欧阳科创编 2021.02.05
Analyze the character of Dame Van Winkle and discuss her function as a villain. Dose the story carry sexual prejudice?
时间：2021.02.05 创作：欧阳科 Dame Van Winkle is described as a captious, man-eating woman who always scolds her husband in this story. But for me, Mrs. Winkle is a brave laborious woman As a villain, she makes Rip Van Winkle’s image of a “simple, good-natured man” more clear, and she is the carrier of the prejudice of women in that society. So in my opinion this story does carry sexual prejudice. Dame van winkle is a typical hellcat according to the description in the story. She always taxes with her husband volubly and acting very shrewish. Form the description of Rip as “a kind neighbor, and a husband who obeyed his wife” in the beginning if the story, we can see that in rip’s family, the person who role the roast is Dame Van Winkle
欧阳科创编 2021.02.05
欧阳科创编 2021.02.05
and she controls her husband with her power. With this description, our first expression of Mrs.Winkle is that she is a domineering woman. When we read the sentence:”her tongue was endlessly going. Everything he said or did was sure to produce more angry talk.” we can get the image that Dame Van winkle is sharp-tongued and fractious. As the development of the plot, the author portrayed a picture that Mrs.Winkle break into the club to blame all the people about their worthlessness and idleness.
After reading all these evidence above, it is easy for us to build up the expression that dame van winkle is a really virago in the small village. But if we read deeply into the story we can find that this kind of image is carrying a lot of prejudice. Mrs.Winkle is a special woman and she is brave and hardworking. The story tells us that rip is a kind and easy-going man, when his wife blames him, he never talk back. At the same time, the author also write that “Rip Van Winkle had one great fault; he disliked---indeed, he hated---any kind of profitable labour.”The condition of his farm is worse than any of his neighbors’ but rip is still wondering in the woods or lazing away with the people in the club instead of doing farm work.It means that as a man who
欧阳科创编 2021.02.05
欧阳科创编 2021.02.05
should work and earn money to support his family, rip is a total failure. Then we will ask who is working to take care of the family? Of cause the answer is dame van winkle. Since the husband never takes his responsibility, the wife has to go out working like a man, do the entire house work and bring up the children. In the story when rip got back to his village, there is a sentence: “He entered the ruins of the house, which, to tell the truth, Dame Van Winkle had always kept in good order.”This means that Mrs.Winkle is a good housewife.
Dame Van winkle is fractious and captious, but she has to be such a virago because her husband is a dawdler who never takes his responsibility. In the years that are described in the story, all the judgments about women are made by the men. A man who is always wondering and chatting with others can be forgiven and accepted by the public, but a woman who is brave to point out the worthlessness and idleness of men will be called a virago and the public will turn its back on her. From the story we can see that the people in Rip’s village are described as:” Whenever they discussed the Van Winkle family's quarrels, they always decided that Dame Van Winkle was wrong.”And there are a
欧阳科创编 2021.02.05
美国文学-瑞普_凡_温克尔夫人形象解析之欧阳科创编
