Biff's self realisation

I think that by the end of the play, Biff does achieve a certain level of self realisation. Throughout the play, he has been striving to achieve "the american dream", an idea Willy put in Biff's head, "you blew me so full of hot air". Biff says "why am I trying to become what I don't want to be?" showing he has finally realised that he doesn't want to work in an office, "what am I doing in an office", and that he wants to be outside with "the things that I love in this world". It also becomes apparent that Biff realises that it is Willy who has made Biff chase the things he doesn't want. The line "Why can't I say that, Willy?" hints that Biff thinks it is Willy's fault he has wasted his time and he is blaming him for it. He says "I'm nothing...that's just what I am, that's all" showing he has realised and accepted who he is.

I think Biff's self realisation does add to the tragedy because his realisation causes another in Willy, albeit a misguided one. Biff's realisation serves as the trigger for Willy to act and ultimately kill himself. Willy is utterly convinced he is making the best choice for Biff, "it's the best thing" when he has just misinterpreted what Biff was telling him. Biff's realisation also creates a peak in the tension. All of the things that Biff never said to Willy coming spilling out in rapid succession, creating lots of pace, which adds to the tension.

Are Willy's self destructive actions caused by an attempt to act ethically?

To some extent, yes, but to a much larger extent, no. For example, Willy tries to act as a good father to his children, but ends up pushing them in the wrong direction. He encourages stealing but makes excuses for it, "Oh, nerves of iron, that Biff!". He also encourages popularity rather than intelligence saying "the man who makes an appearance... is the man who gets ahead". I don't think that Willy is purposefully bringing up his children the wrong way, I think that he is bringing them up with emphasis on the character traits that he deems to be most important, such as "nerves" and being "well liked". As a result of Willy trying to be a good father, he is in fact bringing his children up wrongly.

After this, pretty much none of his actions are caused by an attempt to act ethically. For example, Willy doesn't make use of the skills he has. He is a very practical man, shown when Charlie is impressed with the ceiling Willy puts up, "Yeah, that's a piece of work", but thinks it is normal for a man to be so good with tools, "a man who can't handle tools is not a man". If Willy wanted, he could use his skills to get another job, more suited to the things he is good at, but his warped idea of what a man should be like means he does not.

Another example is how he cheats on his wife with "the Women". This action is caused in no way by an attempt to act ethically. It is caused by the fact that Willy has a very low self-esteem, and "the Women" 's attraction to him makes him feel better about himself, shown by the repetition of "you picked me?". This shows that action is completely selfish. The guilt from being unfaithful eats away at Willy's conciousness and causes great amounts of guilt, probably resulting in him feeling worse than he did before the affair.

P + P Characters.

How does Austen create her characters in chapter 11?

In chapter 11 Austen uses a variety of techniques to create her characters. For example, at the very start of the chapter, Elizabeth’s opinions are merged with the narrator’s, which gives them authority. This creates Elizabeth as a character whose opinion is very important in the novel, and because she could be seen as the main character, this makes sense.

Elizabeth’s opinions also shows the behaviour of some of the other characters, namely Miss Bingley. Elizabeth says she has “never seen them so agreeable as they were during the hour...before the gentlemen appeared” but when the gentlemen do appear “Miss Bingley’s eyes were instantly turned towards Darcy”. This shows that Miss Bingley is attracted to Darcy, and so much so that she quickly changes her focus to him, completely ignoring the other characters. This could also show that she is a fickle character, as her interest changed so quickly. Also, the fact that this happens right at the start of the chapter sets up the rest of the chapter as we can assume her primary focus will be to get Darcy to pay her attention.

The way the men introduce themselves also gives us a small insight into their characters. Darcy introduces himself with “polite congratulation” which shows him to be a formal character. Austen then uses the word “but” to show contrast between Mr Darcy and Mr Bingley, as Mr Bingley is “full of joy and attention” which is the direct opposite of what Mr Darcy is.

The omniscient narrator gives us extra information on the characters, allowing the reader to see the subtle behaviour of the characters that would have otherwise been missed. For example, “Darcy took up a book, Miss Bingley did the same”. This shows that Miss Bingley followed Darcy’s example and mimicked him, which in turn shows her attraction to him as she may be trying to show him that she has similar interests. We then discover she is “quite exhausted by the attempt to be amused with her own book” which shows her to be a deceitful and inconsistent character as she feigned interest in her book so as to appear appealing to Mr Darcy. Also, later on when Elizabeth stands up, “Mr Darcy looked up”. This subtle movement shows his attraction to her and we would not have known about it if the narrator had not informed us of it.

Dialogue in the chapter shows the character’s opinions of one another. For example, when Elizabeth and Mr Darcy engage in a relatively long conversation, the word “said” is removed, so that their speech directly follows on from what the other person has said. This makes the conversation seem more intimate. Also, Elizabeth causes Darcy to change his mind, “But pride – where there is a real superiority of mind, pride will always be under good regulation” which shows she has an affect over his opinion, which causes us to think that he is attracted to her. Miss Bingley is shown to be a jealous character through her speech, “Your examination of Mr Darcy is over, I presume”. This line shows her resentment at the fact that she is not included in their conversation and her eagerness to end it, which also shows her to be quite a rude character.

Elizibeth Bennet

Elizibeth Bennet.

Elizibeth Bennet is the main protagonist in Pride and Prejudice, it is through her eyes we view most of the events that occur throughout the novel and it is her whose travels we usually follow. She is the second oldest of the Bennet sisters and is presented as an intelligent, witty, good humoured girl. She is considered good looking, although Mr Darcy at first rejects her as "not handsome enough" but is later drawn to her "fine eyes" and "light and pleasing" figure.

She has a "playful disposition which delights in anything ridiculous" which we find out when Darcy insults her, as she proceeds to retell the story to her friends with great amusement.

We find out she is strong in her opinions which we see when she debates about marriage with Charlotte, showing she is an intelligent, opinionated girl and not frightened of sharing her views. This is also shown when the imposing character of Lady de bourgh argues with her, but

Elizibeth holds her own.

Although she is intelligent and quick-witted, she is not without fault. She has a tendency to make rash, hasty judgements which lead her astray. She is quick to believe Wickham's allegations about Darcy without knowing both sides or much about either person. Her willingness to accept Wickham's lies probably stemmed from her previous brief encounters with Darcy, at which he came across as proud and rude.

She is not the most feminine of the Bennet's. We see this when rather than taking the carriage to Netherfield, she walks across the fields, arriving dirty and red in the face. She does not care about other's opinions of her character, strengthening this idea of her being a strong character.

When Darcy first proposes, Elizibeth rejects him. This would be quite shocking in those times, given Darcy's wealth and social superiority. The fact Elizibeth rejects him shows her to be a proud character, as when he proposes, he also insults her. This shows she holds strong ideas and values that she lives to, one of them being she must be in love with the man she marries, or at least feel some affection towards them. Elizibeth later changes her views on Darcy, showing that although she is strong in her opinions, she is not unable to change and also shows she is able to accept her mistakes and move on.

Timeline

Fallen Women

A fallen women could mean many things, for example: A women who has tripped and now lays splayed across the floor, a women who has "fallen" from a high social standing to a lower social standing, a women who has been consumed by depression and sadness, a women who has become obsessed with drugs and has sacrificed her health because of it.

In my opinion, all of these ways of describing a fallen women seem reasonable, whereas I think the view taken by the villagers in Cousin Kate is not a reasonable view of a fallen women. I think that having sex out of wedlock does not take away a women's virtue or purity, but rather suggests a strong attraction to someone, in most cases anyway. Kate takes the same opinion in the poem, saying " to lead a shameless shameful life" showing that whilst she does not think it is a bad thing that she has done, others do.

I feel that women are viewed quite unfairly by society, in that they are seen in a bad light if they have sex with many people, whereas for a man it is fine to sleep with as many people as he wishes. The general view is quite a sexist one, but I can see why some people may take it. In some peoples eyes, it is easier for a women to have sex than it is for a man, so having sex with many men is abusing this "power", whereas for a man it requires more effort for him to have sex, so it is seen as an achievement, or in other words, not seen as a bad thing.

I feel it is unfair to consider a women a "fallen women" just because she has had sex before marriage. Although, nowadays, this is not as much a prominent view as it was years ago. It usually a view taken by the religious, and because I am not religious, I do not take this view.

On the topic of cousin Kate, I find her treatment unfair. I feel the poem has an underlying message of what I mentioned earlier, that men are allowed to do as they please and women cannot. The fact nobody challenges the man in the poem, and that he is described to be "sitting on high" makes him seem godlike. This may be trying to tell us that the view of men back then was they were more important than women, but not all women thought this way,as Kate feels her treatment was unjust and she is a strong enough women to figure out a plan to get her own back. This may be trying to show that not all women thought that men were so great, and that they could stand up for themselves.

Goblin Market + Erotic Interpretation

Goblin Market by Chistina Rossetti can be interpreted in many different ways. Some of these interpretations are strong and some are weak, depending on the amount of evidence that can be found to back up the interpretation. The interpretations that we looked at were: Erotic, Feminist, Marxist, Moral and Redemptive.

The group I was in looked at the erotic interpretation. We found that the fruit could be representative of the body, and partaking in the delights of eating the fruit could also be delights of the body. Fruit could also represent sperm, or "fruit of the loins", showing that Rossetti was trying to tell us that the goblin men want to spread the fruit of their loins, or tempt the girls into having sex. One of the descriptions of the fruit is"Unpecked cherries" which could represent virginity (unbroken hymen). Thus the eating of the fruit could represent the loss of virginity, and because Laura later eats the fruit, this could mean that she is losing her virginity. Laura's hair is golden and could represent innocence, but when she clips off a "golden lock" she is giving up her innocence to the goblin men, which could represent her succumbing to temptation. Also, the way she uses her hair as payment could be a reference to prostitution, as it is like her selling part of herself away in order to eat the fruit, or in other words have sex.

Also the goblin men are represented as very animalistic, they are shown only to have base desires such as mating and getting food. Rossetti shows this by showing only their desire to sell their fruit, which if interpreted in an erotic way could mean their desire for sex, or spreading their sperm. We also get an idea of Rossetti's thoughts on sex. Laura becomes very ill after eating the fruit, showing that it was a bad thing to do. This could represent Rossetti's thoughts which are sex is a sin, which is why Laura falls ill.

Throughout the poem there are various lines which could be interpreted to be implying sexual meaning such as "fruit globes" and "sucked and sucked". In my opinion, this interpretation of Goblin Market is not the strongest because there is only scattered examples throughout the poem, whereas with the Feminist interpretation, you can find eveidence for the poem as a whole but also smaller examples throughout the poem.