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Renaissance period and the role of women
Presentation of women in medieval literature
Women's status in Renaissance
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“People in “polite society” demanded that ladies live under the guidance and protection of their fathers, husbands, or other male relatives. Women could not
The Renaissance, a period of intellectual, political, and artistic rebirth, may have left women behind. The “Renaissance man” is the idea a well-rounded individual who is the best version of himself. This concept of humanism also encourages this ideal “Renaissance man” to be an active member of his community. Document D: Women And The Renaissance by Anthony Esler explains that the division between “the ‘domestic sphere’ of women and the ‘pubic sphere’ of men” originates in Athens. Ancient Greece was the perfect model of society in the eyes of Renaissance thinkers, which explains why the idea of “civic humanism” in the Renaissance only applies to men.
Mary Beth Norton is a historian who specializes in women’s history, her interview with Barker-Benfield uncovers her experiences and involvement in discovering the importance of female involvement in the late 17th, early 18th century history. Mary Beth and professor Peter Lapsion’s He Said, She Said article both explain why gender roles were so important in shaping and revealing todays gender morals in society. Mary Beth explains in her interview that in order to get a clear understanding of history, both women and men needed to be included to look at life in the 17th century. Norton clearly states that men and women had secret lives that were written in their dairies.
During the Renaissance, many people began to support the idea that woman should be able to have the same rights as men. “I am amazed by the opinion of some men who claim that they do not want their daughters, wives, or kinswoman to be educated because their mores [morals] would be ruined as a result… Here you can clearly see that not all opinions of men are based on reason and that these men are wrong”(Document
In the nineteenth century many changes were happening in American. American just twenty-four years before got their freedom from Great Britain. This freedom helped shaped the country in the nineteenth century to what was known as the Market Revolution. Market Revolution shifted from self sufficient farms and communities to commercial farms and manufacturing interests. The Market Revolution reshaped the economy by the Industrial, the Transportation, Communication Revolution as well as the regional differences in America and the shift in gender roles in the nineteenth century.
A Woman’s Role During the 19th century, most of American society’s gender roles were dictated by the Cult of Domesticity, or the Cult of True Womanhood. This was a set of virtues which described the “ideal” or “True” woman - one that “upheld four main principles: piety [being religious], purity [protecting her virginity], submissiveness [dependent on her husband, yet offering him love and affection], and domesticity [doing housework].” To follow
Expected Male and Female Gender Roles and Consequences for Failing to Adhere in Rome Every citizen influences the prosperity of Rome and the gender roles assigned to females and males all contribute to the ideals and culture of the Roman society. The necessity to curb wealth, the lack of citizen children and the need for Rome to dominate are among the reasons that gender roles were so defined. The Romans are strict with their expected gender roles and put laws in place to provide consequences for individuals who refused to adhere to those laws. There were consequences, by aid of legislation, for those who went against social norms and these laws were used to initiate remorse among the Roman population. Thus, both males and females that deviated
Women of the Medieval Times Women have always had a significant role in history even though they were treated horrible in most cases. During the Medieval Times was really the first time women were allowed to become more than just a house wife. The fight for equality has always been a struggle and even in today’s society is still an ongoing battle. Although women of lower and middle class were treated poorly in the Medieval Times, some powerful women held great responsibility and were looked up too by both men and children; despite being admired, “men were thought to be not only physically stronger but more emotionally stable, more intelligent, and morally less feeble” (Hopkins 5). “The position of women in the Medieval Society was greatly influenced by the views of the Roman Catholic Church” (Heeve).
The passive partner during sex, in the case of a man having sex with another man, was considered to be effeminate because he was being dominated and therefore taking the feminine role in sex. Women had a very low social status in Roman society because masculinity was so revered. When a man was labeled as effeminate, he lost his social status and privileges that came with being a man in society. In other words, any man who willingly took on the receptive role during sex with another man revoked his masculinity and privilege and took on the inferior status of women, so he were often ridiculed and scorned.
The Enlightenment was a reshaping of Europe's political, philosophical and scientific model during the 17th century. This was a time of rehashing old customs and creating new ones. Many philosophical thinkers challenged the boundaries set by tradition led mostly in France and England, the most powerful countries at the time. Even though the Enlightenment created many new and unheard of rules were created but mainly one ideology stayed the same, gender roles. Even though there were many female scientists who made breakthroughs in the fields of chemistry, astronomy, biology, botany, physics and medicine they were hardly recognized and still were expected to be “in the household.”
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.
The Nineteenth Century, as known as the Victorian Age, “was an age where the impact of the industrial revolution caused a sharp differentiation between the gender roles, especially of the upper and middle classes” (Radek, 2001, para. 1). Males and females were thought to have separate societal duties based on gender differences. Male’s duty was to the public sphere and women’s duties were confined to the privacy of the home. During the nineteenth century, the advanced female status started to emerge through with the rise in female education and women’s rights. Kathryn Hughes’s article, Gender roles in the 19th century, introduces us to the fact that, in the past, gender roles were not so heavily revered upon.
It all started with a simple thought, one that lead to a wish and some hope, then to talking and writing about that thought. Finally, it became an action, an action that several, considered to be the minority, fought and protested for about one hundred years and would not back down until they obtained their goals. This is what we call the Women’s Rights Movement. The role of women and men are exceedingly different from each other and this is a major topic and theme most talked about during the Romantic Era. Men, with the exception of breaking the law, could do anything they wanted without being criticized for it by society.
Throughout the 16th century Reformation through the Enlightenment in the 18th century, was a period of time that saw both change and continuation in European society. One of the biggest examples of this was the role of women and how they should function in European society. Women in this era faced a large amount of hardships and obstacles from great leaders and philosophers such as Martin Luther and Immanuel Kant, who were both against the equality of women to men at this time. From the time period of the 16th century Reformation all the way up to the Enlightenment in the 18th century, the women of Europe were viewed as fragile and unworkable women whose main priority and purpose should only be being a housewife. As time progressed, women
Introduction Women in the Middle ages were treated as the second class members within their social class. They were taught to be obedient to their husbands and were expected to run the household and raise children. Their role in the society, however, was much more complex, while some medieval women achieved a high level of equality with men. In the Middle Ages women had a secondary role, coming second after men.
