The Environmental and Personal Factors for Emily’s Tragedy Essay Example for Free

The Environmental and Personal Factors for Emily’s Tragedy Essay Emily’s tragedy results from not only her personality and psychology, but also the environmental and other external factors, which can be the last to ignore. This paper will make an analysis of the external and internal factors for Emily’s Tragedy. Key Words: environment, personality, tragedy, a rose for Emily. The environmental factors: the background and alien strangers First of all, after the civil war in the United States, Grison family still remained an aloof concept of elevate social status. Family s shaikh also as Emilys father was a seriously patriarchal tendency person. He was fastidious about his daughter’s marriage and drove away all the men showing love to Emily to preserve the status and dignity. â€Å"When she got thirty and was still single†. Obviously, both her body and mind were enslaved by her father’s traditional concept. Therefore, she felt released when her father was dead, and there was no â€Å"trace of grief on her face†. Raised up under the paternalism and strict education, Emily developed a strong dependence on her father and a hidden pent-up brutality inside her, which explains that Emily tried to hide her father’s corpse. And that’s why after her fathers death, owning nothing, Emily ignored the concept of common customs and soon fell in love with a young man called Homer who came to town to build the rail way from north. This gave Emilys dull and stuffy life a little warm color. After Emily’s father’s death, the meddlesome neighbors and some state agents became the leading external influence on Emily’s tragedy. After the Civil War common mind of the south people to the traditional south culture had changed as generations shifted. Miss Emily Grierson who kept haunting in the past phantom image became a topic in the neighborhood naturally. The old generation regarded Emily as the tradition, obligation, even a monument, revealing a nostalgic emotion to the traditional culture that was gradually fading away. But this condition changed when it came to the next generation of residents. The old colonel’s preventing Emilys tax revealed the old generations attention to vulnerable group, while the new alcalde and senators were dissatisfied with this. The neighbors became indifferent and sympathetic about Emily’s refusing to accept the era’s transmutation, and they tried all means to interrupt her love story and looked at her strangely. To some degree, they led to thoroughly closing down between Emily and outside world. The personal factors: excessive self-esteem and sense of controlling The strong self-esteem and arrogance as a noble lady existed in Emily’s whole life until her death. She was an embodiment of the south, the old and the tradition. At the very beginning of the story, the author recounted the decoration of her house which was always kept in 1870s style and never changed any more. Besides, she was so obstinate that even when the new government compelled taxes on her she just refused it and ridiculously mentioned the colonel who had been dead for almost ten years. She kept the traditional view all the way, and resisted to follow the inevitable times, which in fact she was protecting her poor dignity and glory by indulging herself in the past. At the same time, Emily was determined woman. Regardless of others’ criticism, she insisted on marrying a northerner whose social position was apparently lower than hers. It seemed that she was challenging traditions, but as a matter of fact, she didn’t mean to disobey the convention. When the man felt tired of her and was about to say farewell, Emily made love â€Å"eternity† in her own way. She captured her lover and the love was treated with â€Å"honor†. Emily’s personal creatures were particularly magnified in her love affair with the northerner. A southern lady married a Yankee laborer. Nothing could be better than that to rebel against the forceful external society and identify her self-being. She had a strong desire to control something important to her so that she could prove her nobility. whether there was true love or not. She locked Homer’s dead body in a well-decorated rosy room and lived through the rest of her life with Homer’s corpse. It seemed that it was better to rule in hell than serve in heaven. Conclusion:Family background, social environment, and her own â€Å"glorious isolation†, all of which resulted in Emily’s tragedy. However, the tragedy is not contemptible at all; on the contrary, it reflects the author’s deep sympathy for the poor lady who held the old-fashioned principle but still felt honored. William Faulkner once said, â€Å"A Rose for Emily was an allegoric title; the meaning was, here was a woman who had had a tragedy, an irrevocable tragedy and nothing could be done about it, and I pitied her and this was a salute to a woman you would hand a rose†. Tragedy as it is, Emily stands for an old but glorious era.