Table of ContentsIntroductionThe narrator's complaints about the patriarchal nature of marriageThe introductory role of stanza 1The patriarchal act of death in stanza 2The passivity of the woman in stanza 3The beginning of the woman's abandonment in stanza 4The patriarchal implications of marriageThe narrator's despair in the face of escaping marriageOn the road to death in stanza 5False immortality in stanza 6ConclusionWorks Cited Sites Web Books: Newspapers: IntroductionAmong the different subjects appearing in literary texts, death is an aspect that many writers will address For centuries, death. was portrayed as an ultimate bad character, evil, disastrous but unfortunately inevitable. However, in the poem “Because I Could Not Stop to Die” by Emily Dickinson, she adopted a rare description of death and personified it as a gentleman who took. a quiet journey with her to the grave. Scholars have debated the poem's possible implicit meanings for as long as its obvious desire to die has been mysterious (Priddy 41). Adopting the research framework proposed by Priddy (214) and Semansky (24), this article argues that "Because I Couldn't Stop to Die" is a statement on the unhappiness of marriage by adopting a feminist reading. The entire analysis presented in this article follows the approaches of Priddy (214) and Semansky (24) in the feminist reading of the poem with also reference to the views of other researchers and my own interpretations. It begins with explanations of how the poem expresses the narrator's complaints about the patriarchal nature of marriage, while examining the first four stanzas of the poem. Next, his despair over the escape from his marriage, as in the remaining two stanzas, will be presented. The essay will conclude with the importance of analysis in understanding Emily Dickinson's life and society at that time. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayThe narrator's complaints regarding the patriarchal nature of marriageThe introductory role of stanza 1The poetic expression of the narrator's complaints regarding the patriarchal nature of marriage is represented significantly in the first four stanzas of the poem. In the first stanza, he tells the poem's narrator about a visit from a man personified as "death." Such an initial representation and the continued descriptions of the image of transportation, the politeness of the "gentleman" and the action of stopping set the stage for the uses of courtship in the poem to bring out its theme and content (Crosthwaite 22). Serving as an introductory stanza, although the first three lines do not strongly suggest the idea of ​​his marriage complaint, the last line of this stanza describing the concept of "immortality" is in fact the main theme of the poem which contributes to the story of the poem. main scenario (Galperin 64). Semansky (24) also argues that this is a crucial element that supports his complaints about the marriage. “Immortality” is contrasted in the last stanza of the poem in which further discussion will be made. The Patriarchal Act of Death in Stanza 2Having given an introduction, the second stanza reveals more textual evidence to support the thesis. It begins with descriptions of the negative aspects of their relationship. “Death” emphasizes that the narrator abandons both the “work” and “leisure” of her life. Due to Death's apparent civility, the narrator has no choice but to accept his invitation. According toGalperin (66 years old) and Semansky (26 years old), this underlies the masculine nature of relationships. The narrator is rather passive in which she can only follow what "death" asks her to do, in which the role of "death" as a metaphor for her husband is at this point revealed. Despite his complaint, one could in fact still observe the little confidence he had left until "death" through the narrator's use of the positive noun "civility." This implies that at this point, the narrator had certain wishes to establish a healthy relationship for the rest of her life with her husband (Semansky 26). But the descriptions in the remaining stanzas show that this is only an illusion. The Woman's Passivity in Stanza 3 Moving to the third stanza, she describes in more detail their travels to different places that resemble different times in their lives. They drove slowly past familiar sights around town, seeing fields of grain near the local school and its playground. All of these images suggest phases of their lives that they went through together (Johnson 34) . The most significant element of this stanza will be the frequent use of the word “pass”. Apparently a pleasant trip, the word "pass" implies that she has no chance of having further experience in these places (Galperin 68). This is put forward as another complaint about the male-dominated nature of marriage. Every aspect of women's lives is under the strictest control of men without any right to further exploration (Priddy 216). The beginning of the woman's abandonment in stanza 4. The first line of stanza four is literally significant, it functions as a link and shows a contrast. until the last line of the third stanza. Rather than saying "We have passed the setting sun", she corrected it herself by saying "Or rather He has passed us -". Semansky (24) argues that this suggests her passivity