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Titus Andronicus Rape Analysis

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In 16th Century England, the traditional Patriarchal definition of rape, which subsumed abduction, meant that laws were constructed to give the power of appeal not to the victim, but to her father or husband instead. This meant that male family members could stop females from eloping with the partner of their choice, or from escaping abusive relationships. Because the statutes didn’t value women’s voices in cases of rape, they were effectively silenced from speaking up. This is demonstrated in Act 1 Scene 1 of Titus Andronicus. Lavinia is silent when Saturninus declares he will take her as a bride, and she is not consulted – the conversation takes place between Saturninus and Titus, Lavinia’s prospective husband and her father. The Ancient
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Boyer and Nissenbaum claim that the accusers participated in “an act of collective expiation aimed at affirming a social order based on stability and reciprocal loyalty.” Yet the young girls also, according to the same historians, “momentarily broke out of their ‘normal’ subservient and deferential social role to become de facto leaders of the town and (for many, at least) the unchallenged source of moral authority.” As women trapped in a Puritan woman’s life cycle, the girls appear to have reacted by demonstrating some level of independence before becoming wives to unknown husbands. How could the young accusers both be working to restore the traditional Puritan community while also resisting a role presubscribed for women?

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Since the beginning of literature, women have been depicted as devious individuals. As a result, women put use to this stereotype to get what they want. This is proven, especially in medieval literature. Examples of this are shown in works like “Macbeth,” * Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,” and “The Canterbury Tales”.

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Hope VanderVelde Ms. Bowes NBE 3UOI June, 16 2023 The Effects of Sexual Assault on The Characters Elsie and Mooch An alarming statistic reveals that 40% of Indigenous peoples have experienced sexual violence before the age of 15. Victims of sexual assault have experienced devasting effects on their quality of life and most of them rely on alcohol and drugs as a way to cope. Indigenous communities have become greatly impacted by sexual violence which can better explain the abundant generational trauma and dysfunctional families.

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Prop. 63 is about limiting and putting restrictions on gun and ammunition sales. I, personally, believe that Prop.63 is an outstanding idea because putting restrictions on buying firearms and bullets will provide more safety for the citizens. Currently, when people want to purchase a firearm, they must get their background checked in order to purchase a firearm. Contrarily, purchasing ammunition does not require a background check but will in January 2017. If Prop 63 passes, people who have criminal records or mental illnesses will not be able to purchase or own a gun.

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In Titus Andronicus, Lavinia’s physically enforced silence serves as a metaphor for the silence culturally enforced on women in the seventeenth century, and thus Lavinia was silenced long before her rape and mutilation. Through contextual research and close readings of sections of the play, I will explore the complexities and nuances of this argument – Lavinia’s silence at the beginning of the play, her scathing attack on Tamora, her failed plea to be murdered instead of raped, her disturbing reveal of her attackers, and of course her death at the hands of her father. These key scenes bring up the relationship between gender and communication, as well as highlighting the patriarchal definition of rape which was slowly changing in Shakespeare’s

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In Tyboria Stones’ defense, she says that she did not do it because “she does not see the point in going out to rape an old woman when she already has a woman” for herself (Deavere 161). Also, Tyboria’s case may have suffered from an added amount of prejudice, due to the fact that “she is stocky and muscular, with her hair trimmed very close to the sides, short and curly on the top” (Deavere 161). From this information, one may infer that the women here did not have the opportunities to bring their cases toward the legal system

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Women who received such recognition for their outwardly contributions received a brunt of scorn and ridicule from others, as seen through Artemisia’s interactions with the characters in the book. In cases such as Artemisia’s, challenging male authority and “superiority” often times resulted in acts of violence and humiliation. As Isotta Nogarola wrote in a letter to Guarino Veronese, “Why then…was I born a women, to be scorned by men in words and deeds.” (document 9 of Did Women Have a Renaissance) Veronese’s frustration with the conditions reflects the impact of society on women’s wellbeing. The use of the sibile in court, to inflect pain on a woman in the hopes of leading her to tell the truth is an example of the innate bias towards men and brutality towards women.

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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).

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The corruption women faced in the olden times were the social norm, and men were possibly unaware of any other way to treat women. In today’s times, it is a law that not only women, but everybody must be treated with respect without discrimination or racial injustices. While women face inequality at times, it is not normalized to treat women with disrespect. They are often misinterpreted and underestimated, but in the 1700s, women were expected to do one thing and only one thing: please the men.

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Although the perspective of women in the Elizabethan era was much different from the perspective of manhood, it was also similar in a sense that manhood and womanhood both played an essential role during their era. The thought of men being the ones to do things such as commit murder and be ambitious is still prevalent today. In our society we view women as people who are soft and not quite as ambitious as the opposite sex. The notion that women are incapable of committing murder is obscure as they are physically capable of doing harm to any human body as well as being able to have ambition such as

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Also women did not really have a say in what could happen in a situation because the men had to speak for them. Women had to be loyal to the husbands or there would be a consequence for there actions. An example for this is when Jocasta and Laius were deciding to expose Oedipus on Mount Cithaeron. Laius took the newborn Oedipus from Jocasta 's arms and sent him with someone to be left out and to be exposed. Mothers have a strong connection with their children, so it must have been very difficult for Jocasta to watch her baby be exposed.

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526 Words | 3 Pages

In what ways are women abused and discriminated against inside literature and throughout history? In many patriarchal societies, men have held authority over women due to gender. This power imbalance between men and women sometimes led to unjust treatment of women; men exert their authority over many women in the play, The Crucible. In The Crucible¸ male characters intimidate women to achieve specific outcomes and mark their superiority. Elizabeth Proctor, the protagonist’s wife, shows the standard for Salem women as she is submissive and does not defy her husband or the traditional role as a housekeeper.

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In addition to virginal innocence, during her funeral, the girl wore white “fitting for a virgin” to increase the significance of this chastity. Reaching the end of the story, the same innocent girl comes back into view. She “put on [her] white burial dress, [her] white veil, as befits a virgin” and excepts her fate just as women accepted their place in society (Atwood 266). Quite unexpectedly, I have attempted to show this story in a new light. Through the reading of Margaret Atwood’s short biography and her clever “Lusus Naturae,” I found an interesting symbolic connection between the treatment of women and the monster in this story.

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The poem ‘The Lady of Shalott’, by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, was written in a period when women were seen as obedient products. They represented the house image, the inner world, having no rights. Women were supposed to be pure, virgin and reserved. When they got married, women had to give up their money and rights to their husbands. It was not enough that women stopped having any rights or money, but they also become the property of their spouse, in other words, a husband took the decision about his wife’s life and body.

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The male characters in this play often feel uncomfortable when their female counterparts break gendered stereotypes. This is the same feeling that drove Theseus to war with the Amazons. An equally important woman is Hermia: Theseus and her father have in mind Demetrius for Hermia’s groom, yet she still refuses even after a small threat from Theseus, “Be advised, fair maid. To you, your father should be as a god” (1.1.47-48). Here in patriarchal Athens, fathers are the head households and hold influence over near-all decisions.

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