Damsels in Distress Essay - 1617 Words

Damsels in Distress â€Å"Frailty, thy name is a woman!† This quote can be found in William Shakespeare’s famed literary work, Hamlet. Throughout the decades and centuries there has been much dispute about the strength and role of â€Å"the weaker vessel.† But, many other sources have proven that women are, in fact just as strong if not stronger than any other â€Å"vessel.† In literary works throughout history, women have been portrayed in helpless and domestic, â€Å"feminine† roles. John Steinbeck did not employ this depiction in his novels, The Grapes of Wrath in particular. In the novel, The Grapes of Wrath the roles in which Stienbeck portrayed the women was contrary to the common roles of women, in the economic depression the United States suffered†¦show more content†¦There is a story early in the book, humorously relating Ma’s â€Å"assertiveness† gives an account of when Ma â€Å"beat the hell out of a tin peddler with a live chicken.à ¢â‚¬  When, what she meant to do was go after him with the ax, which was in the other hand. When Ma was through, there was nothing left of the chicken but it legs and Mimi Gladstein makes an acute analysis of this situation in The Indestructible Women: Ma Joad and Rose of Sharon when she says, â€Å"Though Ma struggles against those forces which are destroying her family, her weapons prove to be as ineffective as a live chicken. She fights with all her might and is left with little more than an inedible pair of chicken legs.† These examples and many others prove it is evident throughout the novel that Ma Joad is the strongest character. Again referring to a quote from Gladstein, â€Å"In terms of overwhelming odds, both physical and mental, none of the other characters covered in this study has quite as much to endure as Ma Joad.† Ma Joad is not the only woman in the book shown to have strength, in the beginning of the novel, Rose of Sharon is a weak, self-centered character, but under the careful tutelage of Ma, she becomes strong and ready to become a pillar in the family structure. We see this, when we compare two passages from the novel. One of these passages is from page 113, this is theShow MoreRelatedThe Last Song, By Nicholas Sparks1664 Words   |  7 Pagesthis change in momentum in modern day cinema. Romantic drama films still portray the damsel in distress who struggles with problems unrelated to her love life, but is inexplicably can only be saved by a knight in shining armor, and without him her world would be in shambles, encouraging the dependence of women on men for emotional entertainment. The first step to this undeniable dependence, is the damsel in distress’ tortured life, bad attitude, and trials that are unrelated to romantic relationshipsRead MoreAnalysis Of The Film Lifeless Planet And Video Game Developed By Stage 2 Studios1413 Words   |  6 Pagesstranger the landscape becomes and the more danger he faces, leading him to question whether the woman is friend or foe and human or inhuman (Lifeless Planet). In the video game, Lifeless Planet, the stereotypical roles of the male hero and female damsel in distress and their reversal is used in generating fear which reflects how society’s views on the status of women are not changing. The development team for Lifeless Planet incorporates a variety of methods to generate fear but the main method is throughRead MoreAnalysis Of The Movie The Big Sleep 1428 Words   |  6 Pagesinsubordination, General. I always did myself, sir.† and the General says â€Å"I’m glad to hear it†. (10) His insubordination trait shows that he is independent and does things by himself and cannot be manipulated by anyone. Chandler depicts Carmen as the damsel in distress; although she is in need of help, most of the time she comes out as an evil character, and does not need saving. Marlowe’s initial view of Carmen’s personality is one that is far from being beautiful. As Marlowe describes Carmen the first timeRead MoreChildren s Literature : A Good Or Fiction?2091 Words   |  9 Pagestextbooks, children’s literature is loaded with ideology and can be viewed through many lenses- Christina M. Desai.† A lot of pieces of writing for kids is easy to misinterpret. A common case is the damsel in distress. She is in some sort of trouble and the one who saves her is a prince or knight, and when the damsel is the one to save the prince it does not require much effort on her behalf. Look at classic tale of The Princess and the Frog. There are different variation of the story, but the most commonRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book The Damsel Of Distress 1380 Words   |  6 PagesThe dams el in distress is a classic figure in literature that is often a young woman placed in a dreadful situation by a villain, requiring a hero to rescue her from evil. Linda and Dewey Dell represent this figure, as both women are left alone in the world and have no one to turn to for help when they are in trouble. Dewey Dell’s loneliness results from her helplessness as a pregnant unmarried girl. Pregnancy to her is â€Å"the agony and despair of spreading bones† and â€Å"the process of becoming unaloneRead MoreThe Damsel Of Distress And The Knight s Shining Armor : Gender Roles1538 Words   |  7 PagesThe Damsel in Distress and the Knight in Shining Armor: Gender Roles in Disney Movies â€Å"How about a girls who’s got a brain, who always speaks her mind?† (Bancroft and Cook 00:43:30-00:43:40). This was Mulan’s (Mulan (1998)) response to her fellow soldiers’ desires for women who are beautiful, will cook for them, and will worship them. The men brush off Mulan’s suggestion without thinking, but what do objectifying comments like this being included in a children’s movie say about society? MoviesRead MoreThe Representation of Rapunzel on Womens Role1613 Words   |  7 Pagesdubbed Damsels in Distress, either made unintelligent blunders or were captured by some evil or supreme force and put into a dire predicament. Since men were much more superior to women, they saved the Damsel in Distress from their asperity. The woman usually became entranced by their chivalric, valiant and benevolent characteristics and usually married them and lived happily ever after. However, these damsels evolved into ones that weren’t alw ays in distress. The archetype of the Damsel in DistressRead MoreCinderella Archetype Analysis718 Words   |  3 Pagesthese fairy tales use archetypes to do so. The archetype of a damsel in distress, illustrated in Cinderella by Jacob Willhalm Grimm and The Cinder Maid by Joseph Jacobs, are used to imply an overall message of perseverance despite hardships in ones life through Cinderella/Cinder Maid’s experiences such as being a family outcast, as well as being subjected to tedious tasks at home. In Cinderella, the archetype of a damsel in distress is displayed. On the first page of Cinderella, it states â€Å"I’llRead MoreRhethorical Analysis Movie Shrek1709 Words   |  7 Pagesother movie created for entertainment, it is a satirical critique of the archetypes involved in a fairytale. While in many fairytales we have a knight, a damsel in distress, a partner, and a villain, Shrek changes things up by manipulating our stereotype of these characters. Our usual knight in armor is a smelly, heartless ogre. The damsel in distress is not much of a mannered lady and changes her pretty human shape at nights. The partner, the knight’s companion, is in denotation and connotation of anRead MoreStereotypes Of The Virgin And The Vamp824 Words   |  4 Pagesbecame industry standard for many years. On the other hand, the common Damsel in Distress plot device is still seen as a problem in games. Many believe that it is one of the main sources of sexism and misogyn y in video games. The Damsel in Distress plot device has been used many times since the birth of video games and it is still the most popular storyline until today (list of modern games using the damsel in distress plot device before bibliography). Modern critics like Anita Sarkeesian say