Abstract This paper reviews the topic of polymorphous sexuality and gender confusion. It explores the character and its story in "Hedwig and the Angry Inch", commenting on the famous song "The Origins of Love". The author also contrasts and compares the philosophy of the play with Greek, Viking and Egyptian mythology on androgynous man.
From the Paper "The beginning of the song "When the earth was still flat, and the clouds made of fire, and mountains stretched up to the sky, sometimes higher..." (Trask) is clearly meant to send us back in thought to those elements of the creation myth which are nearly universally shared. Though by the time of Plato many philosophers had already discovered that the earth was round and even theorized its tilt and rotation (Psigate), the myths of the era still spoke of the flat earth and the mountains which upheld the sky. Most cultures speak of something--be it a mountain, a tree, or a god--which holds the sky and earth apart. The shape of the earth (square), and the separation of earth and sky by a pillar/mountain/tree, were both spiritual metaphors refering to the state of the soul. Myths, in ancient Greece and most likely in most other ancient cultures, were understood by the wise to be allegorical and spiritual in nature. By starting with myths such as the earth being flat, Hedwig acknowledges that the story he/she is about to tell is also metaphorical, but that it should be taken as presenting some kind of real truth about our souls."
Abstract This paper examines Da Vinci's painting "La Gioconda" aka "Mona Lisa" to understand more about the artist and the painting than just the woman's smile. The author points out that the background of dark, jagged rocks is a recurring motif in many of Da Vinci's paintings, which demonstrates his use of metaphorical representation. The paper analyzes Da Vinci's concept of beauty, the use of the chiaroscuro style and the woman's androgynous persona. The author reveals the identity of the woman known as Mona Lisa. The paper includes color illustrations.
From the Paper "Others have drawn even more esoteric connections between the subject and the landscape of this portrait. In a review of Da Vinci's journals we find that he was certainly an aficionado of Ovid and the classic Metamorphosis. The recurring theme in that work, and others he read, is that beauty is ephemeral and over time shall fade. Even here, this smile of the Mona Lisa is just a passing moment and would be gone in an instance. If viewing the background as chaos the overriding them may be that from chaos we have come, existed in beauty for a brief moment, but to chaos we will return."
Abstract This paper analyzes the satirical novel by Alison Lurie called "Foreign Affairs". It takes a look at the two very realistic characters of Vinnie and Lurie and how they cope on a holiday to Britain. It shows the insecurities in all of us and how we try and make other people seem less important for our own self-esteem.
From the paper:
"Alison Lurie's novel Foreign Affairs details the two, parallel existences of American Anglophiles during a brief sojourn in London. One of these characters is named Vinnie Miner. Her name, suitably androgynous, complements her short gray hair and her childish, thin body. Vinnie is older, in her fifties, and Lurie details with wry observation how women of this age are often conceived of as asexual by the world's eyes. Her heroine came of age long before the 1970's radical feminist revolution. Yet Lurie is extremely suspicious and critical of this revolution and the way it attempts to encapsulate human affairs and human desires into political theories."
Abstract This paper gives an indepth analysis of the character Orlando in Virginia Woolf's novel of the same name. It explores this fantastical, amusing hero-ine and describes him as one of the most unique characters in the history of fiction. The paper describes how Orlando observes none of the boundaries of sex and age: a young boy/man and poet, Orlando is only sixteen on page one and all of thirty-six at the end of the novel, even though he has lived through four centuries and undergone a sex change into a woman halfway through the book. The paper shows how Orlando is also endowed with charm, aristocratic lineage and wealth?and thus Woolf concentrates solely on the issues of gender, apart from age, status, and poverty. The paper explores how Orlando lives through the centuries, defies all labels, loves and dallies with both women and men. Orlando is impossible to define by any of our most cherished notions of sex, gender and identity.
From the Paper "This novel makes us playfully question the whole notion of stable gender identity. In every person we meet, vacillation between male and female keeps occurring. Orlando is in part a comic novel, one that keeps us laughing over gender mixups. When Orlando first undergoes a sex change and arrives home a woman, his housekeeper keeps gasping, ?Milord! Milady! Milady! Milord!? (p. 169).
At the same time, Orlando asks very real and difficult questions about gender. For instance, the 19th century biographical style was dominated by male authors, and women in the Victorian era tended to write poetry or novels. Biographies were, like all things male, meant to be action oriented. "Where there is blood there is life""and the proper subject of biography is life itself, and blood, whether in wars or conflicts. Women are not the proper subject of biography and history, if they don"t do something important enough"such as killing"why should they be written about? A woman's name appears in the news three times in her life: birth, wedding, and death."
This paper discusses two popular works of American literature illustrating the position of women during the 18th and 19th century, "The Hidden Hand" by E.D.E.N. Southworth (1888) and "The Coquette" by Hannah Foster (1797).
