Characterism And Symbolism In Tolstoy's Anna Karenina

In The Hand, by Colette, readers see into the mind of a newly married wife as she watches her husband rest. Readers see the young woman’s fascination with her husband and how she admires his appearance, until she reaches his hands. Once the wife begins studying the features of the hand, readers begin to see her sentiments change to disgust. Coincidentally, the hand seems to come to life in that moment of observation. Consequently, the young woman becomes frightened be the grotesque appearance of the hand as it moves in the man’s sleep. In the morning, the wife bends to kiss the very hand, she finds intolerable. The kiss she places upon the man’s hand symbolizes their marital relationship in more ways than one. The kiss symbolizes the

The restricted roles of women, are explored by Chevalier in Girl with a pearl earring, through literary techniques which convey women’s complete lack of power, forever stuck on the outside of a man’s world, trapped and anxious with the little power they manage to obtain.

Gender dynamics have been present in society for centuries, even dating back to the Ancient Greeks, where women were still encouraged to remain in the home. Gender dynamics in “The Birth-Mark” and “The Crucible” still remain male-dominated, however, the ever-present danger of domestic violence has become more frequent and powerful. The delicate birthmark on Georgiana’s face in “The Birth-Mark” represents, her husband, Aylmer's essential ownership over her, his hand being placed on her face. He is putting his mark on “his wife.” (The Birth-Mark,

In the beginning of the story, the narrator admires her husband and all of his features saying “to herself she also praised his mouth, full and likable, his skin the color of pink brick, and even his forehead, neither noble nor broad, but still smooth and unwrinkled”(273). The newlywed couple is in love and the narrator admires her husband’s face as he peacefully sleeps next to her. This admiration does not last long because the narrator then shifts her focus to the hand she is laying on and it suddenly becomes this monstrous thing that scares her into realizing what she’s gotten into. The narrator looks down to see “the thumb stiffened itself out, horribly long and spatulate, and pressed tightly against the index finger so that the hand suddenly took on a vile, apelike appearance”(274). This change in her perception of the hand represents her realization that she is no longer innocent and young, but that she married a stranger and would be stuck with him the rest of her

Edna had given her husband her rings; she "silently reache[s] out to him, and he, understanding, takes the rings from his vest pocket and drop them into her open palm" (524). " But Edna's affection is not freely given; she does not marry for love. So her wedding ring becomes a lie, and she takes it off, flinging it to the carpet and stomping on it (550). In archetypal, circle symbolizes wholeness and unity (circle is the shape of ring). In these lines, it is portrayed that the couple take off and give up their rings and no longer wear them, it means that they give up the wholeness and unity between them as married

The people of Ireland are known for their amazing stories and their love of traditions.

Portrayed as spiritual and intellectual in contrast with his crude laboratory assistant Aminadab, Aylmer becomes disturbingly obsessed with a birthmark on his wife’s countenance. The plot of the short story revolves around the man’s attempt in removing the mark, which results in the death of Georgiana. In the very beginning of the story, the audience discovers through the narration that Aylmer views his wife’s birthmark as more than a congenital, benign irregularity on the skin. In reality, the primary reason why he becomes severely obsessed with the birthmark is because in his eyes, the mark symbolizes something. Aylmer proceeds to further clarify his inner thoughts by replying to his wife, “This slightest possible defect, which we hesitate whether to term a defect or a beauty, shocks me, as being the visible mark of earthly imperfection” (Mays 340). Although Georgiana is initially mortified and even goes as far to question the existence of the marriage between them, the narration later sheds light and explains that the precise reason why Aylmer is excessively bothered with the birthmark is because he regards Georgiana as virtually the embodiment of perfection. As a consequence, perceiving a flaw on his wife’s image that clashes with the concept of her beauty inevitably leads him to feel aggrieved and begin to judge the birthmark as a dangerous blemish residing on her skin.

At this point she simply finds no other way but to accept the stereotypical view of a young innocent girl in a relationship with an experienced man, another example of women being victims of male authority. The key to the bloody chamber is the key to her selfhood and subjugation that will ultimately kill her. ‘The protagonist’s husband clearly considers her an object of exchange and plans to inscribe upon her his continuing tale of punishment for wives’ disobedience’[viii] again showing how women make themselves victims of their own behaviour, Helen Simpson’s interpretation is that ‘I really cant see what’s wrong with finding out about what the great male fantasies about women are’ [ix] The heroine fights against the victimisation, and indeed reverses role with the male in the story, as it is Marquis who dies and it is the female who leaves this chamber and finds happiness.

