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Recommended: How to define a hero
Throughout history the idea of the hero or heroine has changed, but some common attributes remain. The hero claims Bill Butler: “is an archetypal figure, a paradigm who bears the possibilities of life, courage, love – the indefinable’s which themselves define our human lives” . In his seminal work The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell states that the hero: “a personage of exceptional gifts” is “the man or woman who has been able to battle past his personal and local historical limitations to the generally valid, normally human forms” . It is apparent that heroism is an essential part of human behaviour and human endeavour, therefore the idea of the hero is at the centre of our cultural thinking. While we should not worship the hero, Jenni Calder asserts that because the hero: “represents the best that is in ourselves” we should be open in our response to the hero.
A good Romance writer presents heroines who are strong and powerful and whom demonstrate the possibilities of being female. It is only after they have made themselves happy and created a better life for themselves that they are able to find love. As a reader we are able to identify with such a protagonist, and in a sense we leap into the book and see the heroine’s world through her own eyes.
The Romanic heroine that we know today was born in the nineteenth century. Whilst it is true that Romantic novels had existed previously, the heroines of such books were continually having something done to them. They were so downtrodden that it was almost impossible to identify with them.
The first gothic novel The Castle of Otranto (1704) by Horace Walpole tells the story of a maiden bride attempting to escape her would be father in law, prevented by super natura...
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...o behave or think. The expression “anti heroine” refers to those characters that display either the positive or negative qualities of the heroine, enabling the reader to be able to identify with the heroine. In Austen’s novel’s it is normal that the anti heroine will be in contest with the heroine for the hero’s love, although this is not does what makes the anti-heroine a bad person. Rather the anti heroine, often posse’s admiral qualities. However with the arguable exception of Jane Fairfax in Emma, the anti heroine lacks the essential moral core which ultimately characterises an Austen heroine. In comparing and contrasting both the characters and actions of the heroines with the anti heroines in the novel, the strong character’s of Austen’s leading ladies and the journey which they take is able to be understood as she grows personally and rationally with others.
I was experiencing an ordeal: a hand of fiery iron grasped my vitals. Terrible moment: full of struggle blackness, burning! No human being that ever lived could wish to be loved better then I was loved; and him who thus loved me I absolutely worshipped: and I must renounce love and idol. (311; ch. 27)
A hero can be anyone. The modern day hero does not need physical strength or have super human powers, nor do they need to be of royal decent or obtain a high-flying place in the government. Bernard Malamud explains, “Without heroes, we are all plain people, and don't know how far we can go,” suggesting that heroes are simply role-models we use to learn from. The first introduction to the concept of the Heroes Journey was through Joseph Campbell. In his book ‘A Hero with a Thousand Faces,’ he brings to light the idea of studying the human impulse to create stories that draw on universal themes which is highlighted in his theory of the Heroes Journey. He explains, “A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself,” which demonstrates the idea of portraying a hero as someone who gives without the need for repayment. Similarly the founder of analytical psychology, Carl Jung, talks about heroes in his essay ‘A Study in the Process of Individuation,’ through his concept of introversion and extraversion. According to him, archetypes are distinctive universal psychic temperaments, which form the substrate from which the basic themes of human life a...
St. John Rivers makes some very intriguing choices in Jane Eyre. He is constantly faced with difficult decisions to make. Whether it be refusing his true love or moving to India to give his life serving others, there is always an interesting twist where St. John is concerned. His importance in the novel may be evident to readers, but they may not always understand his decisions and his actions. The choices he makes are exemplary of a man who has given his life to serve God and His people.
What makes a man a hero? Where lies the line which when crossed changes a mortal man into a legend? Is it at the altar at Canterbury? in the Minotaur’s labyrinth? or is it an age or a time? Does a man become a hero when he transforms from a boy to an adult? or when he stops being a man and becomes a martyr? Where are the heroes of 1993? In whom do the children of this age believe? Like whom do they strive to be? Kennedy, Lennon, and even Superman are dead. World leaders are mockeries of real men, more like Pilates than Thomas Mores. Pop culture’s icons change daily. It is interesting that nearly 600 years ago someone was writing about heroism in a way that can be understood today. The poet of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight tells a tale in which a man is proven to be a hero through the seemingly un-heroic decisions made in the course of numerous tests. Sir Gawain is a hero for the 21st century. He is tried and trapped, he is inundated with opportunities to fail and yet he does not lose. More importantly though, in the end he learns an essential, inescapable fact about himself and human nature.
