Robert Browning in his poem “Rabbi Ben Ezra” writes,
“Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be, The last of life, for which the first was made.” (1-3)
Lingering in a state of what people called old age, Elizabeth Hunter, the protagonist of The Eye of the Storm by Patrick White, gathers strength and resilience from her past to defeat the horrors of old age and death and discovers an entirely new meaning to her later life sitting in that luxurious bed at her residence in Moreton Drive. The egoistical matriarch, now physically powerless refuses to yield her strength to the temporality of life and the inevitability of death. Old age is not mere bodily decay and deformation for her, rather it’s a stage where she colors her present by swinging back and forth into the past.
Elizabeth is no ordinary woman, even at the age of eighty six, she manages to be the cynosure that she was in her youth. What can we say about a woman in her seventies who tries to woo the guy meant to court her daughter? It must be as shocking as an eighty year old grandpa going to remarry! Strong willed and unbending Elizabeth commands and rules the lives of people around her. To Elizabeth, death is something which is subject to her will. “But I shan’t die – or anyway, not till I feel like it. I don’t believe anybody dies who doesn’t want to” (White 63). Dwindling in a state where “who you are seems to be restricted to who you were; your identity seems to shrink to the story of your retrospection”
Elizabeth’s character was a mystery to most people at the time she inherited the throne. She had learned to keep her own council, control her emotions, and always behaved cautiously, thus being able to disprove all rumors about her. Always dignified and stately, she could be vain, willful, dictatorial, temperamental, and imperious. She had courage, both in her decisions, and in the face of danger. Possessing an innate of humanity, she was not normally cruel, unlike most rulers of her day. Most regarded her to be unusually tolerant in that age of religious conflict. She saw herself as one who was always honest and honorable, who
As an actor, playing the role of Elizabeth (younger), how do I interpret her character and explore the theme of sacrifice embodied by her character?
In this paper, I will argue that the Memory Theory of Personal Identity is the closest to the truth. I will do so by showing that the opposing theories – Body and Soul Theories – have evident flaws and that the
Our identities are key to our understanding of the world. Mental models through which information is processed are built off of life experience, taught ethics and morals, and upbringing. Identity is discussed in the following texts - The Politics of Exile by Elizabeth Dauphinee, “Unlearning the Myth of American Innocence” by Suzy Hansen, and “Letter to America” by Aida Hozic - through various themes of American culture. Dauphinee, in particular, examines the depth of personal identity and its ability to change. All three works consider the many components of personal identity and its formation as well as its undoing.
The protagonist fears, she may be forced to socialise with the inmates ‘smelling of pee’. Additionally expressing her feelings and obsession concerning hygiene. Unearthing Doris‘s neglected period of life, the saddest era of her being. In which recollections of Doris’s past history are triggered by present day objects such as; the wedding photograph of Doris and Wilfred represented to be a strong symbol, of the implication, in which Doris’s endless campaign against dust, has cause the glass to crack. Representing the destructive nature of Doris’s cleaning mania, and the separation of herself and Wilfred. Doris initial reminisces of the past, begin with thoughts like many of the elderly, of the golden days through coloured spectacles, in which the protagonist ruefully looks back upon the era where ‘people were clean and the streets were clean and it was all clean.’ The present for Doris lacks what she values and sees as important, and does not at all appreciate what the present has to offer – that is, a home- help; Zulema, and the prospect of care in an old people’s home. Doris perceives these interferences within her strictly controlled life as an adversary to challenge – if possible – demolish the remaining control the protagonist withholds within her life.
Interpretation of the quote: “…I was restrained, when I thought of the heroic and suffering Elizabeth, whom I tenderly loved, and whose existence was bound up in mine.” (62 )
“every generation , every man is a part of his past. He cannot escape it, but he may
Elizabeth’s strength, independence, and her intense willpower to assure that her marriage is coordinated only by love demonstrate the feminist portrayal of Elizabeth. Elizabeth’s desire for
In philosophy, the issue of personal identity concerns the conditions under which a person at one time is the same person at another time. An analysis of personal identity
False identity can become so inherent to a person’s character, they can begin to forget where it stops and their true self begins. In Tobias Wolff’s novel Old School, the narrator and the literary review the Troubadour both are hiding behind a persona that is placed onto them by themselves or others. An aspirational vision of the characters is the basis of their personas. Wanting to be more then they already are, the characters end up believing in the lies told to persuade others of their importance. Placing the personas on themselves is a way to divert people from the true nature of their identity, which might not live up to their expectations. The identities taken on by the narrator and the Troubadour convey that what they are and what they want to be are not yet the same.
The men of Reserve Police Battalion 101 were just ordinary men, from a variety of backgrounds, education, and age. It would appear that they were not selected by any force other than random chance. Their backgrounds and upbringing, however, did little to prepare these men for the horrors they were to witness and participate in.
"There are no extraordinary men... just extraordinary circumstances that ordinary men are faced to deal with" (William Halsey). The same can be said about volatile men. This is the quote Christopher R. Browning thought of when he named this book. The men of the 101st battalion were rarely faced with decisions. Even if it had been proposed by Trapp the morning of Jozefow that "any of the older men who did not feel up to the task that lay before them could step out" (Browning, chapter 7, pg. 57), he didn't actually allow them any time to truly think about it. He brought it up moments before they were about to go out to the slaughter. They were blind-sided and the men who didn't want to risk the future of their jobs as policemen or the men
As the tale begins we immediately can sympathize with the repressive plight of the protagonist. Her romantic imagination is obvious as she describes the "hereditary estate" (Gilman, Wallpaper 170) or the "haunted house" (170) as she would like it to be. She tells us of her husband, John, who "scoffs" (170) at her romantic sentiments and is "practical to the extreme" (170). However, in a time
Elizabeth is a victim in the play but more so than any of the other
A woman's happiness and success during this era is often dependant on the male or husband of the marriage. During this era, Chopin displays to us in both her short stories "The Storm" and "The Story of an Hour" of how reliant women are in their relationship and lives. Women during this era were heavily looked down upon. They were looked so down upon that even the women themselves would look down on themselves resulting in more reliant on the men for their success in life. The women during this time era would be so reliant on men they would do much for the men despite whether they had loved him or not. Chopin many times wrote her short stories with women in marriage with men just for the benefits of living and success rather than love; a “vignettte exploring female desires that cannot be fulfilled in marriage, a common theme for Chopin.” (Brantley 1). During the 19th century, both men and women weren't seen as equal at all. Another push to being reliant on men is government rules and policies of men being the more stronger party of the marriage, relationship, or family. Men were seen as the “better” sex so then women were more reliant. Women had to depend on men to supply them in order to live a healthy lifestyle. Kate Chopin displays this highly in her two short stories as the two women seem really reliant on their male counterpart. The two women shows signs of weakness while their male counterpart were away.