...are also characters with the least amount of power on the ranch, like Crooks. We can all see that Crooks has the least amount of power because he is black and because of his back injury, but I will be focusing on Curley’s Wife. Although she doesn’t have the least amount of power, Curley’s Wife is still extremely weak by simply being a woman and even more so by acting like a tart. Throughout the book there are multiple mentions and examples when Curley’s Wife is seen as overly flirtatious even though she’s a married woman, she is also never mentioned by name and constantly referred to as Curley’s Wife. “She put her hands behind her back and leaned against the door frame so that her body was thrown forward.” This is how she acts when she is only barely meeting George and Lennie. She is already trying to catch their attention and using her body to her...
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...Quotes in chronological order 1. Dearest partner in greatness 2. Human kindness 3. Unsex me here 4. Make thick my blood 5. To beguile the time 6. Face my thane is a book 7. Night’s great business into my dispatch 8. Out damned spot! William Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ and John Steinbeck’s ‘Of Mice and Men’ written in the 17th and 20th century, separated by hundreds of years of development and change within the world, both reflect the ideologies, treatment and representations of women in their respective eras. The principal feminine representatives are Lady Macbeth and Curley’s wife who throughout both texts demonstrate similarities and differences in their portrayal of their relationships with their male counterpart, the description of their tragic deaths and the conventional role of men and women and how they fit or break the stereotype. In this essay, I will refer to the aforementioned depictions, analysing the techniques the writers use to create their characters, and how a Jacobean audience, one during the Great Depression of the 1930s and a modern audience would react. Rather than supporting her husband in a subservient manner, Shakespeare makes Lady Macbeth the ruthless mastermind of a fiendish, venal and daring enterprise aimed to ensure her husband would ‘catch the nearest way’. In Act 1 Scene 5, when attempting to convince Macbeth to commit this necessary deed, she utters the heartless words ‘you shall put this night's great business...
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...While leisurely conversing in the harness room with Crooks, Candy, and Lennie, Curley’s wife first reveals her suffering, and then expresses it by intimidating and belittling the men in order to feel superior and disguise her own misery. After exposing deep feelings of pain and powerlessness, Curley’s wife conveys this grief by trying to put down the rest of the men to make her situation seem less severe in comparison . She can be compared to a bully, a person that dispenses pain they have felt to others either to gain sympathy or to feel entitlement and belonging. In the case of Curley’s wife, being to only woman on the farm has isolated and excluded her. In attempts to make friend or at least company, Curley’s wife enters the cabin to talk with the men. What seems like a heartwarming conversation turns sour very quickly when Curley’s wife yells, “‘Well you keep your place then, n*****. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain't even funny.’... She turn[s] at last to the other two... ‘Tell an’ be damned,’ she crie[s]. ‘Nobody’d listen to you an’ you know it’” (81). Because she experiences social rejection she feels the need to pass it along to the rest of the men in the cabin. She does this to make them feel the same or worse than she is feeling, or to show that her hurting...
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...Curley’s Wife: The Tart In this novel, Of Mice and Men, the author is John Steinbeck. The author explains Curley’s wife. Curley’s wife is flirtatious with everyone she goes around. “gives men the eye, kinda flirting with them” (31). “I’m lookin’ for Curley”, she exclaimed. “Oh!” said George. “You’re the new fellas that just come, ain’t ya?” (31). Curley’s wife is a lonely woman since Curley is always busy doing stuff on the farm. Earlier into the novel, Of Mice and Men, Curley’s wife is not only flirtatious, she claims to be lonely. Lennie made a comment to Curley’s wife “George says I ain’t to have nothing to do with you- talk to you or nothing” (86). She began to giggle “George giving you orders about everything?” (86) Lennie still wanted to listen to George and he expressed to Curley’s wife “No, sir. I ain’t gonna talk to you or nothing” (86). “Listen” she said. All the guys got a horseshoe tenement goin’ on. It’s on’y about four o’clock. None of them guys is goin’ to leave that tenement. Why can’t I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely” (86). No one never wanted to Curley’s wife because if Curley ever found out or saw them talking, he would get mad and then want to fight them. Not...
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...By far Curley’s wife is the most significant character in the novella. She symbolizes women at the time period, and plays a big role in the plot. She is the very reason most of the impactful events happen. At a glance Curley’s wife seems like a needy attention hogging woman, however she is very complex and interesting. Curley’s wife is an accurate representation of how women were treated in the 1900’s. Women were very irrelevant to the social world and became the minority quickly. All throughout the story Curley's wife is told to “stay in the house” and fulfill “woman duties.” The evidence above directly mirrors to the way women behaved and were treated in the 1900’s. Women stayed home doing chores, cooking, and performing every need...