in a male-dominated society. Sun functions as a metaphor for social norms. These are the social norms that reinforce male patriarchal ideology without giving the narrator and other women the right to change their lives. The following lines of this stanza describe a significant scenario in more detail. We are told that she is not dressed properly as she only wears a "spider dress" and a "tulle lace bonnet". She remained alone. Although she did not feel comfortable, her husband did not provide her with any support. More than that, the narrators' emotional descriptions and sufferings in the form of "quivering" and "shivering" in the following line further act as kinds of literal coldness suggesting his unhappiness in the marriage (Semansky 25). The image depicted here again shows the narrator's complaint and dissatisfaction with her marriage, with increasing intensity compared to the previous stanzas. his loss of freedom in marriage, which supports the poem's description of the unhappiness of marriage. Marriage is only an obstacle to the individual freedom of women. Once a woman gets married, it is like boarding the carriage of “Death” with no return. The narrator's despair over the escape from marriage On the road to death in stanza 5 The description of her unhappiness in marriage reaches its climax in the remaining two stanzas, in which her despair over the escape from marriage is expressed expresses. At the beginning of the fifth stanza, “Death” is described taking the narrator to her new home which is obviously a grove. It is described as “a swelling of the ground” whose roof is “barely visible” with a “cornice” in the ground. According to Semansky (24), this “house” can be considered “both a bridal house and theown tomb of the speaker's love and marriage. Metaphorically, the “Corniche” is the only visible part of the house. Without a door in the grave, there is no possible escape from death, as if there were no possible escape from deafening marriage. The only visible part, the cornice, is a very famous symbol in the poem as Nyren argues (16). What the cornice represents is the image of elegance and beauty, but underneath there are always sad stories from one's life, no matter how beautiful it is. However, the deceased is never given the opportunity to express his feelings towards him. Also comparable to marriage; apparently, the marriage is considered romantic and happy, the sad scenes of the marriage can hardly be seen and understood by outsiders (Woolf 46). Every man would like to express the excellence of marriage to other people and the truth is always hidden. Women have no way or right to express their sadness in a male-dominated society, leaving only a false representation of marriage. False immortality in stanza 6. The first two lines of this last stanza express his hatred towards the repetitiveness of marriage. “Since then it has been centuries, and yet each one / seems shorter than the day.” Marriage is nothing but torture for her and therein lies her vision of escape (Knapp 78). The phrase “first supposed” in the next line, as Semansky (27) suggests, is an ironic image from the poem expressing the narrator's bitterness at having been deceived. Using the horse as a symbol: horses' heads generally point down but not up, it expresses the narrator's feeling about the ridiculousness of marriage. While at the beginning she still had little hope of believing that the “carriage journey”, that is to say the romantic relationship, could last forever, it came to nothing. What is called “eternity” and “immortality” in the poem is nothing other than a kind of annihilation of the dream, leaving only prolonged torture. Dickinson's careful conflation of love and death in a single character leads to a statement regarding the interconnectedness of love and death. When we choose to have love, we inevitably face death in the end. Marriage always leads to the death of individuality and freedom. The narrator regrets getting into the car, but unfortunately it will remain "eternal" in the "grave" with only an apparent representation of happiness without any possible hope of escape. Conclusion In the subtitled analysis, it is argued that “Because I Couldn't Stop for Death” is a statement on the unhappiness of marriage by adopting a feminist reading. In fact, many literary critics also point out that many of Emily Dickinson's other poems can also be read in a feminist manner and some scholars even consider her a feminist poet (Priddy 52). This can be explained in reference to the social status of women in the mid-19th century, at their birth. At that time, a woman's proper role was limited to being her husband's subordinate. They were not given any rights or freedoms and many of the women's devastating situations were covered up (Wikipedia, “Emily Dickinson”). These historical facts may support the possibility that she incorporated feminist ideas into her poems, which was one of the only possible ways for her to express herself (Wikipedia, “Feminist Literary Criticism”). Throughout Dickinson's life, she did not marry (Knapp 35). What the subtitled analysis may also provide is an answer to her decision, as the poem simply serves as a complaint against the stifling and limiting nature of marriage, in which she did not dare to take and board the "ride.