Compare the Ways in Which the Roles of Women are Portrayed Essay

When focusing explicitly on the question of a cleaning ladys seemingly ever-evolving status, star would constantly compass it to be a working progress of the char and the rise of her independence. So, wherefore when analysing some(prenominal), The Wife of bathroom and dying of a Salesman do these roles of the most heavy(a) women seem to be in turnabout? The history of a womanhoods autonomy branches outwards from the past, and so enforcing the theme of a woman, lifetime in an earlier period, to exist under luxuriously demands of fulfilling the traditional expressive position.Yet with regards to Chaucers statement, why is it that Alisoun is up to(p) to possess characteristics that are two a controversy for the fourteenth atomic number 6 during in which it was written, and to a sure extent, this era momentarily? On the an some other(prenominal) hand, the 1950s oddment of a Salesman harbours a heroine who remains true to her decades basic ruling on how twain a woman and a married woman should last to be, consequently presenting Linda Loman as a stock character.With a distance of 6 centuries, is there an abstruse inclination to why both the effeminate protagonists are depicted in an unusual fashion, and tot bothy out of the ordinary when its mise en scene is grown into account, or, is this simply the writers attempt to manifest some sort of a response, whether it be mere shock, indulgent laughter, or utter appreciation? The titles totally contain an instantaneous conception on how both women are represent concurrently. The Wife of Bath obtains an immediate link to Alisoun, un uniform Death of a Salesman which simply refers to Willy Loman and includes no innuendo of his wife Linda.Alisouns ownership of the tale is reinforced by the noun Wife as a direct necktie to her, suggesting that she is the focal point of the tale. But is she? The prologue is definitely in her possession with her martial history cosmos the key plot however th e tale on the other hand clearly centres the knight as the protagonist, consequently endorsing the reference to make an initial judgment on Alisouns character as one which is strong enough to acquire her own title.Maybe Chaucers main purpose was to make his eponymous hero a fe masculine to either stagger the earshot by the pragmatical meaning of this whereby much(prenominal) power and eminence is handed to a fe potent character, or to purely ridicule a woman with any supremacy, and in effect, is symbolic since it contains the intention of formulating humour for an audience animated in a 14th century world. With this reasoning in mind, the common use of the noun Wife would then beget a more abstract version of this since, in essence, this is merely an conception of her control and alliance to the city.Perhaps the title The Wife of Bath stinkpot be decoded then as a euphemism that solely associates with Alisouns, Housbandes at chirche dore I scram had five- This has been tran slated as a misrepresentation of her being promiscuous which uses hyperbole to reinforce the concept and also assists in the beginning of a travesty adaptation of a woman who is unlike most others. On the contrary, since Death of a Salesman purely refers to Willy, this would consequently oblige how dominating the male sexual practice had been in the early 50s.In relation to Linda however, the absence of any innuendo of her in the title holds a vital insight of how she is portrayed through and through the play itself. This maintains the persistent imagery of Linda conserving her private role as a housewife, and to an extent, Willys constant positive conscience, Willy I suddenly couldnt find anymore. Linda Maybe it was the steering wheel again. The adverb Maybe certainly exhibits some hesitation with Lindas response indicating that even though she may non inviolately know what Willy invites, she knows it is necessary for her to provide a reasonable answer that bequeath h elp ease the blame off Willy, facilitating the assumption of Lindas loyalty to her husband, even during the worst of times. Arthur Millers intention of having no intension to Linda in the title could be indeed for the purpose of supporting the idea of her selflessness compared to Willys egotistical behaviour.This theory of Lindas ignored gentleness is also demonstrated when Willy commits suicide. I dissolvet understand it. This simp heelic sentence is most comm nevertheless used with the verb do non/ male parentt, notwithstanding, semantically, Miller permits Linda to unusually phrase this with the modal auxiliary verb and the nagator cant to express her rejection towards comprehending his refusal of living life fully. Perhaps the importance of this approach was to portray incisively how vulnerable and helpless not just Linda, but the rest of the female population was in the 50s.As if to say it had nobody to do with the capacity of the female brain but the knowledge of wher e that woman should remain to be. The title is therefore a description of Lindas personality and depicts just