At this point in the poem, Strephon, or men, is …show more content…
For example, “Five Hours, (and who can do in less in?).” The author uses hyperbole when saying five hours because he exaggerates the time Celia took to get ready. It emphasizes the absurd amount of time women takes to fit into the beauty standard of society. Furthermore, the author also uses sarcasm in this line when stating, “...and who can do it less in.” Swift makes a sharp jibe at women with this line given that five hours is an extensive amount of time and almost anyone can get ready in less time than that. In the time this poem was written, the male-dominated society made women look and act a certain way and taught them to uphold that appearance. The rights of women had yet to be attained so women were mainly known for their Goddess-like looks and polite behaviour that society shaped them to be. Swift uses hyperbole and sarcasm to poke fun at this matter and to relieve humour as well as enlighten his …show more content…
Inside Pandora’s Box contained the worse and evilest thing ever known and Strephon exaggerated when he described Celia’s excrement as the evil beings that brought everything bad to Earth. When the poem was written, women were portrayed as a Goddess with no vile or foul human behaviour or activities. Swift wrote this poem that liberates that false notion and reveals the flawed human side to women. Swift mocks the idea of women eliminating feces and exaggerates their feces to be the most evilest thing in the world. The author referred to Celia’s excrements as the evils in Pandora’s Box to show how ridiculous it is when men find basic human traits and behaviour in women, thus making them flawed and revolting. Upon closer inspection and critical thinking, many methods of satire can be found in Jonathan Swift’s “The Lady’s Dressing Room.” The poem enlightens the readers by exposing the reality of genders and changes the readers’ lenses of their perspective of men and women. While doing so, the author uses satire, such as situational irony, sarcasm and hyperbole, as a comedic relief to bring alight the seriousness and stupidity of the issue at
In the first 7 paragraphs, Swift is using qualification. He starts of by saying “female sex” rather than saying women. This promptly reveals a clinical and technical perspective. This statement is also dehumanizing because it is very offensive to women. It makes them sound more like a material in a lab rather than a human being. He then talks about the problem of poverty through numbers, which reveals his overall qualification. He questions the “computation” of “projectors” which continues his technical diction. In the fourth paragraph he refers to a mom as a “dam” which could imply domestic animals. Paragraph 6 provides a model of exposition, supplying evidence and logical explanations. He then discusses some of the costs to sell children into slavery. Through all of the examples that were just provided, it shows the qualification through his
Swift’s use of these three devices created a captivating and somewhat humorous satire. He used irony and ethos to emphasize the ridiculous nature of the essay, and to show how the practice of eating children would be unethical. He used ambiguity to make the essay a more comedic work rather than a horror about the gruesome practice of child cannibalism. Overall, the satirical essay was
In his lengthy literary career, Jonathan Swift wrote many stories that used a broad range of voices that were used to make some compelling personal statements. For example, Swifts, A Modest Proposal, is often heralded as his best use of both sarcasm and irony. Yet taking into account the persona of Swift, as well as the period in which it was written, one can prove that through that same use of sarcasm and irony, this proposal is actually written to entertain the upper-class. Therefore the true irony in this story lies not in the analyzation of minute details in the story, but rather in the context of the story as it is written.
Many different depictions of gender roles exist in all times throughout the history of American culture and society. Some are well received and some are not. When pitted against each other for all intents and purposes of opposition, the portrayal of the aspects and common traits of masculinity and femininity are separated in a normal manner. However, when one gender expects the other to do its part and they are not satisfied with the results and demand more, things can shift from normal to extreme fairly quickly. This demand is more commonly attributed by the men within literary works. Examples of this can be seen in Tennessee Williams' “A Streetcar Named Desire”, where Stella is constantly being pushed around and being abused by her drunken husband Stanley, and also in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's “The Yellow Wallpaper”, where the female narrator is claimed unfit by her husband as she suffers from a sort of depression, and is generally looked down on for other reasons.
In Jonathan Swift’s satire, “A Modest Proposal”, Swift writes about the starving people of Ireland in the early 1700’s. He makes a wild and absurd proposal to help remedy the problems of overpopulation and poverty. Swift wants to make a political statement by using the “children” as satire to grasp the attention of the audience - the English people, the Irish politicians and the rich – and make them aware of the political, moral, and social problems. In “A Modest Proposal”, Swift’s arguments are presented effectively by using pathos (emotional appeal), ethos (ethics and values), and logos (logic reasoning and facts).
