I agree with other posts about how “Mary” and “Alonzo the
Brave, and Fair Imogene” definitely put down women, but what really stood out
to me was that what caused the transformation of the female characters was a
material thing, which is quite interesting considering it’s the Romantic era.
Women have always been portrayed as chaste and not concerned
with material possessions, but with a knight’s honor, character, etc. Yet, Imogene
is swayed by the Baron's “treasure, his presents, his spacious domain.” Her true character
is revealed when it says that the Baron got Imogene because of “her affections
so light and so vain,” which makes it sound like she’s a gold-digger. Mary is
portrayed much, much better than Imogene, but a material object, Richard’s hat,
leads to her transformation. It is interesting that she never sees him kill the
person, but just gets a symbol of it through the lost hat. In a Romantic period
where feelings are emphasized, it’s interesting that two women are transformed
by material things.
No comments:
Post a Comment