how much Linda is taken for granted. In the earliest stage directions of Death of a Salesman, the lexis used to describe Linda Loman all relate to the semantic domain of household items and the act of obeying a person stirred iron repression admires perceive Semantically, theses lexicons relate to the play itself.The stative adverb admire implies Linda may not retrieve worthy of Willy therefore she can only take a leak a high regard for him and not the ability to put herself in his position. According to this then, Linda could be summarized as a character that has a low opinion of herself. The semblance to household items proves to be crucial since it could be categorized as an exposition, introducing the audience to Lindas most prominent characteristic. A more modern audience, and in particular contemporary women, would argue that this was very demeaning since it impl ies this was all they are known for.Throughout the description of the Wife from the General prologue, the audience obtains a direct inkling of her character. Housbandes at chirche dore she hadde five This sentence delivers an eye waster as to what Alisouns social status is. Since only the elite managed to adopt inside of a church, this would then imply that from the age of 12, Alisoun has hypotheticly not ascended the ladder of social mobility. The syntax of this however creates some hesitancy to take on the true number of her failed married couples. Given that she leaves the actual amount five bowl last reinforces the idea of her true emotions towards them.The similarity between Linda and Alisoun then would be that aside from the fact that one woman has had considerably more partners than the other Alisoun is becalm in search of love, remaining to be ever voluntary to find her true match. This is further proven with the syntax from the quotation. As Housbandes is the introd uctory word in the sentence, it indicates she finds pleasure in having a husband because of the sine qua non to articulate the concrete noun Housbandes, de go against the fact that they were all failures. Lindas criminal offense is that she loves her only husband far too much.It is evident that in spite of her devotion to Willy, he still ignores her and takes her for granted, Linda- Take an acetylsalicylic acid. Should I get you an aspirin? Itll soothe you. Willy- I was driving on, you understand? Here it is visible that Willy does acquit his wife completely by his sudden change in topicality and the flouting of the Grices maxim of relevance. Perhaps this is due to the way he perceives Linda, and the minimal detect he has for her. This is further evident with his tag question, you understand? Unlike robin redbreast Lakoffs female language theory, this does not abide by her rules. In her opinion these tag questions imply a need for some support instead than a critical remar k. However it is obvious that Willy does not require any backing since he is the most dominant speaker. The pragmatics of this statement draw how much of a low disregard he has on Lindas capability of understanding such a simple concept as driving, consequently suggesting he does, in actual fact, take his loving wife for granted. Millers intentions here differ depending on the gender perspective.Since this is one of many occurrences where Willy insults Lindas in severalizeigence, this provides evidence of her complete devotion to her husband. Perhaps this mirrors the humans of the 1950s female audience therefore Millers want in creating such a character was simply to please the existing female population at that time and nothing more. From a male point of view following the same thesis of art imitating life, Willys ability to comport both control and authority over Linda would have also been Millers method in satisfying the male audience.Lindas speech also indicates some reluc tance of being plain-spoken towards her husband. Take an aspirin. Should I get you an aspirin? This reads to be an almost repaired statement, beef up the notion of her delicacy when interacting with her husband. Depending on the stage direction as to how this is supposed to be acted out, another contention could be that Lindas true being slipped out for a moment. The unusual abruptness of the first of all sentence followed by the modal verb Should may imply how Linda must always remain to be conscious of the words she speaks even if she lawfully isnt like that.This could possibly have been Millers subtle approach in exposing just how human a woman truly is. Lindas character is one that appears to be mete outful in every action she undertakes, Alisoun on the other hand gives the impression of being self-sufficient in her decisions. What that he mente therby, I kan nat seyn But that I axe, why the fifthe man Was non housbonde to the Samaritan? How manye mighte she have in marri age? Yet herde I nevere tellen in myn age Upon this nombre diffinicioun. In a Russian Formalist literary opinion, her attitude here in this verse would suggest she is risque and very defensive of her deeds.By allowing an illiterate female commoner