Despite being written during patriarchal Jacobean society, the protagonist is a female, which is was highly unusual in those days. Of course this protagonist is Lady Macbeth. Throughout the play, through Lady Macbeth's actions we are forced to believe that she is evil. In contrast, the novel John Steinbeck tells a story of dreams, hopes and loneliness. We are introduced to a majorly significant and complex character, named Curley’s wife.
Marie de France does this to criticize and combat the societal expectations and inherent inequalities in Norman England. The poem begins by Marie immediately introducing and defending herself as a writer. She declares that in her culture, People should praise anyone who wins admiring comments for herself but anywhere there is a man or a woman of great worth, people who envy their good fortune often say evil things about them. (5-10) This introduction reflects the negativity her society has against female writers. Where Marie de France comes from, many people disagree with women having power through literature.
Shakespeare portrays monstrosity through the character of Lady Macbeth in numerous ways. One way in which Lady Macbeth’s monstrosity is conveyed is through her wanting to be a more powerful than some men. For instance, she says “Leave all the rest to me”. This is unusual as it is rather commanding for a woman in that time to say something like that to her husband. Also it would have been seen as being deeply unnatural because women were seen to be of a much lower status than any man.
“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Evoked Female Identity During the 1960s in America, where phallocentrism is still ruling society, many social problems caused younger people to be unsatisfied with reality and to become rebellious. In Oates’s story, the character of Connie is affected by patriarchal oppression. Oates gives Connie an independent identity while using her mother and sister as opposite characters to reflect her uniqueness and to let the reader understand the female identity. Connie's mother and sister portray typical females under patriarchal oppression. In the case of Connie’s mother, she rejected Connie’s attitudes because it often went against the patriarchal society's code of conduct.
In her first scene, Lady Macbeth is considered disturbed because she does not fit into the typical image of women at the time. This is suggested by such sayings as ‘that I may pour my spirits in thine ear’ and ‘leave all the rest to me,’ which could suggest disturbance of the natural order as she appears to be more powerful than Macbeth. Women were supposed to be inferior to men at the time Shakespeare wrote the play, so this would have surprised his audience and would have made a more memorable character. Perhaps Shakespeare did this to attract a larger audience, as more people would enjoy a unique play that created some emotion, even if it is hatred towards a character. Lots of writers also use inspiration from people they know in reality when they create characters, so perhaps Shakespeare knew a woman who seemed ‘out of place’ or independent.
Lady Macbeth is the wife to the plays protagonist Macbeth. I would consider lady Macbeth as not being such a conventional Elizabethan woman being that women in this time where seen as weak and unable to control manly situations however lady Macbeth is shown to be strong and In control of Macbeth which was unheard of in Elizabethan times. An Elizabethan audience would react highly to the sight of a woman being in control of a man because it was seen to be not right to for a woman to be in control being that a man would normally be in control of a woman. The audience will be shocked an astonished by the way in which lady Macbeth acts. However a modern audience will not react as highly as an Elizabethan audience would, as now day’s people are more familiar to women being powerful of different places within society.
He depicts women as completely sexual creatures and also devalues women in the eyes of men. The way we have viewed women from the 1600’s to now has changed dramatically. In the 1600’s, the approximate time period Shakespeare had written Hamlet, women where viewed as helpless, dependent and had no place in society. Women today are looked upon with respect and dignity because they have earned self respect, value and a place in society as hard working, knowledgeable and yet compassionate. I believe Gertrude from Hamlet, is a depthless individual who only thinks about her body and external pleasures.
Tessie Hutchinson, one of the main characters represents women who are being tyrannized by society because of their gender. Devices such as symbolism and plot illustrate the condemned roles of women in the gender hierarchy. Also, the use of ideas such as betrayal within the strong marriage bond due to the traditional sacrifice, the senior figure of society, and the following of tradition passed down from generation demonstrate the power of females in this generation are brought up to the podium to be arguably conversed. The plot of “The Lottery” is that men had the most dominance over political decisions. This left no room for woman’s input or acknowledgment.
Although the status of women did not decline the brutal and evil ways of their husbands made life unbearable. Women still lost their job rights, were having their feet binded, and the religion was still Confucian. From the beginning of the Tang dynasty all the way down to the Song dynasty there was a major decline in the status of women; especially in religion, customs, and jobs. In the beginning, women had plenty of rights because the Buddhist belief system allowed women to have many rights but once the Song dynasty came in all that changed when the rulers changed the religion to a Confucian based system. Also, women were able to obtain high jobs such as an empress but toward the end of the Song dynasty few women had jobs because of their lack of education.
Producing seventeen plays and fourteen novels, several collections of poetry and translations, Behn is known as the first woman to earn her living as an author. In spite of the criticism from her male counterparts, who made many attempts to discredit her popularity by labeling her as “uneducated, creatively and intellectually inferior” plagiarist and sexual deviant, Behn, according to Dale Spender, used their ignorance and intolerance as “fuel to [her] fire.” Although caricatured for her bawdiness, Aphra Behn’s lively adventures lacked what she wrote most about, love and companionship, and the disappointment that so often befell her characters is evident in her own life. Claims that Behn’s novel Oroonoko, or the Royal Slave is written as anti-slavery propaganda, against the mental world of colonized people is testimony to her success in misdirecting critics and prudent readers, but is not the primary purpose. Oroonoko illustrates Aphra Behn’s sexual frustration and disappointment. *Because he could not appease Aphra’s (the narrator) wants, Oroonoko was made to suffer a terrible fate*