Themes in Popular Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Themes in Popular Culture - Essay Example The themes in Springsteen’s songs are often experienced by most people and this perhaps is one of the reasons why his songs became popular among many Americans and other cultures. Springsteen’s ability to bring to life everyday, ordinary circumstances is excellent so that listeners could easily relate to the songs as they enjoy and patronize his music. Along with Springsteen, another contemporary singer was making a name for himself, Bob Seger. The latter is not simply a contemporary of Springsteen but he also wrote songs with similar themes. To see the similarities on the works of the two popular culture artists, I will discuss Seger’s â€Å"Turn the Page† along with the works of Springsteen. â€Å"Turn the Page† tells the life story of Seger in part as an artist. Just like Springsteen, he writes about every day or ordinary situations that reflect his thoughts and emotions. He wrote the aforementioned song while he was on the road, completing a tour and it basically reflects how he felt about the trip. He starts off with a descriptive phrase â€Å"On a long and lonesome highway† which gives a clear picture of a deserted road. The terms â€Å"highway†, â€Å"road† or â€Å"street† are common terms Springsteen often use in his works. For instance, in his song â€Å"Thunder Road†, the phrases â€Å"For a savior to rise from these streets†, â€Å"To trade in these wings on some wheels†, â€Å"Were riding out tonight† and â€Å"Thunder road† all suggest a path, track or the like. Metaphorically, road is used as a symbol for a person’s choices and way of life, a theme that is quite obvious in Springst een’s lyrics. They suggest that in life, people are always presented with different roads and different roles but one cannot walk two roads at the same time. Therefore, a person has to make a choice. For Seger, the road that he has to take is specified; it is â€Å"east of Omaha†. This does not mean that he will have

Myth and the Modern World Essay -- Heros Journey, Hospitality

Since the beginning of time, people have been searching the universe looking for answers to the burning questions about what â€Å"it† all means. By looking to the past, we find parallels that help put our own modern lives into perspective. We mortals have an insatiable quest for knowledge about everything under the sun. Who are we? Where did we come from? Why are we here? What happens next? By analyzing the meaning of ancient Mythology and applying the lessons learned through the hero’s quests, we gain insight and perspective about our own place in the modern world we live in today. By visualizing and internalizing the lessons learned through the mythological hero’s journeys, we find relevance in the symbolism and metaphors that mirror our own struggles and inspire us to find the courage and determination to overcome them. I am not a deeply religious person but I do believe in â€Å"something†. What that something is, I am not entirely sure. However, like the characters in the myths we have read about this semester, I know that I am also on a journey that hopefully one day will reveal the answers to the questions I’ve been looking for along with the ones I haven’t even thought of yet. Life is a quest that begins at birth and continues until the day we die. Our quests resemble the hero’s journeys because in attempting to achieve our goals; we stumble, fall, get a little help if we’re lucky, then get up and try again. Sometimes I pray for supernatural help as I struggle to overcome obstacles along the way, but so far no gods or goddesses have materialized to help me out in my times of need. I guess that’s why we have family - those people in our lives we sometimes can’t live with but could never live without. They are the ones... ... process. Like the mythological characters we’ve been introduced to this semester, we travel through life and face obstacles that either make us stronger or shatter us into a million pieces. It’s up to us to choose how we put those pieces back together. Works Cited "Jason and the Golden Fleece." Ancient Greece Mythology. Copyright  © 2003-2012 University Press Inc. . Web. 11 Oct 2013. . Raffel, Burton . Beowulf. New York, NY: Signet Classic, 1963. print. Gardner, John. Grendel. New York, NY: Vintage Books, 1971. Print. Fagles, Robert. The Odyssey. Deluxe. New York, NY: Penguin Classics, 1996. Print. Encyclopedia Mythica. MCMXCV - MMXII Encyclopedia Mythica.. Web. 11 Oct 2013. . The Epic of Gilgamesh. Poznan Supercomputing and Networking Center, Web. .