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...Curley’s Wife: Miss Dynamite or lonely victim? Curley’s wife is a young, pretty woman, who is mistrusted by her husband, Curley. The other characters refer to her only as ‘Curley's wife,’ which is significant as she is the only character in the novel without a name. She is a simple object or possession belonging to her husband and this shows the severity of the sexual discrimination in America in 1930s. I believe Steinbeck would have thought of her not as a person but a symbol. Almost everyone on the ranch is lonely and she symbolises this. The audience would come to believe she is a weak isolated character however, the men are fearful of her. She is the wife of their boss. She has power and this power creates fear among the ranch workers. She is both in charge and screaming for attention. When we first meet Curley’s wife, the description of her suggests she is clearly overdressed for life on a ranch. ‘Her fingernails were red’ and she wore ‘red mules, on the insteps of which were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers.’ The repetition of the red suggests danger. This could be a warning about trouble in the future. Danger creates fear and the workers on the ranch definitely fear her. She has the power to dismiss them from their jobs or even have them lynched as she is the boss’s wife. This ‘Miss Dynamite’ image is supported by the fact that George thinks she will be trouble. He calls her a ‘tramp’, ‘poison’ and tells Lennie (who has taken a shine to her) to ‘leave her be’...
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...Curley's wife was unhappy and showed it through her aggression. Despite her meanness, her narcissism, crudeness and cruelty, we have sympathy towards her being that she’s a woman. We care about her because she is accidentally killed; painlessly, suddenly, violently. She met Curley at a dance and married him almost immediately, as a way to escape her overbearing mothering. Curley’s wife is in fact rude, selfish, and sometimes cruel. She constantly mocks the men that are weaker than herself, which stripes them from their dream of having a farm. But being a female who gets no attention and is seen as only property and having no identity, it would be rational for her to want to show little to no respect to any of the men. Curley’s wife lives a life following behind Curley’s shadows. She opens up first telling a story about how she could’ve been a movie star, which demonstrates her pushing for a better life or desperate need of a better future. She didn’t know what she was getting herself into when she married Curley, and soon after became trapped in the marriage. The outcome is an exact counterpoint to her dream of being on her own, independent, a movie star. She is a very gullible, which is enough for us to have sympathy for her. Her intelligence shines through when she knows she is being lied to, yet still falls short when she chooses...
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...Chapter 5 starts with Lennie stroking a dead pup the same way he had at the beginning of the story with the diseased mouse, laying the foundation for an ominous scene. The dead pup resurrects Lennie’s harmful nature within the story, which foreshadows the following events. Curley’s wife enters the stables and begins talking to Lennie. From just this, readers can sense that something bad is approaching. George is not there to sway Lennie’s attention away from Curley’s wife. In this scene, Steinbeck depicts Curley’s wife in a different manner. Rather than characterizing her as the manipulative character she had been portraying throughout the story, her loneliness and depression is highlighted within this scene. She begins to tell Lennie of her dream of pursuing a movie star career that had failed. Her dream differs very little than that of George and Lennie’s, both are held as an image of how life should be, although its conflict with reality. Curly’s...
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...The novel ‘Of Mice and Men’ is set in1930 during the Great Depression, a society where it is believed men are stronger and superior. Steinbeck uses Curley’s wife to illustrate difficulties women faced during the time, where there is no respect for women they are powerless, for this reason Curley’s wife does not have her own name which symbolise men oppression because It’s a men’s world, she represent all the women of the time. Steinbeck portrait Curley’s wife as a sexual object and troubled. This shows through her appearance that she is seeking attention ‘her face was heavily made up. Her lips were slightly parted’. It is no surprise that many men in the ranch think that she’s ‘jailbait’ and the fact she is introduced through rumours by Candy to George and Lennie means their viewed about her is bad. These does not shows any positive attitude towards any woman in the novel. Curley’s wife may be bad woman but she does suffer from real affliction. Despite all the revelations about her personality in the novel, her death is caused by her never ending need for attention even though Lennie has reveals to her that he likes to pet soft things and they ended up dead, she still offers up her hair, which is foreshadowing her fate. Steinbeck makes Curley’s wife character seem insecure, lone and isolated from the others on the ranch. As the only women on the ranch, she want someone to talk to. Her life is lonely her husband is not always around to talk to her, this suggest how she is really...
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...setback. Especially when everyone seems to stand behind this stereotype. This is all too real for Of Mice and Men’s Curley’s wife. In a world of isolation she is desperate for companionship but everyone around here follows along with this idea that she is promiscuous. During the novel many of the actions Curley’s wife performs can lead the reader to believe she is interested in the wrong kind of attention. A prime example of this is when Curley’s wife first appears. She quickly comes on to George and Lennie while they are new, like fresh meat. The idea that Curley’s wife would appear like this, especially without even introducing herself, shows she almost expects people to know who she is. When Curley’s wife enters on men she didn’t really have any business speaking to, in that time it could easily be seen as flirtatious. When Curley’s wife appears, she is described as well dressed, having, “full rouged lips and wide spread eyes, heavily made up.” She is also...
