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English Paper 2 Practice

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19 views2 pages

English Paper 2 Practice

Uploaded by

Dave Grohl
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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"The true face of the characters in literary works is often fully expressed in the violent

conflict between emotion and reason." Take two literary works you have studied as
examples to analyse whether this statement is reasonable.

"The true face of the characters in literary works is often fully expressed in the violent
conflict between emotion and reason." This statement perfectly encapsulates the
development that characters go through in literary works. This can be seen in “A Doll’s
House” written by Henrick Ibsen in 1879 and in “A Streetcar Named Desire” written by
Tennessee Williams in 1947. In A Doll’s House, the audience watches Nora fight against
societal norms and gender inequality, while coming to terms with her emotions about
her family and her transgressions. In the finale of the play the audience witnessed a
violent clash between emotion and reason in the form of Torvald and Nora, allowing
Nora to break free from the shackles society had placed on her. In A Streetcar Named
Desire, the audience witness Blanche’s true face be revealed, as the violent conflict
between emotion and reason, tears down her facade. Through this both plays portray
the themes of violence and societal expectations, through the conflict between emotion
and reason, to make the reader reflect on the need for women to be free of this
patriarchal cycle.

Both books show the conflict between the female protagonist's emotions and societal
rationality in terms of social expectations, and Ibsen shows the rift between Nora's
emotions and the rational conventions established by Victorian society in particular,
while Williams highlights Blanche being unable to adapt to post World War 2 America,
thus leading to her mental collapse. Ibsen sets the play in one room of a Victorian
house which establishes the limited environment in which he is placed. As for Nora’s
true character, throughout the play until the final act she suppresses her true thoughts
and feelings, creating a façade that conforms to social norms of 19th century Norway.
This participatory role is a facade of its kind when she confronts social understandings
and expectations of gender roles and sacrifices her authenticity for social acceptance
Nora's dialogue of "I've been your wife-doll here, just as at home I was Papa's
doll-child." Ibsen cleverly creates dramatic tension in the final argument between
Torvald and Nora. The dramatic tension created by the display of Nora's emotions
means that Nora sees herself as an inanimate object, plays a role dictated by social
expectations, and contributes to the play's overall meaning through a binary relationship
with emotions and her emphasis on social expectations that control people For this is
Nora's true face revealed when she realises that being a 'child' is not her purpose. Thus
Ibsen establishes his journey towards his individuality and rejection of his self-imposed
role. While Ibsen uses dialogue to build dramatic tension, Williams uses monologue to
show the fall of Blanche used by Williams’ body struggling with social expectations and
emotions, acting as a mirror to the reader and through it explores the consequences of
existence in denial. Williams goes on to explore the conflict between illusion, which was
created by his emotions, and reality , and in the social forces that form between
individual identities “I am not telling the truth , I am telling what the truth can be.”
Blanche puts on weird and wonderful facades to hide her troubled past and insecurities.
This self-created image becomes a prison as he struggles to maintain the illusion,
where his real face comes closest to his revelation. She fears she could face judgement
and rejection if her true identity is revealed. The motif contributes to Blanche’s
Hamartia. Readers are taken on a journey that incorporates the emotional impact of his
tragedy, making it an experience of seeing the consequences of his self-destructive
nature Williams and Ibsen come close to bedding female protagonists but in different
ways Ibsen describes the triumph of Nora’s emotions over societal logic when she
breaks up with Torvald at the end of the play, while Williams expresses Blanche’s
emotional surrender to the logic and values ​established by post-ww2 society.

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