The Lady's Dressing Room Essay

Perfect: adj. \ˈpər-fikt\ 1. Entirely without any flaws, defects, or shortcomings, is the first definition you find on dictionary.com for the word (perfect). Is this actually possible to attain? Has anyone actually ever been perfect? Or is it all in the eye of the beholder? These questions are asked by almost every girl, as we dream to one day reach the unattainable. This is especially true at the tender age of fifteen, where nothing seems to be going right with our bodies and everything is changing in us. This poem stresses the fact that as everyone realizes how unrealistic this dream is, the knowledge makes no difference to the wish. Marisa de los Santos comments on this in her poem “Perfect Dress”. The use of verbose imagery,

However, a different feminist perspective may instead suggest that these stereotypical gender qualities are used to expose the flaws in our expectations of men and women, hence ridiculing Clifford and other male characters. This mockery may be shown in the language used by Lawrence, as Lady Chatterley must remain silent 'not to interfere with the immensely important speculations of these highly mental gentleman', though our female protagonist is clearly as intelligent as these males due to her younger years spent travelling and debating with other intellectuals. Thus, perhaps Lawrence uses stereotypical assumptions of men to exemplify how imprisoned our protagonist becomes because of this, highlighting the ridiculous nature of gender expectations particularly for women.

of a girl who was misunderstood. Throughout her childhood and young adulthood, Daphne struggled with identifying with her feelings. Daphne was constantly searching for an answer to why she felt different. Daphne wanted to “fit in” but she knew she was unconventional. The different labels she was given through out her psychiatric stay stuck with her and left a scar of how she was once perceived.

On the second voyage, Swift turns the tables on Gulliver and places him among a race of giant people, the Brobdingnagians, where Gulliver is viewed as the inferior.  Due to his miniature size, Gulliver is able to examine the human body in a much more detailed manner.  Upon witnessing the undressing of the Maids of Honor, Gulliver expresses his aversion to their naked bodies.  They were, "very far from being a tempting sight", and gave him, "any other emotions than those of horror and disgust", because of the acuteness to which he was able to observe their, "course and uneven [skin], so variously colored" (Norton,2104). Gulliver also talks of their moles, "here and there as broad as a trencher, and hairs hanging from (them) thicker than pack-threads" (Norton,2104).  Earlier in the novel, upon witnessing the suckling of a baby, Gulliver tells the reader that upon seeing the woman's breast he, "[reflected] upon the fair skins of [his] English ladies, who appear so beautiful... only because they are of [his] own size" (Norton,2088).  In showing Gulliver's disgust at the sight of such prestigious and beautiful women of Brobdingnag, Swift again comments on English society through a graphic portrayal of the human body.  Swift uses the Maids of Honor as a  metaphor to comment on the women of England, whom, among eighteenth century English society, were believed to be the most beautiful of all the world. Showing that despite

I found The Lady’s Dressing Room by Jonathan Swift very interesting to read and learn about. In my opinion this long poem has a twisted meaning of women. From my first understanding of the story, I thought this was a man looking in on a woman’s routine. I believe the speaker wants to know the truth that lies within the beauty of women, what is underneath the pretty standards they only show the public. The speaker being Stephon, watching and trying to understand Celia. He is on a quest to expose the imperfections of women to other men. Throughout this textual analyst most perspectives will be coming from Stephon views because he is the one and only snooping throughout a woman’s personal space. Stephon quickly finds out that what goes on in a lady’s dressing room is for women to know and see. A dressing room for a lady is like a sanctuary get away. It is the only space where a woman can be alone, show all her flaws, and not be worried about getting judged by outsiders. Before Stephon sees the inside of the dressing room he defines women as “goddess”. Now after he seen the truth of women he can hardly bare to look at them when he walks past a lady on the street. While reading this poem I learned that women can be gross and dirty but go to the extreme to cover their flaws. During this analysis I will uncover the weird and twisted context of The Lady’s Dressing Room.

The poem goes on to explain� that Strephon's perception of Celia is forever altered and that he can no longer look at a woman without thinking of "all her Stinks" (122). After the Deacon's sexual assault and subsequent discovery of Clareese's menstrual cycle, "he drew back in disgust-no, _hatred-_then rinsed his hand in the kitchen sink and left without saying a word," and then

Presenting literature to the public that is meant to be a commentary on social or political issues, masked under the guise of entertaining and fictional, is a tool implemented by authors and activists for centuries. While not all satire is as overt as Jonathan Swift’s suggestion that we eat the babies, it does not diminish the eyebrow raising suggestions that are conveyed once the meaning has been discovered. In Aphra Behn’s The History of the Nun and Eliza Haywood’s Fantomina, the established expectations of the female role within society are brought into question then directly rejected. These expectations establish that women should be deferential to men, morally unblemished, and virtuous at all times. Men, however, are not held to these expectations in the same way. The masculine roles assumed by Isabella and Fantomina demonstrate a private rebellion against the established patriarchal society as it warns against the under-estimation of women and proves that women exist independently.

The diction in the poem gives more of an impression that entering womanhood is something to be looked down upon. For example, the first sentence says “My dolls have been put away like dead children in a chest I will carry with me when I marry.” This imagery of dead dolls sets a depressing tone as soon as the poem begins. Another area where imagery is significant in the poem is when the speaker says “Is not the blood of saints and men in battle beautiful? Do Christ’s hands not bleed into your eyes from His cross?” The imagery of blood and Christ is typically thought of as something admirable; the idea is that Christ shed His blood for our sins, and He needs to be thanked for that. However, the speaker brings this up to contrast with her menstrual blood, which is thought of as “shameful”. The imagery provides the reader with a picture of the speaker’s thought about her coming of

To expand on what was said about women and negative connotations that are placed upon them as the Wife of Bath points out was a matter that was seen even in writings of the time as her fifth husband read to her very often the wrong doings of "wicked wives" and how all women are a disturbance and only seek money and all the finer things from their men. The absolute goal was to make women look like nuisances. At this point there was much literal works to in her Prologue to prove the cynical mind

The treatment of women in today’s culture has a lot of problems. Even though in the last century women have been treated better there are still problems. Women are and have always been sexualized in everything they do. Most of the time women are judged on their appearance alone. Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift is a piece of literature that comes across as misogynistic. There are many times in the book when women are judged primarily on their looks and come across as unable to control themselves. However, Swift is using this kind of writing style to actually convey a point to society. By making these issues larger in the book and by reversing gender roles, it is easier to see all the problems that our society has with the treatment of women. Jonathan Swift is not misogynistic and is trying to prove a point so the treatment of women is improved in our society. The scene of the

By implying that every woman takes five or more hours to get prepared and beautified, he is demeaning women and not only their ability to get ready, but also their beauty (assuming it takes longer if they are less beautiful at the start) from a view of a person who does not have to go through the process himself. As the poem continues, the trials against Celia pile up. Until line 68, the speaker, and Strephon, are distinctly attacking Celia. From her combs to her magnifying mirror, everything she uses to prepare herself for a

The introduction of feminism in his works goes against many normal social and literate beliefs and rules, making him one of the few poets to portray feminism at such an early period in time. The wife is said to have successfully freed herself in the tale from male authority and repays the antifeminist tradition, by turning the tables on male authority, which was far stronger and more authoritative than women during the time period, “I quitte hem word for word… I ne owe hem nat a word that it nys quit” (3. 422-25). In the tale, the knight is spared his life, by the queen after raping a young lady, the act of the queen granting the knight his life, if he completes the quest of finding out what it is women really want, represents Chaucer’s anti-feminist work, “But that the queen, and other ladies too, implored the king to exercise his grace” (140 Chaucer). By the queen making light of the crime committed against the young lady by the knight, Chaucer is representing rape culture, and the level of seriousness that it is not given in society.

So sceptical is Waugh of any positivity in female beauty that in Vile Bodies the term ‘pretty’ gains negative connotations. Adam ridiculously deems Mary Mouse and the Maharajah a ‘pretty pair’ as they publicly make love on the airship balcony. The negative use of the term is only furthered when Chastity ‘in the prettiest way possible’ simpers to the drunk major against the ugliness of the war backdrop. Thus Women’s ‘prettiness’ is a fickle attempt to disguise the ugliness around them. The sense of ‘pretty’ is by its very nature shallow and transient, it’s sentiment far from the stunning or the gorgeous that true beauty in romantic literature holds. Indeed, Waugh taps into another Romantic poetic conceit here. The

Youth is something that is always taken for granted until death takes a toll. There are those who have either fulfilled their life goals or the ones who lived a passive life truly regret everything on their death beds. Growing up and maturing goes hand in hand. A master plot seen in Ibsen’s play A Doll’s House is maturation. Maturation is when the Protagonist faces a problem that is part of growing up, and from dealing with it, emerging into a state of adulthood. The protagonist Nora is developed throughout the play from an ignorant child to a strong willed “man” on a quest for knowledge. In the play Nora goes from her father’s home to her husband’s home. Nora’s childhood is filled with toys and Christmas trees during the winter season.

The Victorian influence over the poem is also why there is such a strong bond from the sisters as they try to not look at the goblins. During the Victorian era it was sinful for unmarried young women to so much as look at men which is why line 42 recites, “we must not look at goblin men, we must not buy their fruits” implying that young women should not know anything about sex or sexual behaviour as it would make them impure making them less feminine. There is sexual imagery present here as their ‘fruits’ could be connoted into believing it is the male genitalia she could be referring to preserve her innocence she must not go to them.