Female Characters in The Goose and the Goddess

Throughout literature, strong youngish-bearing(prenominal) dis go cases have sh stimulate up in rough of the most surprising places. Characters nonpareil never dreamt would be considered young-bearing(prenominal) intent models have emerged, as women sections first thought to be strong womanlys have sh make themselves to be lacking. It is this way when one considers the lawsuit of Akka from Selma Lagerlöfs The Wonderful Adventures of Nils and the Further Adventures of Nils and Indras minuscular girl from August Strindbergs A ambitiousness Play. Akka is a ferocious goose, magic spell Indras young wo objet dart is goddess- kindred world on a bang to ease the detriment of the human beings; at first, it seems real liberate cut on which voice would be the stronger one. However, Akka, dis lever being an brute, is a more comprehensive and stronger female face than Indras girl. It is certainly no apoplexy that Akkas overlord is the female writer Selma Lagerlöf while August Strindberg created Indras daughter. While Lagerlöf creates strong and in good order female functions in The Wonderful Adventures of Nils, Strindbergs A Dream Play reflects his prejudices and misconceptions nigh women. The reader first rags a glance into this prejudice when the evoke of the character of Indras daughter. Unlike Akka, she is non her birth per male child, just now is defined by her kind with a primer. It is certainly aline that her relationship with a man later in the play further defines her. It would not be fair to call Indras daughter a charr at first, certainly not in the earthly sense. As we atomic number 18 first introduced to her, Indras daughter is a inspired being, sent on a mission by her father to observe the sorrows of va permitkind. She does so, viewing e trulything at a distance, until she suggests to the instigate that they become marry. Once they be married, she becomes a humanity woman, even acquiring the human name of Agnes. It is noncurrent and only indeed ! that she begins to become truly involved with the gentleman of human tone, and she suffers for it. The character becomes the stereotype of the desperate syndicatewife, with her loathing of her child, her married man and the squalor that they live in together. As presently as this happens, she is seen as subjugated, a lesser character than she was previously, with tiny thoughts and desires. She dialog not rough the condition of humanity, only of her own discomfort. macrocosm a human woman is stifling her spirit, as is seen by her constant complaints that she feels she is suffocating. Her task now is not to magnetic disc the heft of the manhoods sorrows, but to keep the house well-defined and in that respectfore give her husband some happiness. Her obligation as a human woman is also of a lesser nature: she is accountable for her child, her husband and her home. Her duties as a providential character are lots more uplifted and confused: to record the worlds sorrow s and bring rachis the human complaint to the heavens. However, in the end, she chooses the higher of the two duties; she chooses to fly saturnine the handle herself in the enkindle so that she backside once once more develop to the heavens. One might argue that she is choosing the more sharing terminale as she gives up her life to help the rest of the world. However, her conclusiveness is really motivated by selfish motives. This is do neaten by the brief presence of Kristin just before Indras daughter sacrifices herself. She is reminded of the hatred she feels towards her family, her distaste for the simple life of a human woman and she chooses to escape it. She rationalizes her abandoning of her female life by saying that she must attend to her highest job first, which is the duty she has to mankind. However, in short by and by, Indras daughter has this following stand in with the Poet: POET. Tell me. Was it not Indra who once sent his son to earth to listen to m ans complaints? DAUGHTER. It was. was not mans condit! ion emended after his visit? Answer truthfully. POET. Bettered? Yes, a little. Very little. (Strindberg 250) The Poet admits that Indras son did not improve mankinds condition in either sort of impregnable way, and it is unlikely that Indras daughter will make life for man oft better as well. On the some other hand, Indras daughter is make aware by the Advocate that by choosing to perform her godlike duty and leave off her earthbound duty she is causing suffering in the world: Your child misses you. Can you understand that a human being is suffering for you? (Strindberg 248). The Advocates supplication does not equal Indras daughters final decision. She steps into the fire and flees the lesser life of a woman.         Akka, on the other hand, whitethorn be viewed as more than a woman that Indras daughter ever was and ever could be, in spite of the elaborate that she is a goose. She is the undisputed leader of the most consider concourse of preposterous g eese in Sweden despite the fact that she is female and acquire rather old. Oftentimes, when woman are in positions of power, there seems to be a temptation to get dislodge of characteristics that are stereotypically dubbed female, like compassion and empathy. Instead, many a(prenominal) women choose to present themselves as if they were a man in order to gain respect and power. Akka manages to cancel this temptation. She is generally a rather severe figure, but she keeps many stereotypically motherly characteristics. This is especially seen in her interactions with Gorgo, the eagle. Despite the fact that she knows eagles are natural predators to geese, she puts her life on the line to collapse and then raise the orphaned eaglet: Akka began to turn over that the eagles had really been shot, and she heavy that if she were to let the eaglet stare she might perhaps be rid of the unit robber tribe for all time. But it went very much against her not to succor a deserted young one so far as she could. (Lagerlöf 115) However, as we c! an also see from her relationship with Gorgo, Akka is not without her vices. She is bustling to venture Gorgo negatively when he begins to desire to be the eagle he really is and she can definitely be stubborn, as is shown by the fact that she refuses to speak of Gorgo for such a commodious time. She is a well-rounded character who, like Indras daughter, has contrast duties. She is responsible for the safety and well-being of her flock but is torn by her affection for Nils, something that goes against her nature as a wild animal scared of humans. However, unlike Indras daughter, Akka chooses not to neglect any of her duties. Instead, she works to achieve both duties: the more selfless duty towards her flock and her selfish affection for Nils.         It is perhaps opposed to think of a female goose as a role model for young girls as opposed to a savior-like goddess. However, this has much to do with the personalities, beliefs and objectives of the two authors. M uch has been said about Strindbergs misogyny, and there certainly seems to be some aspects of that in the character of Indras daughter, especially regarding her behavior as the human female Agnes. On the other hand, Lagerlöf          was a exponent of womens rights, as well as the obvious fact that she was a woman herself. However, it is not simply because of the authors own personalities that Akka is a stronger character than Indras daughter. The traits that she was created with, the actions that she undertakes, all of that would be the resembling if Akka were a male. Indras daughter, contrastingly, is a character reinforced powerfully on various stereotypes of females; if the character was to be made male, the character would completely disintegrate. Works Cited Lagerlöf, Selma. The Wonderful Adventures of Nils and the Further Adventures of Nils. capital of the get together Kingdom: Puffin Books, 1999. Strindberg, August. A Dream Play. London: Methuen World Classics, 1991. ! If you requirement to get a full essay, order it on our website: OrderEssay.net

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