The Stereotypical Male Character and Masculinity Essay Example for Free

The Stereotypical Male Character and Masculinity Essay Social pressure often compels people to do things against their own will. The role of the male in a society is based on a stereotypical figure which represents what all real men should be like. In Romeo and Juliet, the protagonist is an effeminate version of the males in his society. As a result, he is depressed and feels left out. Contrarily, Mercutio is a manlier and more provocative male which portrays the alpha male and all his obligations and responsibility that comes along in his society. In Brokeback Mountain, Jack and Ennis portray the image of American cowboys, but ultimately are unable to maintain this image due to their desire for each other. In Romeo and Juliet and Brokeback Mountain, the term masculinity differs depending on the time frame and restrains the role of the male in the society in which they live in. Masculinity works differently in Romeo and Juliet and Brokeback Mountain as it can be represented as an obligation, a facade or a constraint due to social pressure. In Romeo and Juliet, masculinity is regarded as a role that the male is obligated to take in order to satisfy the social construct of his time. Romeo is forced into real society and he feels that he does not have any alternative in his life. Consequently, he is depressed and hopes for someone that could free him of this desperation. Juliet serves as a catalyst in Romeo’s life as she convinces him to be who he is. Unfortunately, his role of the alpha male takes priority as his best friend, Mercutio dies: â€Å"My very friend, hath got this mortal hurt O sweet Juliet, / Thy beauty hath made me effeminate, / And in my temper softened valour’s steel† (Shakespeare act 3. 1, 110-15). Even though Romeo does not want to fight, he is forced to do so or else he would be seen as a coward who let his best friend die in vain. To mask his own weakness, he finds the excuse that Juliet’s beauty blinded his judgement. Furthermore, the harsh reality of the social construct is directly reflected through the family feud between the Capulets and the Montagues. For instance, Tybalt is portrayed as a ruthless thug powered only by his hatred of the Montagues. As such, he is convinced that â€Å"[Romeo] art a villain† (Shakespeare act 3. 1, 60). Romeo represents the complete opposite of the role of the male in his society. He is portrayed as an effeminate man driven by poetry and romance. In contrast, Tybalt plays the role of the straight forward stereotypical male of his time and shows that Romeo’s world is strictly based on duty. Shakespeare shows that masculinity reflects all males in a particular society and that it is displayed differently depending on social construct. In Brokeback Mountain, Jack and Ennis use a masculine facade to repress their own sexuality, but ultimately, their love for each other prove to be stronger. The story takes place in the Bible Belt, a place where sexuality and races are oppressed. Due to this setting, the two lovers are unable to express their affection for each other with normal means. In fact, the fake identities that they create ultimately lead them to destruction. Jack and Ennis are unable to express their true feelings and this restricts them to reach the happiness that they strive. For instance, after their separation, â€Å"Within a mile Ennis fe[els] like someone [is] pulling his guts out [Ennis] fe[els] about as bad as he ever had† (Proulx 18). Unconsciously, Ennis pours his feelings out for Jack and feels that he has lost someone very important. Even though their reality does not allow their union, the desire that they have for each other is real and their bond cannot be broken easily. Furthermore, the relationship between them is special; they are unconditionally attracted to each other and express this attachment with contact. In fact after four years not seeing each other, Jack and Ennis â€Å"seiz[e] each other by the shoulders, hug[s] mightily their mouths came together, and hard† (Proulx 21). As they do not know how else to express their feelings, the best way for them to show their love is by actions. Jack and Ennis’ forbidden love prove to be difficult, but their strong desire for each other proves to be stronger than the image of masculinity that they forged. In both works, masculinity is an insurmountable wall that constrains the characters to move out of their comfort zones. In Romeo and Juliet, the role of the alpha male plays an important part in the story mainly because it is a stimulant which makes the story progress. For instance, Mercutio’s mouth cannot rest and this often puts him into difficult situations. Mercutio’s ego is bigger than he can wield and this reflects in his actions in the dispute between him and Tybalt: â€Å"Men’s eyes were made to look, and let them gaze / I will not budge for no man’s pleasure† (Shakespeare act 3. 