Abstract This paper takes a look at the character traits of woman in New York in the 1870s, using the characters May Welland and Countess Ellen Olenska, from Edith Wharton's 'The Age of Innocence', in order to symbolize, as well as stipulate, the significant differences between what defined a strong woman as apposed to a weak woman in Old New York Society.
From the Paper "Within our reading of 'The Age of Innocence', Edith Wharton gives us an opportunity to view the fickle composition of Old New York Society and the roles of women embodied within the society's opaque infrastructure, all stemming from her own experiences with the society in question. Wharton introduced May Welland and Countess Ellen Olenska in order to symbolize, as well as stipulate, the differences between what a strong woman, and what a weak woman, would be like in the Old New York Society of the 1870's. The novel contains many instances, in which, we can readily identify the strengths of May's character, as well as the weaknesses of Ellen's."
Abstract "The Age of Innocence" by Edith Wharton is an enchanting Victorian era novel that eloquently illustrates the price of being among New York's high society during the late nineteenth century. The paper examines the relationship between the three main characters of the book. It shows how Archer and Ellen resemble and differ from one another in their outlook on the customs and values of society and their speculation of life.
From the Paper "Archer is the character chosen to reveal the author's sentiments on the inadequacies of American society. Wharton "uses frequently the concept of the tribe, with its tribal principles and tabus, the most important of which existed to secure its own survival and purity of race by breeding and its protection against social contamination by exclusion from its environment of alien elements. She sees that in America, against the need and power of money and the lure of sex, tribal instincts and customs, family pride and hereditary principles are bound to go down" the wasting away of an aristocracy.? (Lovett, 47)"
Abstract This paper looks at two of Edith Wharton's famous works: "Ethan Frome" and "The Age of Innocence". The essay examines the ways that society impedes the consummation of relationships throughout the two novels. Both Ethan Frome and Newland Archer are thwarted in their attempts to acquire love, but their adversary is both an invisible and ever-present one. Both men suffer from the strict moral principles underlying the foundation of society. This essay looks at the consequences and sacrifices that one might suffer under strict moral conventions.
From the Paper "Humans have always been magnetized by the irrepressible influences of passion and desire. Spinoza once said, ?Desire is the very essence of man.? Many levels of desire infiltrate human society, but there are also obstructions that can stand in the way of satiating this human yearning. In Edith Wharton's famous novels, Ethan Frome and The Age of Innocence, we find two men in such predicaments. Both Ethan Frome and Newland Archer are cursed to ache with wretchedly interminable unsatisfied desires. Together, they epitomize the tragic consequences of life lived beneath a microscope of societal criticism. Though both characters differ in their social situations, both are alike in the anguish they endure over unobtainable love. Ethan Frome and Newland Archer are tortured by conscience and moral correctness in grave ways. And, the societies described in Wharton's novels have come to embody the common conventions that lead to restraint in moments of perceived gratification."
Abstract Feminist literature, as opposed to literature by women, upholds a political, cultural, social, or religious stand asserting the position of women as equal to that of men. Anne Finch, a 17th century poet and writer, in her work "The Introduction", presents just such a feminist assertion - that she is a legitimate writer who, because of her gender, has been discounted on every level possible and is relegated to "fashion" and "play". Anne Finch, also known as Anne, Countess of Winchilsea, is one of the earliest feminist writers who plied her craft at a time when women were property and thus had no rights, no say in the world and certainly no voice that would be heard by men. This is a poem of rage, of frustration, and of righteousness for the author understands that the binds of men are artificial and that she has the truth of the world on her side. Anne Finch wrote before there were feminist slogans, before there were Margaret Sangers and Gloria Steinems moving the feminist movement forward. She, in many ways, was a lone voice in a world that had never heard such thoughts, and had certainly never entertained them.
Abstract This paper explains that, while men were certainly the majority of the perpetrators of serial killings, the women who were documented performing such crimes were just as violent and ingenious. It provides examples of the cases of Hungarian Countess Elizabeth Bathory, the Black Widows of Liverpool, Aileen Wuornos, and Karla Homolka.
From the Paper "The notion of female serial killers often appears as the minority of cases in the history of serial murder and serial killers. It's as if there is a part of society that refuses to believe that women are just as capable of mass murder as some of the more horrific murderers of our time. Still, while we may not, off the top of our head, be able to list as many female serial killers as we can male ones, it is but a myth that female serial killers are far and few between."
Abstract This biographical study examines the critical contributions to computer science by Ada Augusta Byron King, Countess of Lovelace (1815-1852). In addition to describing and analyzing Bryon's technical achievements, the study examines various personality traits and important facts from her life that demonstrate both the technical and human side of this fascinating individual, and that led to her unique contributions to the development of computers. The study also discusses the historical context in which Byron worked to show how the prevailing technological, social, and political environments negatively affected her abilities, as a woman during the Victorian era, to advance her scientific work. The study demonstrates that Augusta Ada Byron was both one of the most acute minds and most picturesque characters in computer history.
From the Paper "A major turning point in Augusta Ada Byron's intellectual development occurred in 1833, when at the age of 18 years she met the famous scientist Charles Babbage at a social gathering (Freeman, 1996; Tee, 1979). Babbage was already widely known at the time as the inventor of the so-called "Difference Engine," a machine that applied the method of finite differences to perform mathematical computations (Freeman, 1996). The machine had to capacity to store numbers and perform additions, thereby enabling tables generated by polynomials to be computed by a uniform process (Freeman, 1996). Impressed with the young Ada, Babbage invited her to visit the studio where he kept his engine and was delighted when she showed up two weeks later, along with her domineering and meddlesome mother (Freeman, 1996; Tee, 1979). Ada was captivated by the Difference Engine and began regular correspondence with Babbage in an effort to learn all that she could about the invention and about Babbage's other ideas (Freeman, 1996)."
