The And Borrowing Of Georges Bizet's Carmen

In this essay, female oppression in La Casa de Bernarda Alba will be discussed and analyzed. However, in order to be able to understand the importance of this theme and the impact it has had on the play, one must first understand the role of female oppression in the Spanish society in the 1930s.

As Antonio is forced to develop into a more independent and well-informed young man, he must come to terms with the harsh realities in the outside world from which he was shielded during his early childhood. He encounters the truth behind what happens at Rosie’s—while he has always been told that Rosie is “evil, not evil like a witch, but evil in other ways” (34), he does not learn of the nature of that “evil”—and that his brother is partaking in it (165); Antonio even begins to have dreams that are far more “intense” than any he has previously experienced (70). Antonio must also confront the reality of the hardships of loss, as the people around him with whom he is acquainted—and even those he loves—die at the hands of others. This is particularly important in Antonio’s exploration of religion, as he begins to question why an all-powerful God would allow his loved ones to die, and why such a deity would not sentence those who killed them to hell (186). Antonio’s loss of innocence is finally and forcefully demonstrated at the end of the novel, when he speaks to his mother “as a man,” commanding her to take the younger (and still “innocent”) children inside (269). This is doubly important, as it demonstrates not only that Antonio has lost enough of his innocence to be speaking “as a man,” but also that he recognizes innocence in others and strives to protect them from what he has

Georges Bizet (1838-1875) composed the opera Carmen, it opened on March 3, 1875 at the Opera Comique in Paris. It was not a success, initially. Then again, Carmen would soon become the most popular opera of all time. The entire work however, was disapproved of for its harsh libretto, and the music was criticized. The reception of Carmen left Bizet acutely depressed and on June 3, 1875 he suffered from two heart attacks and died.

    In William Shakespeare’s tragic drama Othello, the wife of the protagonist, Desdemona, is the main female character. Secondly, there is the ancient’s wife, Emilia, who is morally ambivalent. Thirdly, there is the girlfriend of Michael Cassio, Bianca, who makes her appearance later in the drama. This essay will analyze the roles of these three women.

While Minerva’s friends Sinita who tells her about Trujillo murdering the men in her family, “Trujillo’s secret” (ITTOB 51) and the Lina Lovaton incident are what awaken Minerva to Trujillo’s morally corrupt nature, it is her brief flirtation with Virgilo “Lío” Morales, a radical Professor from the University, which is deciding factor that sets into motion Minerva’s political activities. Lio makes Minerva realise that she wants both love and revolution, a combination that she finds in her husband Manolo who, according to Silvio Siras in The Critical Companion to Julia Alvarez, is the “Domincan equivalent to Fidel Castro” (Sirias 56). Manolo and Minerva’s comrade Leandro became Mate’s husband as well as the latter’s reason for becoming a revolutionary. Patria and her husband Pedrito also join in the underground movement and their house becomes its headquarters. The boundaries between the private and the political blur as not just sisterhood but even marriage become politically charged.

Innovative the time, Berlioz devised a program to be given out to audience members at the performances stating it is “indispensable for a complete understanding of the dramatic outline of the work.” Berlioz’s outlines the story in the preface of the program for his Symphonie Fantastique (1830):

To read Babio without recognizing the gender politics at work in the play would disregard much of how the play itself creates meaning. So much of the play’s plot and character dynamics are related to the way gender functions in this play. One major theme of Babio is the idea of masculinity and how masculinity is defined. Through the portrayal of Babio as an effeminate character, Babio is able to define masculinity through absences in Babio’s Character. Consequently, Babio makes the additional point that lovesickness is not an intrinsic aspect of medieval masculinity, despite the fact that love sickness is often attributed to men.

There is one person in the play able to overcome this divorce of intimacy between the sexes: Cassio. However, his two relationships in the play--his entreatment of Desdemona for help to regain Othello's favor and his lusty, physical intimacy with Bianca--contrast two wildly different views of women. On the one hand is his

The tragedy of Othello is one of the great literary works from the late playwright William Shakespeare. The play, written in 1603 during Shakespeare’s tragic period, consists of five acts. The backdrop of the tragedy centers around the cities of Venice and Cyprus when the Venetians are at war with the Turks. The play follows the story of the Moorish general Othello (who is black) and his scandalous marriage to a white Venetian woman, Desdemona. Othello’s ensign, Iago, cleverly deceives Othello that his wife is cheating on him, intending to break the Moor’s marriage apart. Sadly, Iago successfully persuades Othello that Desdemona is committing adultery with his lieutenant, resulting in the tragic event of many deaths at the end of the play. In the tragedy of Othello, Shakespeare uses conversation between Desdemona’s character and her husband in order to highlight innate misogynistic behavior in Othello’s personality.

In the story culture plays a key role in shaping the lives of all the characters. The culture of the novel seems similar to present day, western world culture where women use there looks and sensual movements to attract and be adored by men. On the flip side the men show off there masculinity and use sweet words in an attempt to charm woman. The characters Olimpico and Gloria, Macabea’s co-worker, fit this description as a couple, causing it be ever more apparent that Macabea falls short of society‘s definition of femininity. Internally she wants Olimpico to like her, she wants to

When I first received the books for this class I have to admit I was not too thrilled about reading several stories pertaining to the same man. I did not understand the impact behind reading a story written by numerous authors when we could just read one and move on to a new legend. Yet, when I first read Tirso de Molina the Don Juan legend begin to grow on me. I was intrigued by the aspects of love/honor, money, and power which happens to be relevant to today’s society. Throughout this course I learned the difference between a drama, novella and a libretto. Being able to read many dramas pertaining to Don Juan as a seducer was an enhancing experience. It was captivating to read my very first Don Juan legend and then watch his legend slowly

To facilitate musical form Carmen the novel was changed to incorporate a new story line. Carmen, the opera, incorporates Don Jose as the main character. Here he is represented as a soldier, a well-respected position in society, as opposed to a barbaric savage. As he is outside his post, Micaela, who has willingly followed the request of

Gerardo comes home to a nervous Paulina; he was given a lift home by Dr Roberto Miranda

Othello is a play taken place in Venice, Italy in the early 16th century and is very closely related to our world today. The play is pretty much a love story that takes a lot of weird and crazy turns. The play is about a guy named Othello and how he falls in love with this girl Desdemona. Iago and Rodrigo go and tell Brabanzio that his daughter is missing and then Brabanzio sends out men to find Othello and blame everything on him saying that he took Desdemona and forced her into marriage. All of this unfolds, and the play goes on and everyone starts to not trust anyone, and jealousy start to come out of people.

It is clear that the novel is the inspiration, but has been changed a little for the bel canto style and for entertainment. The opera is able to transform the characters into something a little more pleasing to the audience. One writer finds that Scott’s Lucy seems inarticulate and frightening, whereas Lucia seems detached from reality but able to express sentiments in a gracious and highly stylized way.14