Memoirs of Princess Dashkova

The speaker is Baron de Breteuil, a French diplomat from Moscow. The speaker is credible because even though he acknowledges how certain aspects of her reign will flourish and how her passion proves useful in Russian society, he does mention negative vices that will inflict havoc upon her sovereignty and ultimately lead to internal faults in her empire.

First and foremost, women of Chopin’s time, like Edna, are confronted with the bonds of matrimony. In 1899, when the book was written, society deemed the husband as the full proprietor of the house and of all possessions, to the point where even the wife was considered an asset. Likewise, while sitting in the hot sun at the beach, Leonce, Edna’s husband, remarks that Edna is “burnt beyond recognition,” and views his “wife as one looks at a valuable piece of

amazing tales of a Russian girl, who was born with the wealth and privileges, exposed

Catherine the Great, also known as Catherine II, ruled Russia from 1762 to 1796. She ruled for 34 years which was the longest a female ever ruled Russia. Although Catherine the Great is known for putting personal affairs ahead of Russian affairs, she did accomplish a lot during her reign. She brought Western thought processes to Russia which would affect Russia for centuries. She also brought great works of print, art, and literature from the west into Russia. Born in Germany in 1729, she was an eager student of the Enlightenment. She studied and memorized Enlightenment thoughts, concepts, and ideas. Along with Enlightenment thought, Catherine focused on foreign affairs, arts, education, and the expansion of Russian territory. She ruled through reforms, scandal, and corruption. She seemed to want the best for her Russian people. However, while she talked about change, she did not always act on her words. She accomplished a lot but could have accomplished more. Catherine could have made the biggest impact, in Russia, if she abolished serfdom and provided a better quality of life for peasants and the serfs. They were the majority of her population. She was torn between Enlightenment thinking and a love for power. I believe an Enlighted ruler would have wanted the best for all classes of people. If Catherine was truly a great leader, she would have

“Days of a Russian Noblewoman” is a translated memoir originally written by a Russian noblewoman named Anna Labzina. Anna’s memoir gives a unique perspective of the private life and gender roles of noble families in Russia. Anna sees the male and female gender as similar in nature, but not in morality and religiosity. She sees men as fundamentally different in morality and religiosity because of their capability to be freely dogmatic, outspoken, and libertine. Anna implies throughout her memoir that woman in this society have the capacity to shape and control their lives through exuding a modest, submissive, and virtuous behavior in times of torment. Through her marriage, Labzina discovers that her society is highly male centered.

Her telling and actions suggest that she took a more direct or ground level approach to helping women and workers. One such example is the actions she takes with some of her inheritance. She used it to help people “In one of the houses he left me, I organized free courses for women seeking higher education.”# Here she not only describes to be working with the people she is trying to help but has literally opened one of her homes to them. Working next to the people Kovalskaia had wished to help through revolution would have given her a better understanding of

Catherine the Great is recognised world-wide as one of the most prominent and successful historical rulers of Russia. Catherine ll, Empress of Russia, is remembered in the majority, as an incredible leader of her time; with full entitlement of the title “The Great”. The term or title of “The Great” was given to rulers of the past by themselves or their countrymen, due to significant achievements or victories during their time of reign. The term Great has multiple meanings but in regards to leadership it means eminent, distinguished, a great leader to an extreme or notable degree . Catherine the Great’s reign saw her as one of the longest serving leaders, extending from 1762 to1796. With the title of Russian Empress, Catherine ll

Catherine the Great ruled Russia with an iron fist, she knew the secrets of how to gain the love of her people and how to please the nobles of her land. Catherine was able to get away treason and murder and still keep her crown. She learned the delicate art of deception at a very young age. Catherine II, or Catherine the Great as she is more often called, was born on May 2, 1729 in Stettin, Prussia, she became the Russian empress in 1762. Catherine obtained the throne by conspiring a plan to overthrow her husband King Peter III. Under her reign, she organized

Empress Anna Ioannovna ruled from the early to nearly-mid 1700s, she was known to be rather fat, ugly, and have an unlikable personality. She was very crude but largely due to her childhood and even her life during adulthood. Her mother had a distaste towards her, “It seemed that the mere appearance of her awkward, unattractive daughter spoiled Praskovia’s mood” (Anisimov 65). In regards to Peter the Great, she was his neice, and his mentally-ill brothers’ daughter. One of the very first major things that Peter did towards Anna was make her along with her mother and sisters move to St. Petersburg – a very dreary, cold place that paled in comparison to Moscow where she originally lived. Living in St. Petersburg she was very unhappy and being that Anna was very ugly and her personality not being the greatest, finding someone to marry her off to was difficult and she was therefore much more unhappy.

