Vanity Exposed in Vanity Fair Essay

Women who had no claim to wealth or beauty received the harshest of realities in America’s Victorian era. Author Charlotte Bronte – from America’s Victorian era – examines and follows the life of a girl born into these conditions in her gothic novel Jane Eyre (of which the main character’s name

This can be seen when she says, “Nobody can’t blame a person for looking” however the George calls her ‘poison’ and ‘jail bait’ meaning the other workers don’t like her at all and describe her using foul words. However this would be expected in this time period. Even though she is married she is still lonely because of problems in their relationship. She even wishes Curley had his other hand broken. She says she had a dream to become a Hollywood and Curley promised he would make her dream come true but that was all lies and instead is being taken advantage of and is in a position where she almost can’t escape. In section 4 we see that she is harsh to the other men who did not go into town, calling them the ‘weaker ones’ and intimidating them. This is ironic because she is also one of the ‘lonely ones’ and she is very cunning but also vain as she tries to seek out those who are weaker to get to the other men and gain more attention.

In Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, there are many peculiar characters that readers are introduced to. Lady Catherine De Bourgh is a supercilious character who constantly displays her pride and ego throughout the course of the novel. In the beginning of chapter 29, we meet Lady Catherine who doesn’t even remotely try to welcome her guests with kindness upon meeting them. Her pompous ways are evident in the line, “nor was her manner…to make her visitors forget their inferior rank” (Austen 139). Through this quite the reader sees the way Lady Catherine draws a line between her class and the class of her guests who are not as wealthy as her. Lady Catherine is a very opinionated character who

In the introduction to his book, The Sublime Object of Ideology, Slavoj Zizek acquaints readers with his book’s tripartite aim. He plans, among other things, to illustrate concepts fundamental to Lacanian psychoanalysis – an intention which will serve to further his more ambitious goal “to reactualize Hegelian dialectics by giving it a new reading” in the light of Lacanian psychoanalysis – and “to contribute to the theory of ideology via a new reading of some well-known classical motifs” (7). In this broad category of classical motifs associated with the theory of ideology, I have isolated both fetishism and the commodity-form and intend to briefly illustrate some of these concepts against

> Directed by Garry Marshall, Pretty Woman is a romantic comedy and a modernized Cinderella. The story involves the evolution of the relationship between the two protagonists, Vivian (Julia Roberts) and Edward Lewis (Richard Gere). In the film how a business arrangement between a business magnate and a prostitute quickly becomes a genuine loving relationship. In addition to their complex business relationship, Edward’s lawyer Phil (Jason Alexander) is one of many obstacles to the desired “fairy tale ending.” Edward and Vivian are two broken individuals. Vivian is prostitute who is dealing with the vicissitudes of life and Edward is a divorced man who recently broke up with his girlfriend. Vivian and Edward bring out the

With a name like Tris (short for Beatrice) Prior, the heroine that Shailene Woodley plays in this sci-fi thriller is custom-built to be a young-adult role model. She begins the film, derived from Veronica Roth's debut novel, with a major dilemma.

Since joining Editor Anna Wintour, she tried to improve the status and reputation of the magazine in order to be better that the

The American writer Flannery O’connor is known as a master of the short story for her ability to convey a striking central theme in a short work. Her theme of pride and vanity remains consistent throughout all her works as she reflects on the broken nature of humanity. The quote, “The dragon is by the side of the road, watching those who pass. Beware lest he devour you. We go to the father of souls, but it is necessary to pass by the dragon,” by St. Cyril of Jerusalem also conveys this same message. In order to get to the Lord, an individual must first pass the dragon which represents the temptation of the sins of pride and vanity. In all three of the short stories, “The Displaced Person,” “Good Country People,” and “A Late Encounter with the Enemy,” O’Connor employs a specific character to fight this dragon of pride and vanity in order to warn the reader to beware the temptation.