quarrel basic Christian belief, Chaucer invites an astonishing controversial angle on reality. An audiences response to this from the 14th century would be of great annoyance towards Alisoun since she occupies no abundant background to express such a powerful opinion. According to the first line What that he mente therby, I kan nat seyn this also suggests that her judgment is based on a more personal outlook rather than facts. From my own twenty-first century perspective following the same Russian Formalist fundamentals, this verse stands to be an opinion and nothing more.Alisouns analysis may not have changed but the reaction from the audience would have instead. In actual fact, her busybodied manner would have been one that would h ave been valued despite of her gender. careless(predicate) of the fact that both texts are fictional, their mediums exhibit various conclusions since The Wife of Bath is classed as poetry there are some limitations as to what could have been written. It would appear that Chaucers main objective was to entertain the listener rather than being factual. This is evident due to the consistent structure of rhyming couplets and alliteration. Somme seyde women loven go around richesse, Somme seyde honour, somme seyde jolinesse, There is a distinctive pattern here which works passim the rest of the tale. Seeing as though there are no breaks or clear stanzas in the poem, the use of parallelism suggests that a list is about to form without abiding by the usual formation of a list. The rhyming, alliteration and sibilance Somme seyde richnesse jolinesse, adds emphasis on the ideas explored throughout the tale in a way which amuses an audiences of any age.Death of a Salesman has none of these restrictions, whereby no rules or patterns are needed to be followed. Miller is able to write as he wishes, therefore could it be said that this enables him to write according to the truth? As an audience we are only ever permitted to listen and gestate the characters opinions. This limits exactly how much we should class as sensible and thus acts as a confinement of plays in general. The importance of this does not only rest on how valid these texts are historically. In context of use to the essay question, the mediums affect the way the theme of power is portrayed.With the aid of humour, Chaucer is able to manipulate how the audience perceives the unusual occurrence of a woman who owns such authority. This comedy enables the audience to interpret the dubious topics mentioned in the prologue half -heartedly therefore suggesting that the text cant completely be taken seriously. conversely Death of a Salesman does not include many entertaining scenes to restrain the control Willy has over Linda and consequently Miller sanctions the audience into producing their own take on the subjects referred to all through the play.Sometimes a womans basic actions can be justified by her experiences. Alisoun has the ability to leave such intense concepts because of her endless incidents in the past. Her characters disposition appears to be licentious which consequently enables an audience to reign in on their annoyance of her. Chaucer has portrayed Alisoun in a way which can only be described as caricature. What should be taken into consideration is that possibly Chaucers overall intention when creating such an exaggerated character like the wife was to humour the audience with the ridicule of a woman with such freedom.Or perhaps it was to produce a character like no other that owns the ability to question the acts of society and their standard beliefs. Out of the entire Canterbury Tales there are only two women who possess the ability to tell their story the Prioress and the Wife. Since the Prioress already maintains the basics of a 14th century woman graciously, Alisoun is possibly Chaucers technique in inventing a woman who stands for everything the ordinary woman of that time would not and as a result, portrays life on each end of the pole for all types of audiences to experience.Lindas character owns a front which, even after the analysis, maintains the idea of an Y2K compliant wife. However, the initial idea of her abiding by this characteristic has evidently changed. Yes, she still sticks by with her husband, even after affairs and a lack of care and attention, but is she not a stronger woman in spite of all this? Alisoun has the ability to end her marriage as soon as it goes faulty as if to say she is still searching for her ideal man and so self-sufficient that she refuses to lead a miserable life, yet Linda remains to be as courteous as ever even after the marital problems.For a 1950s audience, Miller birthed a female icon, a woman who exists in a realist play regarding the common aspiration of the attempts at control the American Dream. All in all, the roles which appeared to be in reverse now seem to walk side by side along the path of independence. Six centuries apart, diverse situations at hand but both individualistically vigorous women ready to undertake what life has planned for the both of them.