Catherine the Great, whose birth name was Sophie von Anhalt-Zerbst but was given the name Ekaterina after marriage which translates to Catherine, had medium brown eyes and long, light brown hair that started to gray and whiten as she got older. With her rosy cheeks, kind demeanor, and plumpness she was found to be a very attractive woman, which was later proven by her many lovers. As she was born into royalty (her father was a poor Prussian prince) she was accustomed to a lavish lifestyle. This being said, she liked to wear beautiful dresses and expensive jewelry but her outfits were always put together tastefully.

Alexandra Fedorvna was the last empress of the Romanov dynasty. She was notorious not only for the connection with Gregory Efimovich Rasputin, who tried to intervene the nomination of ministers in his own interests by influencing her Majesty. But also she was criticized for stubbornly persistent in helping her husband, Nicholas II to retain a divine right of ruling the Russian empire and refuse to respond to the social demand for constitutional rule, which finally demised the dynasty.

In Part II: The Private Investigator of The Longman Anthology of Detective Fiction it says, “The original world of the hard-boiled detective was clearly a male one, where women were suspect and dangerous.” (as cited in Mansfield-Kelley and Marchino, 2005, p.207). In the cases of Double Indemnity, directed by Billy Wilder, and The Gutting of Couffignal, wrote by Dashiell Hammett, this is exactly the case. Both are, in the case of Double Indemnity based off of, hard-boiled detective stories in which the women are cunning, manipulative, and dangerous. The women are strategically oriented, have little regard to others, and are selfish.

First being shown when Vronsky sees Kitty as a “prize” and as an object to obtain, “Marriage had never presented itself as a possibility to [Vronsky]. He only did not like family life, but pictured the family, and especially a husband, according to the general view of the bachelor world in which he lived, as something alien, hostile and, above all ridiculous” (57). After showing an abundance of attention toward Kitty, he makes it very clear that he has no intention of marrying her, and views it as “alien”-like in his bachelor world. Contradicting the expectation of Kitty to be married off at 18 years old. Similiar in the sense of sexism, after Stiva perputrates his affair, no one is even phased by the fact, everyone almost expected this action, “Although Stepan Arkadyich was roundly guilty before his wife and felt it himself, almost everyone in the house, even the nanny, Darya Alexandrovna’s chief friend, was on his side” (5) Following, is the reaction of Stiva to his own affair, “‘No, she hates me. She won’t forgive me. This is terrible, terrible!” (12). Stiva does not feel any remorse toward the fact he cheated on his wife, and the mother of his children, he only is upset that she will not forgive him. Not only this but the reaction of others, who are not even phased by the fact that Stiva had, and will continuously cheat on his wife, which directly contradicts the opinions of others on Anna’s affair.

A brief analysis of the women in Fathers and Children reveals the text to be rampant with traditional gender roles and stereotypes. None of the men do any “woman’s work”--raising the children, cooking, or housework. They manage estates and believe that women should do as they are told. The women are told to be dutiful housewives. Nikolai Petrovich’s son was fathered by his female servant, Fenechka. She isn’t very complex and her motives can be summarized in one fell swoop: she is loyal to Nikolai. That loyalty comes into question when she gets into an innocent entanglement with Bazarov, but later proven when she declares, “If I didn’t love Nikolai Petrovich there’d be nothing left for me to live for!” (pg 130). She isn’t faced with a conflict or a crisis that has forced her to change, therefore, she is a static character. She has a sense of self-confidence, but when others are present she is embarrassed by her role as Nikolai’s lover. It is clear that she would like to make their relationship public. Because of her odd relationship with Nikolai, she is often pushed to the background, yet she influences the actions of men: she is essentially the reason Pavel and Bazarov duel. She is subservient to Nikolai for most of the book, until he marries and liberates her. Fenechka spends most of her time raising Mitya. Nikolai is still a part of Mitya’s life, but his first duty is to attend to his estate. Her servanthood prevents her from having relationships with other women. Arina

embarrassment to the family name. Akhmatova seems to have a struggle though. She complains that her and her husband, Nikolay, cannot have a normal life due to their careers, and she longs for a normal family life. This is something that is commonly seen today, where working mothers must struggle between making money and having a career and devoting time to their families. Nikolay blames Akhmatova’s career on their abnormal family life, and she complains that he does not give her enough affection. He openly admits that he cheats on her and claims that his affairs are part of her muse. Later, it is also revealed that she has written a poem praising Stalin in order to save her career. She has conflict in both her personal life and her art. She appears to be somewhat unreliable and unsure of what she wants. She cannot decide if she wants a family or a writing career, and she gives up her independence as a writer to please Stalin. Stalin eve apparently refers to her as his “whorish nun,” clearly showing no respect for her as a person or an artist. Akhmatova is placed in many unfair circumstances, but it is hard to admire her when she changes positions and complains about choices she has made.