Where Fay tends to only think about herself and her well being, Laurel’s flashbacks often paint a picture of a very selfless Becky. The reader can infer this during Laurel’s remembrance of Becky trying to save her father. Although he does not live, Becky risked her life trying to get her father to a hospital. However, Fay continuously lies and does what she can to better herself throughout the novel. For instance, she lies about not having a family, so that no one knows she comes from as equally obnoxious people. She and Laurel get into a fight at the end of the novel over Fay’s refusal to treat Becky’s possessions, which have sentimental value to Laurel, with care. Eudora Welty depicts Fay as a woman who only thinks of herself and who lives for her own self-preservation in Mount Salus,

This essay is for women who believe their thighs are too big, their breasts are too small, their hair is boring, their skin is flawed, their body is shaped funny, or their clothes are outdated. This month's column is for women who believe their life would improve if they could lose 15 pounds; if they could afford contact lenses, that new perfume or anti-cellulite concoction; if they got a nose job, a face lift, a tummy tuck, etc. This month's column is for women who feel shame or unhappiness when they ponder some part (or all) of their body. In other words, this month's column is for 99.9% of the women reading it!

Jane is taught at a young age to look down on people not of her caste, and to oppress them the same way that she herself is oppressed as a female orphan. Though Jane is not influenced directly by social status at all times, it is still a constant factor which Brontë makes evident. In Victorian England, a female must either be born or married into her social class, and this is what defines her. The character of Jane served to undercut the popular female stereotypes of fiction: the angel of the house, the invalid, or the whore (Brackett, 2000). Brontë creates Jane as her own force, in which she is neither the angel, invalid or whore, but a young lady who is intelligent and has pride and dignity. In this Victorian society, her unsubmissiveness and independence is her social fault, which Brontë pokes fun at (Brackett, 2000). Male Victorian writers cast women during this time as social, finagling creatures whose goals are to obtain as many friends as possible and throw the most elaborate parties. Brontë opposes this by creating Jane as an opposite of these “defining” characteristics, by making Jane a female who could are less about how many people adore her, a female who would actually enjoy a life with few companions. As mentioned before, Jane’s sense of dignity is evident. As Jane became Rochester’s governess, she is faced with the

You can get quite lost when you look in the mirror, all you see is yourself, and you don't pay attention to what’s going on; this can lead to your own destruction. Vanity is a dangerous thing. When Guy De Maupassant wrote “The Necklace” and when Mary Howitt wrote “The Spider and the Fly”, they had this theme in mind. You can see their characters go throughout their stories and you can see how their vanity leads to harm.

Jane Eyre is a novel written by Charlotte Brontë. It is distinctly a female Bildungsroman, as it follows the progress and growth of Jane’s character on her quest for selfhood and independence in a society that tries its best to impress upon her the roles and expectations of women in the Victorian era (which is neatly packaged in the figure of the ‘Angel-in-the-house’.) This is something with which this essay seeks to engage by looking at female figures which feature prominently in Jane’s life, how those who embrace the figure of ‘Angel-in-the-house’ are treated and viewed, versus those who do not. Furthermore, important male figures will also be looked at in order to understand Jane’s own feelings to the ‘Angel-in-the-house’ figure and how she approaches it, as well as how the Byronic hero might relate – if it even does.

In my opinion, in Oscar Wilde's novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, published in 1890, an interesting character is the central character, Dorian Gray. At the beginning of the novel, Dorian appears to be a beautiful, naive and youthful character to readers, until he is corrupted by vanity and appearences. Dorian makes a fraustian deal. He will remain youthful and beautiful physically while a potrait painted of him will reflect his age and his continuous guilty conscience. Dorian thinks that as long as he remains physically attractive, then his personality will not matter. Throughout the novel, readers see him bringing suffering, duplicity and death to all members in the social circles that he switches to. For example, Dorian falls in love with

She uses this unspecified person, who is outside of all the novel's action and gives explanations, as a medium of communication to present her own opinion in an allusively open way. This narrator is the first means of making ironic remarks. Through the narrator a certain mood is created that prevails throughout the novel. The very first sentence of the novel shows this with the following sentence, It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife (Pride and Prejudice, p. 3). The irony of this statement is the universal validity with which assumptions are made in that upper-class society. It is assumed that there is nothing else for a man of high rank to want but a wife to complete his possessions. Along with his money, land, riches etc. she acts as nothing more but another piece of property, which was a common attitude in those days. Austen manages to make the attitude towards matrimony upheld by this upper class look rather ridiculous and incredible. Another ironic description is given, for instance, when Miss Bingley and Mrs. Hurst take care of the sick Jane, who stays at their house. They present themselves as very affectionate and caring friends to Jane. However, that does not stop them from talking very bad about Jane's relations. The real ironic comment is that the