In the songs “Song to the Siren” by Tim Buckley and “Sirens Song” by Miss May I, the allusion to the Siren song and the Sirens has the effect of influencing the reader into feeling sympathetic for men manipulated by deadly women. This illustration is evident in the female character in these songs, which presents the femme fatale archetype by being alluring yet quite dangerous. In the song “Song to the Siren,” Tim Buckley writes “Now my foolish boat is leaning/ broken lovelorn on your rocks” (Buckley). This allusion relates to the outcome many sailors faced when moving past the alluring Sirens. The Siren song influenced sailors to abandon their ships and swim to the Siren’s island, where they were promptly devoured. Sirens caused the shipwrecks of many vessels in this …show more content…
By spending just a night with a femme fatale type woman, men can suffer extreme harm or even death. The sheer power a Siren has over sailors passing her island can make a reader feel sympathetic for these relatively powerless sailors. This power that women can have over men is illustrated in a strong manner with this allusion, and leads to a reader feeling sorry for these men. Furthermore, Tim Buckley, showing the indecision that could strike a man when confronted by a threatening woman, writes “I am puzzled as the newborn child/ I am troubled at the tide:/ Should I stand amid the breakers?/ Should I lie with death my bride?” (Buckley). The mental argument that a man has of whether or not to go the the woman who is calling him or to stay where he is can be likened to the decision the sailors had to make upon hearing the Siren. The allusion to the victims of the Sirens debating whether or not to jump off their ship and swim to the Sirens is similar to the situations that men in Buckley’s era would have to deal with when faced with the questions of whether to become intimate with a threatening women or
Commander Oram, from “Gentlemen, Your Verdict” by Michael Bruce and the father from “After the Sirens”, written by Hugh Hood both experience similar, yet distinct life or death situations and conduct themselves in a remarkably similar manner. Both characters have displayed both mutual and dissimilar traits that largely aided them in their respective situations. To begin with, in “Gentlemen, Your Verdict”, Commander Oram is faced to deal with a desperately low oxygen supply until a search and rescue team can be deployed to save his crew and himself. He has to make a severe decision to either wait and hope for rescue teams to make it in time, despite their approximation of six days while only having enough air for two, or sacrificing all but
Alvin Ailey’s Revelations and Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake are two different styles of dance from very different points in history. Revelations is a contemporary dance and Swan Lake is a classical dance. Each dance has certain points that have made it critically acclaimed. They both incorporate different styles of dance but they do share a few characteristics.
In her critical essay “Moby-Dick as Sexual Protest”, feminist Camille Paglia argues that Melville suppresses feminine attributes contending with masculine dominance. She states that Melville repeatedly “elevates the masculine principle above the feminine, driving back and limiting female power” (Paglia 697). Even though Moby Dick has a noticeable lack of women (Mrs. Hussey and Aunt Charity being the only named females), the value of femininity is not ignored, nor restricted. Rather than glorifying masculine principles, Melville’s hyper-masculine environment and characterization, in addition to his sexually connotative language, warns against the imbalance between masculinity and femininity.
Imagine two alpha males dominant and secure in the professional jungle, yet in their personal lives vulnerable and less dominant. Such are the stories of Dr. Landis in “My Sister’s Marriage” by Cynthia Marshall Rich and Blake in “The Five-Forty-Eight” by John Cheever. These two alpha males have similarities and differences, in the way they view women as the weaker vessels, the way people react to them and how both are changed forever by their own personal choices.
There is a universal ideology that suggests that each gender plays their specific, individualized roles in society: men acting as independent, powerful alpha males, and women being their dutiful submissives. Contemporary narratives depict women as such whereas mythology is rich with goddesses and other female figures who are brave and powerful warriors equal to men. So if mythology can be overflowed with stories about female leaders, how come contemporary narratives have derived from that viewpoint? Sirens in Greek Mythology are a perfect example of the derivation to the new idea of women in society: weak. By examining the myth of Sirens through a feminist critical lens, the question of whether society is “concerned with the ways in which literature and other cultural productions reinforce or undermine the economic, political, social, and psychological oppression”(Brizee Web) will be answered. The mythological legend of the Sirens highlights the superiority of these figures who could destroy by temptation through their melodic voices; modern interpretations of sirens- as in Disney’s The Little Mermaid (1989)- reduce the feminine power of the siren to a contemporary stereotype of the powerless, dependent, subservient woman.
The films The Prestige directed by Christopher Nolan and the Black swan directed by Darren Aronofsky have a thematic connection with the themes of rivalry and obsession. The Prestige follows two rival magicians, Alfred Borden and Robert Angier on their quest to create the worlds greatest magic trick. The Black Swan is a psychological thriller that portrays a ballet production where the renowned Swan Lake is performed. Nina the protagonist has to perform dually as the innocent white swan and the sensuous black swan. In order to portray the two characters Nina grapples with her sanity.
