The Contrast By Royall Tyler Analysis

Mary Rowlandson tells a gripping personal narrative about her capture by Indians, how this affected her, her family, and the remainder of her life. Benjamin Franklin depicts his life through his personal narrative, escaping the toxic control of his brother, to becoming a truly successful and happy individual. Two very different texts have similarities all the same, while continuing to be different. If we look at the reasons they wrote personal narratives, at a time writers had to justify why they were writing pieces to the public, we can see similarities. Both Rowlandson and Franklin write about being removed from their homes, which is a similarity but there are differences in why. There is also a difference in their motivations, or for whom …show more content…
The play The Contrast by Royall Tyler does just that. The play is centered around the societal norms of arranged marriages, also commenting on the pitfalls of this. Billy Dimple is characterized as the man who takes advantage of this system. Maria Van Rough is the innocent daughter who disadvantages of such an unloving union, or the attempt of such. Colonel Henry Manly is the idealized man in society. Tyler does a good job bringing together multiple personalities through his different characters, giving a good representation of the different types of people during this time, as American …show more content…
She embodies feminist qualities, fighting for herself, and her emotions, wants, needs, and even desires. She despises the idea of being forced to marry Billy Dimple, and eventually falls in love with a wonderful idealized man by the name of Colonel Henry Manly. She loves reading, and uses it as an escape or a place to fulfill her dreams and fantasies. She is seen negatively by her father for this, as if its forming her into an individual who is going to go against societal norms, or the place of a women. Maria is every woman who knows it is unfair to marry someone not of her choosing, or for money, because women are not objects. She eventually gets what she deserves, which is marrying a man out of love, and her own