|
|
|
|
|
VOICES WITH INTEGRITYA structural study on the portrayal of the female character in The Piano, The English Patient and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
|
|
|
The Piano The analysis is broken down into models, where is one looking on denotative / connotative levels, while another is concerned with the dialectical dynamic in the story, eliciting the opposition on a culturally moral point of view. A third model is a simplistic, although effective, progression line examining the development of Ada and her status. The first division is concerned with four visual signs that recur throughout the story, and therefore should be paid special attention to. Denotation Connotation Piano Voice Wings Innocence Axe Domination Forest Corruption The Piano can be seen as an indexical sign for Ada’s emotions. The way characters react to her way of playing suggests she communicates through the instrument. Aunt Morag makes the comment to Nessie (in the forest) that Ada’s playing is as a mood that creeps under one’s skin. Baines stops his advances on Ada when she breaks into a waltz by Chopin (at the fourth lesson). Her piano playing seems to be the only realm where she can be truly free, and speak her mind so to say, in an otherwise oppressive society, which in that sense makes the piano replace her muteness and becomes her voice. The Angelic Wings figures for the first time during the preparation of the church play. Flora wears them more or less constantly after that. As a symbolic sign the wings connote innocence and goodness, however, the shadow cast by Reverend Septimus (during the preparations) with wings on and a fake axe implies there is a darker attachment to the wings as well. Since Flora starts wearing the wings she sides more and more with Stewart, and in the end betrays Ada twice (e.g. when washing the trunks, and delivering the piano key to Stewart instead). Literally the wings become dirty after Flora has been running around in the forest with them on. As stated below the forest stands for a corrupt culture and the innocence and goodness become tainted in contact with it. The last to be seen of the wings are when they are being washed clean in a river before the departure, suggesting all the jealousy, and hate Flora had towards her mother (e.g. when she is not allowed in to the cabin when Ada plays, and when Ada tells her to go home to practice and that she can’t come with her to Baines’) is now washed away, and she has found her way back to what is good – her love for her mother. The Axe is a symbolic sign for the patriarchal culture, which Stewart also is the embodiment of. It is only men who use an axe (even the fake one held by Reverend Septimus during the preparations), and its function is that of domination. With it nature is tamed, and Stewart, just as the male character in the church play, also uses the axe to subdue his woman (e.g. Stewart severs Ada’s finger). The Forest is often visually portrayed as dense with twisted trunks creating almost an impenetrable wall (00:14:26, 01:07:40, 01:36:21 ), and in relation to Ada it becomes a visual symbol for the imprisonment she experience in the culture of which Stewart is a representative. The last shot of the forest support this idea as well; at the point of their departure the forest is still dense, although sunbeams are finding their way through the crowns of the trees (01:42:55) creating an exit. The forest is a symbolic sign for a culture with corrupt values (e.g. treats women as objects, status through purchasing and possession of land). The following chart divides the two male protagonists into an opposing binary system in order to elicit what they represent in the story. Denotation Stewart Baines Country England Scotland House Muddy Green Appearance Victorian New Zealandish Ada Wife Lover Connotation Stewart Baines Country Supreme Subject House Dead Alive Appearance Rigid Adapted Ada Possession Equal Country Judging by the accents of Stewart and Baines, it is fairly easy to come to the conclusion that Stewart is English and Baines is Scottish. The opposition becomes quite obvious if one looks at the past England and Scotland share between each other. It has seldom been a very amicable relationship between the two. It is commonly understood that England has been the supreme state over a subjected Scotland, which manifests in the relation between Stewart and Baines, also their characters seem defined by their origins as well. Stewart is overtly polite and sociable while Baines is stubborn and closed off at social occasions (e.g. tea in the missionary house, and the church before the play starts.) - stereotypical traits of English and Scottish people. The master - subject relationship between the two can be found in various situations throughout the story. Baines acts as an interpreter when Stewart does business with the Maoris, he helps Stewart to chop up wood, and he complies when Stewart tells him to leave the island. Stewart, on the other hand, is never to be seen helping Baines in any respect. By placing Stewart and Baines in two opposing countries a larger conflict transcends the relationship of the characters, and in a natural way pits them against each other. Stewart or Baines might not hate the other in the beginning of the story; however, due to history and culture they are divided and pre-set in an antagonistic stance. House The houses of Stewart and Baines represent the two different living conditions they have created and chosen to live in. As indexical visual signs the two houses and their surroundings also seem to reveal the nature of the two characters. When Stewart's house is shown for the first time it's raining heavily, the soil is nothing but mud, and the house itself is meticulously built resembling a large wooden box. The land in the close vicinity of the house has been scorched and dead, burnt trees surround it, which ironically creates all the mud since there is no vegetation to bind it down anymore when it rains. It looks like nature has suffocated and nothing living exists anymore around Stewart's house. He has conquered the land and altered it according to his will. The connotations attached to the house are of a depressive and destructive sort, and to draw a parallel to folklore or Scandinavian Sagas a similar realm would have belonged to an evil and oppressive tyrant, as Knight Cato in Lindgren's 'Mio min Mio' or the dragon in 'Beowulf' . Baines house, in that case, is in stark contrast to that of Stewart's. The house might be somewhat smaller, although the nature around it flourishes. The whole house seems organic with leaf roof and cracks in the walls letting in sunbeams creating a serene and relaxed atmosphere. The calm black horse outside the house, looking at Ada and Flora on their first visit to Baines, further reinforces the notion that Baines house is peaceful. The difference between the houses of Baines and Stewart, on a connotative level, is that of heaven and hell. Appearance Both Baines and Stewart are being visually introduced simultaneously on the beach when they are to pick up Ada and Flora. On a denotative level Stewart is wearing a Victorian outfit consisting of a black top hat, black coat, white shirt, black bow tie, and vest and trousers in a green and dark green tartan with the pattern running horizontal and vertical.
|
|
|
|
Still Can't Find What Your Looking For? Then Try a Essay Search!
|
