The position of women in society was always determined by the attitude of men to this issue. Women were never considered as the persons with the developed abilities to rule and to have much property. Moreover, the history of the social and personal relations between men and women approves the fact that women were often discussed as the men’s property themselves.
Similar approaches to discussing the relations of women and property are described in three plays by Aristophanes, Congreve, and Wilde where the female characters play rather significant roles. Aristophanes is famous for his satirical plays in which he developed the controversial questions typical for the society in 410 BC. The author’s play Lysistrata can be discussed as the most interesting vision of the problem of the women’s role in society in classical Athens.
Aristophanes chose women as the main characters of his play and portrayed them as the decisive individuals with the leading figure of Lysistrata. They can play the roles similar to the men’s ones in society. Thus, Lysistrata believes that women can cope with any task and can be even braver than men in their decisions.
The main issue of the play is the war with the Peloponnesians. To address the problem, Lysistrata states, “Our country’s fortunes depend on us – it is with us to undo utterly the Peloponnesians” (Aristophanes 2). Nevertheless, the situation which is depicted in the play is only the fantastic picture created by Aristophanes, and it emphasizes the real positions of women in society of Athens.
If the women in the play acquire the masculine characteristics, and they are active in their social life, real women have the opportunity to act only in their domestic life and with references to the needs and desires of their husbands. Thus, women had no property and even perceived as the property which is worth or not to be gained. From this point, marriage was the single chance to get the social security because all the properties were ruled by men.
The women as property are also discussed in Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest. In this case, women have the material and financial fortunes inherited from their relatives, but they have no real opportunities to control them without being married. Thus, the question of women as property acquires new features when speaking about not only their status but also such characteristics as the appearance, beauty, and smartness.
In the conservation with Cecily and Algernon, Lady Bracknell states that at Cecily’s age of thirty-five “there will be a large accumulation of property”, meaning all the young woman’s characteristics including her income (Wilde 138). In this situation Cecily has no choice, but to ask Algernon, “could you wait for me till I was thirty-five?” (Wilde 138). If a young woman is unmarried, there are no chances for her to live the rich and successful life.
Gwendolen Fairfax and Cecily Cardew as the main female characters of The Importance of Being Earnest have all the features typical for the women of the nineteenth century. That is why the main task for them is to successfully marry a man who should be ‘earnest’ and rather rich.
The fact that these women can inherit their money and control them independently is not discussed by them. Gwendolen Fairfax and Cecily Cardew’s relations with properties can be analyzed only in the context of their possible marriages which influence the life of the young women in the nineteenth century greatly.
Women’s property was examined also with references to the marriage contracts which could provide the definite level of security for women and preserve them from different men’s machinations. However, the issue of money is not so important for Gwendolen Fairfax and Cecily Cardew as the problem of their marriages.
The discussion of the correlation between the issues of marriage and property is vividly presented in William Congreve’s play The Way of the World where female characters are interesting for men only as the opportunity to enlarge their incomes and provide the luxurious life. In spite of the fact the main female characters of the play Millament and Lady Wishfort have properties, their possibilities to control them are also limited by the peculiarities of the traditional institute of marriage and make them be victims of dishonest men.
Moreover, this play also states that even in the situation when women have money they are considered as property themselves. Thus, it is reflected in Lady’s remark when she asks, “Then I have been your property, have I” (Congreve 88).
Money and marriage are the concepts which go close to each other in the play because they are associated and accentuate the women’s dependency on their having or lacking property. Thus, if a woman has property, she has the opportunity to marry any man she wants, but she will not be able to control her fortune, and a husband can consider her only as the source of money. If a woman has no money, she should hope for a successful marriage to get the social security.
Works Cited
Aristophanes. Lysistrata. USA: Dover Publications, 1994. Print.
Congreve, William. The Way of the World. USA: Empire Books, 2012. Print.
Wilde, Oscar. The Importance of Being Earnest. USA: Simon & Brown, 2012. Print.
Transcendence Issues In American Literature
Touching upon various ethical and religious issues, contemporary authors define the concepts of physical versus spiritual life and transcendence. It is important to consider all the symbols and the context of the previous works of the writer or poet and his/her life experience for decoding all the messages of the work of literature.
Robert Frost, a well-known American poet of the twentieth century, touches upon philosophical issues and moral dilemmas in his poetry, hiding his messages behind the trivial things depicted in his poems. Because his poems are full of symbols, readers should understand the meaning of his words literally. For example, making the swinging of the trees the main theme of the poem Birches, Frost implied much more than evaluating the beauty of the landscape.
It is advisable to consider not only the described objects but the manner of their presentation as well. Observing birches bending left and right, the author thinks of the forces that make them swing and it becomes a kind of escape from everyday reality making transcendence from earth life possible and doubting the meaning of the concept of truth and its importance. Focusing on the birches, the poet offers readers to abstract away from their routine and think over the sense of existence.
Drawing the parallels between the wildlife and destiny, he delivers his main moral messages: “life is too much like a pathless wood” (Frost 31). Implementing the techniques of the flow of feelings and ideas, the poet switches between the different dimensions of life and relies on creating the associations, appealing to the readers’ emotions.
In Birches and Bonfire Frost touches upon the children’s perception of life for the purpose of simplifying the discussion of the most complicated issues: “war’s not for children—it’s for men” (Frost 46). The impact of the commercialized world on individuals’ life is discussed in the poem The Christmas Trees.
The main protagonist of the poem faces the moral dilemma of selling a thousand of firs for three dollars and concludes that the flow of commerce into everyone’s life is inevitable: “the trial by market everything must come to” (Frost 11). Touching upon the issues of freedom and devotion in marriage in the poem Snow, Frost sheds light upon the psychological aspects of interpersonal relationships, adding a new dimension to the world of his poetry.
Great Poems by American Women: An Anthology edited by Susan Rattiner demonstrates how diversified are the themes covered by poetesses and what original symbols and techniques can be used for discussing the issues of life, death, and transcendence. Shedding light upon various aspects of earth life, American women described the strongest possible human feelings in the context of Ethics and Religion.
Touching upon the love affairs, Ella Wilcox, for instance, uses the concepts of sin and duty, depicting the inner struggle of the main protagonist and the enormous power which the desirable woman might have. In her poem Delilah the poetess describes her decision between love, morality and public opinion, admitting that “my soul turns its back on its duty/ To live in the light of her face” (Rattiner 74).
Another strong feeling is the mother’s love to her child, and along with freedom and slavery, it is one of the main themes of the poem Slave Mother by Harper. The poetess shows all the horrors of slavery on the example of mother-child separation. “They tear him from her circling arms,/ Her last and fond embrace” (Rattiner 85). The enslavement is shown as not only a social phenomenon of suppression and financial exploitation of a particular group of society but also a violation of the basic human rights.
Concerning the issues of death and afterlife, the American poetesses chose the original symbols for expressing their opinions of these philosophical issues. The buzzing of an insect in the poem I heard a fly buzz when I died by Emily Dickinson symbolizes one of the last links with the earth life, which cannot be adequately interpreted by the dying protagonist who is left “With blue, uncertain, stumbling buzz,/ Between the light and me” (Rattiner 61).
This condition can be compared with the transcendence of the soul which is located between the two worlds. Another poetess Phoebe Cary shares the idea of transcendence and is certain that the soul flies to the native places after the death of the physical body and describes the condition of the dying person in the poem Nearer Home: “her feet are firmly set/ On the rock of a living faith” (Rattiner 92).
Developing the idea of an afterlife, Emily Dickinson points at the inevitability of the end of the physical life in a poem Because I Could Not Stop for Death: “I first surmised the Horses’ Heads/ Were toward Eternity” (Rattiner 65). It is possible to interpret the messages of the American poetesses only after the critical analysis of all the symbols of their poetry.
The issues of freedom and enslavement, racial prejudices and transcendence are raised in the popular novel Moby-Dick by an American author Herman Melville. The main plot lines of the novel can be considered as a mere background for the development of the debates concerning the place of the religion in the system of beliefs of every person and tolerance towards representatives of other races and classes.
The technique of flow of thoughts of the main characters allows viewing the dilemmas from various perspectives and considering the peculiarities of their lifestyle and background that have a significant impact on their views and attitudes. For example, in chapter Ramadan, readers are initiated in the inner world of Ishmael who celebrates the greatest religious holiday and tries to convert Queequeg into his religion, but the latter does not look impressed at all.
The approach chosen by the novelist for comparing and contrasting the beliefs and interpretations of transcendence is progressive for his time because instead of comparing different theories, he tried to get to the roots of the issues, explaining the reasons for which people belong to different religions. The same goes for exaggerated racial prejudices. Contrasting the meaning of the whale to Captain Ahab and Ishmael, Melville shows how absurd the interracial struggle may become.
The whiteness of the whale is interpreted as the symbol of the superiority of the white people by Ishmael who is ready to kill the whale only because it is white. “That ghastly whiteness it is which imparts such an abhorrent mildness, even more, loathsome than terrific, to the dumb gloating of their aspect” (Melville 269).
The themes of absorption with colorless daily routine and the benefits of transcendence from it are developed in the short stories Paul’s Case by Cather, A New England Nun by Freeman, and Transcendental Wild Oats by May Alcott. The main characters of these works are stuck in their daily routines for various reasons and the authors suggest different variants of their salvation and escape from their colorless existence.
The main precondition for the passion of a young man, the main protagonist of Paul’s Case by Cather, to operas and theatres is his desire to find a sense of life and change his colorless existence. Readers can notice the inconsistency of this approach, paying attention to the fact that he wants to remain an observer of theatre life instead of participating in it. “What he wanted was to see, to be in the atmosphere, float on the wave of it, to be carried out, blue league after blue league, away from everything” (Ward 121).
Sympathizing with the main protagonist because of his alienation and doubts as to the sense of his existence, the author points at the inconsistency of his choice at the same time. A short story A New England Nun by Freeman depicts the life of Louisa Ellis, a woman who has been waiting for her fiancé for more than fourteen years. She has so absorbed with her monotonous routine that her life resembles the processes in a clock mechanism – so monotonous they are shown to readers.
Even after the girl gets to know about her relationships of her beloved with another girl and releases him from his promise, nothing is changed in her way of life. In this case, the routine itself appears to be the reason for the alienation of the main character and the way of transcendence.
Transcendental Wild Oats is an autobiographic sketch by Alcott, who chose a satiric key for depicting the involvement of her family into the so-called Transcendentalist community. The writer made her father the prototype for the main protagonist of the work, describing him as a dreamer who is separated from the objective reality and showing the devastating results of his unrealistic views for the family during the harvest time.
Hemingway develops the themes of escape from reality, alienation in society, and transcendence in his story Soldier’s Home. Krebs, the main protagonist of the story, reenters his prewar life after participation in a military conflict. Describing his daily routine and meaningless talks with the members of his family, the author shows Kreb’s dissatisfaction with his life and the desire to change this colorless existence.
The inner conflict and the postwar stress make the protagonist to look for the ways of possible escape from the society in which he is induced to speak and lie about war and his true feelings. Integrating the dialogues into the story, the author contrasts the words to the character’s feelings. Kreb’s mother admits that “Charley Simmons are on their way to being a credit to the community,” motivating her son to return to the real life (Hemingway 48).
Though the author does not disclose all the inner dialogues of the main protagonist, readers can make the conclusions from his indifference to the surrounding world. Leaving this space for analysis, Hemingway involves readers into the process of interpretation of his messages. For example, the opposition of fishing and bullfighting in Hemingway’s prose can be considered as the symbolic expression of the author’s religious belief.
Depicting various dimensions of human existence, along with the social phenomena, American writers and poets touch upon the issues of spiritual life, describing the inner conflicts of their characters and the main reasons for them.
Works Cited
Frost, R. The Road Not Taken, Birches, and Other Poems. Claremont: Coyote Canyon Press. 2010. Print.
Hemingway, E. In Our Time. Detroit: Bruccoli Clark Books. 1977. Print.
Melville, H. Moby-Dick. London: CRW Publishing. 2009. Print.
Rattiner, S. Great Poems by American Women: An Anthology. New York: Dover Publications. 1998. Print.
Ward, C. (ed.). Great Short Stories by American Women. New York: Dover Publications. 1996. Print.
Comparison: “The Battle Of The Ants” By H. D. Thoreau And “The Death Of The Moth” By V. Woolf
The idea of viewing the reality from the perspective of an insect is not new; whether it is an attempt to accept nature as the superior and mysterious force, or the recognition of the insignificance of the human race, an attempt to envision the society as, say, an anthill is quite common a tendency in literature. However, of all specimens of this kind of fiction, Thoreau’s “The Battle of the Ants” and Woolf’s “The Death of the Moth” stand out the most.
