Maria: or, The Wrongs of Woman Literary Elements

Maria: or, The Wrongs of Woman Literary Elements

Genre

Novel, Feminism

Setting and Context

Eighteenth-century England

Narrator and Point of View

Both first-person and third-person omniscient narrators are utilized.

Tone and Mood

Emotive, unsettling, empathetic, feminist, and activist

Protagonist and Antagonist

Maria-Protagonist. George Venables-Antagonist.

Major Conflict

Maria’s incarceration and mental subjugation in an asylum; her oppression is attributed to egotistical and disempowering patriarchy.

Climax

Maria’s detention in the asylum that follows her botched endeavor to flee from her obnoxious and unloving husband.

Foreshadowing

N/A

Understatement

The label ‘bastard’ understates the legitimacy of an individual as a child of someone.

Allusions

Allusion to literature such as “Dryden’s Fables, and Milton’s Paradise Lost.”

Imagery

Maria is an archetypal 'damsel in distress' and a victim of patriarchal despotism who is redeemed from out-and-out craziness by books. The books distract her positively; otherwise, her distress would have deteriorated swiftly.

Paradox

Mansions/Castles, which are magnificent, torture occupants such as Maria.

Parallelism

Maria’s and Jemima’s recollections provide parallel narratives that are instrumental in constructing the theme of female subjugation.

Metonymy and Synecdoche

Hearts denote love.

Personification

House pillars are personified to highlight the worth of male children in households.
Maria’s thoughts are personified.

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