Images and Roles of Women

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had left, the narrator still idealizes her.

He remembers her at her perfection, with flowers in her arms and hair. In Rhapsody on a Windy Night, Eliot evokes images and sounds that describe his ultimate woman. The moon “winks”, “smiles”, and “smooths the hair” of the grass, action similar to the actions of a woman. The moon also represents chastity and purity of a woman. Eliot wants a woman of perfection, but alas realizes no such woman exists.

In all three works, there are scenes when women are not present, but even in their absence they still have a great impact. The women characters in A Passage to India, Major Barbara and T.S. Eliot’s poetry are all dignified in their absence. In A Passage to India, no woman’s impact in her absence is as great as Aziz’s dead wife; however, most critics fail to see her as an important character (Phillips). Aziz admits that he did not love her when they were first married, and shortly after he grew to love her, she died. Only when she passes on does Aziz truly appreciate her love, and her sacrifice to bring Aziz’s son into the world. In Major Barbara, Barbara’s occasional absence is used for Cusins and Undershaft to discuss Barbara’s future. Her whole future seems to be planned in her absence. Which says a lot about the time it was written, women didn’t make very many of their own choices or decisions. In T.S. Eliot’s poetry, without absence, women have no meaning. In Portrait of a Lady, the narrator has trouble forming a friendship or writing letters to the “lady”. He thinks she could be dead by the time the letters reach her. After his absence from her his feelings change. The narrator seems to only be able to form a

friendship with the “lady” after her death. He is now able to resurrect her soul and relive the memories that they once shared. In Aunt Helen, Eliot makes it obvious again that without absence woman have no meaning. Eliot describes his Aunt as living in a “fashionable square” and servants cared for her. These society symbols mean nothing to Eliot. Only after her death does any action take place. Her death is seen as a dignified service. The dogs are “handsomely provided for” and the maid and footman can continue their affair publicly. The ideal woman still to this day does not exist, although a vision of the “perfect woman” is present in these three works. Women are the most misunderstood characters in literature. Authors used archetypes, absences and characterization to try and unravel the mysteries of a woman. T.S. Eliot said it best when he said “some way incomparably light and deft, some way we both should understand, simple and faithless as a smile and shake of the hand.”

Works Cited

Eliot, T.S. http://www.bartleby.com. November 2003

Forester, Edward Morgan. A Passage to India. Harvest Books, reissue edition.1984

Phillips, Brian. Spark Note on A Passage to India. http://www.sparknotes.com 1 December 2003

Shaw, George Bernard. Major Barbara. Dover Publication. 1997

Tan, Michael. Spark Note on Major Barbara. http://www.sparknotes.com. 1 December 2003