Despite a seemingly obvious difference in the subject matter and very distinct writing styles, both Thoreau and Woolf render practically the same theme of comparing human life to that of an insect; however, while Thoreau, with his ant related metaphor, focuses on society and vivacity, Woolf reveals the depth of introspection and renders a heavy issue of death.
Making a witty commentary on the life in a standard society, Thoreau does his best at stressing the mediocrity of an average human being with a careful choice of colors for the scenery. However, apart from colors, Thoreau also uses the contrast of the huge world of the narrator and a tiny universe of the ants, thus, stressing the insignificance of the civilization compared to the grandeur and mystery of the Universe.
For example, at some point, the narrator mentions that he takes the ants into his house; thus, the world, in which the ants live, shrinks considerably, yet the tiny creatures never notice it, busy with their battle and choirs. The cluttered space, in which the ants appear after transportation, as well as the amount of household elements surrounding them, makes the metaphor for the human society even more obvious.
Unlike Thoreau, who prefers depicting lively scenery, Woolf creates a world that is much darker and pessimistic. Thus, the theme of death, which the entire novel is shot through, is conveyed. The entire atmosphere is mean and greedy, the colors were mostly muted and dark.
The novel opens with the mentioning of the “shadow of the curtain” (Woolf 1), which, as the author explains, is where moths dwell. Thus, the author sets the atmosphere of a mediocre life with little to no excitement or variety in it.
Finally, such elements of imagery in the novels as the main characters themselves should be touched upon. A closer look at both characters will reveal that each of them serves the purpose of making the key argument of its author stronger and more powerful.
For instance, the Moth, which is in the focus of Woolf’s story, is traditionally known for its lack of distinction and being completely unremarkable among more colorful insects. Woolf, in her turn, enhances the impression of blandness, even more, pushing the idea of mediocrity to the greatest degree: “Nevertheless the present specimen, with his narrow hay-colored wings, fringed with a tassel of the same color, seemed to be content with life” (Woolf 1).
Therefore, it can be considered that color – or, to be more exact, the lack thereof – is the key tool for Woolf to get the message across. Whether she mentions the blandness of the Moth’s life, or the ark, shadowy aspect of it, she would return to using colors as the most distinctive feature of the environment, in which the Moth lives.
It is quite remarkable that Thoreau, unlike Woolf, does not resort to using solely the color as the means of expressing his ideas in the novel. Instead of choosing a single tool for creating metaphors for the concept of society and the conflict between the later and an individual, Thoreau creates a variety of ways to compare the life of an ant to that of a human being.
For example, Thoreau includes the narrator into the cast of key characters, thus, breaking the fourth wall and at the same time viewing the world of ants as small and barely significant. Therefore, in addition to color, the author uses a contrast of the small and the large. In a way, the idea of including a man into the main characters can be seen as an attempt to “play God”: “I took the chip on which the three I have practically described were struggling” (Thoreau 2).
However, Thoreau shifts quickly to the world of ants, creating a range of other images and, thus, switching to social problems. The battle, which the narrator witnesses, sums up the cruelty and the pointlessness of most conflicts that have ever taken place in the history of the human race.
Despite an admittedly similar theme of their works and a basically the same metaphor for the human life, Woolf and Thoreau discuss the themes that are practically the exact opposite of each other, i.e., the issue of surviving as a part of a community driven by a single goal (Thoreau) and the concept of death as an end of the journey of an individual (Woolf).
Nevertheless, the two short novels share a range of common ideas and similar stylistic choices, not to mention a number of metaphors that can be considered practically the same.
Works Cited
Thoreau, Henry David. “The Battle of the Ants.” The Norton Reader: An Anthology of Nonfiction. 12th ed. Ed. Linda Peterson and John Brereton. New York City, NY: W. W. Norton & Company. 2008. Print.
Woolf, Virginia. “The Death of the Moth.” The Norton Reader: An Anthology of Nonfiction. 12th ed. Ed. Linda Peterson and John Brereton. New York City, NY: W. W. Norton & Company. 2008. Print.