The love she wishes for herself and the peddler is a lustful, rebellious one. It serves more as a passageway from her normal and enforced life to a life of free will and wondering. The shining of her soul illuminates the need for Elisa to feel something that doesn’t come from the reliance of her husband whom she is tied down to. Once the peddler leaves, and Elisa sees her flower has been tossed out onto the road, like her fantasy relationship with the peddler, and “her eyes would not obey” (Steinbeck 6). While Elisa’s eyes are unable to look away from her flower that was tossed away, her soul is unable to accept the fact that she will never be able to obtain the abstract lifestyle she longs for. With her flower symbolizing her womanhood, she is able to see but not acknowledge the fact that she will never be able to escape the inequality of the stereotypical roles of women she if forced to live in, as her wanted freedom will only be thrown away and soiled by men or other controlling forces.

Martin Fitzpatrick states that Georgiana is a woman of perfect beauty, but her only flaw is the birthmark on her left cheek, shaped like a tiny pink hand “To a Practised Touch”: Miles Coverdale and Hawthorne’s Irony,”(American Transcendental Quarterly 14.1 [2000]: 27-46). However, Her husband Aylmer prizes her in marriage, he becomes, after their marriage, obsessed with the idea of fixing that blemish and providing her absolutely perfect. Aylmer prepares a portion for Georgiana in order to remove the birthmark and release her from the hand that clenched tighter on her cheek. Fitzpatrick argues, “If we alter the question slightly, what is the story about? We might answer: Aylmer's hatred of women generally or Georgiana specifically, the futility

The Death of Ivan Ilyich was a short, but is one of the greates of fiction. Ivan was a successful member of the state bureaucracy. Through out his life he had to do arrange it without complication. He is the perfect example of conforming, such as ‘’other-directed’’ man because he discovers the lies behind his successful life. The story opens with a deeplu significant way. The reader later on talks about Ivans early years. First, Tolstoy presents the death of Ivan. He told his wife and closets friends, Pete Ivanovitch. They were really worry about Ivan’s life than any other could be. They also worry about their own affairs. They pretend that feelings of ehat they do not feel. Ivans life could be concern for him after

As we all know ring is the promise of marriage, the ring is here refers to the jail to her, although there was no change for her to accept her existence within feminine construct. Besides that, sometimes, She can't be herself. For the aspect of children, "In short, Mrs. Pontellier was not a mother-woman. "(Chopin 567) And Edna said, "I would give up the unessential; I would give my money, I would give life for my children; but I wouldn't give myself" (Chopin 598).

In addition, the feminist view of sexuality is evident throughout Rossetti’s poem. Laura and Lizzie’s magical experience portrays the pursuit for sensual awareness while struggling between physical identity and spiritual salvation. Furthermore, “She clipped a precious golden lock, she dropped a tear more rare than pearl, then sucked their fruit globes fair or red, sweeter than honey from the rock” (ll. 126-29) and “sucked until her lips were sore” (l. 136). With blatant sexual undertones, this pivotal moment signifies the character’s transition from maiden to woman or innocence to experience. Additionally, this exchange could be a metaphor for Laura’s relinquishment of her sacred virginity. As Laura falls sicker and slowly begins to deteriorate, Rossetti illustrates the consequences of succumbing to the temptation of men’s deceit and the importance of remaining pure. With use of vivid imagery, Rossetti further emphasizes the animalistic and uncanny

Leo Tolstoy was an author, anarchist, critic, pioneer, visionary, and a world changer. He wrote many great novels and various other literary works in his time, but that only scratches the surface of how and what he did to change the world. Leo Tolstoy changed the world by starting schools which allowed peasants to get an education, influencing leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., and changed the world through his writings.

In Anna Karenina, Lev Tolstoy describes multiple characters in depth and gives the readers the opportunity to create and change their opinions about most of them as the plot develops. The novel begins with a rather striking quote, taken from Romans 12:19: ‘’Vengeance is mine, I will repay’’ (Tolstoy XXV). This sentence’s meaning in it’s biblical context and full length, is that it is not up to people to punish others for their wrong-doings, but that God will eventually take revenge and repay them, for it is his right and duty to do so. Focusing on the meaning of this excerpt, I believe that it is connected to the outcomes of Anna and Vronsky’s affair, but also to that of the life of Dolly Oblonskaya and her husband, as well as other characters’. In this paper I will support my interpretation of the reasons why I believe that despite the fact that Anna Karenina appears to suffer the consequences of her love affair with Alexei Vronsky because she is a woman more than her brother Stepan Oblonsky, the faith that the author assigns to her with allusions since the beginning of the book, is connected to the fact that cheating is fundamentally wrong according to Tolstoy’s perspective, and that her punishment is a consequence of the above-mentioned quotation. To sustain my understanding of this theme I will make a comparison between Anna and some of the other main characters who are involved in a romantic relationship or, as in Dolly’s case, stuck in an unhappy marriage.