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Essay / Main themes of “The Tempest” by Kate Chopin
In The Tempest, we discover Bobinôt and his four-year-old son Bibi for the first time. They wait out a storm in a store while Calixta, Bobinôt's devoted housewife and Bibi's mother, is home alone. When she notices the impending storm and goes out to get the clothes from the clothesline, her former apple of her eye. Alcee rides home on his horse and asks if he can wait out the storm on his porch. This ultimately leads to a rather out-of-this-world sex scene, which coincides perfectly with the crescendo of the storm hitting the roof, leaving both parties equally satisfied as they go their separate ways and move on with their own individual lives. What brings Calixta and Alcee together, besides their history and their attraction to each other, is also the fact that they are similar in the sense that their marriages lack passion. Calixta is not the only one experiencing a pleasure like she never had before her passion "penetrated and found response in the depths of her own sensual nature which had never before been reached." This shows that Alcee is also unhappy with his intimate life with Clarisse, his wife. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Several themes are addressed in Kate Chopin's The Storm. Above all, the roles that society imposes on us are presented, in this case Calixta inhibiting the role of housewife and mother in the first part. We are shown the themes of romantic love and filial love. She is absorbed in her household chores ("sewing furiously"), so absorbed in fact that she does not notice that a storm is approaching until the sky darkens. This could already be a symbol of the suppression of women as individuals in society; her role as wife and mother consumes her, leaving her little space to explore other wants or needs she might otherwise have. The second part then reflects a revolutionary type of woman for the time this story was written, as Calixta is depicted here as a woman with her own sexual desires and needs; The man's desire for the woman is not the preface, as Calixta's “eyes betray sensual desire” mirroring Alcee's “desire for her flesh.” Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized paper now from our expert writers. Get Custom Essay The role of (human) nature and morality is a third theme of this short story; it seems that Chopin tolerates this matter, whether as a statement in favor of women's sexual freedom and an emphasis on the importance of equality or simply a reflection on natural phenomena and the fact that it is in our human nature to experience and enjoy sexuality. meetings. The fact that their climax coincides with the crescendo of the storm only further emphasizes the romantic idea of our connection as natural beings to the natural world; when the intensity of their passion increases, so does the storm; when it stops raining and the sun turns "the sparkling green world into a place of precious stones", they are at ease and beam at each other as Alcee rides on her horse in part three. Calixta's journey from fulfilling the societal role assigned to her as a mother and wife to transforming into an individual, sexual and natural being truly shows the influence of the elements of romantic love throughout this (short) story..