1, 53-4). Mercutio is ready to fight till the very end for his own beliefs; he is obstinate and never backs down. This show how little options the alpha male or males in general in this society have as they have to fight every moment for their beliefs since it is the only way for them to feel that they are free. In Brokeback Mountain, Jack and Ennis are engulfed in a world where males are judged by their sexuality. Jack and Ennis are engulfed in a world where love is one dimensional. The forbidden love that the two experience is something that they cannot understand and as such, they try to hide its very existence. In fact, even after many sexual intercourses, Ennis still claims that: â€Å"‘I’m no queer,’ and Jack [also adds] in with ‘Me neither. A one-shot thing. Nobody’s business but ours’ † (Proulx 15). By living in this oppressing environment, the two lovers are unable to express their true feelings as there are no words to express what they really feel for each other. Jack and Ennis are afraid of the boundary that exceeds what they already know as such, they want to stay inside what they already know about love and refuses to believe that their relationship is more than physical. In both works, the stereotypical male role dictates the men’ responsibilities and thus creates a dystopia where men are unable to come across this boundary that they set for themselves. In conclusion, masculinity is an ever changing aspect of a society. It is something that defines the very being of the male in his environment. The man in a particular society holds responsibilities that he cannot escape nor hide from where violence and viciousness is at its peak. In Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio abides to his role as the alpha male, but only receive grief and misfortune. In Brokeback Mountain, Jack and Ennis try to hide their love by acting masculine, but ultimately cannot resist to their temptations. As masculinity evolves throughout societies, the term remains straightforward and stereotypical where there is no escape and where tragedy ensues.

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and The Adventure :: Free Essay Writer

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and The Adventure of the Speckled Band by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as they are the two stories that have appealed to me the most. How does the writer create the sense of:  · Setting and atmosphere  · Tension  · An understanding of the central character’s dilemma? There are a number of stories in the collection of Nineteenth Century Short Stories which create the sense of setting, tension and the character’s dilemma. However, I have decided to focus on ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and ‘The Adventure of the Speckled Band’ by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as they are the two stories that have appealed to me the most. These stories appealed to me the most as both writers have created a strong sense of dilemma and growing tension. The setting and the style is also appealing as the writers add to tension and atmosphere by the places they set their story. In ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’, the room in which the narrator is put, in order to rest and recover from her illness is the nursery which is very much like she is imprisoned. She describes it as â€Å"barred windows† and the bed as â€Å"iron†, â€Å"heavy† and â€Å"nailed to the ground†. It is quite ironic that the room was first a nursery as firstly, the woman has had no contact with her own baby and also because she has been treated like a baby by her husband, John: â€Å"He took me in his arms and called me a blessed little goose†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Charlotte Perkins Gilman drops clues to indicate the room was previously used to perhaps house the insane and not as a nursery. The bars on the window are to prevent someone from escaping and the immovable bed is â€Å"fairly gnawed.† In ‘The Adventure of the Speckled Band’, there are various places in which the story is set, but it is mainly focused on the mansion in Stoke Moron, the home of Dr. Grimesby Roylott. The setting of Stoke Moron creates tension in the story as it provides the setting for horror and imprisonment. It is a large house with a number of empty rooms. The surroundings in which it is located creates tension, as it is quite isolated and separated by trees and bushes. The building is described as: â€Å"†¦two curving wings, like the claws of a crab.† This has a sense of someone or something out to grab you. In ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’, Charlotte Perkins Gilman creates the sense of setting and atmosphere by varying the length of paragraphs and the tone in which they are described.

