comparison of two young women characters in two classic 19 th century short stories women have traditionally been known as the less dominant sex. They have been stereotyped as being housewives, and bearers and nurturers of the children. Only recently with the push of the equal rights amendment have women had a strong hold on the workplace alongside men. Many interesting characters in literature are conceived from the tension women have faced with men.

Two interesting short stories, the yellow wall paper and the story of an hour, focus on a woman’s plight near the turn of the 19 th century. This era is especially interesting because it is a time in modern society when women were still treated as second class citizens. The two main characters in these stories show similarities, but they are also remarkably different in the ways they deal with their problems and life in general. Although the two characters are similar in some ways, it will be shown that the woman in the the story of an hour is a stronger character based on the two important criteria of rationality and freedom. In the yellow wall paper by charlotte perkins gilman, the unnamed female protagonist is going through a rough time in her life. For now on, this paper will refer to this unnamed character as the the narrator in ‘wall paper,’ short for the yellow wall paper. Mallard must also deal with conflict as she must deal with the death of her spouse.

At first there is grief, but then there is the recognition that she will be free. The institute of marriage ties the two heroines of these two short stories together. Like typical young women of the late 19 th century, they were married, and during the course of their lives, they were expected to stay married. Unlike today where divorce is commonplace, marriage was a very holy bond and divorce was taboo. She knew inside that her marriage was wrong, but she could not express her feelings openly. Mallard comments, now there would be no powerful will bending her in that blind persistence with which men … believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow creature chopin 72 , her husband definitely was a thorn in her back.

Because men usually were the working partner of the household, they held a higher status compared to their spouses. Because his wife is suffering from a nervous depression, john confines her to the house and more specifically to a room. In the narrator’s words, so i take phosphates, or phosphites whichever it is and tonics, and air and exercise… and am absolutely forbidden to ‘work’ until i am well again. Says john, my darling, i beg of you, for my sake and for our child’s sake, as well as your own, that you will never for one instant let that idea obsession with the wall paper enter your mind gilman 167. Mallard has a stronger need to get out of the relationship for her desires for freedom might be greater.

As far as the very important quality of rationality is concerned, there is a significant difference between these two main characters. For example, in her thoughts is this: in a street below a peddler was crying his wares. The notes of a distant song which some one was singing reached her faintly, and countless sparrow were twittering in the eaves chopin 71. Here is some of her crazy description: but, on the other hand, they connect diagonally, and the sprawling outlines run off in great slanting waves of optic horror, like a lot of wallowing sea weeds in full chase gilman 165. Her expression is a little insane because her mind goes all over the place, for example ‘outlines run off in great slanting waves of optic horror.’ it is like she is seeing something she does not want to see. During the entire six week stay at the house, all her mental energies are put into dysfunctional tasks like figuring out the wall paper. Short story critic, conrad shumaker, makes the point that maybe the reason gilman had the narrator unnamed was to show that as a person, she had completely lost her identity.

Behind the bars of the wallpaper, she given up a sense of who was and really turned into a lost soul shumaker 170. With such a sad case for the narrator in ‘wall paper’, there is no doubt that mrs. Mallard is the freer character at least during the brief time of the short story. Freedom, the second criteria of character judged in this essay, shows openness of expression and the ability to do as one pleases. Mallard, one pioneer character in literature, shows a women with shocking unorthodox feelings about marriage. There are, however, two ways in which the narrator in ‘wall paper’ gets some sense of freedom. It really is important to her as she writes, but i can write in my journal when john’s sister is not in gilman 164.

Essay on Criticism Summary

Although examining the wall paper is overall bad for her, it is a little therapeutic. According to shumaker, within her descriptions of the wallpaper appear to a potentially liberating force shumaker 164. In her words, you think you have mastered it, it turns a back somersault and there you are, it the wall paper slaps you in the face and knocks you down gilman 167.

As much as the narrator in ‘wall paper’ gets enjoyment, it must be noted that since she is confined to the attic throughout the story, her freedom is limited. Although these two characters reside in the same era, the late 19 th century, there are important differences between the two. Although her brief stint of joy was a short one it was very fulfilling and of high quality for she saw a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely.

Mallard died, she was in a way a weaker character but it must be remembered that mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble chopin 70 , the narrator in ‘wall paper had too many personal problems with herself and with her relationship with john to be called a strong character. There are many similarities between these two heroines in these two short stories. Both are confined to their reality, but the narrator in ‘wall paper’ falls into a worse the wall paper obsession. literature: reading, reacting, aв critical essay в may examine the work of another writer, artist or creator and judges how successful that work is in achieving its aims.

в alternatively it may be based around a quote, piece of legislation or some other particular topic and require the student to examine that critically. It is similar in some ways to both a review and a literary analysis, but it differs from those essay forms as well. It is more formal than a review and may examine things like other essays that are outside the scope of reviews.

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It differs from a literary analysis in that a literary analysis focuses more on how a work does something rather than assessing the work. A thesis for aв critical essay в should state whether or not the work examined is effective and give a brief reason. This is a thesis statement for a critical essay examining another essay: the essay schools must change now argues ineffectively for more standardized testing because it cites flawed studies and contains several logical fallacies. It's important that a critical essay use specific examples from the work in question to illustrate its points. For the critical essay on schools must change now, for example, the writer would need to present some examples of logical fallacies from the work.

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When writing about something more subjective such as a work of art, the writer must be careful to use concrete language. Words like that only tell about the writer's own reaction to the work, not about the work itself or why it is good or interesting. A better approach would be to discuss how a particular painting technique is expertly done to make a painting good or that an essay introduces facts the writer was not aware of to make it interesting. A critical essay may give a mixed assessment of a work, pointing out both its strengths and weaknesses. It's more likely, in fact, that some aspects of a work will be stronger than others than that the work will be entirely good or entirely bad.