Summary Of Laustic By Marie De France

Marie de France, supposed author of the series of Lais, recounts her stories through short texts, which are centered on women and their place in the 12th century. There are several supernatural elements throughout her work, which are mainly and explicitly present in ‘Guigemar’ and ‘Yonec’. This can be defined as ‘events or things that cannot be explained by nature or science and that are assumed to come from beyond or to originate from otherworldly forces.’ It is not however the only narrative device she has used in her written pieces. It is with the combination of the supernatural with the self-propelled ship or the transformation of the hawk into a knight, and the natural, the symoblisation of the stick and the rossignol, that Marie de France explores human relations between her characters.

Viramontes uses symbols as a way of illustrating the oppression women feel to the narrator. The sun, the moths, and the bird of paradise are symbols to represent aspects of life to the

Blanche’s financial decline, illuminating her vulnerability, links to Aristotle’s theory that the tragic heroine must fall, allowing the audience to relate to her. Her insecurities – “I won’t be looked at in this merciless glare!” stereotypically reflects the insecurities women feel about their appearance and age. The uses of imperatives and exclamatory sentences suggests Blanche’s obsession over her appearance, a flaw leading her to dismiss her true identity. Her inability to avoid drink and her compulsive lies, demonstrated in her frequent references to Shep Huntleigh’s letters, makes her a more authentic woman than Stella, who is described by Williams as the “gentle, mild and contented one”. Blanche’s loss of identity, dominated by her homosexual husband’s suicide, exacerbates her solitude – “The boy-the boy died. (She sinks back down) I’m afraid I’m – going to be sick!” The fragmented, repetitive speech Blanche uses illustrates her guilt and pain, whilst the physical act of “sinking” highlights the extent of her regret, giving a sense of foreboding for her downfall. Her guilt is also exacerbated by the implied physical act at the end which shocks the contemporary audience, who would not sympathise with homosexuals, evoking pity and reinforcing that “Streetcar” is a tragedy for Blanche.

She said “I, I, I took the blows in my face and my body! All of those deaths! The long parade to the graveyard! Father, mother! Margaret, that dreadful way!” She fell apart even more as she saw all of her family around her pass away. She was face to face with death. They used flowers and ornamental caskets, but the funerals were the least of the problem. “Funerals are quiet, but deaths-not always. Sometimes their breathing is hoarse, and sometimes it rattles, and sometimes they even cry out to you, ‘Don’t let me go!’” This did not start her mental disorder, because it already existed, but it did not make it any better. Of course, all people must deal with the inevitable ending of life, but watching it all happen around you is different. She has to see people meet their fate and she sees that life is not a dream. The first death she had to deal with was her first loves and that is what starts her downward spiral. She came out of the dance to see where he had gone and heard people say “Allan! Allan! The Grey boy! He’d stuck the revolver into his mouth, and fired-so that the back of his head had been-blown away!” Ever since this traumatizing event she had a weakness for young men and hides under a façade of makeup, costume, and jewelry. If she is attracted to younger men she cannot attract them without looking younger herself. Blanche believes that

Blanche’s and Stella’s reliance on men and inability to support themselves are used to illustrate the subliminal pressure for women to follow society’s norms. Women without men are seen as weak, and those who break away from their rigid social classes are looked down upon. Since these social norms have been instilled into Blanche, she believes that she has to have a man fawn over her feet at all times. She realizes that she is aging and thus by engaging in sexual trysts with men, she thinks that she is still wanted and that she still has a place in society despite her current status. “After the death of Allan - intimacies with strangers was

One of the roles of this excerpt is to provide the background towards understanding Blanche, and the justifications for her mental state and actions. It is evident that in the past she belonged to a higher class where extravagance was common. But when her family in

The stepping stones in Edna’s awakening can be seen through symbols: birds, clothes, and even the ocean. The symbols of caged birds in The Awakening represent Edna’s entrapment as a wife and mother, along with all of the other Victorian women. When Leonce is sitting by the parrots reading his newspaper, the parrot spoke, “a language which nobody understood” (Chopin 5). Edna, just like the parrot, can not be understood. Edna can not communicate her feelings with others, her feelings being the “language” that nobody

In the short story called “Desiree’s Baby” written by Kate Chopin, the author used many different literary elements to describe and build up many characters. But two of the one that stands out the most was the foreshadowing and symbolism. These elements helped to build up Desiree Valmonde, one of the main character in the short story.

