Exploration of How Males are Presented in Victorian Short Stories

Unlike normal gothic novels, there is not much comparison between femininity and masculinity in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. All the main characters are male, and Stevenson presents masculinity of different types in the Victorian era vividly. Conventional Victorian gentlemen refer to those who are rich, moral and dignified. They have the belief that reputation is the most important things, and they claim that respectability can only be obtained by obeying to the social rules. However, this essay will argue that there are some unacceptable ideas of masculinity portrayed as monstrous in the novel.

There are three women shown on the cards, Lizzie Borden, Amy Fisher and the film’s fictional ‘Black Widow’, each of whom committed a violent crime at odds with ‘the public perception of physical violence [as] a masculine form of aggression’. That for the two boys these women’s value lies in their violent acts is also transgressive of expectations for girls to fulfil role of care and

In the sardonic play,” The Importance of being Earnest”, the author, Oscar Wilde, criticizes the Victorian era. Wilde touches on key subjects like social status, marriage, and utilizes various symbolisms, in a comedic way to mock the Victorian era’s detrimental culture. Wilde uses contrasting characters to convey a symbolism of the Victorian era in a satirical way. In doing this, he uses different characters to prove his point in mocking Victorian culture. These characters are used represent all that is worth criticizing in Victorian society.

Charles Dickens offers two different perceptions and perspectives in time to guide the reader through Bleak House. The manner in which the author presents the story characterize Dickens’s peculiar technique. First, there is an alternation in the point of view throughout the novel and second, there is a parallel change between present tense and past tense. His choice of dual narrator may seem a questionable approach or even confusing at times, but the two narrators work together to deliver the story. Although each one tells a somewhat detailed and exhaustive tale, they depend on the other to introduce characters and describe events, filling in the blanks that the other leaves.

In 1868, British author Wilkie Collins wrote what is now famously known as one of the first full-length detective stories, The Moonstone. Within this text, he explores and transcends his writing style, as he created an atmosphere full of suspense and gothic tradition by making use of two genres famous in the Victorian Era (Ayton, 2). As Collins managed to challenge the roles of men and women within The Moonstone, he ultimately attempts to reverse genders by creating a story of conflict, where the women are essentially in charge. As many gender stereotypes are expressed within The Moonstone through the different narrators of the novel, almost all of them become discredited as we are introduced to the other characters. By making use of the characters like Betteredge, Lady Verinder, and finally Rachel Verinder, Collins’ novel proves to break society’s barrier of expected roles for men and women within the Victorian Era.

The late 19th century produced a myriad of successful authors, poets and play-writes that often incorporated the local customs, traditions and expectations of the time (and perhaps their own experiences) into their work. A fact of the times, even into early 20th century, is that women were not equal to men and the expectations of women were not equal as well. This point will be illustrated by comparative analysis of two separate forms of literature: Tristan Bernard’s humorous play I’m Going! A Comedy in One Act, and Kate Chopin’s short story “The

The two insightful depictions of Austen’s Pride and Prejudice critique the social hierarchy of regency England through different conveyances of narration in the books and expression in the adaption. Both of the texts rely heavily on humorous undertones to portray a disapproval of the way that the upper class is glorified. Jane Austen’s original version uses the satirical tone of the narrator to highlight the incredulity of Mr Collins, evoking a wry humour in the reader at how often he does “anything of which his wife might be reasonably ashamed”. The satire with which Jane Austen writes is accompanied with a specific hyperbole in association with Mr Collins’ views of wealth which the “kingdom could not boast” to compare to, further conveying

Charles Dickens’ semi-autobiographical style novel, Great Expectations, has a consistent theme of crime and punishment. The novel takes place in nineteenth-century Europe, a time called the Victorian Era. Dickens’ novel accurately portrays most aspects of crime and punishment during this time. Dickens depiction of the conviction system in the Victorian era is identical. His novel portrays the inconsistencies of conviction because of gender, social-class, and appearance. These inconsistencies which are displayed through his characters such as Molly, Magwitch and Compeyson. With these three characters, he precisely illustrates the conviction system of the Victorian Era. Not only does he portray conviction accurately, but he perfectly describes

To begin with, the power in the relationships in the novel lean towards the women. This isn’t inherently bad, but considering a few aspects, such as how Dicken’s depiction of the female characters and that he wrote the novel in the Victorian era, this portrayal of women is misogynistic. For example, Mrs.

In her novel Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen creates pompous, silly characters, who are often ridiculed mercilessly; however, her emphasis on their flaws does more than make readers laugh. Austen utilizes these characters to satirize the societal norms of Regency Era England. She uses Lady Catherine, a haughty noblewoman, to highlight the aristocracy’s condescension and disdain towards those lower in the hierarchy. William Collins, a submissive and wrongfully egotistic clergyman, represents Austen’s society’s primary concern of advancing in rank through social connections. Lydia Bennet conveys the foolishness of young women whose unrestrained flirtatious behavior leads to frivolity and tactlessness. Austen’s satirization of her characters’ lack of decorum reveal how deeply her society’s motivations and actions were negatively influenced by wealth, social stature, and hedonism.

Charles Dickens, “Great Expectations” follows a boy named Pip through a journey of meeting new people around the town and also is considered an Orphan. There are a lot of characters that are introduced like Miss Havisham who always wears a wedding who shows up a lot in the book. Pip changes a lot through the novel with wanting to be a gentlemen but has made a lot of mistakes and blames it on his sister Mrs. Joe who raised him by hand. The women seem to be different from the men in this novel with different roles they play so I’m going to show they are different.

In the Victorian era, women were expected to fulfill specific gender roles. Women possessed feminine qualities such as being nurturing, pure and docile, while men were expected to be bold and independent.

In this paper, the author will examine differences and similarities between two fantastic novels, which are Billy Elliot and Jane Eyre. This comparison will be analyzed through a sociolinguistic context regarding some aspects and effects of the use of English language on society, such as gender and socioeconomic status. It will be also included social criticisms, especially male chauvinism, to explore the relationships between the characters of the stories and the society at those periods of time.

Correspondingly, Wilde utilises Aestheticism to characterise Lady Gertrude Chiltern dissimilar to Lord Goring and Mrs Cheveley and as “a touchstone of moral stability” (Bose, 1999) to indicate her restraints towards the model upper-class standards. Hence, Wilde undermines the Victorian English notions, particularly of marriage, as exaggeratingly hypocritical and non-naturalistic (Hornychová, 2010) as it led to Lady Chiltern’s disillusion and disappointment from her morally rigid admiration towards her husband’s façade. Consequently, Wildes creates dramatic irony into Lady Chiltern’s dialogue and develops her distaste towards Mrs Cheveley.

Explore some of the ways in which Dickens’ attitudes to Victorian society are presented in the opening chapter of Great Expectations.