A Night To Forget

The wind blow violently through the church-yard, wiping the hair off of Abi's face, as she looked down at her mothers grave. At the corner of a church a man with dark hair and piercing green eyes stared across at her. â€Å"It's no good girls we are going to have to call it a night. It's been absolutely fantastic, hard to believe it's my last night as a single woman, but I will be in no fit state to get married tomorrow if we don't go now,† wailed Jeannie. The mob of giggling girls tumbled out of the night-club, none of them noticing the tall dark man who floated out after them. Wanna lift home Rachel, we're all taking a cab,† screamed one of the girls, clutching on to Jeannie with one hand round her neck holding her upright. â€Å"No, I'm fine you lot, I've drank a bit much, perhaps walking home will clear my head. Anyway it's not far. † â€Å"Ok Rachel, we all know you can look after yourself,† said Jeannie with a wink, and a fit of laughter met her words. With a last fleeting look at the remnants of the wild hen night, Rachel turned to walk the few streets home. Rachel turned the corner, humming softly to herself reminiscing about the night and her friends, † I cant believe there's only one of us left who's still single,† she spoke the words with slight regret, â€Å"At least Jeannie found the man she had always wanted†. â€Å"Pete wouldn't be too happy about the man that was paying me rather too much attention, in the night-club. I wish he was going to be home tonight, we could talk more about, perhaps, getting married ourselves†. She hugged herself at the thought, perhaps it would be her turn to get married next! At that moment two men in the park caught her eye both walking quickly but far apart from one another. One had a huge German shepherd which wagged its tail at the sight of her, but as the man bent down to reprimand it, and she smiled to herself, â€Å"There are loads of people out tonight must have been something big going on†. She debated if she should cut through the park, â€Å"Should I, shan't I, well it'll be quicker. † She crossed the street and entered the park, the swings were squeaking, and the wind whistled through the trees, picking up speed and making her hair cover her face. Someone coughed behind her, she jumped in the air, peering around she breathed a sigh of relief, it was only the butcher Frank. She greeted him and carried on home, the wind continued whistling around her. There was a huge rustling in the evergreen bushes near her feet, she held her breath and looked pointedly up at the increasingly darkening sky, until she felt something brush her hand. She looked down suddenly at the wet floor, the black tarmac path covered with a festering film of moss and the sight that met her eyes was very surprising as it was the great shaggy head of the German Shepherd she had seen earlier. Rain started pouring down in droplets the size of 50 pence pieces and began running of gutters and roofs, the rain plastering her hair to her sweaty face as though buckets of water were being repeatedly dropped on her head. The moon which had given her light, now became covered by the heavy black storm clouds, and it was the occasional lightening strike which seemed to land increasingly closer each time which gave a second of illumination before plunging the street around her into darkness yet again. The sound of a fire alarm rang in the distance but she focused her mind it wasn't something for her to deal with tonight. She started to walk quicker, and glanced behind her but the man seemed to be the same distance away, she broke into a frantic kind of run, her face contorting as she tried to keep her mind, she was so close to the end of the park. As she rounded the next bend, only two streets away from her house, she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She peered over her shoulder and was more than a little bit surprised to see the man who had been walking across the park behind her. His hair was dark, and he was exceedingly tall, was he the man who had flirted with her at the night-club? His face was covered in shadow and his eyes were looking at the floor and his hands were in his pockets. She sighed, of course, she did live in a busy area it wasn't that odd for someone to be walking this way. She carried on walking checking behind her every now and then and becoming increasingly worried that after several minutes he still was following her, this couldn't possibly be normal, could it? She started humming again but the tune was slightly distorted as her breathing became shallow and she had to gasp for air as her throat was constricting. She plunged her hand into her bag, it crawling around searching, searching for her keys. Pete always complained that she could never find her keys, suddenly her hand grasped around then. The lights in the house were out, her flat mate wasn't in either, she sprinted up the drive to the house, one last lightening strike making her panic stricken face light up, â€Å"shit, shit† she cried thrusting the bent key into the lock. She gave one vital turn on the key and hear the lock snap open, she threw the door open and slammed it shut behind her and leant back on the door her breath coming out in great rasping breaths. She gave a huge sigh of relief and sunk down onto the rough, wooden floor. â€Å"He was probably innocent and wasn't doing anything wrong but, phew that was just too scary†. Rachel, slowly got to her feet and climbed the winding staircase made of old pine with the creaky first