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Essay / The Incarnation of Florence Nightingale in Lytton Strachey's "Eminent Victorians" past the lives of ordinary citizens, mainly women, as unsatisfactory and unsatisfying, and through this negative depiction of Victorian England the author is able to maintain, by contrast, perceptions of the 20th century as a period of liberation feminine. Strachey presents the female form in Victorian England as one defined by social expectations, perhaps calling it "high art" due to the influence others had on how it was perceived. Although the author may use the singular female protagonist - Florence Nightingale - to symbolize the coming female revolution of 20th century feminism, it could be argued that her desire to reject all social expectations of her characters perhaps acts as a warning about the dangers of radical female individualism. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayLytton Strachey's Portrayal of Florence Nightingale: SummaryThroughout the prose, Strachey presents the protagonist's identity as entirely defined by the external social influences and public perceptions of how she should behave. There is a semantic field of spirituality that filters through the verse, describing religion, for the Victorians, as a guiding force throughout life, and this is particularly evident through the rhetorical question "What was the secret voice to his ear if that wasn't the case? a call?' : here the author suggests a complete upheaval of female identity, since her "secret" mental thoughts are attributed to divine force rather than to her own personality, and the series of exclamations - "Ah! To do his duty in this state of life to which it had pleased God to call him! - to further present her life's path as chosen by forces other than herself, in contrast to the growing strength of feminism after World War II which saw many women begin to make more decisions about how they lived. In light of this context, Strachey's presentation of Nightingale as limited not only by religious force, but also by social influences, particularly describes how "human character changed" in the early 20th century by juxtaposing religious liberation and subsequent social status of women. With the subject of the analysis being Nightingale herself, Strachey begins the first two paragraphs by referencing other characters, to reflect the extent to which public perceptions have shaped our own view of Nightingale. The first paragraph opens by stating that "EVERYONE" knew women as "holy and devoted", and the sibilant associated with the capital letter of the first word is used to reflect the passivity of women in Victorian England, with the setting of "Hospital Horrors" further presenting the character as literally trapped within the walls of the building, to reflect the limitations imposed on Victorian women. While this author continues to assert that "the truth was different", the next paragraph similarly opens with reference to the character's social environment ("His family was extremely well off") and then progresses to a catalog of locations, from "New Forest" to "London": although the syndetic list form here may work to describe the character as.’.
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