-
Essay / Free Essays - Yorick's attitude towards women in a...
If we read A Sentimental Journey by Laurence Sterne, we must abandon the fixed idea of the ordinary journey, filled with detailed descriptions of landscapes. In Sterne's work, however, there are unique descriptions of human feelings, compared to other ordinary travel stories. Therefore, the entire work initially leaves readers confused. However, once absorbed in this story, we can easily follow Yorick's unique thoughts. His attitude towards women is particularly interesting. He meets many women and his attitude towards them does not change. That is, we can see that there are certain principles when Yorick confronts women. I will therefore discuss Yorick's attitude towards Lady at the Discount; Grisset in Paris; the maid; Maria and Eliza.Why does Yorick meet so many women in such a short time? As there is not a single passage about his own profile in the story, we cannot assume what he is and what he is doing in his country. Nonetheless, Yorick appears to be single, as no one ever told Yorick not to go abroad in the first episode. And then Yorick is very afraid of being kept in prison. Even though it's a general kind of fear that anyone can be afraid of, Yorick seems to be even more sensible about limiting himself to a particular place or group of people. He tries to free “the starling” (71-3), because he hates the feeling of confinement. A marriage can be a kind of confinement for Yorick. In other words, being a free bachelor, Yorick does not want to be tied to a specific person. And this causes him to meet so many women in such a short time and have many relationships with them. So what is Yorick's attitude towards these women? First of all, he's a bit passive when he approaches them. Yorick usually ends up with a woman in a place, like "the Shed", "Unkind". It's totally different from how other people get to know someone. For example, in the case of La Fleur, he goes straight to a girl's house and has a good time with her (101). As the following example shows, Yorick is not active at all. : “Mgr Dessein left us [Yorick and a lady] together, hand in mine” (16). When he is in the store with Grisset, she readily asks him to take her pulse. (53).