The Invisible Cage Pride and Prejudice In the nineteenth century society, the options of choosing husbands for unmarried women are limited due to the reason that the society has prescribed a set of values for them. The English society associated the entrance of a woman into the public with a reprehensible loss of femininity. Jane Austen, the author of the novel Pride and Prejudice herself suffers in this era by not allowed to be acknowledged as the author for her books. In Jane Austen's book Pride and Prejudice, she depicts how young men and women behave in the society and how they set up their life and social position for their own desires. With this background, Jane tries to deliver the message that the people were restrained and they suffered by the rules set by the society such as family reputation, women’s position, and class division.
They are driven by instincts which are not within their control” (R86). Woolf elucidates that the character of men is to take power and act more aggressively than women, and this has given them an advantage in their excursion to becoming the privileged sex. Betty Friedman addresses the reality that fulfilling their traditional maternal roles of raising the children and tending to the household doesn’t satisfy some women, however, they are ashamed of this personal problem, lacking the confidence to enter the male territory where these women feel they may find something more meaningful. Women are limited by the inferiority put upon them by society as well as themselves. Women are kept from growing and learning, “education for women has become so suspect that more drop out of high school and college to marry and have babies…women so insistently confine themselves to one role”(R89).
Secondly, Atwood critiques the social structures and attitudes surrounding femininity. She does this by exposing the contradictions of expectations of women within the patriarchal regime of Gilead. However, Atwood does criticise feminism for its tendency to alienate people, with the example of Offred’s mother. This essay will argue that these criticisms don’t stop the novel from being a feminist work. In order to express her feminist ideas, Atwood uses criticisms of Offred and Janine’s complacency juxtaposed with positive feminist role models like Moira.
Background * Thought experiment which isolates certain social TRENDS * Not intended as a realistic prediction of a probable future * Examines some traditional attitudes embedded in “religious right” thinking * Tendency of some feminist anti-porn groups to ally themselves with religious anti-porn zealots who oppose feminism on most issues * “Protection of women” can become neo-victorian by taking women’s right and freedoms away * 19th C: need to protect “good women” from sex justified confining women to home. * The language “protection of women” is feminist but can harm women in the long run. (PATHRIARCHY) Patriarchy * A system of society or government in which the father or eldest male is head of the family and descent is traced through the male line. Epigraph 1: The Bible * Genesis 30:1-3 – in patriarchal Hebrew times it was legitimate for men to have children with their servants/slaves especially Epigraph 2: A Modest Proposal * Johathan Swift’s satirical essay: “A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland from Being a Burden to Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Public” * He Sarcastically argues that the Irish should EAT THEIR OWN CHILDREN which would benefit the economy. Epigraph
To completely change tradition would result in chaos as he even foreshadows the downfall of the newly installed French government. To change the views of women in society, Wollstonecraft asserts that women should be properly educated as she states that “a little learning is required to support the character of gentleman…But in the education of women, the cultivation of the understanding is always subordinate to the acquirement of some corporeal accomplishment” (Wollstonecraft, 22). Once women are well educated, Wollstonecraft uses the word “friend” to describe the relationship between the husband and wife (Wollstonecraft, 28). The use of the word friend not only suggests social equality but, more importantly, intellectual equality. Traditionally, women have always been seen as entirely devoted to the domestic sphere of the family which over the years have
The ideologies focus on domestic roles that a woman should partake in. For example taking care of their children even if it means sacrificing valuable aspects of their life for them. Although this is shown differently in both plays, Ibsen and Wilde show a similarity in views based on the adherence to morality as well as the sacrificial nature women were conditioned into society to have. Ibsen and Wilde explore the fact of whether it is possible for a Victorian female to make sacrifices, especially regarding the well-being of their children, whilst maintaining strict adherence to morality. This would have caused great controversy to the Victorian audience as it had contradicted the very popular view of society at that time .If the women had done something which would be considered sinful, despite how justifiable their reasoning behind what they had done, would not have been valued as much compared to men.
Unlike the western culture, a woman who has participated in premarital sex is highly frowned upon. A family may lose out on having their daughter married if she is not “closed.” A girl’s virginity is very important for her ability to get married It becomes a thing of prestige, economics and family honor when it comes to female circumcision. Female mutilation is an essential part of a woman’s life to the societies that practice it, where the control of female sexuality and fertility are givens. Female circumcision reduces the uncertainty of premarital sexual activity because of its harsh procedure it prevents and discourages it all together. Even though the societies that practice circumcision can be very different, in each one the majority of females get little to no education and are simply looked upon as child bearers.
For example, turning down Mr. Collins may demonstrateher as a no-brainer woman among the society at that time. But by rejecting him, this suggests that Elizabeth places her own judgment over social pressures to comfort. In spite of the fact that she has been forced to get married with Mr. Collins by her mother, she persists to her strong position of rejecting his proposal. Plus, although Lady Catherine tries to strong-arm her into rejecting any proposal from Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth gets angry and asks her to get away. Hence, it can be noticed how Austen stresses on the empowerment of women through Elizabeth’s
Although critics disagree on how the vastly different gender perceptions within the play are used to portray the theme of women’s power within law and justice, all of their arguments tie back to the fact that the women in the story act as a surrogate for the female society of that time, showing them that they have more power than they realize. Phyllis Mael asserts in "Trifles: The Path to Sisterhood," that the evolution of the women's relationships from acquaintance to co-conspirators illustrates the female psyche. Mael says the she feels the play's "moral dilemma" stresses the inherent differences between male theoretical sense of morality and female sensitive ethical sense which includes "moral problems as problems of responsibility in relationship" (Mael, 282-83). Although the women draw closer to solving the crime as the men, using "abstract rules and rights," make comments that "trivialize the domestic sphere," ethical agreement comes only after Mrs. Peters moves from "acquiescence to patriarchal law" to
Even just classifying these men like this is kinda crazy. She launches her argument against those who might claim that a once-widowed woman ought to become a nun. The Wife's argument moves on to be a defense of marriage, period. She insists that though those who choose to marry might not be as spiritually perfect as people who remain chaste all their lives, they are still fulfilling God's commandments. The major feature of marriage, for the Wife, is the marriage debt, or sex, which seems to be why she's so strongly in favor of marriage.