The author symbolized that growth in Elizabeth’s character with the striking image of a “shining steel knife with a polished cutting edge.” Before she had made the three day journey, with her daughter Sylvie, Elizabeth had been a woman with “paralytic fear” of her husband; she was unable to stand up to him when he treated her with disrespect, saying things such as, “Shut yer mouth, woman, and git my supper.” It was clear that the husband treated her with little dignity, as if she was of a lower class then him, merely because she was a woman and he was a man. Elizabeth realized, after reading the book, The Feminine Mystique, that she was not alone in questioning if that was the proper way for a husband to treat his wife. Returning from the trip, her daughter was able to sense the “new dogged strength “that Elizabeth had created in herself and saw her new “courage” first hand when her mother had asserted her worth as an individual by demanding respect from her husband, in the form of him calling her by her name.
From the marriage, she became the lady of the Castle of Csejthe which was located in Transylvania, now known as Romania. The Castle was a very boring place for a teenager to sit every day with nothing to do while her husband was out pursuing his career. She set about finding novel amusements to pass the time. Elizabeth Bathory became a person of peculiar and sinister arts. This led her to the interest of witches, wizards, sorcerers, and several other things.
This mockery shows stereotypes in a humorous way in order to attempt to change the way human nature is towards women. The first sentence of the Wife of Bath shows the reader that she relays on experience rather than listening and learning.
Secondly, Shakespeares’ ‘King Richard III’ explores the inability of women obtain independence and freedom, and are instead, limited with a heavily reliance on males in order to establish a steady life. The play conveys the fear that arises if a female loses male protection, deeming them as powerless and subjecting them to great vulnerability. This is portrayed in Act 1 scene ii, when Lady Anne becomes a widow after the death of her husband King Henry VI’s son, Edward, mourning greatly over his body. As Richard enters, he persuades Lady Anne into marrying him, and due to her circumstances, Lady Anne is forced to accept his hand or else will be unable to care for not only herself but her children. Richard gleefully begins to celebrate his conquest
She then goes on to construct this story about Judith, a women who Mary says is Shakespeare’s sister. Mary, uses Shakespeare as an example because Shakespeare was and is still considered a genius by many. But unfortunately we don’t know much about his life and instead all we really know about Shakespeare are his works of art, such as his many plays. Now, Mary, goes on to mention how Judith, was born gifted just as Shakespeare was, but lacked the schooling. Shakespeare went on to learning about “the elements of grammar and logic” (Woolf, 365) while Judith took care of the house and their family with her mother.
In her book-length essay A Room of One’s Own, Virginia Woolf argues that societal norms have impeded women’s ability to write fiction and pursue intellectual careers. Woolf creates a fictional character named Judith Shakespeare, who is the female equivalent of William Shakespeare. Judith epitomizes how gender can hinder the success of women, even when they possess the talent to create artistic works. While her brother is off working in the theatre, Judith remains home. “She was not sent to school” (47) nor had she had “chance of learning grammar and logic” (47).
Her actions do not fit the model visions a husband would have of a wife in the medieval times. In addition to the emotional and sexual abuse, the Wife of Bath sought
The movie portrays our planet in some unspecified time in the future which we are running out of food, people are starving and on the possibility of an interstellar voyage utilizing a worm hole, becomes an opportunity for Matthew in search for a possible inhabitable world. The entire space travel mission was incredible, the CGI was seamless and became part of the environment. The movie is a total emotional fit, Anne Hathaway was brilliant in the movie around with all the visual treats your eyes are getting, but McConaughey is the anchor that brings this movie back down to earth and he was terrific in the movie, the space sequences were mind-blowing. But according to a few critics, the end came off too convenient and seemed like a perfectly
Elizabeth Cary’s The Tragedy of Mariam makes many valid points about women’s identities in marriage. Mariam’s choices throughout the play reflect her understanding of the fact that in the world she lives there is no space for a chaste, honest, independent woman. The standards that a woman of the time are impossible and Mariam’s attempts to grapple with them are doomed to fail. After experiencing the freedom of self expression afforded to her after she believes her husband has died she is unwilling to re-enter the position of a subordinate.
Today, in the 21st century, most women are fairly respected and have the freedom to make their own choices; but when reading Romeo and Juliet, from the Shakespearean age, I have learned that women were viewed very differently. Using clues provided by this book, it is clear that whether women were housewives, royalty, nurses, or children, they didn’t have equal rights to men. Men were very masculine; they ordered their wives around and expected women to obey. Whereas women were very obedient and unfortunately were often taken advantage of. In this paper, will be examining the stereotypical role of a woman in the Shakespearean age.
Feminism has gained a new definition a new understanding of female roles since the Elizabethan Era. Hamlet, a play written by William Shakespeare, is about a young prince, Hamlet, being visited by his father’s apparition urging him to avenge his death by murdering Prince Hamlet’s uncle, Claudius. All the while, Hamlet is enraged by his mother’s hasty marriage to Claudius and is showering his supposed love, Ophelia, with gifts and words of affection. Queen Gertrude and Ophelia are blindly obedient to male authority due to the influence of the social standards that require women to be submissive to men. Queen Gertrude and Ophelia’s actions and outcomes as characters are affected by male influence, the social norms of this time, and the females’ consequences of following these norms.
With that purpose in mind, she revises some aspects of women’s place/absence in history, society, and literature and mixed it with some fiction in order to explain how she came to adopt that thesis. For example, she asks herself what would have happened if Shakespeare had had a sister
William Shakespeare was well versed in the English language, whether it be poetry or playwrights. The Tragedy of Julius Caesar and Hamlet are playwrights that entail odd, but heavy struggles for both characters. Using Brutus’s and Hamlet’s interaction with their female counterparts, their thirst for vengeance, and specific character traits, Shakespeare develops two tragic heroes of different time periods. When comparing and contrasting Brutus and Hamlet it is important to note their interactions with women within the play. Both Hamlet and Brutus have significant female influences throughout each of their stories.
Do you know that Shakespeare is not the only gifted writer in his family? This mysterious member exists in the English writer Virginia Woolf’s imagination. In her famous essay “Shakespeare’s Sister,” Woolf uses the hypothetical anecdote of Judith Shakespeare as her main evidence to argue against a dinner guest, who believes that women are incapable of writing great literature. During the time when Judith is created, women are considered to be naturally inferior to men and are expected to be passive and domestic. Regarding her potential audience, educated men, as “conservative,” Woolf attempts to persuade them that social discouragement is the real cause of the lack of great female writers without irritating them by proposing “radical” arguments.
In his play “Othello,” Shakespeare is very compassionate towards the women of his era. He treats Desdemona with special sympathy. She is the victim of two crossed male aspirations — the devilry of villain Iago and the jealousy of her husband. The main cause of Desdemona’s tragedy is the total absence of women’s personal liberty. The lack of self-development without restrictions of society and family constricts the mind.