step. As here feet found there way to tiled landing floor she pushed open the door and slowly made her way through the catastrophic mess of books and clothes that was her bedroom all scattered over a periwinkle blue carpet. She then slowly tiptoed through the junk to the bathroom and leant over the bath to turn on the exceedingly rusty, hot tap. A sound met here ears which could not have had anything to do with her, the step at the bottom of the stair had given an almighty creak, her head shot up and she turned to face the door on to the landing. â€Å"That couldn't have been anybody. No I must have imagined it. † Rachel then slipped out of her pale lilac, dress which had rested a couple of inches above her knobbly knees, and pulled on her woollen dressing gown. The water flooded into the bath as she made her way out of the room and slowly descended the old staircase and stumbled into the kitchen, â€Å"I must have drunk far too much† she moaned softly slightly slurring each word. She reached for kettle to fill it with water only to notice the tap was dripping. That couldn't have been her, so she leant forward to turn it on properly. The door creaked behind her and she spun round, no one was there but the door was swinging slowly. Open, shut, open, shut. She crept to the door, but before she had got two paces across the room she uttered a small, quickly stifled shout. She felt something-soft winding itself between her legs. It was Emily, her cat. Rachel got back up from stroking her scary little friend to turn the dripping tap off. No longer was it dripping. She shook her head violently, blond hair cascading over her face, â€Å"no one is in here, its fine. † She cautiously, walked through the door into the hall and felt the soft sheepskin rug rub between her toes, her heart beating hard against her ribcage, and her palms oozing sweat. She turned the corner to climb the stairs, and silently ascended the stairs yet again, and she walked into the bathroom. The water was no longer running, this was no longer a joke someone had to be in the house? â€Å"Raquel are you here? Please tell me your joking around? Its not funny you know, please come out,† she cried into the silence her breath coming out in short gasps, her eyes flitting from the landing and the stairs to her bedroom, the two closest places to her. She fled down the stairs to the kitchen her feet echoing loudly, on the wooden steps. â€Å"No. No, who's in here,† her shouts went unanswered in the big house. She leant back wards against the kitchen ledge and put her hands behind her each on a part of the kitchen worktop. She squeezed her hands against the rough marbled side, and felt some thing rustle under one of her palms. She picked it up, a single scrap of paper and turned round to read it on the kitchen side. Looking forward to seeing you again sweetheart. Her hands began to tremble, and the hairs on the back of her neck stuck up. Bang! The door swung open on its hinges. â€Å"I told you we would meet again†. He said smirking at her, his eyes looking her up and down, his gaze then lingering on her face. â€Å"Y-y-you, shouldn't b-be in here†. She stammered. â€Å"What do u mean I shouldn't be in here, darling. I'm in love with you. We are destined to be together. † â€Å"You've no right to be in here, how'd you get in† Rachel said her voice slightly stronger now, as she regained her senses after the shock of seeing him there. â€Å"Why, do all, of the girls say that, I hated it when the other girls said that! † he said, his greasy voice becoming less cosseting and more fierce. W-w-what do you mean by others,† the stammers returned, her fears now staring her in the face as she realised what he could do. â€Å"Oh, I just meant the other women I liked, not that they are still around anymore. They decided they didn't like me. † His voice suggesting that this was nothing out of the ordinary. â€Å"There was, Miranda, Polly, Florenec and, oh, Abi. † He said counting them off on his fingers. â€Å"W-what do you mean there not around anymore? † she asked tentatively. â€Å"What do you think I mean darling? † he replied. Trying to placate him she responded, â€Å"oh, I expect you mean that they just moved away. † He laughed, â€Å"course they did darling, moved to heaven or hell. † Rachel realised that the man in her house was seriously deranged and that she was in mortal danger. She knew she needed to get away from him, as quickly as possible, but with legs that felt like jelly she wasn't sure how she would achieve this. A strange clicking noise could just be heard coming from the direction of the hall they both turned to it, he asked sharply, â€Å"what's that? She replied, â€Å"Oh I often here that noise I don't know what it is, don't worry about it, knowing that it was the door bell with its nearly flat battery. Rachel knew that all she needed to do now was get to the doorbell with out alerting his suspicions. Suddenly with no warning he lunged forward, wrapping his muscular arm around her defenceless neck. He hissed in her ear, â€Å"Do you think I'm stupid there is someone at the door isn't there? † Rachel slumped forward, her weight catching him unprepared, he staggered under her weight. Suddenly a sharp pain shot through his lower body, he stepped backwards shaking his head, moaning â€Å"what's going on,† not quite comprehending what was happening and completely unprepared for the next sharp blow that struck him over the head knocking him to the floor. There was a huge commotion at the front door, clearly somebody was trying