Theme Of Women In The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Improved Essays
Violence Against Women Portrayed in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo “Eighteen percent of women in Sweden have at one time been threatened by a man.”(Part 1.9), “Forty-six percent of the women in Sweden have been subjected to violence by a man.”(Part 2.127), “ Thirty percent of the women in Sweden have been subjected to aggravated sexual assault outside of a sexual relationship.”(Part 3.273). These are just a few troubling statistics the novel, The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo, written by Stieg Larsson, offers to its readers to highlight an integral issue explored in this story. When a scion of one of Sweden’s wealthiest family goes missing, her uncle searches tirelessly for over forty years to learn the truth of her disappearance. Continuing …show more content…
Nils Bjurman is appointed Lisbeth’s guardian after her previous one suffered a stroke. The guardian is entrusted with Lisbeth’s bank accounts, they must conduct meetings with Lisbeth to assess her progress and they may do write ups of these meetings. Nils Bjurman completely abuses his power he has over Lisbeth, which again, is a very real life situation for women. Many men in places of power over women will abuse them and harass them to please their dark desires. Nils Bjurman is one of these men who oversteps his boundaries and violates his position of guardian, especially when he presses Lisbeth about her sex life, “Bjurman took her account as a pretext for meticulously mapping out her sex life. How often do you have sex? Occasionally. Who takes the initiative- you or him? I do. Do you use condoms? Of course- she knew about HIV. What’s your favourite position? Hmm, usually on my back. Do you enjoy oral sex? Er, wait a second...Have you ever had anal sex? ‘No, it’s not particularly nice to be fucked in the arse- but what the hell business is it of yours?” (10.200-201) The invasiveness of the questions Bjurman is asking Lisbeth is completely inappropriate and has nothing to do with anything involving their meeting. Sadly, this is again a situation many real life women must deal with. Many women are subjected to …show more content…
Lisbeth suffers abuse at the hands of Bjurman and society, Nils Bjurman is a perverted rapist who enjoys tormenting Lisbeth and Martin Vanger is a sick, sexist psychopath who killed and raped multiple women to fulfill his twisted sexual desires. The novel The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo portrays more instances of violence against women as well as offers a more descriptive view into this issue. The film adaptation of the story still offers viewers a look into violence against women, yet through its omittance of certain scenes and lines, the tone of violence against women is turned down a bit for the

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” (Winston Churchill). The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan is a novel told in the perspective of two sisters, Marie and Antoinette van Goethem, living in 19th century Paris as part of society’s lower class. The two are forced to go into various types of work following their father’s death and their lives spiral down from there. Meanwhile, Gas Girls, a play by Donna-Michelle St. Bernard, follows two young women, Gigi and Lola, who work in the sex trade in Zimbabwe’s depressed economy. The two stories parallel each other in a variety of ways, including the fact that they both follow two young women as main characters, and that each of these women are part of the proletariat class.…

    • 1843 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The article “147 Dead, Nobody Guilty” published by The Literary Digest magazine explores the tragic accident which happened in the factory of the Triangle Waist Company in 1911. The Asch building appeared to be on fire, while the workers were trapped inside. As a result of the accident, 147 persons, mostly women and girls, were killed by a fire. The owners of the Triangle Waist Company, Isaac Harris and Max Blanck, who went on trial for manslaughter were not found guilty of the tragedy. Considering the fact that this accident was not the only case of murder in the industry, the press opposed the injustice of the jury’s verdict (“147 Dead, Nobody Guilty”).…

    • 841 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    By using expository rhetorics, Karlsen describes events of women that didn't live up to the male-ruled society. Discussing how strange events that might have happened to a women, would be viewed as something catastrophic to the society they lived in, unknowingly that the circumstances that were happening to them would be viewed as something normal or treatable in the…

    • 796 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    All around the world there have been many cases of sexual and physical abuse against women. Such is the case in “Bluest eye” by Toni Morrison and the movie “Their Eyes were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston. Likewise, in Natacha Clerge contemporary review that shares a similar perspective. In all three works there is a horrible turn of events that leads to desperate measures.…

    • 674 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “The Story of an Hour,” “The Ledge,” and “The Crucible” all feature female characters who are faced with difficult internal challenges. In “The Story of an Hour,” we have Mrs. Mallard who yearns for freedom but cannot grasp it. In “The Ledge,” the fisherman’s wife often wonders what it would be like if she found another lover. Finally, in “The Crucible,” we have Abigail Williams who is in love with a married man who doesn’t want her. These three characters possess different traits and personalities, but what makes them similar is that they all seek the answer to the same question: what if?…

    • 775 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Sigrid Undset’s novel, Kristin Lavransdatter, features several strong female characters navigating life and society in fourteenth-century Norway: Kristin Lavransdatter, Fru Aashild, and Ragnfrid. Of these three women, the strongest among them is Fru Aashild. Her intelligence, disregard for societal pressures and success in life support this claim. Fru Aashild, a woman who once lived in seclusion from her community, is welcomed with open arms when she aids in the recovery of Kristin’s younger sister, Ulvhild, after an accident. Although Fru Aashild lives near Sil and has for many years, it is the kind-hearted help in a desperate time, and many times in the future, that bring her openly and freely into the community life.…