The Depiction of Lord Capulet in Romeo & Juliet

Set in the city of Verona during the 12th/13th century, Romeo and Juliet, is a typical love story by William Shakespeare with a tragedy twist. When Romeo Montague and his friends gate-crash Lord Capulet’s party, the last thing he imagined he would do is find the love of his life, Juliet. After realising Romeo is the son of her father’s sworn enemy they decide to keep their relationship secret and get married behind her families back. When Romeo’s best friend Mercutio is stabbed and killed by Juliet’s cousin Tybalt, Romeo kills Tybalt and is declared banished.Meanwhile, Juliet’s father, Lord Capulet, decides to cheer his daughter up by allowing her to marry Paris, though unknown to him, she is already married. Severely wanting to get out of this marriage and with her husband, Romeo, in a different town, Juliet seeks assistance from the priest, father Lawrence, who hands her a ‘poison’ which will mimic death for 24 hours, after her funera l she would be placed into a vault and when she awakes from her deep sleep her and Romeo would be able to run away to be together.Romeo is unaware of this plan as he is out when the messenger arrives so when his friend Balthasar learns of the death he immediately travels to tell Romeo. With Romeo thinking his love is dead he takes the risk of going back to Verona to say his final farewell to Juliet, when he arrives he is automatically spotted and the police, once Romeo had purchased poison he makes his way to the church.Soon enough, father Lawrence learns that Romeo has no idea Juliet is actually still alive. Inside the church Romeo drinks the poison which begins to kill him.. just as Juliet begins to wake, she realizes it’s too late and takes his gun to her head, Killing her instantly. Act 1 scene 1, we see several men from two families (the Capulet’s and the Montague’s) take part in a fight led by Tybalt, a Capulet and Juliet’s cousin, and Benvolio, Rom eo’s cousin and therefore a Montague.This is where we get the feel of absolute hatred between the two families. A loathing which has been passed down through generations, started between Lord Capulet, an overpowering and very controlling man and Lord Montague and equally powerful man. We are first introduced to Lord Capulet when he gets involved in a fight between Sampson, Gregory Benvolio and Tybalt. He is shown to be aggressive and confrontational because he says ‘What noise is this?Give me long sword ho! ’ as soon and he arrives. Which could indicate he doesn’t think about what he says and can be immature as well as how willing he is to get involved in the pointless feud, this is until Prince informs them ‘Once more, on pain of death, all men depart’ which implies if there is another street both Lord Capulet, Lord Montague and any other men involved will be executed, This is when Lord Capulet’s mood changes and he becomes calm.In Act 1 scene 2 Lord Capulet seems calm and willing to make peace with Lord Montague, we know this because he says ‘†¦ ‘tis not hard, I think for men so old as we to keep the peace. ’ ‘†¦ _we_ to keep the peace’ This shows he is trying to approach Lord Montague in an equal and friendly manor as he accepts there cannot be any more violent outbreaks in the streets anymore. We next see Lord Capulet in the Capulet household in the midst of a party when he is calmly talking to Paris about his daughter Juliet.Women in the Elizabethan age could refuse marriage but would be disowned by their families. In the beginning of Romeo and Juliet, Lord Capulet thinks Juliet is ‘too young’ and ‘still a stranger to the world’ . This is showing himself to be a very caring and loving father, this could be because he has no other children and could also be the reason he treats Tybalt like the son he never had. He refuses Prince the hand of hi s daughter because he doesn’t want to lose her yet, he goes on to change his mind later in the story.In the next scene Romeo Montague gatecrashes the Capulet’s party, Lord Capulet appears to be very respected by Tybalt because when Romeo is spotted and threatened by him, Lord Capulet looks at him and says â€Å"Content thee, Gentle coz, let him alone;† He goes on to say â€Å"Here in my house do him no disparagement; Therefore be patient, take no note of him; It is my will, the which if thou respect†.This is showing himself to be a fair man, treating his family and his enemy’s son the same and shows that he is clever, powerful and respected as he doesn’t want to make a scene in public and in front of his friends and family, Surprisingly Tybalt doesn’t go against his word at all, he listens and respects the wishes of his uncle. Shakespeare is showing this man to be kind and rational, we make a judgment at this stageon how he isnâ€℠¢t reacting to the fact Romeo is his the son of his arch-rival. In this scene Lord Capulet also compliments Romeo by calling him ‘A virtuous and well governed youth’ which shows how relaxed he is about the young Montague’s presence because we couldn’t imagine him complimenting an enemy in such a way. By the next point in the story, Tybalt and Mercutio are dead and we start to get an idea of what sort of a man Lord Capulet really is.In Act 3 Scene 4 he changes his mind and allows Prince to marry Juliet for a few reasons i. e. He wants her to be married and settled to a man he approves of, He wants to be proud of her, He wants her to be married to a man who has money, is generous, powerful and respected †¦ not knowing that she is already married to Romeo. After Tybalt is killed we know Juliet is devastated because she locks herself in her room, only letting Romeo in because he appears on her balcony, unbeknown to her father.We also know Tybalt’s death isn’t the only reason for her upset the other reason she is in such shock is the fact her ‘true love’, Romeo, is the reason for Tybalt’s death although her father doesn’t know , if he knew Romeo and Juliet were married she would be disowned by him and the rest of their family. Lord Capulet decides to bring the wedding forward in order to cheer her up, we know this because he says ‘She loved her kinsman Tybalt dearly’, He sees the wedding of his only child an opportunity to lift the mood after such death in the family.Unfortunately Juliet doesn’t want to marry Prince because she is in love with the now banished, Romeo. When Lady Capulet tells Juliet of her husband’s plans for her to be wed ‘early next Thursday morn’ she is surprised but refuses and tells her mother ‘When I do marry, I swear, It shall be Romeo, whom you know I hate, rather than Paris’ , We can tell from this sentence that she hasn’t told her mother of her relationship with Romeo and that her mother thinks Juliet hates Romeo for killing Tybalt.As Lord Capulet enters her room he immediately describes her body as a ‘fountain’ and says ’in one little body thou counterfeit’s a bark, a sea, a wind, For thy eyes, which I may call the sea, Do ebb and flow with tears. Thy bark thy body is, Sailing in this salt flood. Thy winds thy sighs†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ Which shows us he is concerned about her and her wellbeing, showing him to be a caring father for a split-second. He is angered when he hears that she will not bemarrying Paris and disowns her straightaway, he says unforgivable things to her such as ‘Out, you green sickness, carrion! Out you baggage! You tallow face’ he also calls her a ‘Disobedient wretch’ He goes on to say ‘Get thee to church o’ Thursday, Or never after look me in the face’ , so he’s saying she either marries Pa ris or she’ll lose her father, She has to make the decision. There is a suggestion of physical violence when Lord Capulet exclaims ‘My fingers itch.’Implying he wants to hit her for disrespecting him by disagreeing with him. He reminds her of the importance of family and marrying to obtain a high status, we know this because he says ‘And having now provided A gentleman of A noble parentage, Of fair demesnes, youthful and nobly trained, stuffed as they say, with honorable parts’ he describes Paris in this way because he is trying to persuade Juliet to marry him, its as if he doesn’t want to disown her.Lord Capulet decides that she can ‘No longer house with me’ unless she marries Paris and he would rather see her beg, starve and die in the streets than live with her if she doesn’t go through with the marriage. Lord Capulet’s behavior in this scene shocks us because we are used to seeing him as a caring and loving fathe r towards Juliet and we don’t expect him to go this far when she refuses because he has seemed like a calm man in previous scenes. It’s sad to see his behavior change this dramatically towards her because a father should look out for his daughter.It’s also sad to see because it was his decision and she hasn’t had a choice in the matter at all and the feud between the Montague’s and Capulet’s was started between the two fathers so it isn’t Juliet’s fault and she should be able to see Romeo if she wants to. During the play, the language Lord Capulet uses to describe Juliet changes a lot. In the beginning of the play he describes her as ‘still a stranger to the world’ and ‘too young to marry’ which shows he is a caring father.He is looking out for his daughter and by saying she is too young to marry, he is trying to protect her from growing up too fast. His behavior towards her changes vastly when she ref uses to marry Paris possibly because he has spent time trying to protect her and now she throws it back in his face by disagreeing with him. Although Lord Capulet is unaware of the fact she is already married, she has just delayed being disowned by her father by keeping her marriage to Romeo a secret. We notice the change immediately  because one minute he’s describing her sadness and acting like he cares about her enough to be concerned about her happiness and then he change into a stubborn and, what seems like, a care-free father .We notice the change when he says ‘What is this? â€Å"Proud† and â€Å"I thank you† and â€Å"I thank you not† And yet not â€Å"proud†? Mistress minion you. ’ We don’t think he is capable of disowning his only child but he continues to call her ‘Baggage’ and ‘Green sickness’ which shows just how upset and angry he is with her.He uses harsh words by saying ‘An you b e mine, I’ll give you my friend. An you be not, Hang, beg, starve, die in the streets, For, my soul, I’ll ne’er acknowledge thee, Nor what is mine shall never do thee good’ saying he no longer will want anything to do with her if she doesn’t marry Paris and he would rather see her beg, starve and die on the streets rather than give her somewhere to live and he’ll never want anything to do with her, however if she agrees to marry Paris then he will forgive her for disagreeing and she can stay living there etc.Act 4 scene 5, When Juliet is found ‘dead’ in her bedroom , Lord Capulet appears to be grief-stricken and genuinely upset even though he had said he would disown her if she didn’t marry Paris. His sadness over rules his power in this scene as he turns to Lady Capulet and says ‘ O Heaven! O wife, Look how our daughter bleeds! ’ showing that he is so upset, he doesn’t care about how he appears to any one else. We realise he doesn’t see how he is partly responsible for her ‘death’ by forcing her into a marriage just to bring joy to himself, not in fact thinking at all about what Juliet would want.If he had realised this, we may be able to feel more sympathetic towards him as he would have probably been really upset and angry with himself which, in turn, could have saved his daughter’s life when she awoke. When she does awake to find Romeo had poisoned himself, oblivious to the fact Juliet wasn’t dead at all, she shoots herself in the head with his gun so as they can be together after all, even if that means in a different life.We notice that Lord Capulet realises the feud between the two families have been to blame for the two lovers’ deaths because he offers Lord Montague his hand and overall peace between the Montague’s and Capulet’s, Again showing the loving and caring fatherly side to himself. Throughout the entire play L ord Capulet’s mood varies between a loving, concerned father and an angry, heartless, powerful man. There are 4 main points in his behaviour.In the beginning he comes across as a powerful man when he takes part in a fight , his attitude in this scene is limited as he seems to be this man who is only interested in showing the Montague family who owns the city. When he engages in a conversation with Paris about marrying Juliet, he becomes more of a caring father and try’s to look out for her by saying she is ‘Too young’ to marry and although he says she is ‘still a stranger to him ´ which suggests that he has doubts about her loyalty to him and this also shows an absence of trust in her.The next main point is when he changes again to become an angry and somewhat cold man, we think this because he feels let down and his fears of loyalty towards him are true to an extent. He decides to disown her as a daughter unless she marries Paris because he feels let down and he obviously though he was doing right by her. He says he would rather see her beg and die on the streets than stay in that house, he calls her ‘baggage’ which we can guess means she was a ‘mistake’.The last point we can gather how remorseful he is because he is totally overwhelmed with grief, we see the caring fatherly side to him for the last time in the final scene when the two lovers are found dead together in the chapel. We can tell he knows the feud has been the main reason for their deaths and rightly blames himself. We know how sorry he is when he offers peace to Lord Montague and we realise he has been a loving father and husband all the way through the play, he just thinks what he is doing (i. e. feuds, arranged marriages etc.) is all for the right reasons and he feels he is doing right by his family.He finally understands that his wants and Juliet’s wants were completely different and all that she wanted was irrelevant by him at the time. We feel sympathy for him at this final point in the play because we can see how he realises everything now and it’s now too late to make up for the mistakes he has made, The only thing he can do is make peace with his rival. Lord Capulet chose his power over his family and by doing so, two young people ended up dying, making this the perfect tragedy and love story. The Depiction of Lord Capulet in Romeo & Juliet Set in the city of Verona during the 12th/13th century, Romeo and Juliet, is a typical love story by William Shakespeare with a tragedy twist. When Romeo Montague and his friends gate-crash Lord Capulet’s party, the last thing he imagined he would do is find the love of his life, Juliet. After realising Romeo is the son of her father’s sworn enemy they decide to keep their relationship secret and get married behind her families back. When Romeo’s best friend Mercutio is stabbed and killed by Juliet’s cousin Tybalt, Romeo kills Tybalt and is declared banished.Meanwhile, Juliet’s father, Lord Capulet, decides to cheer his daughter up by allowing her to marry Paris, though unknown to him, she is already married. Severely wanting to get out of this marriage and with her husband, Romeo, in a different town, Juliet seeks assistance from the priest, father Lawrence, who hands her a ‘poison’ which will mimic death for 24 hours, after her funera l she would be placed into a vault and when she awakes from her deep sleep her and Romeo would be able to run away to be together.Romeo is unaware of this plan as he is out when the messenger arrives so when his friend Balthasar learns of the death he immediately travels to tell Romeo. With Romeo thinking his love is dead he takes the risk of going back to Verona to say his final farewell to Juliet, when he arrives he is automatically spotted and the police, once Romeo had purchased poison he makes his way to the church.Soon enough, father Lawrence learns that Romeo has no idea Juliet is actually still alive. Inside the church Romeo drinks the poison which begins to kill him.. just as Juliet begins to wake, she realizes it’s too late and takes his gun to her head, Killing her instantly. Act 1 scene 1, we see several men from two families (the Capulet’s and the Montague’s) take part in a fight led by Tybalt, a Capulet and Juliet’s cousin, and Benvolio, Rom eo’s cousin and therefore a Montague.This is where we get the feel of absolute hatred between the two families. A loathing which has been passed down through generations, started between Lord Capulet, an overpowering and very controlling man and Lord Montague and equally powerful man. We are first introduced to Lord Capulet when he gets involved in a fight between Sampson, Gregory Benvolio and Tybalt. He is shown to be aggressive and confrontational because he says ‘What noise is this?Give me long sword ho! ’ as soon and he arrives. Which could indicate he doesn’t think about what he says and can be immature as well as how willing he is to get involved in the pointless feud, this is until Prince informs them ‘Once more, on pain of death, all men depart’ which implies if there is another street both Lord Capulet, Lord Montague and any other men involved will be executed, This is when Lord Capulet’s mood changes and he becomes calm.In Act 1 scene 2 Lord Capulet seems calm and willing to make peace with Lord Montague, we know this because he says ‘†¦ ‘tis not hard, I think for men so old as we to keep the peace. ’ ‘†¦ _we_ to keep the peace’ This shows he is trying to approach Lord Montague in an equal and friendly manor as he accepts there cannot be any more violent outbreaks in the streets anymore. We next see Lord Capulet in the Capulet household in the midst of a party when he is calmly talking to Paris about his daughter Juliet.Women in the Elizabethan age could refuse marriage but would be disowned by their families. In the beginning of Romeo and Juliet, Lord Capulet thinks Juliet is ‘too young’ and ‘still a stranger to the world’ . This is showing himself to be a very caring and loving father, this could be because he has no other children and could also be the reason he treats Tybalt like the son he never had. He refuses Prince the hand of hi s daughter because he doesn’t want to lose her yet, he goes on to change his mind later in the story.In the next scene Romeo Montague gatecrashes the Capulet’s party, Lord Capulet appears to be very respected by Tybalt because when Romeo is spotted and threatened by him, Lord Capulet looks at him and says â€Å"Content thee, Gentle coz, let him alone;† He goes on to say â€Å"Here in my house do him no disparagement; Therefore be patient, take no note of him; It is my will, the which if thou respect†.This is showing himself to be a fair man, treating his family and his enemy’s son the same and shows that he is clever, powerful and respected as he doesn’t want to make a scene in public and in front of his friends and family, Surprisingly Tybalt doesn’t go against his word at all, he listens and respects the wishes of his uncle. Shakespeare is showing this man to be kind and rational, we make a judgment at this stageon how he isnâ€℠¢t reacting to the fact Romeo is his the son of his arch-rival. In this scene Lord Capulet also compliments Romeo by calling him ‘A virtuous and well governed youth’ which shows how relaxed he is about the young Montague’s presence because we couldn’t imagine him complimenting an enemy in such a way. By the next point in the story, Tybalt and Mercutio are dead and we start to get an idea of what sort of a man Lord Capulet really is.In Act 3 Scene 4 he changes his mind and allows Prince to marry Juliet for a few reasons i. e. He wants her to be married and settled to a man he approves of, He wants to be proud of her, He wants her to be married to a man who has money, is generous, powerful and respected †¦ not knowing that she is already married to Romeo. After Tybalt is killed we know Juliet is devastated because she locks herself in her room, only letting Romeo in because he appears on her balcony, unbeknown to her father.We also know Tybalt’s death isn’t the only reason for her upset the other reason she is in such shock is the fact her ‘true love’, Romeo, is the reason for Tybalt’s death although her father doesn’t know , if he knew Romeo and Juliet were married she would be disowned by him and the rest of their family. Lord Capulet decides to bring the wedding forward in order to cheer her up, we know this because he says ‘She loved her kinsman Tybalt dearly’, He sees the wedding of his only child an opportunity to lift the mood after such death in the family.Unfortunately Juliet doesn’t want to marry Prince because she is in love with the now banished, Romeo. When Lady Capulet tells Juliet of her husband’s plans for her to be wed ‘early next Thursday morn’ she is surprised but refuses and tells her mother ‘When I do marry, I swear, It shall be Romeo, whom you know I hate, rather than Paris’ , We can tell from this sentence that she hasn’t told her mother of her relationship with Romeo and that her mother thinks Juliet hates Romeo for killing Tybalt.As Lord Capulet enters her room he immediately describes her body as a ‘fountain’ and says ’in one little body thou counterfeit’s a bark, a sea, a wind, For thy eyes, which I may call the sea, Do ebb and flow with tears. Thy bark thy body is, Sailing in this salt flood. Thy winds thy sighs†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ Which shows us he is concerned about her and her wellbeing, showing him to be a caring father for a split-second. He is angered when he hears that she will not bemarrying Paris and disowns her straightaway, he says unforgivable things to her such as ‘Out, you green sickness, carrion! Out you baggage! You tallow face’ he also calls her a ‘Disobedient wretch’ He goes on to say ‘Get thee to church o’ Thursday, Or never after look me in the face’ , so he’s saying she either marries Pa ris or she’ll lose her father, She has to make the decision. There is a suggestion of physical violence when Lord Capulet exclaims ‘My fingers itch.’Implying he wants to hit her for disrespecting him by disagreeing with him. He reminds her of the importance of family and marrying to obtain a high status, we know this because he says ‘And having now provided A gentleman of A noble parentage, Of fair demesnes, youthful and nobly trained, stuffed as they say, with honorable parts’ he describes Paris in this way because he is trying to persuade Juliet to marry him, its as if he doesn’t want to disown her.Lord Capulet decides that she can ‘No longer house with me’ unless she marries Paris and he would rather see her beg, starve and die in the streets than live with her if she doesn’t go through with the marriage. Lord Capulet’s behavior in this scene shocks us because we are used to seeing him as a caring and loving fathe r towards Juliet and we don’t expect him to go this far when she refuses because he has seemed like a calm man in previous scenes. It’s sad to see his behavior change this dramatically towards her because a father should look out for his daughter.It’s also sad to see because it was his decision and she hasn’t had a choice in the matter at all and the feud between the Montague’s and Capulet’s was started between the two fathers so it isn’t Juliet’s fault and she should be able to see Romeo if she wants to. During the play, the language Lord Capulet uses to describe Juliet changes a lot. In the beginning of the play he describes her as ‘still a stranger to the world’ and ‘too young to marry’ which shows he is a caring father.He is looking out for his daughter and by saying she is too young to marry, he is trying to protect her from growing up too fast. His behavior towards her changes vastly when she ref uses to marry Paris possibly because he has spent time trying to protect her and now she throws it back in his face by disagreeing with him. Although Lord Capulet is unaware of the fact she is already married, she has just delayed being disowned by her father by keeping her marriage to Romeo a secret.We notice the change immediately  because one minute he’s describing her sadness and acting like he cares about her enough to be concerned about her happiness and then he change into a stubborn and, what seems like, a care-free father . We notice the change when he says ‘What is this? â€Å"Proud† and â€Å"I thank you† and â€Å"I thank you not† And yet not â€Å"proud†? Mistress minion you. ’ We don’t think he is capable of disowning his only child but he continues to call her ‘Baggage’ and ‘Green sickness’ which shows just how upset and angry he is with her.He uses harsh words by saying ‘An you b e mine, I’ll give you my friend. An you be not, Hang, beg, starve, die in the streets, For, my soul, I’ll ne’er acknowledge thee, Nor what is mine shall never do thee good’ saying he no longer will want anything to do with her if she doesn’t marry Paris and he would rather see her beg, starve and die on the streets rather than give her somewhere to live and he’ll never want anything to do with her, however if she agrees to marry Paris then he will forgive her for disagreeing and she can stay living there etc.Act 4 scene 5, When Juliet is found ‘dead’ in her bedroom , Lord Capulet appears to be grief-stricken and genuinely upset even though he had said he would disown her if she didn’t marry Paris. His sadness over rules his power in this scene as he turns to Lady Capulet and says ‘ O Heaven! O wife, Look how our daughter bleeds! ’ showing that he is so upset, he doesn’t care about how he appears to any one else. We realise he doesn’t see how he is partly responsible for her ‘death’ by forcing her into a marriage just to bring joy to himself, not in fact thinking at all about what Juliet would want.If he had realised this, we may be able to feel more sympathetic towards him as he would have probably been really upset and angry with himself which, in turn, could have saved his daughter’s life when she awoke. When she does awake to find Romeo had poisoned himself, oblivious to the fact Juliet wasn’t dead at all, she shoots herself in the head with his gun so as they can be together after all, even if that means in a different life.We notice that Lord Capulet realises the feud between the two families have been to blame for the two lovers’ deaths because he offers Lord Montague his hand and overall peace between the Montague’s and Capulet’s, Again showing the loving and caring fatherly side to himself. Throughout the entire play L ord Capulet’s mood varies between a loving, concerned father and an angry, heartless, powerful man. There are 4 main points in his behaviour.In the beginning he comes across as a powerful man when he takes part in a fight , his attitude in this scene is limited as he seems to be this man who is only interested in showing the Montague family who owns the city. When he engages in a conversation with Paris about marrying Juliet, he becomes more of a caring father and try’s to look out for her by saying she is ‘Too young’ to marry and although he says she is ‘still a stranger to him? which suggests that he has doubts about her loyalty to him and this also shows an absence of trust in her.The next main point is when he changes again to become an angry and somewhat cold man, we think this because he feels let down and his fears of loyalty towards him are true to an extent. He decides to disown her as a daughter unless she marries Paris because he feels let down and he obviously though he was doing right by her. He says he would rather see her beg and die on the streets than stay in that house, he calls her ‘baggage’ which we can guess means she was a ‘mistake’.The last point we can gather how remorseful he is because he is totally overwhelmed with grief, we see the caring fatherly side to him for the last time in the final scene when the two lovers are found dead together in the chapel. We can tell he knows the feud has been the main reason for their deaths and rightly blames himself. We know how sorry he is when he offers peace to Lord Montague and we realise he has been a loving father and husband all the way through the play, he just thinks what he is doing (i. e. feuds, arranged marriages etc.) is all for the right reasons and he feels he is doing right by his family.He finally understands that his wants and Juliet’s wants were completely different and all that she wanted was irrelevant by him at the time. We feel sympathy for him at this final point in the play because we can see how he realises everything now and it’s now too late to make up for the mistakes he has made, The only thing he can do is make peace with his rival. Lord Capulet chose his power over his family and by doing so, two young people ended up dying, making this the perfect tragedy and love story.