Abstract This paper relates the way the main characters, Capitola Black, in "The Hidden Hand" by E.D.E.N. Southworth, and Eliza Wharton, in "The Coquette" by Hannah Foster, portray, in diverse ways,the progression of women in American society. The author points out that these literary works depict the struggles and victories of women as they fought their way towards progress and eventual liberation in the society. The paper states that, in Southworth's and Foster's novels, the role of women progressed by adopting masculine characteristics while maintaining their femininity.
From the Paper "Capitola Black, or Cap, in the novel The Hidden Hand is an example of a 19th century-woman who adopts a masculine personality in order to initiate progress in the society. This is a practical decision to make on her part, since she has been aware that opportunities, especially job offers, are limited for women and abundant for men. The development of Cap's character in the novel is best embodies by a comparative analyses of the characters of Cap, Clara Day, and Mrs. Le Noir, which all embody the kinds of women existing during Southworth's time. Cap, as mentioned earlier, is illustrated as a feisty woman, working her way up in the economic ladder by disguising herself as a young man: ?? And so because I was a girl there seemed to be nothing but starvation or beggary before me!... I felt bitter against Fate for not making me a boy? Yes, sir, and the only thing that made me feel sorry was to see what a fool I had been not to turn to a boy before, when it was so easy! And from that day forth I was happy and prosperous!? "
Abstract This paper introduces, discusses, and analyzes the book, "The Traveler", written by Antal Szerb and edited by Peter Hargitai. Specifically, the paper discusses the novel's androgyny, "death eroticism," and how the novel is a rite of passage.
From the Paper "From the beginning of this novel, it is clear the main character, Mihaly, is not your typical bridegroom. First, he is thirty-six, a bit old for a groom, and second, he leaves his new wife to wander the alleys of Venice alone early in the story, hardly the thing an ardent bridegroom would do on his honeymoon. There is more to Mihaly than meets the eye, and even his wife recognizes this early on, when she muses, "? and, for that matter, how little women really interested him" (Szerb 7), and he has "secrets which he did not confess even to himself" (Szerb 8). Their relationship is odd from the beginning, and it is clear Mihaly is an androgynous man who does not understand himself, or the people around him. As he recounts his story, it is clear that he has no hint of his own sexuality, and so, he surrounds himself with androgynous people who complement his own lack of sensuality and sexual feeling. He seems to blame much of this on his childhood and adolescence, but it is clear throughout the book that Mihaly is simply a bland personality, who ultimately has no thoughts or deep feelings for anyone but himself and the dead Tamas."
Abstract Virginia Woolf's "A Room of One's Own" contains half a dozen excellent chapters, but it is the last two chapters, five and six, that this paper focuses upon. In so doing, the paper makes it apparent that Virginia Woolf believes a few things to be manifestly self evident: women must learn to speak for themselves, they must learn to think androgynously if they are to become their full selves, they must have money, and they must be prepared to push their way into the professions to acquire the independence they need to have a room of their own.
Abstract This paper takes a look at how the cultural phenomenon of equality has led America to fall under a sublime spell of believing that despite obvious differences, men and women are the same. The paper discusses the cultural influences that seep into the everyday lives of the average American leave conflicting notions on the mind about gender and its roles.
Outline:
Gender Culture
Women are from Venus
Men are from Mars
Gender Roles
Independence vs. Connection
Competition vs. Cooperation
Internal vs. External
Larger vs. Smaller
Communication: Language of Gender
Speaking Masculine
Speaking Feminine
Conclusion
From the Paper "Male culture tends to be removed from emotion and more reserved to reason. Pragmatism, function over form, is a big part of the co-culture in contrast to irrational emotions. Being overly emotional for a boy can lead to being called names like girly or sissy. To be compared to a woman demeans a man's masculinity and status. Emotion is in opposition to logic and reason, and directly associated with the female. To combat loosing status by being unmanly, men are more detached than women from their emotions. They react to larger passions like anger and love, which are considered appropriate to react to, and not the brief fleeting feelings of everyday aspects of life. Such emotions are considered trivial, and would distract from getting things done. Not only do emotions hamper progress, but they make a man look weak, demeaning his authority and status."
Abstract This paper explains that playwright Aristophanes, author of "Clouds", instead of speaking in rhetoric as other scholars did in Plato's dialogue "Symposium", devises an entertaining myth about the origins of man. Aristophanes seems to propose an idea of love, free from the virtue; however, the author believes that Aristophanes' stance on love is very different from it appears. Aristophanes begins his discourse on love by describing that there originally were three different genders: males, females and androgynous. The paper analyzes the story and the reaction of the other scholars represented in this ancient dialogue.
From the Paper "Aristophanes begins his speech by talking about the complete human being. The complete human being was actually two of today's human beings, and they were much stronger. This suggests a type of harmony between two human beings that is not seen in the split humans. It is odd that Plato writes that Aristophanes was scheduled to speak after Pausanias, but was unable because of hiccups. Eryximachus then takes his spot and speaks of love as harmonies. I think this is a key to the fact love is seen more in the harmony of the original human beings, rather than in the split human beings that are purely concerned with sex. It is said that these beings are more powerful and have a concept of overtaking the gods."
