Philadelphia Story Character Analysis
George Cukor’s star studded romantic comedy, The Philadelphia Story (1940), offers modern viewers a look at changing personalities in 1930s/40s American high society. The film stars Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn, and James Stewart in a clash of cultures centered around a wedding. Macaulay Connor (Stewart) is a reporter for tabloid like Spy Magazine, on assignment to write an exposé on the marriage of wealthy Tracy Lord (Katherine Hepburn) with the help of her ex-husband, C.K. Dexter Haven (Cary Grant). While all of the characters present go through a dramatic change of outlook, Connor’s is the most drastic. Macaulay Connor’s goal in life is to be respected for his writing. He works for Spy
…show more content…
When asked about her wedding, she comments, “We aren’t allowing any reporters in, except for little Mr. Grace who does the social news. Can you imagine a grown up man having to sink so low?”
A little later in the same meeting, Tracy asks if Connor and Elizabeth are dating and receives only uncomfortable spluttering from the couple. Tracy then insinuates that Connor should have married Elizabeth if he loves her, at which Connor jerks and becomes uncomfortable. This moment exposes Connor’s emotional distance, an issue that continues throughout the film. It appears that Connor is unaware of his emotional objectivity towards his girlfriend, Elizabeth, until the end of the film. When asked why she has not married him yet, Elizabeth responds, “he’s still got a lot to learn. I don’t want to get in his way for a while.”
While he is aware of his classism towards the wealthy, it is not until the end of the film that he recognizes that his prejudice towards the upper class is unfair. Connor is not aware of the extent to which he expresses his dislike of the upper class, in spite of being faced with examples that prove him wrong.
As the story progresses, Connor begins to realize that the wealthy are as dysfunctional as everyone else. They have personal dilemmas, trauma, and struggles. His view of Tracy, the epitome in his eyes of upper class snobbery, begins to change when he discovers her reading his book in the library. “Are you sure you’re
He tells her that Darcy convinced Bingley not to marry Jane because he did not approve. Lizzy blames Darcy for her sister's unhappiness. In contrast to Mr. Collins proposal Darcy declares his love for Elizabeth and she at first has no clue how to react. She proceeds to tell him he is the last person she would want to marry. When Elizabeth and Darcy meet again he gives her a letter. It is from him explaining how he feels terrible and explains who Wickham truly is. Lizzie realizes how she had overreacted and how prejudice she was toward
Daisy, on the other hand, seems at first as though she truly does love and care for her husband. While Tom keeps himself at a distance in both relationships, Daisy seems to possess an outright need for his company. This is supported by Jordan’s recollection of Daisy’s behavior towards Tom after marrying him: “If he left the room for a minute she’d look around uneasily and say: ‘Where’s Tome gone?’ and wear the most abstracted expression until she saw him coming in the door. She used to sit on the sand with his head in her lap by the hour, rubbing her fingers over his eyes and looking at him with unfathomable delight” (Fitzgerald, 76-77). That being said, there are in fact several signs that point toward Daisy not loving her husband at all. Perhaps the most notable is her behavior just before her and Tom’s wedding ceremony, when she is found “lying on her bed as lovely as the June night in her flowered dress – and as drunk as a monkey. She had a bottle of Sauterne in one hand and [Gatsby’s] letter in the other” (76). Daisy goes so far as to even momentarily call off the marriage altogether, ordering the bridesmaids to “tell ‘em all Daisy’s change’ her mine. Say: ‘Daisy’s change’ her mine!’” (76). Why, then, does she marry Tom after all and seem so in love with him afterwards? People usually seek out partners who will make them happy, protect them from that which they fear, etc. What does Daisy fear? She
In James Molony’s book, A Bridge to Wisemans Cove, it is clear that the character of Carl is an overweight, unsecure teenage boy lacking self-esteem. In the beginning of the book, Carl is unsure of his purpose in the world, and in not having many friends he is lonely and his social skill are poor. In the middle of the book Carl’s new friends in Wattle beach start to uncover and shape his personality he becomes a bit more confident and starts to notice the smaller things in life. At the end of he book Carl now understands what love is and who loves him, he feels privileged as he has learnt about the small things that a mother would teach him, things that are not taught in school. Therefore it is clear the character of Carl changes at a steady
Hall once said, “It’s not often you get female characters who don’t fit into a box.” She is implying that women are often portrayed as one dimensional. To be in this box that would require them to have no emotion and not create any conflict. However, in The Scarlet Pimpernel, Marguerite and the Comtesse are interesting characters because they are never put into that box.
Throughout history, pride and determination have motivated people to do amazing things. In The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson proves that pride and determination aided the creation of The World’s Columbian Exposition.
