Compare and contrast the writers’ presentation of women
The presentation of women is a prominent theme in both Rebecca and Birthday letters. In Rebecca the narrator is shown as chained by the gender roles of her society. Written in 1938 Daphne Du Maurier breaks the conventions of society by creating a character and a story line that was deemed socially unacceptable at the time. In contrast Birthday Letters shows the biased interpretation of Ted Hugh’s and Sylvia Plath’s relationship which led to Sylvia becoming a feminist icon for many. Both texts explore women’s role in society and traditional conventions within marriage.
The novel Rebecca shows two presentations of women and is open for interpretation. …show more content…
The poem has little structure which could be related to Plath’s mental state in addition to the colour blue representing feeling of depression and misery reflecting that of Plath. Ted Hughes has the inability to move on in his life presenting women as powerful aspects in one’s life. Hughes produced Birthday letters 35 years after Sylvia’s death shows that he can neither move on and is still tormented and troubled by her death. While Sylvia’s death was expressed by Ted Hughes as weakness Rebecca’s manipulated her death to be powerful through traumatising Maxim. Afraid of the cancer diminishing her physical features shows shallowness and is contrasted to the narrator who is longing for Rebecca’s beauty showing signs of envy and jealousy. Rebecca had power not only over Maxim but also society “We could make you look so foolish that no one would believe you, Max, nobody at all.” she was able to manipulate the whole of society by portraying a perfect marriage. Daphne De Maurier does this to show how contextually, this would have been the only form of female construct with a semblance of power. Rebecca is proposing that Maxim’s claim of revelling her affairs could make him appear “foolish” as nobody will consider her to be indulging in affairs and it shows Maxim being powerless. Society at the time would have considered divorce socially unacceptable under many circumstances making Maxim allow Rebecca to carry on having her affair’s to protect his name portraying women as
The presentation of women is a prominent theme in both Rebecca and Birthday letters. In Rebecca the narrator is shown as chained by the gender roles of her society. Written in 1938 Daphne Du Maurier breaks the conventions of society by creating a character and a story line that was deemed socially unacceptable at the time. In contrast Birthday Letters shows the biased interpretation of Ted Hugh’s and Sylvia Plath’s relationship which led to Sylvia becoming a feminist icon for many. Both texts explore women’s role in society and traditional conventions within marriage.
The novel Rebecca shows two presentations of women and is open for interpretation. …show more content…
The poem has little structure which could be related to Plath’s mental state in addition to the colour blue representing feeling of depression and misery reflecting that of Plath. Ted Hughes has the inability to move on in his life presenting women as powerful aspects in one’s life. Hughes produced Birthday letters 35 years after Sylvia’s death shows that he can neither move on and is still tormented and troubled by her death. While Sylvia’s death was expressed by Ted Hughes as weakness Rebecca’s manipulated her death to be powerful through traumatising Maxim. Afraid of the cancer diminishing her physical features shows shallowness and is contrasted to the narrator who is longing for Rebecca’s beauty showing signs of envy and jealousy. Rebecca had power not only over Maxim but also society “We could make you look so foolish that no one would believe you, Max, nobody at all.” she was able to manipulate the whole of society by portraying a perfect marriage. Daphne De Maurier does this to show how contextually, this would have been the only form of female construct with a semblance of power. Rebecca is proposing that Maxim’s claim of revelling her affairs could make him appear “foolish” as nobody will consider her to be indulging in affairs and it shows Maxim being powerless. Society at the time would have considered divorce socially unacceptable under many circumstances making Maxim allow Rebecca to carry on having her affair’s to protect his name portraying women as