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The Characterization of Lady Brett

In the novel by Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises, the character named Lady Brett Ashley is assimilated in the words of another character, Mike, with the Greek Goddess Circe. This Goddess is known in Homer's Odyssey for luring men with her irresistible charms and transforming them into animals. If this myth was to partake in reality, it would be without doubt represented in this novel. The majority of men in the story are tormented and subject to Brett's physical and sexual assets. The first characterization we get from her is one of a selfish, alcoholic, manipulative, sexual and evil woman who emasculates her male partners. However, this superficial characterization would ignore the principle …show more content…

His coward actions in Spain are motivated by the desire to possess Brett, but all men in this novel, except for Cohn himself, seem to have understood that she is cannot be possessed. This leads to a complete self destructive and uncontrolled anger which forces Cohn to leave Pamplona and be excluded from the group. It is also pride and control over himself that Cohn has lost to Brett, a display of his loss of masculinity. Finally, this perception of an emasculating woman can be pushed further to one that is seen as a goddess. While in the fiesta in Pamplona, a group of dancers, astonished by her beauty stop and dance around Brett, a scene that resembles many dances of devotions to different gods : “ Brett want to dance but they did not want want her to. They wanted her as an image to dance around. When the song ended with the sharp riau-riau! They rushed us into a wine-shop” (159). Lady Brett ,also, is the representation of a post-war woman. By the strength she brings in this novel, breaking the pre-war code of value and role of women, Brett holds a position in this novel which traditional ,at the time, only men held. While Jake is the narrator, it is clear that the main subject of interest is Brett. Her role as the catalyst of the actions defines this central role and mirrors the renew of women after the war. The participation of women in the war, having experienced the same atrocities, gave many of them the claims that led to the first-wave of feminism. Lady

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