She is upset by the loss of the day even though her mother attempts to distract her with a garden of flowering violets, her father also attempts to comfort her. Finally, she returns to sleep after dinner. Her memory is a positive memory and the motif if the violets are used to link the past and present as it will help her get through her dark times. In the visual her memory is included, and he mother confronting her is one of the main images that she remembers from this. The image of her mother comforting her is a very important one, as it establishes the role and persona of a mother at the time and how women in that era were seen as to stay home look after children and the men went out and worked to support the

“Fleur” is a story written by Louise Erdrich. The author of the story provides very restrictive details about Fleur, the way she looks, stands, and play a poker game with three men who work with her. Fleur seems to be struggling with gender conflict and her culture. People in her culture seem to fear her because they think she is married to Misshepeshu and if anybody touched her he will take his/her life. The story has many important details that will help the reader understand what is going on in the story. Erdrich uses symbolism, imagery, and tries to show us and tell us what is happening by relating some points and hiding others the reason for that is because Erdrich wants the reader imagine the event of the story in the way they wand and to help them understand his point better. Also, the narrator uses some ambiguities for example, the narrator did not tell us why Fleur is viewed the way she is, but then later in the story we find that they view her that way because they wanted to rape her. As we continue reading the story we understand that Fleur was raped and sexually assaulted by the three men especially when Pauline starts describing the situation of Fleur after she was sexually assaulted.

The low moans of the clarinet and the blue piano all portray the image of what an animal would do. (Williams 129) Another form of imagery in the play is broken images. There is the broken mirror and Mitch tearing the lamp. There is also Blanche’s husband Hickey killing himself. There is also the loss of the baby which is a broken part of the story.

Blanches’ emotional state of mind is also conspicuous at the start of the play as she circumvents direct light, fearful of showing her fading looks and the light would make her vulnerable to the truth. Blanche is unable to withstand harsh light, calling the light a ‘merciless glare’(S1:pg.120*) because with Allan’s death, the light had gone out of her life and the effect this had is that she wanted dim lights hiding the reality of her painful memories. This links to the theme of dream and reality as Blanche, a delicate character, refused ‘to accept the reality of her life and attempts to live under illusion’ (*2), living on the borders of life similar to a moth which creates the image of Blanches’ fragility.

Although the Lais of Marie de France may seem to be ordinary tales of knights and chivalry, each explores the complicated issues surrounding love, loyalty, and gender. Marie uses four stories in particular to make statements on the relationships between men and women of that time.

Boom! The door flies open and a handsome knight runs into the room and yells, “Come my lady we must go now, for he is on his way”. The lady jumps to her feet and says “My love whom is on their way?” he responds, “your husband is on the way and he has heard of our romance”. The couple joins hands and quickly runs through the castle hoping that they are not seen. Suddenly the king jumps from a dark shadow, stops the couple in a sudden halt, and says, “Where do you think you are going?” With no response from the lady, the king reaches to his side and pulls a rope that releases a large bucket of acid onto the queen and her secret lover, which eats their bodies flesh within minutes only leaving the two skeletons holding each other’s hands. This

Marie de France lived in a time when social graces were paramount to a good reputation, lordships and to securing good marriages. A woman was considered less valuable if she lost her virginity; a wife was subjected to her feudal lord, father, brother or son after her husband’s death. According to Angela Sandison’s article “The Role of Women in the Middle Ages”, this was because in the Middle Ages the Church and the aristocracy controlled public opinion and the legal system. These authorities of the times believed a woman’s place was in a submissive role to a man. In The Lay of the Nightingale, we will see how this social and religious hierarchy will impact the behaviors of the three people involved.