Strong Women in James Joyces Eveline, Henrik Ibsens A Dolls House, and Speras My Ex-Husband :: Joyce Eveline Ibsen Dolls Spera Ex Husban Essays

Strong Women in James Joyce's Eveline, Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House, and Spera's My Ex-Husband       "My Ex-Husband" by Gabriel Spera, "Eveline" by James Joyce, and A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen all feature strong women as central characters. These women show their strength by standing up for themselves, making self-sacrifices for the benefit of others, and rebelling against society's stereotypes.    The female persona in Spera's "My Ex-Husband" finds the strength to stand up for herself and her beliefs when faced with a cheating spouse. As the poem begins, the woman is preparing to leave on a date when her new beau notices a picture of the woman's ex-husband. She soon finds herself telling him the story behind their divorce. "He seems like any woman's perfect catch" (Spera 633), but she ultimately discovers that her spouse is disloyal to her, and he doesn't care "how slobbishly he [carries] on his affairs" (Spera 633). "Most women believe that if you love your partner, you wouldn't even be interested in an affair; therefore, if someone has an affair, it means that they don't love their partner and they do love the person they had the affair with" (Glass). The woman in Spera's poem feels that the man to whom she was married betrayed her, therefore she stands up for herself and leaves him behind.    Although it is not easy to pursue your dreams, it is even more difficult to give up those dreams for the interests of others. Eveline, the main character in James Joyce's short story by the same name, is torn between staying in her unhappy home with her father and leaving to find a life with her lover, Frank. Eveline made a promise to her dying mother "to keep the home together as long as she could" (Joyce 6). But because of her unfulfilling job and her verbally abusive alcoholic father, she begins toying with the idea of leaving with Frank. She believes if she goes with Frank, he will "give her life, perhaps love, too" (Joyce 6). Eveline is willing to sacrifice her chance of finding true love just so she can escape the confines of her life with her father. In the end, however, she chooses to keep her promise to her mother, and surrenders her dreams of a life of her own. Even though she desperately desires to leave, she finds the strength to stay in an unhappy situation so she can ca re for her father.

Psychology assignment Essay

Conformity involves a change in behaviour or opinion in order to fit in with a group. This may be family or peers (a membership group) or it may be pop and sports stars (a reference group). This group can be either a majority or a minority group. (S-cool Student Site)  Two processes have been identified in causing people to conform (Deutsch and Gerard (1955)), these are normative influence which often comes from peer pressure such as fear of rejection and wanting approval and informational influence which is the fear of looking unintelligent and believing others know better especially with something unfamiliar or difficult. There have been many studies done by psychologists into why people conform two examples of which are Zimbardo et al (1973) and Moscovici et al (1969) which are described as follows:  Zimbardos aim in his Stamford prison experiment was to examine conformity to social roles and expectations in other words to see the effect of making ‘good’, ‘normal’ people into prisoners and prison guards.  The procedure for the experiment was that twenty-four middle class male students who were mentally sound in tests and without any criminal convictions were paid fifteen dollars a day and divided into prisoners or guards by the flip of a coin. The prisoners were arrested at their homes, blindfolded and taken to the psychology Department of Stanford University that had been converted into a realistic prison. From there the prison regime was established, the three guards were given khaki uniforms dark glasses and wooden batons, the prisoners were issued uniforms and put into cells. They were informed that no physical aggression was permitted. The participants were then left to their roles of either prison guard or prisoner. The findings of the study were that the prison guards became more and more verbally and physically aggressive. The prisoners rebelled against the guards after only one day and fire extinguishers were used to control the prisoners. The prisoners became depersonalised and suffered emotional depression, one prisoner had to be released after only one day and two more on the fourth day. The study was abandoned after only six days instead of the planned fourteen. Zimbardo believes that the study demonstrated the powerful effect roles could have on people’s behaviour. The participants were ‘playing the role’ that they thought was expected of them in particular the stereotyped view of how prison guards behave. In other words they were conforming to an ‘unofficial script’. The prison environment played an important part in how the guards behaved as none had shown sadistic tendencies before the study. The study has been criticized because of the lack of informed consent the participants had and the humiliation and distress experienced by the prisoners. Zimbardo was also criticised for acting the role of ‘prison superintendent’. In Zimbardos defence he only found out himself late on that he had the backing of the police to do the arrest and there was no time to tell the participants. He also couldn’t really tell them what was going to happen without it becoming unrealistic. The study was stopped early and the participants had no lasting effects from the study, after extensive debriefing and follow-ups years later. Infact they revealed they had learned an important lesson in that we can all be overwhelmed by social influences. Zimbardo himself now acknowledges that he shouldn’t of acted the role of superintendent but still believes that there should still be an independent monitor in this sort of research so that not only are the participants protected valuable information can also be acquired.

Essay about Fate vs. Free Will (Oedipus Rex) - 607 Words

Fate vs. Free Will Sophocles creates a world that makes the reader think about the complex and mysterious battle between fate and free will in his play Oedipus The King. To the characters, fate is real and that’s what they believe in. The audience sees that Oedipus is the one making the divisions and altimetry it is himself that leads to his downfall. Apollo, the Greek god of prophecy, intellectual pursuits and pelage, told Oedipus about his tragic future. When we first encounter Oedipus we don’t see any way that he could escape such a tragic down fall. Oedipus is in search of the truth, he does everything in his power, even when every one warns him to stop searching. When he refuses to listen he shows that he does have some†¦show more content†¦Jocasta and Laius never actually made sure that Oedipus was killed. Oedipus references this at the end of the play: If Id died then, Id never have dragged myself, my loved ones through such hell (Sophocles) If this play is only about fate that takes control of Oedipus life, then Sophocles theme was that no man really has free choice, no one can make, then learn from their mistakes. That life is governed by something other than himself. Instead, Sophocles leaves the argument of fate versus free will open for more interpretations. The truth is that Oedipus choices are what led him to fulfill the prophecy. While Sophocles never directly says, what happens to Oedipus is a result of his own choices, it’s the end of the play is makes you resize that he was responsible for his own actions. Oedipus is responsible for his own down fall. Fate and free will are two completely different ideas that Sophocles is some how able to put into one in this play. As a writer he leaves it up to the reader to interpret the difference between free will and fate. Oedipus is given many chances to make choices, but do to his stubbornness, he is the one who leads to his own downShow MoreRelatedFate And Free Will Vs. The Book Of Genesis And Sophocles Oedipus Rex1428 Words   |  6 Pagesare three views that exist: the first is that there is only free will, the second view is that there is only fate, and the third view is that there is room and justification for both possibilities. The themes of fate and free will are very prominent in the book of Genesis and Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex. In both, the fate of the characters is decided by a higher being, but the way in which they arrive at their destinies is determined by free will and the choices they make, which leads to the demise ofRead MoreFate vs Free Will in Sophocles ´ Oedipus Rex and Shakespeare ´s Macbeth1487 Words   |  6 PagesFate and free will are two topics that are often questionable because they go hand in hand. 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