From an early age Jane is aware she is at a disadvantage, yet she learns how to break free from her entrapment by following her heart. Jane appears as not only the main character in the text, but also a female narrator. Being a female narrator suggests a strong independent woman, but Jane does not seem quite that.
In the novel Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte uses Jane Eyre as her base to find out how a character confronts the demands of a private passion that conflicts with her responsibilities. . Mistreated abused and deprived of a normal childhood, Jane Eyre creates an enemy early in her childhood with her Aunt Mrs. Reed. Just as Mrs. Reeds life is coming to an end, she writes to Jane asking her for forgiveness, and one last visit from her.
I believe that the exploration of this fundamental conundrum is at the core of Northanger Abbey, and that this should be so dismisses the claims of those who believe that the lessons Catherine learns in the Gothic section of the novel are thematically most important.[3] I maintain that Northanger Abbey is not merely a curiosity, a burlesque of the Gothic style, a remnant which looks back to the parodic style of much of the juvenilia....
There are many stages throughout the book in which the reader can feel sympathy for Jane Eyre; these include when she is locked in the Red Room, when Helen Burns dies at Lowood, and when she and Mr. Rochester are married the first time.
The representation of female characters in the work may initially come across as acting irrationally, but closer examination shows that in fact their motivations were guided by contemporary values and therefore are more reflective of more positively portrayed characters.
Due to traditional stereotypes of women, literature around the world is heavily male-dominant, with few female characters outside of cliché tropes. Whenever a female character is introduced, however, the assumption is that she will be a strong lead that challenges the patriarchal values. The authors of The Thousand and One Nights and Medea use their female centered stories to prove their contrasting beliefs on the role of women not only in literature, but also in society. A story with a female main character can be seen as empowering, but this is not always the case, as seen when comparing and contrasting Medea and The Thousand and One Nights.
“I found him very patient, very forbearing, and yet an exacting master: he expected me to do a great deal; and when I fulfilled his expectations, he, in his own way, fully testified his approbation. By degrees, he acquired a certain influence over me that took away my liberty of mind: his praise and notice were more restraining than his indifference. I could no longer talk or laugh freely when he was by; because a tiresomely importunate instinct reminded me that vivacity (at least in me) was distasteful to him. I was so aware that only serious moods and occupations were acceptable, that in is presence every effort to sustain or follow any other became vain: I fell under a freezing spell. When he said “go,” I went! “come,” I came;
Throughout the history, women were considered below men. Then it led to believe that only men can write but not women. However, women managed to enter literature world like men did. However, most people believed that only writing style that exists in literature is men’s style not feminine. Almost to the point, people believed that there is no feminine style of writing. Helene Cixous is a writer of The Laugh of The Medusa. This book is about women’s writing from Cixous’s view and explanation of feminine writing. Cixous believed women should write their own style in order to break and destroy male dominated society.
From the beginning of time, mythology has appeared to be one key method of understanding life’s confusions and battles. Within these myths lies a hero. From myth to myth and story to story, heroes experience what may be called a struggle or a journey, which lays down their plot line. Bearing tremendous strength, talent, and significant admiration, a hero holds what is precious to their audience, heroism. Over time however, no matter the hero, the hero’s role remains indistinguishable and identical to the position of every other hero.
Fatal Women of Romanticism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. E-book. In this book, Craciun analyses the way that women writers of the 19th century either contributed to or challenged Romantic stereotypes about their own gender. This source was useful to my research because it examined not only Romantic stereotypes about women, but also the real women of the Romantic Period.
In the novel ‘Jane Eyre’ by Charlotte Bronte, Jane shows self-confidence throughout the novel by having a sense of self-worth, and a trust in God and her morals. Jane develops her self confidence through the capacity to learn and the relationships she experiences. Although an oppressed orphan, Jane is not totally with confidence, she believes in what is right and shows passion and spirit at an early age. Helen and Miss Temple equips Jane with education and Christians values that she takes on throughout her life. Jane later also blossoms in self confidence under Mr. Rochester’s love and her family, the Rivers and newly discovered wealth. Bronte uses dialogue and 1st person narration to give an insight of the characters for the reader to see what the characters are saying and suggest what they are really thinking, and it shows Jane’s self-confidence growing in every stage of her life.