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...‘Curley’s Wife is stupid and dangerous. Discuss’ In the novel ‘Of Mice and Men’ by John Steinbeck, the character of Curley’s Wife shows an array of different personal qualities, emotions, needs, and desires- all of which lead her to her inevitable demise. These include stupidity and danger, but also innocence and mentality. Steinbeck portrays her as an attractive, attention-seeking young woman who grew up too fast; she gave up on her dreams to become a neglected housewife who endures sexism on a daily basis. With no-one to confide in, she becomes a flirtatious weapon, a threat to the ranch’s labourers, resulting in a vicious circle that ends only when she dies. Is she futile and dangerous? Or deep and manipulating? Curley’s Wife is smart enough to use her physical appearance to her advantage, yet stupid enough to let men take advantage of her. She’s innocent enough to believe she could be a movie star, but fatal enough to exploit Lennie and delude others. She is frequently referred to as “jailbait” and a “rat-trap” by the other characters, proving that, despite her efforts to associate with them, they will never respect her and instead view her as no more than a sexual object. By showing how the other characters treat her, and how Curley’s Wife reacts to this abuse, you could argue that Steinbeck was very ahead of his time, and unusually aware of issues such as sexism that penetrated 20th Century America. Male characters, including Candy and George, have no moral value...
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...Explore the way Steinbeck portrays Curley’s wife as someone we both sympathise with and dislike at times. Steinbeck portrays Curley’s wife as one we both sympathise and dislike at times by showing both sides of her story to the reader, he illustrates Curley’s wife’s, point of view by revealing her past and why she is married to Curley. He then depicts the other side of her personality by exposing how she is around the ranch workers, and what they think of her. The author also illustrates the life of a typical women in 1930’s America and the little respect they were given. Steinbeck does not make the reader feel one strong emotion for her but various different emotions throughout the novel. Furthermore he constantly foreshadows a coming of an event she will play a major role in by reminding George and Lennie how similar she is to the girl in Weed, who Lennie was falsely accused of raping. The first thing the reader notes when reading about Curley’s wife is the lack of importance she is being given by Steinbeck not mentioning her name, and by referring to her as a possession of Curley ,however this also reflects to 1930’s America, when women weren’t given any importance and were treated with a huge amount of disrespect. They didn’t have much power over the men and were considered ‘useless’. Henceforth Steinbeck may have not given her a name as women were not considered important enough and she may not have deserved a name in this era. This could make the reader feel sympathy...
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...referred to as ‘Curley’s Wife’. Her lack of identity could imply she is not woman but rather a possession of her husband. She is shown to represent the lost of identity after being associated with something or someone. That is why she has no name; her identity is being someone's wife. As this character develops we find that she is not in fact the unimportant, nameless character we first perceive her as, but rather she is a relatively complex and interesting character, with much more to her than we first gather. Alternatively, it could suggest she is insignificant and not as important of a character as George, Lennie or any of the other men on the ranch. It could also be referring to how during the great depression women were oppressed and treated less equally. Steinbeck may have portrayed women in this light to allow the reader to recognize the inferior role of women at that time. The lack of name demotes Curley's wife to insignificant status. In chapter four she joins Crooks, Lennie and Candy whilst on one of her ‘looking for Curley’ routines, where she says, 'They left all the weak ones here' alluding to the three men, all 'weak' in their respective ways. However there is a sense of irony because she is not even considered a real person but a possession. Therefore this comment is ironic because she seems to think of herself as higher in status than the men; however she is seen as unworthy of a name thus we can conclude that is she unimportant. Curley’s Wife is first presented...
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...Explore how Steinbeck presents Curley’s Wife in novel ‘Of Mice and Men’ 1930’s America was the time of the Great Depression; there was lack of jobs and the lives of many families were destroyed as a result of severe poverty. Men would travel the roads searching for any work which could provide them with the means to live. These men were migrant workers and in Of Mice and Men, George and Lennie are two such men on a ranch. Curley’s wife is the only woman on the ranch and the fact that she has no name symbolises the discrimination suffered by women in the 1930’s. During this time few women worked and therefore had little independence and instead relied on the support of their families or husbands. The first impression of Curley’s wife is profoundly negative. Candy describes her as a “tart” an suggests she is promiscuous, “she got the eye” and is disrespectful towards her husband even though she’s only been married two weeks. This leads the villain to believe she has been unfaithful and is the villain of the novel. However, Candy also says “Curley says he’s keepin’ that hand soft for his wife” could suggest that Curley sees her as a purely sexual object and takes advantage of her, without regard for romance, equality or respect. Because of Curley’s authority over the other workers his attitude and opinion towards his wife will influence the other men, creating generally biased opinions of her. This relates to the power of men at the time – Steinbeck is showing how men had the upper...
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...the main characters George and Lennie, are labor workers who have a dream of owning their own ranch farm and raising a lot of crops and animals that they can call their own. They want people to follow their orders at their ranch farm and not the other way around. They were treated in an ill-mannered way when they went in search of work. They found work on a farm but, they didn’t fit in well. The owner of the farm, Curley, has set a negative background for his workers and himself. He married a girl who is very extroverted and revealing. Throughout the book, Curley’s wife is shown to be a sympathetic character. The workers on Curley’s farm have been sympathizing with her because she was the owner’s wife. The workers looked down upon her because she was a woman. The workers even talked about her behind her back because they thought it made them more manly....
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