Maria Calla through the eyes of Simone de Beauvoir - Essay Example

The concept of the feminine is displayed throughout different arts, specifically in relation to the social and cultural aspects of women that relateto gender. When looking at the works of Simone de Beauvoir, it can be seen that specific responses to the feminine are displayed by referencing other artists in society. An approach which she takes is to show the significance of opera singer, Maria Calla and the way in which the feminine is idealized in this specific component. The way in which she is depicted is one which works to exemplify the opportunities for women and which shows a sense of admiration not only to the talent of Calla, but also to the idea of the feminine and how it links to the changes which need to take place in Beuavoir’s time.

The main concept which occurs with Beauvoir is with the interpretation of looking at Maria Calla and seeing her as a woman before seeing her as an opera singer. Beuavoir is able to show how Calla presents an image of the feminine, specifically on stage and through the creation of the woman that is with the work she does. The concept of the opera singer is one which has the designation of working in a patriarchal world and of trying to find a way past the definitions of gender to work as a woman.

This is combined with the presentation of how Calla’s life would be different with the social reality that is expected by women, specifically in relation to family, culture and the social implications of the time of what it meant to be a woman. The concept of the feminine is able to divide the public from the private while using Calla as an example of how women can’t exist in both worlds without sacrifice and without recognizing the social realities of feminine nature (Schirmer, 17). The concept of the feminine is one which Beauvoir would lead to describe as based on the ethics which women were presented with during specific times.

The ethics were inclusive of a slave – master relationship to men which didn’t allow women to freely express their true nature. The nature was inclusive of sexuality, femininity and with replacing the other of the body at the center of ethics. “Beauvoir characterizes women’s experiences in terms of an ethical concept, in this case the concept of appeal as a will to communication and intersubjectivity… Beauvoir places sexuality, femininity, and the body not outside of the sphere of ethics but at the center of it” (Simons, 6).

This approach is important to recognize with the idolization of Casas, specifically because Beavoir shows how the success of Casas comes from her feminine identity. The ability to place the feminine, sexuality and the body at the height of her career shows that it is the feminine that gives her the main concern. This relates to the question of ethics, specifically because the social implications were based on women being patriarchal in nature, as opposed to feminine. However, Casas works as an example of how the height of feminine can intertwine all characteristics and provides a stronger sense of identity that is both objectified and which moves beyond this to break social barriers.

The different concepts of the feminine which Casas represents to Beauvoir then become the height of existentialism and the ability to re-examine the natural parts of gender, as opposed to creating unethical definitions that don’t exist. Beuavoir explains that the definitions have been created by man to justify myths and to hide the truth about the feminine in women. However, this is one which only creates division, a sense of not belonging to reality and denial about the truth of women as the feminine, with a sense of power and outside of the objective.

“Most men spend their life crushed by the weight o cliches that smother them. If they resolved to acquire a clear awareness of their situation in the world, then only would they find themselves in harmony with themselves and reality” (Beauvoir, 215). This quote shows Beauvoir’s disregard to existentialism. More important, it shows that men have objectified women, created them in a cliche image and expected them to belong to this specific formula. Casas is one which represents moving outside of this objectification and instead taking a role that is able to explore the reality of the feminine and sexuality which most were in denial of at this time.

This provides a challenge to the identities of women as well as toward the unjust behaviors and cliches which Beauvoir believed men to belong to. The approach which Beauvoir takes is to show that philosophy and life have been separated by men in a way that makes the concept of life seem illusionary. The women that follow this have led to the sense of submissiveness and the ideology of women as belonging to the second gender. However, Beauvoir challenges this by stating that this is not a natural part of life and isn’t associated with the reality of the feminine, sexuality or the idea of gender as identity.

Instead, Beauvoir believes that there should be a balance between the two and a realization that life belongs to both genders equally as a natural part of the biological and as a form of expression in life. “ ‘ In truth, there is no divorce between philosophy and life…Every living step is a philosophical choice and the ambition of a philosophy worthy of the name is to be a way of life that brings justification with itself” (Beauvoir, 2). The challenge which Beauvoir gave men was to look at life and how it was an accepted fact that both sides are equal, and men can’t exist without women.

To exemplify this were women such as Casas who established a name as an opera singer because there can’t be a performance without the gender roles as it would take away from the music which was represented for the opera. The role of women, on the stage of Casas as well as in real life, is one which naturally balances and which shares equal roles. The concept of feminism was then shown through Casas where there was a sense of equality and balance of genders instead of the submission and objectification which women were often placed into.

The concepts of feminism which became a growing challenge for women were approached by several philosophers. The works of Beuavoir exemplified this by challenging the problems within society when looking at the role of women and the submission and objectification which was created. Beauvoir was able to show how theories which denied the reality of sexuality and the feminine also weren’t living in a sense of harmony with life. The use of Casas as an example shows how the opera singer was able to show the realities of the feminine and of sexuality with an admiration of moving into the realities of balance in the world.

At the same time, Casas is an example of how the performance can’t go on unless the feminine and masculine elements are both identified. Works Cited Beauvoir, Simone de. Philosophical Writings. University of Illinois Press: Illinois, 2004. Schirmer, Lothar. Women Seeing Women. Routledge: New York, 1990. Simons, Margaret. The Philosophy of Simone de Beauvoir: Critical Essays. Indiana University Press: Indiana, 2006.