    • 1212 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    According to the Canadian statistics, females have reported frequent and severe spousal violence including, sexual assault, being choked or threatened with a gun by their partner compared to males. Domestic violence is a crime, observed worldwide and is mostly treated as a hidden crime because the victim does not speak against the perpetrator. Unfortunately, domestic violence is more frequent in other parts of the world compared to Canada. “In My Year of Meats”, Ruth Ozeki addresses this issue by depicting the relationship of a Japanese couple, Akiko, and John. In this essay, I will talk about how Ozeki demonstrates domestic violence in their relationship and argue that Akiko’s and John’s relationship manifests society’s expectations of how…

    • 1407 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Modern Day Vikings Essay

    • 850 Words
    • 4 Pages

    As seen in Modern-day Vikings: A Practical Guide to Interacting with the Swedes, Modern Sweden keeps its Viking heritage alive by maintaining the same sense of solidarity within their community that the Vikings created. This started when the Swedes revolted against their Danish king, Christian II. After the king’s brutal rebuttal to the beginning of an uprising resulted in over eighty opposing noblemen murdered at a feast known as the “Stockholm Bloodbath,” the people of Sweden agreed to join together to help future king Gustav Vasa bring the Danish king down. This unity between the Swedes became a crucial foundation of Sweden that was later seen with the rise of unions in modern Sweden. With a huge increase in demand for factory workers during the industrial revolution came the demand for better working conditions which led to a unified working class banding together to push forward reforms to end the inequality between employer and employee.…

    • 850 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    In Nathalie De Fabrique’s “Understanding Stockholm Syndrome” De Fabrique explains the case of Elizabeth Smart. Elizabeth Smart, a young girl who was rescued by police felt an emotional bond with her captor. De Fabrique showed how one can be shaped into caring about someone who put their life at risk. De Fabrique mentioned “Perhaps, even more puzzling than her initial reluctance to escape was her apparent concern upon rescue about the fate of her captors”(10-11). Elizabeth Smart’s initial worriness for her captor proves that she has Stockholm Syndrome.…

    • 164 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Treatment of Women in “Othello” and “Trifles” Throughout history the handling of women has evolved. From the Victorian Era to the latter half of the nineteenth century many authors have championed the unfair treatment of women in books, poetry, short stories, and plays; however two authors have penned works worthy of comparison. In “Othello,” a maiden marries for love; however she is ultimately the fatal victim of her love. On the other hand, in the play “Trifles,” the downtrodden Minnie murders her abusive husband. Both Shakespeare’s “Othello” and Glaspell’s “Trifles” present the theme of patriarchal dominance through female characters who exemplify submission, victimization, and veiled strengths.…

    • 933 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Lederhosen Culture

    • 901 Words
    • 4 Pages

    "'You're not dressed like a Swede!' , 'Wait, why isn't there snow?'" (Lund) along with many similar snap judgements and misconceptions are made unintentionally, but quickly offend Swedish citizens. Sweden is a northern European country that takes pride in equal rights and environmental issues. Since established in the twelfth century, they have maintained their peaceful status.…

    • 901 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    This is evident when Celie is physically abused, raped and treated like a slave by both her step-father, Alphonso, and her husband, Albert. This evidence showcases that Celie is expected to conform to the role of the inferior woman who is there to serve the men in her life but she has no rights as an individual. Additionally, by accepting this role not does she encourages her husband’s abusive behaviour, she also accepts the gender stereotype and indirectly supports it by not fighting against it. This submissive behaviour is evident additionally when she has to take care of her husband’s mistress; Shug. Celie tends Shug in order to avoid being beaten.…

    • 1989 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hannah Kent’s speculative biography ‘Burial Rites’ depicts a particularly unforgiving world that is Iceland in the early 19th century. Based upon factual events, ‘Burial Rites’ details an interpretation created by Kent into the final months of Agnes Magunsdottir’s life, a woman who has been convicted for her involvement in the murder of two men. Agnes had lived a terribly unfortunate life, both as a female in a brutal, male-dominant patriarchal, but also as someone who, perhaps rightly, believes has been victim of a successive run of ill-fate. As she approaches her final weeks alive, Agnes however learns that there are a minority of people in her world that important beacons in her otherwise dark final days; Toti, a young Reverend tasked with being Agnes’ ‘spiritual advisor’, and to a lesser extent, the family she spends her fleeting time with at the farm in Kornsa. Agnes’ story is one of misfortune, as…

    • 911 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness spins a dark contrast between two different worlds. These worlds being the civilized life of Europe against the savage wilderness of colonial Africa. Running parallel to the contrast in worlds is the contrast between Kurtz’s lovers who he has taken up in each of the world 's. The lines of gender and wilderness in The Heart of Darkness are somewhat blurred as the protagonist time and again personifies wilderness into a living, female role. This serves to be ironic as Marlow’s view towards women is that of a negative context. Often times painting women as naive and their purpose is to serve man.…

    • 1425 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Explore the issue of belonging and how it is presented in ‘An Unknown Girl’ (Moniza Alvi) and ‘The Necklace’ (Guy de Maupassant) Although one is a poem and the other a famous short story, both ‘An Unknown Girl’ and ‘The Necklace’ are united by one ubiquitous theme: the issue of belonging. ‘An Unknown Girl’ explores how the narrator, who remains anonymous, finds her sense of belonging in an Indian bazaar through hennaing, with the help of an unknown girl. In ‘The Necklace’, Maupassant tells through realism the tale of a young woman, Madame Loisel, who attempts to leave behind her mediocre life and find acceptance in the upper classes of society. This ultimately results in the loss of a diamond necklace, and Loisel’s spiral into deeper poverty…

    • 2235 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays