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History of the women's movement
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History of the women's movement
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Anagrams Response An anagram in the traditional sense is a word that can be scrambled into another word. What Lorrie Moore’s Anagrams does is put a narrative inside a narrative, which places the characters in different scenarios as the time jumps forward. There isn’t a perfect way to put another story within a story, which is demonstrated by Moore’s use of literal imaginative characters when Benna is confronted about her fake daughter (Moore, 201). The overall meaning of the novel is somewhat confused by the end, though the use of Benna’s imagination is a clever way to explain the struggles of a lonely, envious, and lustful adult woman.
Westley, the protagonist of The Princess Bride, is loyal, clever, and heroic. He is very dedicated to saving Buttercup and does everything he can to get her back from Prince Humperdinck. The novel that was later turned into a movie was directed by Rob Reiner; the screenwriter’s name was William Goldman. The main character has long blond hair and blue eyes that Buttercup describe as having, “like the sea before a storm.”
Mina Murray Harker is a woman to inspire many. Bram Stoker, author of the classic gothic horror novel Dracula, intentionally creates the character of Mina Murray Harker to do just that - inspire women. Throughout Dracula, Mina goes through a multitude of ups and downs, like any character in a book. However, Mina is not like any other book character.
evil (dark). To begin with, light colors, such as white, are highlighted through characters such as Lucy Westenra, as she is both literally and figuratively characterized to be among “the white garments of the angel,” indicating that Lucy is a character who represents all that is pure and noble in a lady (Stoker 209). On the other hand, the vampires in the novel, Count Dracula and the three female vampire wives, are associated with the colors black and red. For example, when Jonathan Harker first encounters Count Dracula, Dracula is revealed to be “clad in black from head to foot, without a single speck of colour about him anywhere” (Stoker 13). This emphasizes his role as an antagonist in the novel.
She has fallen victim to Dracula and becomes undead herself. She is one of two female characters, who is pursued by the vampire. Bram Stoker may have given the impression that Lucy was of that a ‘free’ and gossipy female. I do believe that from reading a few passages from Dracula that apply directly to Lucy, this portrayal could be false, and this is in reference to her once she has become undead. Lucy could be a victim, an innocent woman sabotaged by Dracula.
It was a time when almost everything was seen as either black or white, with no grey in between, and Victorian ideologies regarding women were not excluded from that notion. I believe that the fears revolving around the idea of the “New Women” resonates with Van Helsing, Dr. Seward, Arthur and Mina, as they are characterizations of the times they were composed. In order to combat against those fears, they treat Lucy in a way that revokes her personhood, to gain control over her and simultaneously make sense of her shifting personas, such will be explored at length throughout the
As she is sick, Arthur gives her a blood transfusion to try to help her become better but when it does not work, she is stabbed in the heart to go back to her original beauty and die. Lucy in the book shows how the ideal Victorian woman can so suddenly turn into the bad, evil, sexual woman that was unacceptable. Throughout the novel, Bram Stoker showed in detail what was considered to be the ideal Victorian woman through the character Mina. He also showed how women were sexualized, misbehaved, and evil through the behaviors of Dracula’s three daughters.
Bram Stoker utilizes the brides and Lucy to represent “bad women.” Throughout the novel they exemplify overly-sexual, nonmaternal women who need to be punished. This idea is evident in the scene where the brides find Jonathan while he is visiting Dracula’s castle. They enter the room he is lying in and Jonathan describes one. “There was a deliberate voluptuousness which was both thrilling and repulsive, and as she arched her neck and actually licked her lips like an animal, till I could see in the moonlight the moisture shining on the scarlet lips and on the red tongue as it lapped the white sharp teeth” (Stoker 64).
Perhaps this is indicative of his incapacity to form profound, meaningful relationships. Throughout their relationship, Lucy feels stifled by Cecil who rejects Lucy’s way of thinking in regards to love. Cecil’s notions on what
Moreover, the she-vampires can be seen as our Femme Fatale characters that are not controlled by male authority. Jonathan Harker is “only in the presence of theses she-vampires through an act of wilful defiance of the count’s instructions-it is a situation at least so for his own seeking and his response to events as they unfold demonstrates at least a tacit willingness on his part to participate.” Through this “wilful defiance” he deliberately refuses to recognise Dracula as his authority figure, as in the Marxist society Dracula is the employer with wealth and Harker is the employee who would be of a lower financial status to the Count, and goes against his superego and lets his ID take over. When he waits in “agony of delightful anticipation” it leads us to believe that Harker is an active participant in this act and is not
, satisfied with her sole suitor, eager in a way that she wants to be "useful to Jonathan” when the two are married (125). Moreover, she is never physically portrayed in any image-evoking detail. Lucy, on the other hand, is described in extraordinary physical detail that goes as far as “a very beautiful corpse… quite a privilege to work on” (378). While Mina is known for having “a man’s brain,” Lucy is essentially the charming “little girl” that everyone seems drawn to (545/537). Lucy’s natural allure, her quieted sexuality, gives her power yet is eventually tied to her destruction.
The downfall of Lucy Westerna and the arrival of Dracula arose fears in which only challenging their sense of humanity and understanding of the world could they be able to overcome the dangers which had surrounded them. A sense of urgency is created in when Bram Stoker uses exclamation marks, as the turn of Lucy begins. “Arthur! Kiss me!” she states it as if it must happen now, or it never will.
Killing children, they also besmirch the image of the angel in the house and the perfect Victorian mother figure. The female vampire is also connected to the New Woman who is seen as a threat in connection with her open sexuality (Lucy Westenra), unless she incorporates mostly Victorian values and only superficially seems like a New Woman (Mina Harker). The monstrous-feminine is visible in Dracula himself as an archaic mother who gives and takes life at the same time. She is also visible in Transylvania 's nature – threatening but at the same time enchanting its visitors. Monstrous-femininity is marginalised throughout Stoker 's novel.
The character Lucy is described as the most innocent character in “Dracula” which is why she is loved by both the characters in the novel as well as the reader. Lucy is thought to be a more traditional woman, in the sense that she is chaste and pure, making her more desirable. She has three different men proposing to her and has the ability to choose the one that she likes the best. Lucy’s purity is sought after because this is how a traditional Victorian woman should act in the eyes of society.
Lucy's seduction by Dracula parallels sexual seduction. The virgin is ruined by the aristocratic vampire, in keeping with a common Gothic theme of the aristocracy preying on women of non-aristocratic blood. His penetration of her parallels the penetration of sex, and Lucy is unable or unwilling to save herself from him. Lucy is far more vulnerable than Mina to Dracula's seduction: because of her flirtatious nature, she is an easier target for the vampire. Although she is still basically innocent and pure, Dracula will eventually corrupt her.
