Damsel in distress

Mr. Shiftner in Flannery O’Connor’s “The Life You Save May be Your Own” is, as his name suggest, very shifty. He tricks the old woman and her daughter to get away from his troubled past. When Mr. Shiftner first appears in the story, he smooth talks the old woman to first get on her good side. He says to her, “‘I’d give a fortune to live where I could see a sun do that every evening’”(1082). Since the woman and her daughter see the gracious sunrise and sunset every morning it peaks their…

English Curriculum Speech I believe that the ENG 3U1 curriculum would benefit from the addition of a movie by the name of The Princess Bride. The Princess Bride was directed by Rob Reiner and screenplay was written by William Goldman in 1987, who also wrote the same 1973 novel the movie is based off of. It follows the adventures of a peasant named Westley and his journey into a fantastical world filled with pirates, royalty and miracles. The story starts off with Westley falling in love with a…

because of how Kate is able to be assertive and insulting. In Taming of the Shrew, Katherine says, “If I be waspish, best beware my sting” (II.i.208). Katherine is insulting Petruchio in this scene and shows how Shakespeare did not play her as a damsel in distress but as a strong, independent woman. Minton also presents Petruchio as not a misogynist because he compliments Kate from the beginning. Petruchio says, “But Kate, the prettiest Kate in Christendom” (II.i.181).…

It is rare to see a slim, hour glassed shaped, D-cup, and round butted woman walking along the streets of the city. Not all women act like helpless princesses, waiting for their prince charming to sweep them to safety. Also, it is illegal to sexually or violently harass anyone of any gender. However, in many games, the law, and logic does not apply to the virtual NPCs (non-playable character). Objectification and sexual abuse toward women existed for a long period of time, as it was used to…

The Mortal God A god turned mortal, a young outcast with godlike strength journeys into the world to become a god once more. As young Hercules travels outside his village, he trains to be a hero, faces enemies and pretty damsel named Megara that will change his life. Only then, when he is seen a true hero, he will be satisfied. In Hercules, this Disney movie is based off Greek mythlogy. The outcast Hercules searches to be a true hero, ultimately he will conquer every obstacle that will lead…

Kathryn Boyd, in her analysis of Dracula, questions whether the actual status of Mina in the novel is exemplified as her tale of female empowerment or female subjugation. The portrayal of Mina has often been considered to be demeaning since she has become an intentional part of Dracula’s revenge. Boyd examines the idea of Mina being a figure who exemplifies the injustice that women felt during Stoker’s era, where women were merely used in a man’s world for their pleasure. Boyd uses a clear,…

The fairy-tale Little Snow-White written by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, demonstrates numerous examples of stereotypical “damsel in distress” behaviour, from a Feminist perspective. Within the first paragraph of the text, Snow-White’s mother sits “sewing at her window”, a job most women would have to complete in this period. The antagonist of the story is a powerful female, but her only concern is “if anyone might surpass her in beauty”. The entire plot of the fairy-tale, is an angry woman, trying…

The constructionist views of gender and sexuality is the way an individual is born either male or female. With this in mind the constructionist view gender as a social structure and acknowledge that masculinity and femininity as one way of classifying individuals, but they realize that each society and each past society’s time period differs when it comes to defining masculinity and femininity (Ferris, p.246). The constructionist view has changed the way society identity’s an individual…

Chivalry is defined as the moral code for knights. It states that courage and courtesy are the expected qualities of the ideal knight. Nowadays, our culture does not have knights running around but Emily Esfahani Smith believes it is still relevant. Furthermore, I disagree with her and believe that we have evolved as a society for a reason. Chivalrous acts include a man pulling out the chair for a woman, putting his coat over a puddle, and opening the door. These are the qualities of a true…

Part One: Judith Lorber describes gender in a three focused aspects. One of these aspects is gender as a process. What Lorber means when she describes gender as a process is that there are societal expectations depending on the gender you receive at birth. In our society, we have created characteristics and assigned them to specific genders and then expect everyone to agree on those set attributes. There are differences in the behaviors and attitudes that are deemed acceptable or unacceptable…