to open it without the benefit of a key. The door suddenly gave way and several huge men powered through the door looking around, in there midst was a familiar hairy face. As the men dealt with the now unconscious would be attacker, Rachel buried her head in Rex the German shepherds shaggy coat. She took a deep breath and turned to her colleagues to ask, â€Å"what the hell kept you. † Her inspector patted her on the back saying, † well done Sergeant you played your role well, the way you stumbled home those orange juices must have been very strong but at least this murdering bastered will soon be under lock and key. â€Å"By the way sergeant exactly w2hat did you do to him before we got here? † she replied smiling, â€Å"that's what comes from having a boyfriend who's a Karate 6th Dan. The operation went smoothly enough, mind you I though Rex was gonna blow our cover when he came to see me through the bushes in the park! â€Å"

How to Label Digital Photos

How many times have you exclaimed in delight over the discovery of an old family photograph, only to turn it over and find out that absolutely nothing is written on the back? I can hear your groan of disappointment all the way from here. Wouldnt you give just about anything to have ancestors and relatives who took the time to label their family photographs? Whether you own a digital camera or use a scanner to digitize traditional family photographs, it is important to take some time and label your digital photos. This can be a  bit trickier than just getting out a pen, but if you learn to use something called image metadata  to label your digital photos, your future descendants will thank you. What Is Metadata? With respect to digital photos or other digital files, metadata  refers to the descriptive information embedded inside the file. Once added, this identifying information stays with the image, even if you move it to another device, or share it by email or online. There are two basic types of metadata that can be associated with a digital photo: EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format)  data is automatically captured by your camera or scanner at the time it is taken or created. The EXIF metadata stored with a digital photograph might include the date and time the photo was taken, the type and size of the image file, camera settings or, if youre using a camera or phone with GPS capabilities, the geolocation.IPTC or XMP  data is data that is editable by you, allowing you to add and store information with your photos such as a caption, descriptive tags, copyright information, etc. IPTC is the most widely used industry standard, originally created by the  International Press Telecommunications Council for adding to a photograph specific data including the creator, a description, and copyright information.  XMP  (Extensible Metadata Platform) was developed by Adobe in 2001 off of IPTC. For the end-users purpose, the two standards are pretty much interchangeable. How to Add Metadata to Your Digital Photos Special photo labeling software, or just about any graphics software program, allows you to add IPTC/XMP metadata to your digital photographs. Some also enable you to also use this information (date, tags, etc.) to organize your collection of digital photos.  Depending on the software you choose, the available metadata fields may vary, but generally include fields for: authortitlecopyrightcaptionkeywords or tags The steps involved in adding metadata descriptions to your digital photos varies by program, but usually involves some variation of opening a photo in your graphics editing software and selecting a menu item such as File Get Info or Window Info and then adding your information to the appropriate fields. Photo editing programs that support IPTC/XMO include Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Photoshop Elements, XnView, Irfanview, iPhoto, Picasa and BreezeBrowser Pro. You can also add some of your own metadata directly in Windows Vista, 7, 8 and 10, or in Mac OS X. View a full list of software applications that support IPTC on the IPTC website.   Using IrfanView to Label Digital Photos If you dont already have a preferred graphics program, or your graphics software doesnt support IPTC/XMO, then IrfanView is a free, open-source graphic viewer that runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux. To use IrfanView for editing IPTC metadata: Open a .jpeg image with IrfanView (this doesnt work with other image formats such as .tif)Select Image InformationClick on the IPTC info button in the bottom-left cornerAdd information to the fields you choose. I recommend using the caption field to identify people, places, events, and dates. If known, it is also great to capture the name of the photographer.When you have finished entering your information, click the Write button at the bottom of the screen, and then OK. You  can also add IPTC information to multiple photos at once by highlighting a set of thumbnail images of .jpeg files. Right-click on the highlighted thumbnails and select JPG lossless operations and then Set IPTC data to selected files. Enter information and hit the Write button. This will write your information to all of the highlighted photos. This is a good method for entering dates, photographer, etc. Individual photos can then be further edited to add more specific information. Now that youve been introduced to image metadata, you have no further excuse for not labeling your digital family photos. Your future descendants will thank you!