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson has two main characters, Daniel H. Burnham and H. H. Holmes. Burnham is the protagonist. He was an accomplished architect who was chosen to design the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago. ''It was easy to see how he got commissions. His very bearing and looks were half the battle. He had only to assert the most commonplace thing and it sounded important and convincing'' (Larson 26). This was how he was able to successfully build the fair of people's dreams. He was completely committed to building it. He lived on the grounds so he could always to make sure things were going smoothly. They hardly ever did, but he was able to push passed it and deliver. He then lived a happy life designing cities and being with
For this Case Study I chose fictional character Will Hunting from the award winning movie Good Will Hunting. Will Hunting was born in a poor region of south Boston, Massachusetts, an orphan, who lived with a very abusive alcoholic foster dad. As a kid, Will was subdued to frequent physical abuse by his foster dad, between getting beat with a wrench, and having cigarettes put out on him, Will dealt with a lot at a young age (James A. Frieden).
Unlike Tom, she actually plans to leave her husband and remarry. “’Daisy’s leaving you.’ ’ Nonsense.’ ‘I am, though,” she said with visible effort. (Fitzgerald, 133).’
The play Lost in Yonkers written by Neil Simon take action in the United States in 1942. In the Jewish family, Kurnitz becomes a tragedy. Died a wife and mother of two children, her name was Evelyn. She left the widowed spouse with a debt of $9,000 for her medical treatment. Eddie, her husband, quickly got a decent position of a Salesman, which allowed him for the year to eliminate this burden. But, his duties related to the continuous travels and he has somewhere to leave his sons, Jacob (Jay) and Arthur (Arty). The only possible place where to leave them for an almost a year will be his mother's house. She is a senior woman with a very heavy character with whom he had no contact for several years. The father took the boys in Yonkers, where
In Neil Simon’s comic drama Lost in Yonkers, Bella is a strange and childish character who has never felt love from her emotionless Mother. One page 102 Bella refers to Grandma as “steel,” while going on to say that the “steel” is “hard and it’s cold.” This quote clearly displays that Bella grew up without receiving any love from her mother. This lack of love is Bella’s motivation to chase after her dream of creating and loving her own family while also trying to get the feeling of love out of her Mother. The lack of love Bella received from Grandma throughout her life is the main reason why she became who she is and why she aspires to create her own, loving family.
3. The “upper classes lack of integrity” is one of the prominent themes throughout the novel. Sometimes Fitzgerald uses the word “careless” to sum up this important idea in the book. Nick refers to Jordan, Tom, and Daisy as careless in one form or another. Their actions are careless and they are careless people. This is due to the ease of their life. These people live the decadent life of the roaring twenties that many of the writers of this era were criticizing. The mindless, indulgent, irresponsible lifestyle where consequence is just an afterthought. Fitzgerald uses these characters to expose this life with their selfish actions.
This encounter is a key example of the egocentricity of all millionaires of the 1920’s who believed was a figurative escape pass. Secondly, in a deep study of manipulating power throughout Fitzgerald’s novel, it was noted that the rich allow themselves to spend carelessly in contrast to those who worked hard for every penny they earned. Veblen recounts the realities of the spendings of the wealthy and classifies them as nonessential and foolish: “...Both of these features denote the respectability of the millionaire and emphasize that he can allow himself to waste his money and time on idle amusements and unnecessary goods…”. In the novel, Tom and Daisy allowed themselves to waste in an extremely generous fashion, and spend copious amounts of money on grand items that nearly any individual who works extremely hard for their money would not even consider buying. This gives the characters a sense of obligation to overspend their money and reach beyond the needs of common individual. This ability to escape the normal problems such as debt and bankruptcy explains their shallow personalities and self-centered lives; this also creates a lack of sympathy for others because they believed everything and anyone can be bought off. To To summarize, in order to live a thrilling and joyous lifestyle, the wealthy class of the 1920’s lived recklessly without consequences, resulting in a self-centered personality and entitlement to rules.
Fitzgerald indicates that wealthy people are not always happy. At Tom and Daisy’s dinner party, Nick says that Daisy’s face “was sad and lovely” (13). The description of Daisy’s attitude and appearance shows the reader that her beauty intends to mask her despair. Many
Phillip doesn’t like being in English Class. His teacher is Margaret Narwin. She is trying to come up with new ideas for the class. He would rather be running in track, then being in her class. Allison has a bit of a crush on Phillip Malloy. (Pages 1-19)
Tom takes advantage of this situation and manipulates Daisy to completely depend on him. Daisy has spent her whole life being used to someone telling her what to do, and her relationship with Tom is no different. Even right after they got married, “If he left the room for a minute she’d look around uneasily and say: ‘‘Where’s Tom gone?’ and wear the most abstract expression until she saw him coming in the door” (77). Daisy relies solely on Tom and is “uneasy” without him around. Her dependence on Tom reflects not only his hyper masculinity, but how little he cares about Daisy. Despite this, he knows Daisy will never leave him, and pushes their marriage to the brink by having multiple affairs.