The Opera Carmen and Gender Roles

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.

The 1992 film directed by Fernando Trueba, Belle Epoque is a Spanish film that is set in 1931 and while the year itself seems to hold little significance to the plot of the story it provides viewers with an alternative to what the 1930’s in Spain could have held. Belle Epoque demonstrates to viewers a society in which sexual liberation, and freedom, are accepted as well as a reversal in the roles of men and women. One of most interesting aspects of the film is of the relationship between the four daughters, Clara (played by Miriam Diaz Aroca), Rocío (played by Maribel Verdú), Violeta (played by Ariadna Gil), and Luz (played by Penélope Cruz) and their interaction with a mysterious visitor Fernando (played by Jorge Sanz). Throughout the

The film adaptation of Real Women Have Curves shows us the ideology of the individual struggle. It seems as if everyone is only worried about their own well-being, making them to appear selfish. In the movie for example, Ana’s primary goal is to succeed and puts her sisters needs in the factory to the side. She is not cooperative and sabotages her sisters business out of spite when she burns the dresses that need to be urgently done. Carmen is shown as a reliant woman who only wants her daughter's to be good mothers and wives. She does not want them to prosper and is holding them back from accomplishing their dreams. When Ana decides to go to Columbia University, Carmen’s stubbornness is displayed when she was adamant about not telling her daughter goodbye as she left to the airport for New York. Although Estela hints support towards Ana, her main focus was on her business and making sure it was going to be

The issue of gender roles is one of the central themes of this novel. All the main characters of the novel spend their whole lives trying to conform to the standards of masculinity and femininity expected of them by the society. The inability of the main character of the book to meet the expected stereotypical roles not only causes them personal turmoil but also makes their social life miserable. They try to fit in the ascribed gender roles of their Dominican culture, but are simply incapable of doing that. However, the society does not understand their incapability and makes them pay for their nonconformity.

As a Renaissance woman protagonist, she acts within an completely male world: "I do not know/ One of my sex; no woman's face remember" (3.1.48-49).  While no other women appear in the play, references are made to other women, but the count here is still minimal and sums up to three.  Miranda speaks of the lack of female companionship around her because of her location, but simultaneously the audience sees that the references to women that do occur within the play often have a sinister purpose for appearing within the lines.  The other women mentioned in the play seem to provide a sort of dark cloak over the proceedings of the play, even if they are completely absent.  Regardless, Miranda, as the only physical woman in the play the audience actually sees and hears, is described by Prospero with kind words, and few, if any, negative imagery revolves around the appearance of the innocent Miranda.  For example, Prospero informs Miranda that this "Art" is prompted by his concern for her; "I have done nothing but in care of thee" (1.2.16).  Prospero also tells Miranda that his mistreatment and harshness toward Caliban stems from the fact that Caliban attempted to rape Miranda and Prospero wants to protect her from any harm that could come about from Caliban.(1.2.347-51).  Prospero also indicates that Miranda, to him, is "a third of mine own life,/ Or that for which I live" (4.1.3-4); therefore after she is

The women all strive to succeed, and collectively they are there to support each other. Estela has a great deal of problems with her business; this barrier hindered her ability to succeed. When she addressed her concerns to the women that worked for her, instead of giving up under harsh working conditions, the women put more hours of labor forward in order to help Estela succeed. Even Rosali who had fainted due to the unbearable heat mentions, “I was in bed and I kept imagining Estela getting deported. So I had to come back. I know how badly you must need the over-lock machine” (66). After Estela plead her to leave and recuperate she responded, “No, Estela, I'm fine. I can help” (67). Helping Estela also meant helping each other. If the dresses were not made on time that meant that their payment would have been delayed again. They worked together to prosper

Another theme that deals with Antonio more directly is the conflict between both sides of his family, his mother and his father’s. Antonio’s mother is a Luna, her people are more devoted to the “campos,” the earth, the moon and they are calm and peaceful, while his father

    A variety of roles have women in them in William Shakespeare’s tragic drama Othello. Let us in this essay examine the female characters and their roles.

On the other hand, Quade’s “Canute Commands the Tides” follows the friendship between Margaret, a member of the upper class who moves to Santa Fe for a new start, and Carmen, of the lower class and her new housekeeper. Initially, it seems like the story will show Margaret with more authority but the story sets them up as two equals, even though by the end, Carmen is the one who holds the power. Margaret moves to Santa Fe, away from her husband and family, for space and freedom. When she first meets Carmen, Margaret cannot stop looking at her scar, “a pink ragged line across Carmen’s throat, raised and stretching at least two inches, nearly to her ear” (Quade 225). Her misconceptions about Carmen’s background start escalating around this point.

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

In the play Othello, by William Shakespeare, the tragic protagonist Othello is tricked by his subordinant, Iago, into thinking that his wife, Desdemona, has been unfaithful to him with another man named Cassio. Iago does this because Othello gave a promotion to Cassio that Iago had felt he deserved instead. Iago, bitter and jealous of Othello the Moor and Lieutenant Cassio, both of whom he speaks disparagingly of, devises and enacts a plot that results in both chaos and turmoil for the people around him. He is able to achieve success in his plot by playing on hasty generalizations frequently made by people of that time. Iago plays on stereotypes and generalizations about women and the Turkish people during about the 17th century. According to Independent Tudor Historian Heather Sharnette, “Marriage was seen as the desirable state for both men and women, and single women were sometimes looked upon in suspicion” (Sharnette, Elizabethan Women). During this time, women had a lot of expectations to be innocent, faithful, and obedient above all else in their marriages. On the other hand, men were supposed to take care of their women. However at the same time men were quick to accuse and suspect all women of being deceitful and conniving. Women were somehow inferior and weak, while at the same time evil and fraudulent. Turkish people, or any people remotely darker than the English, were written off as black and therefore less than. And so Turkish men were assumed barbaric, brash,

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

In the play, Othello, there are many different representations of characters and archetypes. The women of the play are seen as symbolic representations of how the men in Shakespeare’s generation saw women. The women of the play are all individual characters with different personalities. They are seen as objects but stray from the average mold. Shakespeare converts these women into the play with roles that represent the strong stereotypes of women and how they are not what the rumors portray them as.

The gender stereotypes and dogma of the time period of which the play Othello has been set has had a significant impact on the script if not the outcome of the play. Firstly, I will discuss the views on women and their roles inferred from the main male characters of the play: Iago, Cassio, and Othello. Then I will discuss the main feminine characters of the play and their roles and their own perspectives on gender.

Since “the brothers were brought up to be men,” they needed to take action in order to regain their sister and family’s honor (30). Honor was idolized in the town to the point that the act of killing Santiago can be forgiven, or even rewarded. The town’s ideal of honor closely relates to heroic, masculine theme like going on an epic quest. For instance, Pablo Vicario’s wife Prudencia Cotes “’never would have married [Pablo] if he hadn’t done what a man should do’” (63). In other words, Pablo is the hero who goes on a grand journey to slay the monster Santiago. After slaying Santiago, he proves himself as a man, gains his honor, and is rewarded with a bride, who would not have married him otherwise. Prudencia’s decision to marry Pablo amplify the hidden cultural expectation for a man to uphold the honor of the family, even if upholding the honor means sacrificing someone else’s life.