Proposition de Corrigé Synthèse Sujet 0

Corrigé structuré pp.3-4.

Travail au brouillon : c’est-à-dire liste de ce qui me frappe en lisant les docs. Je ne dis pas qu’il
n’y a pas d’autres idées possibles, ni que je vais utiliser toutes mes idées pour la synthèse finale.

Doc A :

A novel by Jane Austen, who is quite famous for her irony and wit, and who, just like Oscar Wilde,
wrote comedies of manners : a comedy of manners is a satire of the manners and thoughts of
contemporary society. 1818 (pas tout à fait la période Victorienne, qui commence en 1837, c’est
l’époque géorgienne, du nom du roi, mais l’erreur n’est pas très importante).

Love encounters: cf. first paragraph, Anne and Captain Wentworth have fallen in love: a long list
of qualities characterizes each character:

‘‘[Captain Wentworth] was, at that time, a remarkably fine young man, with a great deal of
intelligence, spirit, and brilliancy; and Anne an extremely pretty girl, with gentleness, modesty,
taste, and feeling.’’

But the thing is, this list is too long and a bit excessive. It is so long that we (readers)
understand there might be something wrong about this relationship.

Superlative forms: ‘‘It would be difficult to say which had seen highest perfection in the other, or
which had been the happiest’’ —> superlative forms which show that their love is an ideal, they
don’t see (or cannot have seen yet) what might be wrong in the other. There is a form of irony
here: no relationship is absolutely perfect, the narrator points out the idealistic nature of their
relationship - an ideal which cannot last…

Difficulties in establishing them: ‘‘Troubles soon arose’’ (l.11). Not directly between Anne and
Captain Wentworth, but because of Anne’s family, who is far from consenting to this union.

Note the number of negations or negative terms in the second paragraph:

Troubles soon arose. Sir Walter, on being applied to, without actually withholding his consent, or
saying it should never be, gave it all the negative of great astonishment, great coldness, great
silence, and a professed resolution of doing nothing for his daughter. He thought it a very
degrading alliance; and Lady Russell, though with more tempered and pardonable pride, received
it as a most unfortunate one.

Third paragraph: Lady Russel’s thoughts in free indirect speech. We understand the reasons
why she is against Anne’s relationship with Captain Wentworth, and the reasons are numerous.
anaphora ‘‘Anne Elliot’’ (l.18, l.23) which stresses the number of reasons against this marriage
(different social backgrounds, uncertainty of the future…) as if poor Anne would be doomed if
she married Wentworth.

Fourth paragraph: once again a sort of free indirect speech which sums up Lady Russel’s
thoughts, but also the narrator’s —> all Captain Wentworth’s riches has come from luck, which
is what Lady Russell has perceived.

NB. L’ironie est très présente chez Jane Austen, ce qui est peut-être un peu difficile à votre stade
à percevoir. Ici, on comprend que la narratrice (ou le narrateur) n’est pas forcément très fan de
Captain Wentworth: qui mise tout sur la chance (comme c’est le cas pour d’autres personnages
d’Austen…), et l’amour qui est né entre les deux personnages est trop rapide, assez superficiel…
Le père aussi, qui ne dit rien et ne fait rien, est moqué par Jane Austen…

Last paragraph: opposition to her wedding is too strong for Anne —> social background is more
important than love.

Doc B.

A contemporary newspaper article published in the Guardian.

An article written after the results of a study were published. A study which proved that a trend
has only been increasing: it is increasingly difficult for men to meet a partner from another
social class.

‘‘Social barriers’’ prevent ‘‘social mobility.’’ The writer’s point of view: ‘‘Our education system
must do more to bring together those of different backgrounds to improve social mobility.’’

The example of Love Island, a reality TV show, during which ‘‘unlikely’’ couples - that is, couples
that go against our expectations of what a couple should be, a couple from different backgrounds
in this case - met.

Reality TV: public world, as opposed to the private world.

Another distinction: between the ‘‘real world,’’ where it’s increasingly difficult to meet someone
from another social class, and the world of TV shows, where ‘‘opposites attract.’’

Doc C.

A painting by Edmund Blair Leighton, made in 1892 (Victorian era). Note the influence of the Pre-
Raphaelite Brotherhood: attention to details, a scandalous topic as well. But mind the title:
Where There’s a Will —> it seems that the painter supports the relationship between the two
lovers.



A love partnership: the woman is opening the gate that separates her from her lover (also there is
a reversal of gender roles here, usually, it’s the man who holds the key… No need to explain
why, I guess you understand…). Also a painting that goes against the Victorian thoughts: the
woman, who belongs to the private sphere, to the world of home and domesticity, goes outside,
opens the gate, to welcome her lover.

A secret relationship: the woman is looking at us, seems to check whether someone is
seeing her (in the painting: no one, but we viewers all see her)…

An idyllic background: the man’s gondola, cf. Venice, love… a kind of cliché.

Echos, liens entre les documents:

‘‘social barriers’’
An ideal?
Looking for approval
—> liens tels qu’ils me sont venus, à organiser de manière à rendre la synthèse cohérente.

 Proposition de synthèse

—> Social barriers do not prevent people from falling in love, but how can they be overcome?