Feminist American author, Kate Chopin, is known for her stories with strong and daring female lead stories. Her common themes display women, femininity, marriage, liberation, oppression, and perseverance. The Louisiana based novelist famous works started the feminist movement. Chopin’s stories The Story of an Hour and The Storm have many similarities and differences as do the majority of her work. The main characters, Calixta and Mrs. Mallard, both portray an odd attitude towards marriage.
“A Jury of Her Peers” is a short story written by Susan Glaspell in 1917 illustrates early feminist literature. The two female characters, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, is able to solve the mystery of who the murderer of John Wright while their male counterparts could not. This short story had been adapted from Glaspell’s one-act play Trifles written the previous year. The play consists of the same characters and plotline as the story. In both works, Glaspell depicts how the men, Sheriff Peters and Mr. Hale, disregard the most important area in the house, the kitchen, when it comes to their investigation. In the end, the women are the ones who find clues that lead to the conclusion of Minnie Wright, John Wright’s wife, is the one who murdered him. Both of Glaspell’s female characters illustrate the ability to step into a male dominated profession by taking on the role of detective. According to Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide, written by Lois Tyson, a reader-response critique “focuses on readers’ response to literary texts” and it’s a diverse area (169). Through a reader-response criticism from a feminist lens, we are able to analyze how “A Jury of Her Peers” and Trifles depict how a patriarchal society oppresses women in the early twentieth century, gender stereotypes confined both men and women and the emergence of the New Woman is illustrated.
Ernest Hemingway has been greatly criticized for a supposed hatred of women that some feel is evident in his writings. One of the primary books that critics believe shows this misogynistic attitude is A Farewell To Arms. It is counterproductive to interpret the book using such a narrow focus because the author is dealing with much more profound themes. Hemingway is not concerned with the theme of gender equality, but rather with the greater themes of the inherent struggle of life and the inevitability of death.
This shows that these male sailors are placing more value on a song than on their own lives. Likewise, Her Kind by Anne Sexton also utilises a psychological tone because it is discussing the different roles that a woman can play in society. The psychological tone of Siren Song leads the reader to understand that while the sirens, who are female figures in greek mythology, have the power to lure men to their deaths, they are still trapped. “Will you get me / out of this bird suit?/ I don't enjoy it here/ squatting on this island.”(11-14). These lines show that the sirens need the sailors to free them from the island that they are trapped on. However, because the men die when they try to get to the island, “Because anyone who has heard it / is dead, and the others can’t remember.” (8-9), this demonstrates that even if women ask for help in escaping the gender roles placed on them by society escape is impossible. In Her Kind the psychological tone serves to
In their very nature, we can see that these two novels vary greatly in purpose, structure, and the way that they convey their messages. Although this is true, they make up for this when we examine the motives of the authors and certain ways that the authors convey messages. Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner grew up and developed their opinions in far different ways. Hemingway was heavily affected by his experiences in World War I and the Spanish Civil War. These events greatly influenced Hemingway’s ideas about war in For Whom the Bell Tolls (5). Conversely, Faulkner grew up in the deep south of Mississippi, and his life in the south heavily influenced his writing of As I Lay Dying (4). The two authors and their stories may vary, but these
In The Little Mermaid, Ariel is introduced and faces conflict with an antagonist named Ursula. In Hercules, Megara also faces an antagonist named Hades, Lord of the Underworld. While both are facing Ursula and Hades for love the stories are not the same. The Little Mermaid and Hercules have conflicts with an antagonist giving up one detail for a consequence, although this is similar the two princesses are very different in personality, background, and in their punishment Megara and Ariel are both beautiful princesses the way they present themselves are very different.
In The Song of Roland, Roland interacts with different people just like someone would today. Throughout the poem, Roland speaks and interacts with many people, such as his stepfather, king, and comrade. When he speaks to these three main people, the reader can see many differences but similarities too. For example, when talking to his friend, they get into a quarrel, just like someone and their friend would today. In The Song of Roland, Roland interacts with Ganelon, Olivier, and Charles in many ways, both similar and different.
The story and the song used in this comparison are “The Old Man and the Sea” by Ernest Hemingway and “Stronger” by Kelly Clarkson. Both of them deal with hope and strong urge of motivation. However, they deal with it in a distinctive yet a very similar way. This essay will convey the main settings, plots, and themes differences between the two pieces.
In the novel A Farewell to Arms Hemingway expresses his set idea of gender roles in society through his writing. He often wrote about male protagonist who often enough displayed the typical traits of a “Code Hero”, while the female characters, like Catherine, submissive and dependent often enough o the “Hero” in one way or another. The women viewed in his books gives way to what Hemingway really feels; that women were weak and uninteresting characters. This often enough said describes the exact nature of Catherine in her role in A Farewell To Arms.