Because women are sometimes stereotyped as the weaker sex, they become disadvantaged and don’t share many of the privileges men are given. This is why feminism is such an important matter today. Feminism is a broad social movement that strives for equality for women and seeks to end of sexism in all forms (Topics in Feminism). However, negative attitudes toward feminism have continued to exist. Feminists are often stereotyped as angry, man-hating, unattractive women who scream absurdly about their political views.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, women felt discriminated against by men and by most of society. Men generally held discriminatory and stereotypical views of women, which made many women dissatisfied with their lives and made them, feel their lives were unfulfilled and spinning out of control. Discrimination spurred women to take action. Women began to revolt, they began expressing the feelings they had bottled up inside all along. Kate Chopin wrote The Awakening, which helped other women to know they were not alone.
The mistreatment of women in society. Women have been mistreated in society since the beginning of humanity. This is due to them being viewed as property and a gender role assigned to be subservient to men. