The Relationship Of Miss Milner

Additionally, Mrs Birling is also unlikeable due to her condescending attitude towards the Inspector. Mrs Birling’s dominant role is shown when she is answering to the inspector: ‘what business is it of yours’. Her plain rude attitude ‘prejudices’ the readers against Mrs Birling. Furthermore, Sybil acknowledges that she is too powerful to answer to a man who is questioning her and threatening her status; she assumes that the Inspector is working class (but he represents no class). Concluding that she sees the lower class as morally inferior. Priestly hated this kind of attitude and believed that people had to change if society was going to work. Consequently, the author’s voice came through this extract as he was trying to make a change to humanity in 1946, when social class was vaguely present. Once again, we are shown of Mrs Birling’s high status compared to the Inspector: ‘You have no power to make me change my mind’. The use of the pronoun ‘you’ displays that Mrs Birling actually informs the Inspector that he has no power over her. Her constant

> After a night of sex, Vivian is ready to leave in the morning. It is perfunctory for her to have sex then leave, but she has a nice breakfast that awaits her. She is not used to being treated as a person. Edward, ever concerned with work, needs a “date” for the upcoming week for the sake of appearances. He wishes to employ Vivian for the next week as his “date.” He says that he is paying her three thousand dollars “be at [Edward’s] beck and call.” Here he is treating Julia like a prostitute. The nature of their relationship is pendulous, moments of a nascent love to moments of business and concupiscence. Vivian needs new clothes to replace her questionable and inappropriate attire in order to ensconce in the upper class. She is shopping on Rodeo Drive, the Mecca of haut-couture, but while at a store she encounters women that will not wait on her because of the way she is dressed. Because of the prejudice she

In Hannah W. Foster’s, The Coquette, Eliza Wharton is portrayed as a woman of status, above average intelligence and education, with a flirtatious nature. Though the author does not cast her in an antagonistic light, her manner is painted as foolish, flippant to 18th century social conventions, and lacking in forethought. As such, The Coquette should be viewed as a literary warning for young women of the day, especially those who may have shared undesirable attributes with Eliza. It is the novel’s intent, by way of Eliza’s thoughts and actions, to discourage young women from pursuing a fleeting and non-virtuous lifestyle. Through the novel, Foster acts as a moral guide to young women by persuading them to obey social conventions like entering into dutiful marriage, refraining from political and public

Mrs Spicer is a ‘gaunt’ and ‘flat-chested’ woman whose face has been ‘burnt to a brick’. She is ‘a little wild-looking at times ’ and when working she wears clothes like “an old coat of her husband’s”, to do what would have traditionally been considered male tasks such as fixing a leak in the roof. When she helps Mary lay the table, the way she handles the crockery and napkins convinces Mary that she had been ‘fairly well brought up’.

After her betrayal by a gentleman in England, Rachel finds herself on board the first fleet to Australia. She is scared of the drunken men on board, continually trying to avoid their sexual advances. She becomes “another man’s mistress”, having a “tiny, perfect, incredible son” with Surgeon White. Her tragedy is that she must accept the reality that Surgeon White cannot promise her marriage, as “gentlemen do not marry servants”; he cannot possibly have a “convict wife” as “tongues would wag if he married the likes of her”. She is deeply saddened by this realisation; “turn[ing] her head away” so “he wouldn’t see her tears”. Similarly, Maria bends to the will of Surgeon White as his former servant, also avoiding the approaches of morally reprehensible men until her marriage to Jack Jackson. Her transient feelings of security are lost with Jack’s death, compounding her feelings of grief and isolation. Maria becomes a widow, and with no rights to Jack’s land, she is almost sold as a slave, reflecting the very few rights of colonial women. Therefore, in a society in which gender imbalance is rife, Maria and Rachel are both “scared…right to be scared”; their unique situations giving rise to similar feelings of sadness and

The narrator’s varying stately yet fervent tone illustrates her obligatory feelings as well as her true emotions regarding her husband and lifestyle through her descriptions of the “nursery” where she is confined (Gilman, 648). John, since he is both her husband and doctor, “hardly lets [her] stir without special direction,” characteristic of patriarchs of the family; he also “laughs at [her], of course, but one one expects that in marriage.” (Gilman, 648 and 647). Since the narrator feels

Throughout the Victorian Age, male dominance deprived women from freedom of choice. In Charlotte Brontë’s novel, Jane Eyre, Jane Eyre repeatedly struggles to become an independent young lady due to the troublesome men in the story. There are several male characters who control, humiliate, and abuse their power over Jane. The author manages to depict patriarchal dominance through the characterization of John Reed, Mr. Brocklehurst, and Mr. Rochester.

Additionally, gender roles affect Mrs. Wright’s (also known as Minnie) reaction to oppressive marriage. Before marriage, Minnie was a carefree independent woman who was active in her community. She always dressed in pretty clothes and was one of the town girls singing in the choir (Glaspell 1111). After marriage, Minnie’s life became sad and lonely due to the lack of children and the lack of empathy and warmth from her husband. Glaspell provides the reader glimpse of Mr. Wright’s character through Mrs. Hale’s description of him being honest and upright, but he was a “hard man” and not very amiable (1114). The Wright’s marriage is a perfect example of the effects of traditional gender roles. Mr. Wright represents the traditional role of male dominance in marriage by controlling Minnie’s life through isolation and removing anything that would bring her happiness. Although Minnie became submissive in order to conform to the demands of her husband, she took back control when she murdered her husband in the same fashion as he did to her pet canary (1116).

First, there is Mr. Peters’ interpretation of his wife’s preference of having a female accomplice when she is to gather things for Mrs. Wright; the reader is given insight to this when Mr. Peters asks Mrs. Hale to come along with them because “…he guessed [Mrs. Peters] was getting scared…” (Glaspell). This symbol represents the fragility men in the nineteenth century associated with their wives, daughters, and women in general because of their rank in the social system. Second, is the way in which the men speak to or down to the women in general, almost as if they were children. For example, on multiple occasions Mr. Hale makes a mockery of the women by belittling them without the slightest intent to take them seriously. The first occasion is in response to the attorney’s remark over Mrs. Wright having more significant things to worry about other than her fruit jars: “’Oh well…women are used to worrying over trifles’” (Glaspell). With this remark, Mr. Peters is ultimately invalidating the logical worries Mrs. Wright had over her fruit jars. The second occasion he does this is after the county attorney asks the women to keep an eye out for clues, to which he responds, “’But would the women know a clue if they did come upon it?’” (Glaspell). By doing this once more, Mr. Peters brings attention to himself through his underestimation of the women’s capabilities, thus rendering himself of the superior sex. The final noteworthy occasion where the

Mrs. Hopewell is a hard working widow who assumes the male role by being the primary care-giver and supporter to her special needs daughter. Hulga, despite her independence streak is determined to make a life on her own; she gives almost a reversed protest against her mother despite the care she receives. Her education does not lead her to live a more successful life, she fails to live up to her mother’s example and expectation that Hulga’s sisters, Glynese and Carramae, have already successfully copied. O’Connor writes that “Glynese, a redhead, was eighteen and had many admirers; Carramae, a blonde, was only fifteen but already married and pregnant” (151).

This article’s thesis may be expressed in the following manner: Nathaniel Hawthorne intentionally develops an ambiguous narrator in Miles Coverdale, thus being able to develop his strategic irony. Delving deeper into the character of Coverdale, the author explores his relationship with Priscilla, noting that there is an ambiguity between their respective gender roles, specifically due to the fact that they both own the same type of silk purse. This ambiguity is ironic, particularly considering that Priscilla will eventually assert her femininity by subjecting herself willingly to Hollingsworth. Priscilla cannot be herself without depending on a man, and this is precisely why she holds on to Hollingsworth. Her life and her destiny is inextricably

This novel intricately and abstractly provides a social commentary on the definitions of masculinity and femininity, and their similarities. Twain includes several instances of cross dressing in the short story. Tom dresses in woman’s clothes, specifically his mother’s clothing, whenever he ventures into the town to steal. Wilson, spying on the woman in young Tom Driscoll's room, as being dressed in “...a neat and trim summer dress, patterned with broad stripes of pink and white, and her bonnet was equipped with a pink veil” (Twain 32). The significance of dressing up in a woman’s clothes seems to be left intentionally arbitrary by Twain.

John Collier’s ‘The Chaser’, a short story that follows Alan Austen, a character who shows typically feminine or androgynous traits, displaying Alan being timid, easily manipulated, cowardly, and inevitably, the harbinger of his own destruction. ‘The Chaser’ features Alan seeking out an old man for a love potion to make Diana fall in love with him. From a sophisticated gender perspective, ‘the Chaser’ is shown to be patriarchal to start, with androgynous areas that end with the story being heavily androgynous. Based on text in the story and underlying themes, ‘The Chaser’ is Feminine and Androgynous, and Austen displays Feminine androgynous traits heavily by the end of the story.

Through the Victorian Age, male dominance deprived women from a certain freedom. In Charlotte Brontë’s novel, Jane Eyre, Jane Eyre repeatedly struggles to become an independent young lady due to the troublesome men in the story. John Reed controls Jane, Mr. Brocklehurst humiliates Jane, and Mr. Rochester sees women, in general, as objects. The author manages to depict patriarchal dominance through the characterization of John Reed, Mr. Brocklehurst, and Mr. Rochester.

This declaration by Miss Milner, one of the central characters of A Simple Story (1791) by Elizabeth Inchbald reveals the revolutionary potential in this novel. This novel was completely written only by 1790 and published the following year. The novel proved to be immensely popular as a second edition was then printed immediately followed by several more (Strachey)1. The novel is set in an English aristocratic Roman Catholic milieu albeit with a Protestant heroine, Miss Milner and the story plays out across four volumes.