Romanticism, Essay Example

The opinions on the sexual character are discussed in Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Women. According to Chapter two, marriages should be based on companionship, not wealth and social standing. Elizabeth, a well-educated woman is able to initiate an intellectual conversation with Mr Darcy. She is witty and can sometimes even outshine men with her intellect. Therefore, Austen makes a strong point saying that women can be more than accessories to men: they can provide the same intellectual satisfaction as male companions. Austen compares how Elizabeth is supposed to behave; social expectations of upper-middle class young women include singing, painting, playing the instrument. Through Elizabeth’s exclamations, the author disagrees with social stereotypes of the age related to women: “the more I see the world, the more I feel dissatisfied with it” refers to the expectations, rules and stereotypes of the society. This revolutionary view on gender roles is certainly originated from contemporary feminist writings.

The state of innocence and experience, according to Willam Blake are contrasts of each other. Innocence’s “Introduction” part describes the state of innocence as joyful: piping with “ merry cheer”. The vision that is the main theme of the poem describes a child sitting on a cloud: a dream-like vision. Again, just like many romantic poets, Blake associates dreams with unconscious happiness, contrasted with conscious reality. He also states that writing happy songs is only possible when one is in this innocent state. In contrast, “Experience” brings nothing but sorrow and misconduct. In the Introduction part, the poet states that all the Bard’s voice is calling is the “lapsed Soul,
And weeping in the evening dew”. The night is “worn”, in contrast with the scene of the Introduction piece of Innocence, where we face a peaceful bright day. Night with disturbing noises is, therefore, a metaphor for “experience”, while joyful day is the metaphor of “innocence”.