Power and Powerlessness
The test consists of you writing two essay responses to the following themes. Essays should each be approximately 1,500 words, or approximately 3,000 words in total. As you will see, the themes are broad, so a big part of your response involves you creating a clear, specific thesis about your themes and discussing them in relation to two of the works that we have discussed in class. And so, I would like you to discuss two works per essay, and you can choose from the short stories by Zweig, Threepenny Opera by Brecht and The Trial by Kafka. When it comes to Zweig I would like you to discuss a different work for each of the two essays, if you choose to discuss him twice; in other words, you might discuss money and the abuse of power in ‘Fantastic Night’ and Threepenny Opera for one essay, and self-abasement ‘Letter From an Unknown Woman’ and The Trial in another. Those are just examples, but hopefully they suggest the approach that I’m looking for:
Here are the themes:Power and Powerlessness
Self-confidence and self-abasement
Perspective and Narrative
The Corruption of Society
Love and Hatred
Love and the Abuse of Love
The Role of Class
Morality and Immorality
The Role of Irony
Justice and Injustice
Literature and History
Learning and Failing to Learn from Experien
Again, For example, you might look at the themes of power and powerlessness in The Trial and in “Letter From an Unknown Woman” or you might look at corruption in Threepenny Opera and The Trial, etc. Some of these responses will inevitably become compare and contrast in structure; when it comes to such essays, structure yourpaper in terms of ideas instead of discussing one work for half the essay and another work for the other half. As with your previous essays, you must use proper essay structure: a clear introductory paragraph that closes with a specific, strong thesis; paragraphs organized around topics that support your thesis and that are structured in aclear, logical way; a sense of transition from point to point; evidence from the text that supports your thesis and/or illustrates your supporting points; and, finally, a strong conclusion.
The test consists of you writing two essay responses to the following themes. Essays should each be approximately 1,500 words, or approximately 3,000 words in total. As you will see, the themes are broad, so a big part of your response involves you creating a clear, specific thesis about your themes and discussing them in relation to two of the works that we have discussed in class. And so, I would like you to discuss two works per essay, and you can choose from the short stories by Zweig, Threepenny Opera by Brecht and The Trial by Kafka. When it comes to Zweig I would like you to discuss a different work for each of the two essays, if you choose to discuss him twice; in other words, you might discuss money and the abuse of power in ‘Fantastic Night’ and Threepenny Opera for one essay, and self-abasement ‘Letter From an Unknown Woman’ and The Trial in another. Those are just examples, but hopefully they suggest the approach that I’m looking for.
Here are the themes:
Power and Powerlessness
Self-confidence and self-abasement
Perspective and Narrative
The Corruption of Society
Love and Hatred
Love and the Abuse of Love
The Role of Class
Morality and Immorality
The Role of Irony
Justice and Injustice
Literature and History
Learning and Failing to Learn from Experience
Again, For example, you might look at the themes of power and powerlessness in The Trial and in “Letter From an Unknown Woman” or you might look at corruption in Threepenny Opera and The Trial, etc. Some of these responses will inevitably become compare and contrast in structure; when it comes to such essays, structure your paper in terms of ideas instead of discussing one work for half the essay and another work for the other half. As with your previous essays, you must use proper essay structure: a clear introductory paragraph that closes with a specific, strong thesis; paragraphs organized around topics that support your thesis and that are structured in a clear, logical way; a sense of transition from point to point; evidence from the text that supports your thesis and/or illustrates your supporting points; and, finally, a strong conclusion
Instructor
Course
Date
Power and Powerlessness
Letter From an Unknown Woman
In Stefan Zweig’s Letter From an Unknown Woman, a mysterious woman sends a letter to an author identified as “R.” In the letter, the unknown woman informs the writer that her son has died. The woman goes ahead and confesses that she has been in love with him since childhood. The woman further indicates she loved R before he moved to his apartment in Vienna. Ever since seeing R for the first time, the mysterious woman has remained “a slave.” Unknown to R, the woman makes trips to Vienna to see him without his knowledge. Zweig uses the relationship between the author and the unknown woman to demonstrate the theme of power and powerlessness. Ever since the unknown woman fell in love, she has remained a slave, which has made her powerless, while allowing R to be her master and hence exercise power over her.
Heterosexual love gives power to males as opposed to females. A woman in love is powerless in the presence of the man she loves. The protagonist’s obsessive love for a man who never recognizes her demonstrates "not as some hysterical aberration,” but “the plight of woman in love” (Fisher 94). Love causes individuals to be powerless in the presence of the one they love. The unknown woman indicates, “There is nothing on earth like the love of a child that passes unnoticed in the dark because she has no hope: her love is submissive, so much a servant’s love, passionate and lying in wait...” (Zweig 8).
The relationship between R and the unknown woman is that of a master and a slave. In a love relationship, it is expected that the parties involved re equal partners. Such a relationship should not have one of the partners as superior or inferior in any way. However, in the story, the writer demonstrates a master-slave relationship between R and the unknown woman. R, being the master takes the dominant position that accords him power in the relationship. On the contrary, the unknown woman is the slave and allows R to dominate over her. The woman recalls the very first time she became a slave to the man. She says, “But I still remember, my beloved, the day and the hour when I lost my heart to you entirely and for ever” (Zweig 7). On seeing R for the first time, the unknown falls in love with him. Her love for the man became intense on the first day. “That was all, beloved, but from that moment on, after sensing that soft, tender look, was your slave” (Zweig 7). The unknown woman interpreters the gaze from R as a sign of love. She quickly falls for him and accepts to be his “slave.” Henceforth, the woman lives her life as a servant to R. The woman no longer has a say in the “relationship” since she is enslaved by the love of her life. R is not aware that the woman secretly loves him. Despite this, he still manages to have so much power over the life of the woman.
Since the unknown woman falls in love with R at a tender age, she has little control over her emotions. A minor cannot handle the emotions associated with love. The woman falls in love with R at the age of 13 years, while still in school. At such a tender age,...
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