Role Of Women In The Dolls House - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 4 Words: 1097 Downloads: 9 Date added: 2019/06/14 Category Literature Essay Level High school Tags: A Doll's House Essay Did you like this example? A dolls House by Ibsen reveals the underlying role of women during the time and the problems that arise from imbalance of power among men and women. Throughout the story, the main character Nora was treated like a child by her husband Torvald who has a habit of addressing Nora by her pet names which implies his personal convictions about her petite size and helpless condition. Norars way of thinking and her outlook on life as a mother and wife are both entirely led by her husbandrs power over her. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Role Of Women In The Dolls House" essay for you Create order In the play, women were expected to be well-behaved and obedient to their husbands at all times, and men were expected to act manly and not to demonstrate traits that would normally be considered feminine. Nora feels the societal pressure to act a certain way and when their relationships starts to face difficulties, their roles and expectations start to become challenged. Therefore, Nora protested against social expectations as a mother, first by breaking the rule of marriage drawback, and later by forming a step to leave her husband and three children in order to educate herself and value herself independence. In the case of Nora, due to the unfairly male dominated society, not only is she in a position to be a provider for her children, but also due to the demeaning attitudes of her father and husband she has remained in a state of arrested development her whole life. Although both characters have three children, they do not share the same attitude or feelings toward each other. The way Torvalds treats Nora shows his selfish intentions. Norars powerlessness was attractive to Torvald because he feel pleasure just by making her follow his commands at the expense of her dignity. He had to be in control especially when Nora is clueless about some fundamental malers ability to deal properly with financial matters. Nora expected Torvald to take the blame for her mistake while he also makes it clear that his reputation is more significant than his love for her or his children when he mentioned, no man would sacrifice his honor for the one he loves (Ibsen, 1192). This also shows the drawbacks in their marriage and the consequences of not having open and trustful communications with each other. The play is not just a narrative but also about personal development and gendered patterns of power in patriarchal culture. According to the article Feminism, Theatre Criticism, and the Modern Drama written by DiCenzo who mentioned that, A mother in society is supposed to be serving her children and her husband to survive but in fact Nora was risking and sacrificing her life a lot more than him. In this story, Nora, Mrs. Linde, and the maid all hold sacrificial roles designated by the society they are in. Nora wears a mask, on the outside shers respectful to her husband but on the inside she lacks recognition and love that Torvald wasnt eager to give. Norars mask of the sacrificial housewife changed into one of a strong self-confident and independent women. Consequently, it presents how A Dolls House moves away from the romantic genre to a presentatio n of an objective reality. Torvald took advantage of Norars weakness and childish actions as he continues to demean women. In act three, he told Nora in a frustrated tone that, Youve destroyed all my happiness. Youve ruined my future, I have to sink to such depths of agony all because of a thoughtless women (Ibsen, 1183). He treated her as an irresponsible child that he has to discipline for doing something wrong instead of behaving like a husband disappointed in his wifers action. He continues talking to everyone during that time about the fact that women not being smart enough to do anything without a man. Nora was just sitting there and not putting any sort of fight because she believes the man has all the power in the house and Nora should just respect his choices. Moreover, he makes it clear that he does not appreciate much of womenrs abilities. In fact, he doesnt care about how Norars action will impact her but only how it will impact him. According to the article The Doll House Backlash: Critic ism, Feminism, and Ibsen by Templeton, Torvald lectured her on the matters of lying for less than three days. The article stated that both men and women share the same interests and that should be relevant in social determinations. It discussed the Norars need to find a solution and described how the confrontation between Nora and Torvald made her develop her own choices. Norars decision to leave her husband represents the breaking of the foundation of social expectations for women. Nora took a position equal to that of her husband rather than staying in the marriage. Ibsen illustrated that men and women should be equal partners in marriage with equal authorities and freedom. For instance, Nora tells Torvald at the end, You arranged everything according to your own taste, and so I got the same tastes as you or pretended to (Ibsen, 1195). She was ready to leave with her suitcase, abandons her ring, which was a symbol of her role in the marriage. Nora decided, I must try to educate myself and I must do that by myself (Ibsen, 1193). She doesnt refer to herself as just a woman or a man but just as a regular human because she wanted equality, which is contrary to the gender imbalance of having different levels of power in that time period. Ibsen used Mrs. Linde character to challenge traditional differences of society, while Nora was restricted in isolated space. Nora was inspired by Mrs. Linde and Mrs. Linde was an example to show that earning her own money and being independent was no harm. In conclusion, A Dolls House challenges mistaken beliefs about womenrs roles. Nora transformation from a doll, a possession whose goal was to make her husband feel pleasure, into a human being. Ibsen represents women as human beings with honors as well as faults. Nora is not just a doll with the duties of a wife but also has duties to herself, which caused her to leave her family. The ethical conflicts at the center of A Dolls House are among love and law, emotion and mind, feminine and masculine. Nora abandoned eight long years of marriage due to lack of respect and power because she was considered inferior by Torvald. Ibsen focused on the fate of marriage due to the equality of both spouses, the dominance of the husband, and the self-fulfillment of women.