Humor can come in many different forms. Many people are aware of the blatant humor of slapstick, but it takes a keener mind to notice the subtle detail in sarcasm or satire. In A Modest Proposal, Jonathan Swift was able to create a piece of literature addressing the faults of the Irish culture while embedding in a humorous essay. Swift’s satire allows for the gravity of the Irish standings to be exploited under the disguise of a proposal for economic benefit.
For centuries women have been perceived as overshadowed figures who remain in a separate sphere from men. The term “separate spheres” refers to the distinct, conventional characteristics associated with gender differences. The public sphere of men is associated with commerce whereas the domestic sphere for women is linked with the household. However, there is more than just one perspective on feminism. The feminist view is influenced by three main voices: the French, American, and British. French feminists focus their attention on language; American feminists analyze the literary aspects; and British feminists examine the historical processes (Murfin 296-299). Using these perspectives, we can see the oppression of women conveyed in many different texts throughout literature and in history. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, for instance, exhibits not only a feminist view in the text, but also in society during Shelley’s time period as displayed by her negotiations with the separate spheres. Voltaire’s Candide also conveys powerful gender differences and reveals the oppression of women throughout the novel. Therefore, a correlation can be seen between the view of women in the two novels and how it reflects the culture and time period in which the novels were written.
In summary, the account for a woman’s femininity is primarily encouraged by man. Wollstonecraft inspires readers as she debates the right for woman equality to man, with most, if not all females agreeing with her argument and powerful ideas. Thus it is possible to conclude that the influence of academic literature does complicate everyday contemporary understanding, as reality of the day has differing points of view in writing. According to the referenced literature, woman in contemporary society are considered are flaw of nature however observed by women unreasonably.
Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth is an affront to the false social values of fashionable New York society. The heroine is Lily Bart, a woman who is destroyed by the very society that produces her. Lily is well-born but poor. The story traces the decline of Lily as she moves through a series of living residences, from houses to hotel lodgings. Lily lives in a New York society where appearances are all. Women have a decorative function in such an environment, and even her name, Lily, suggests she is a flower of femininity, i.e. an object of decoration as well as of desirability to the male element. We see this is very true once Lily's bloom fades, as it were, a time when she is cast aside by her peers no longer being useful as something to admire on the surface. The theme of the novel in this aspect is that identity based on mere appearance is not enough to sustain the human soul physically or metaphysically. Once she is no longer able to keep the "eye" of her peers, Lily finds herself with no identity and dies. This analysis will discuss the theme of the objectification of women in a male dominated society inherent throughout the novel.
Swift says that women take about five hours to get themselves ready and no less. He calls Celia, the name Swift gives to the woman being ambushed in the poem, arrogant and then compares her to a goddess. This line suggests that women take so much time to reach a level of perfection or divinity.
In Swift’s writing he uses hyperbole and a mocking tone in various parts of the poem to get his point across. This emphasizes the absurdity of much of what is being discovered about Celia. Swift’s satirical style was more scathing than Pope’s gentle chiding
In all, the misogyny presented in these two poems is not restricted to the time period they were written. Just as in medieval literature, it is still common for today's woman to be recognized only for her physical attributes. I believe that in order to have equality of the sexes and to help overcome the objectifying of women, it is necessary for women not to use the misogynistic views placed against them to their advantage.
Elizabeth uses the stereotypes of her gender and knowledge of both literature and when to manipulate her gender to explain why she needs
To begin with, the title of the poem aroused curiosity amongst many men. Clearly, the target audience is men and the author has chosen to appeal to them. In the beginning of the poem, he describes a superficially perfect woman, Celia. However, we know he is being ironic about his statements because he begins with, “Five hours, and who can do it less in” (1). Strephon is confused with the untidiness of the room because he thought that such a sweet and clean woman would live neatly as well, “A paste of composition rare, sweat, dandruff, powder, lead, and hair. A forehead cloth with oil upon’t, to smooth the wrinkles on her front. Here alum flower to stop the steams, exhaled from sour unsavory streams” (23-28). Swift is saying that women smell very bad in reality and use products to hide the smell to get attention. They also use lead to make there hair more glossy but if it were not for the lead it would be covered with dandruff. As Strephon searches the room in dismay of all the mess, decides t...
In A Room of One's Own the narrator begins an exploration of women in literature. She attempts to answer many questions regarding women. The first being why is literature about women written by men. She also critiques the scholarship of the great men of literature.