1. An ideal?

Love is quite ideal in the three documents. In Jane Austen’s novel, love between Anne and
Captain Wentworth was almost love at first sight, as the lists of meliorative nouns make clear (l.
1-3). The beginning of this relationship is also ideal, as the superlatives imply: ‘‘It would be difficult
to say which had seen highest perfection in the other, or which had been the happiest,’’ a
sentence which suggests that both characters haven’t noticed the other’s flaws yet, and which we
understand is quite ironic (that tone is typical of the comedy of manners, which Austen and Oscar
Wilde are famous for).

The setting of Blair Leighton’s painting is quite ideal too: the painting is set in the
countryside, in what is probably a remote and quiet place, the grass and flowers are highly
detailed (cf. Pre-Raphaelites), making us pay attention to them, and the man’s gondola reminds us
of Venice, the city of love.

Even Sonia Sodha, in her article, which seems to be quite pessimistic when it comes to
the possibility of finding love in a different social class, is quite hopeful, or at least she gives her
opinion on how to improve the situation: ‘‘Men should be helped to cross social barriers to find
prosperity – and love. Our education system must do more (…)’’ She hopes things might get
better in what may be an ideal future. Plus she gives the example of a reality TV show, where
‘‘unlikely pairings’’ met. Contrary to what the name of this sort of TV shows implies, reality TV may
seem to offer ideal possibilities that are hard to find in real life.
Yet this ideal is but an ideal - it is difficult to reach and to sustain a relationship, for
‘‘Troubles soon ar[i]se’’ (doc a), especially because of the ‘‘social barrier’’ (doc. B) that may
separate lovers.

2. ’‘Social barriers’’

The three documents show to what extent ‘‘social barriers’’ matter in love relationships.
These ‘‘social barriers’’ can be the characters’ or people’s social backgrounds. In Jane
Austen’s novel, Anne’s family and acquaintances (her father, Lady Russell) do not approve of her
relationship with Captain Wentworth (cf. repetition of negations in the second paragraph) because
his future is uncertain and because he is from a different social class and not wealthy enough.
They don’t think he is a proper match for Anne. Her father’s and Lady Russell’s disagreement is so
strong that Anne gives up her love for Captain Wentworth, so that social barriers can’t be
overcome.

Although the novel was written in the early 19th century, things have not really changed
since that date, as Sonia Sodha’s article, published in 2017, makes clear. The article was written
after the results of a research were published, and these results show that it is increasingly
difficult for men to find a partner who does not come from another social class.

But ‘‘social barriers’’ may be overcome. In Leighton’s painting, the ‘‘barrier’’ is not a
different social class but it takes the form of a literal gate that separates the two lovers. The
viewers don’t really know what goes against this relationship, but what matters is the fact that the
young woman is opening the gate. Not only is the woman opening the gate, but there’s a gender
reversal in the painting: it’s the woman who opens the gate with her key, not the man, as if the
woman was empowered. This gender reversal and the scandalous subject of the painting are
quite typical of Pre-Raphaelite paintings (Blair Leighton was not a Pre-Raphaelite, but he was
highly influenced by this group of painters), in which men and women are often androgynous
(Laus Veneris de Burne Jones, à droite), and where forbidden relationships are often depicted (cf.
The Awakening Consciousness, William Holman Hunt, or Millais’s Mariana that you can see here)

3. Looking for approval

What is striking in Blair Leighton’s painting is the woman’s look: she seems to be checking
whether someone is seeing her, for she wants to hide her relationship with her secret lover. Apart
from the lovers, no one is present in the painting so that her relationship is secret indeed. The
thing is, though, she is looking at us, viewers, who are outside the painting. But unlike what we
may assume the woman’s acquaintances might tell her, we can offer her our blessings as regards
her relationship. The title of the painting, Where There’s a Will, also seems to show the painter is
supporting this secret relationship.

The other’s look, and consent, is, indeed, important in all three documents. In her article,
Sonia Sodha takes the example of Love Island, which, in fact, is a counter-example: it goes
against what she explains about the difficulties of establishing relationships between people from
different social classes. In this reality TV show, some participants did manage to find lovers who
came from other social backgrounds. Sodha creates a contrast between the real ‘‘private’’ world
of everyday life, and the public world of reality TV, and she uses this example to stress the fact
that people (her readers) should be encouraged by this TV show to look for love in other social
classes. (Although she qualifies her idea: for her, education (l.3) is probably more serious than
reality TV. But by looking at the show, and consenting to these relationships, then viewers and
readers may change their minds about the possibility of establishing love relationships between
lovers of different social backgrounds.

On the other hand, looks, and the ability to look rightly at someone - and to understand
his/her personality, is also what prevents a lasting love relationship between Anne and Captain
Wentworth. Indeed, Lady Russell sees the man for what he is: ‘‘She saw in it but an aggravation of
the evil.’’ This sentence, which is in a paragraph written in free indirect speech, reflects both Lady
Russell and the narrator’s opinion on Captain Wentworth, who may not be as worthy as he first
looked.

NB. En études littéraires, le discours indirect libre (free indirect speech) est souvent conçu comme
une manière de mêler les points de vue du narrateur et du personnage dont le narrateur
s’approprie le discours.