During the Victorian England time period, society enforced very specific gender roles for males and females. While males were deemed as in the dominant and provider role, women were seen as compliant and submissive. Demanded to be followed, breaking out of these norms resulted in social isolation and other consequences. There were specific rules and scripts females needed to follow to be part of society and respected by their peers. Oscar Wilde sets out to challenge these norms in his play, The Importance of Being Earnest. The play follows two male characters that deceive their respective love interests to earn their hands in marriage. While there are certainly instances in Wilde’s play, where female characters conform to their gender roles, …show more content…
In the Victorian World women's education, opinions, or success didn’t matter at all. In the journal Feminist thinking on education in Victorian England by Laura Schwartz, she writes “In its most extreme manifestations, women’s intellects were seen as insightful and sensitive without the ability to make rational evidence-based judgements; physiologically, they were not equipped to deal with the rigours of university education which would threaten their capacity to bear children; and because women’s vocation in life was supposedly different from that of men, it was believed to be pointless and cruel to educate her beyond her sphere as wife and mother (674, Schwartz). The norm was that education was completely unimportant to a female and Wilde represents that stereotype in the character of Cecily Cardrew who studies completely random and useless subjects such as German literature, Geography, and Political Economy. There were societal expectations that women of higher class were to be educated, but that education was essentially worthless. Thus, women of a certain class were taught subjects without any application to the real world as done to Cecily as shown in Act 2, “Cecily. [Coming over very slowly.] But I don’t like German. It isn’t at all a becoming language. I know perfectly well that I look quite plain after my German
Jumping into a burning building is one of the things that the boys from the “Greaser Gang” would do for each other. When the main character, Ponyboy, jumps into a burning church to save children from the flames, his two gang members and family, Johnny and Dally, jump in after him to help get the children out and ensure that he can get out. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton shows two main themes. These themes show many examples of stereotyping could lead to misjudgment of people and to be loyal to the people around you, especially the ones close to you.
Diversity always flourishes when people do not stereotype each other, but do meaningful actions in life. In The Outsiders, by S.E Hinton, the author explores qualities of characters in society when challenged greatly and what happens when the general population stereotypes. The book starts out with conflicts between Greasers, who are in poverty, and Socs, who rich and spoiled. Both classes believe the stereotypes against one another, and the characters soon come to realize that not all of them are true, and that all people have their own problems. This all starts happening after Johnny, a suspicious and scared Greaser kills a Soc who was drowning Ponyboy, the main character and narrator of the story, in a fountain.
For as long as he could remember, 13 year old Isaiah Kahut had a dream: to play high school football. He dreamed of it since kindergarden, throwing a football with his dad. He dreamed of it in elementary, playing in his town’s youth flag football league. Now, finally, his dream was about to come true. It was the summer before ninth grade, and Isaiah was at football camp, preparing for his first season as a running back for Skyview High School in Vancouver, Washington. He wanted to get a college scholarship but on the second day of camp, he was running when he got tackled and his head smacked the turf.
Focusing on the lives of women, they were not allowed such freedoms like we have in modern times. Education is something that these women were not granted a lot of access to. This is pointed out in the very beginning of the novel. One of the characters mentions, “You cannot read, Anna.” (Brooks, 1). Women were expected to be housewives, they would not need that much education to do that. It seems, though, that women in the book were able to learn a lot through experiences. They had no need of a proper education to be able to survive day to day. Going off the information I have learned and the information presented in this book, I believe that the author was able to properly portray the life of women in the seventeenth century.
The troublesome kid in the back, maybe the most mischievous yet everyone sensed more than what came to surface. Nine times out of ten, these are the people we least expect. The Outsiders proves the two teen rivals, the beat-down and misunderstood Greasers and the picket fence Socs. S.E Hinton’s, The Outsiders, proves that the Greasers aren’t the only victims.
Be yourself, don’t be anyone else. In the outsiders by S.E Hinton, Johnny tells Ponyboy to “ Stay gold “. The novel explores the idea that it is important to be yourself through the boy's love of the poem nothing can stay gold and Johnny’s apparition of ponyboy he is and the gang's love for ponyboy. Robert Frost's poem “ nothing gold can stay “ is about enjoying things while you have them.
Dimmesdales’s sin of being a co-adulterer has a devastating affect on his mind, affecting him both physically and mentally. He was afraid of revealing his sin to the public, and lets Hester take all the blame. Some of the townspeople believed that Hester “has brought shame upon [the townspeople], and ought to die” (Hawthorne 49). She was disgraced and isolated from the rest of the townspeople, while Dimmesdale himself became more and more popular, as he kept on delivering more and more powerful sermons. Hester had to live a life of pain and misery, while Dimmesdale was not a part of that pain, the pain of having to suffer from being secluded by the townspeople. He also never tried to ease Hester’s struggles by helping her raise their child,
According to Ibsen’s statement, he states that moral laws are divided into two, one for women and the other for men. He’s claiming that the “moral laws” that society has implanted has double standards. Ibsen and Wilde present gender roles through morality, marriage, food delicacies, dance and wealth. These four factors affect how the characters in both plays are viewed by society. Both writers present the expectations society has for both genders. They highlight the obscurity, the society
In this essay I will be comparing Oscar Wilde's play 'A Woman of No Importance' to John Fowles' novel 'The French Lieutenant's Woman'. I will be exploring their differing views of woman in Victorian society. Generally, woman were viewed as inferior to men, yet Wilde shows compassion for them in his writing, this can be seen through his kindness to Mrs Arbuthnot towards the end of the play. However, John Fowles, although much darker in his presentation of woman, portrays Sarah Woodruff as
To get us started, how do the roles and identities of women in this play compare to that of the male figures?
A Doll’s House and The Importance of Being Earnest were both written in the late nineteenth century at a period in time when gender roles in society were not only significant to the structure of society but were restrictive and oppressive to individuals. This was particularly true in the case of women who were seen as the upholders of morals in polite society and were expected to behave accordingly. A Doll’s House and The Importance of Being Earnest challenge society and its inclination to categorise and expect certain behaviour of individuals based on their gender.
In Jane Austen’s day, there was no state-organised education system. There were church-run day schools in the best of cases for the lower class, but the genteel children of Austen’s novels were given lessons at home by their parents or by tutors, or they were boarders or in local schools to which girls were not admitted. Parents had the choice for their children’s education and upbringing, but the choice depended mainly on their financial resources. Women were not allowed to attend public schools and since they did not usually make a career (the exception being if they were obliged because of their financial situation to become a governess), parents (and society) saw no need for them to receive higher education. “Female education” referred to women receiving a practical (and religious) training for their future domestic roles. Domestic training would be sewing or needlework,
Stereotype; a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing. In the realistic fiction novel, The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton, and in the short story, “Geeks Bearing Gifts”, written by Ron Koertge, stereotypes are defied by ordinary people. In The Outsiders, Johnny Cade and Darry Curtis face many struggles throughout their lives. Their town in separated into two: the rich and dangerous Socs, and the quiet, tough Greasers. For them, living dangerously is a reality. As a result of their lifestyle, Johnny has become fearful and Darry is considered the toughest man in the gang. In “Geeks Bearing Gifts” aspiring journalist, Renee, interviews her fellow classmates who are classified as “outcasts.” After meeting several students, she realizes her assumptions were incorrect about them. After reading both of these stories, the reader learns that our thoughts about others often revolve around stereotypes and assumptions, but most of these ideas that we have about other people are proven wrong.
Living in the United States we enjoy many wonderful freedoms and liberties. Even though most of these freedoms seem innate to our lives, most have been earned though sacrifice and hard work. Out of all of our rights, freedom of speech is perhaps our most cherished, and one of the most controversial. Hate speech is one of the prices we all endure to ensure our speech stays free. But with hate speeches becoming increasingly common, many wonder if it is too great of a price to pay, or one that we should have to pay at all.
Wilde interchanged gender roles in the play by giving freedom for the men, Algernon and Jack,