The David Lean film Ryan’s Daughter is a story about love and much more. The study of love is an interesting thing and it is especially troubling for young women. The way that society defines love is very complicated and it is not always easy for women to find a brand of love that fits both their personal needs and society’s inherent qualifications for loving relationships.
Because of this, women in literature and film have been represented in a particularly conflicted light. In Ryan’s Daughter, Rose is an interesting character who wants, more than anything else, to find a type of love that is both exciting and fulfilling.When she cannot find that type of relationship within the constricts of her own marriage, she reaches outside in order to find someone to suit her needs. Though this move is not a socially accepted one and it has within some dire consequences, Rose is justified and right in her actions. Though the character’s actions are scrutinized highly, she is correct in seeking the kind of love that is both fulfilling and exalting in nature. Rose Ryan is a character who is initially looking for love in all of the wrong places.
She conforms to what her particularly community says about love and neglects her own personal needs.In order to understand the situation of the character, one has to first understand what society told her about love. Love was something, in that society, to be found and clung to. It was not only wanted, but also expected that young women find a man that could take care of them and stick to that man. Though this sounds nice in its own idealistic state, it is not the type of thing that individuals can benefit from in the long run.
The community of Rose Ryan attempted to convince her that she must seek out a marriage and make it work. This went against what she wanted out of a relationship, which was some sort of fulfillment and excitement.In her relationship with Charles, there was little excitement and Rose did not feel as if the relationship made her a better person. In today’s terms, it could be said that she was settling for something less than the best that she could have had.
This was ultimately the challenge for Rose. She was expected to bring her own personal aspirations for love in some accord with society’s definition of a perfect marriage. If she could find a happy accord with those two, then she would be able to live a fruitful life that was accepted by society.In order to appropriately defend or admonish the actions of Rose Ryan, one must understand the circumstances by which her and Charles’ relationship got its start.
Rose is a character who is incredibly spoiled and she is always seeking some sort of excitement in her life. She feels that she must always be entertained and that the world is simply her playground for this purpose. Her first meeting with the somewhat boring schoolmaster was, in effect, an attempt to add this excitement to her life. The key thing to remember about their relationship was that she failed to recognize all of the signs in the beginning.She self-stated that she wished to have some sort of relationship that would spice her life up a little bit.
This was correct in going ahead and defining what she was looking for, which is one of the most important things a person can do when they are looking for love. The problem came, however, when she managed to get into a relationship that clearly was not providing her with the things that she desired so passionately. Even before Charles and Rose were married, there were comments made by Charles that would lead Rose to believe that the relationship was not headed for some sort of exciting climax.This type of life just was not the one for Charles and he was well aware of this. Still, Rose Ryan decided to look past this in an attempt to add something new to her suddenly mundane life.
In this, one can see the hazards of jumping into a relationship based upon faulty premises. In the study of love and relationships, it is easy to draw one coherent theme. Through all of the readings, it is easy to see that successful relationships are ones that are built upon the foundation of trust and they are built upon solid pretenses from the very beginning.Relationships and marriages that do not have this type of assurances from the beginning are failed to doom, as a person cannot run away or hide from the things that they desire the most. In this case, Rose desired to have excitement and a person that could give her everything she desired. She should be admonished for the mistake of jumping into a poor relationship, but her eventual decision to seek a new kind of love outside of that relationship can certainly be defended.
Rose’s motivations for looking outside of her marriage are many.As already established, she jumped into a socially acceptable relationship without first considering her real desires. By doing so, she sets herself up for a lifetime of discontentment, unless she is able to find it from another man in her life. Her relationship with Charles is deprived on many levels, all of which are very important to the entire idea of love.
Love is something that two people can share. As seen in all of the texts that describe this phenomenon, it is based upon mutual agreement and passion. In her relationship with Charles, there is no sort of mutual agreement going on.They do not have the same desires and they do not have the same motivations.
The things that make Rose go are simply superfluous to Charles, so from the beginning, there is a huge gap in their relationship. Not only do they miss the mark on their desires for the future, the couple has a really boring sex life. Though it is not something that is commonly referenced within a community, sex is a huge part of the love experience. If two people are to really have a relationship where they grow together, they need to be able to have an active and fulfilling sex life.If this cannot happen, then it is natural for a woman to look outside of the relationship for something more. In a way, their misguided sexual experiences are a sign of their overall lack of chemistry together.
This is the story of a failed relationship that had good intentions, but never really had a chance to succeed. For the woman, there was no choice but to go out and find what she was looking for and more importantly, the type of man that she had always envisioned herself being with in the end.If Charles was not providing the type of life, relationship, and sexual experience that Rose was looking for, then one must consider the differences in her part-time lover. She goes after Major Randolph Doryan, who is everything Charles was not. As a young woman, Rose had imagined men like the Major. He was good looking, he had a bit of bizarre bravado about him, and above all else, he was somewhat dangerous.
As a major in the military, he was mysterious. He was a complete foil to the boring schoolmaster. In short, he was everything that she had always dreamed about when she read the magazines as a young woman.Their sex life was vibrant, which is an important concern.
In the Major, she found something that she had never been able to develop with her husband. This was a particularly troubling thing for Rose to have to deal with, knowing that in a couple of short months, she had already had more fulfillment with the Major sexually as she had in her marriage with Charles. Scott Russell Sanders’ work talked to the importance of sexual relations for every person in a relationship. It is basic human nature to want something more out of that part of life and because of that, Rose cannot be faulted for looking for it.
The defense of Rose comes about because in her relationship with the Major, Rose finds out something about herself. She discovers a part within her that Charles was never able to bring out. The most important thing to know is that Rose figures out that she is good enough and she deserves everything that she had ever hoped for. Though it is certainly not pretty to choose infidelity in a marriage, there was no choice in this case. She did not have time and society would not allow for a hasty divorce from her husband.
She saw the type of love that she had always wanted and in one deft swoop, she went after it.It is easy to condemn this type of activity from the outside of a marriage, but until one is trapped inside of a relationship that does not allow them to experience the good things in life, they cannot understand. Rose Ryan was given an opportunity and she grabbed it. She went against all of the conventional devices of her society and her community and went for something that would make her a better person.
This can be defended easily, because it is basic human nature to reach out to that which we are the most attracted to. All in all, the relationship of Rose Ryan is an interesting one and her actions were certainly not admirable.Her biggest problem was jumping into a bad relationship to begin with, but one cannot fault her for correcting that mistake and making something better out of her situation. In the Major, she gets everything that she ever wanted and she breaks free from what was an oppressive relationship with Charles. She corrects the mistakes of her past, making everything in her life come full circle.
Though she was not able to pursue a relationship with the Major, she experienced love in a way that made her come alive, and that is admirable.
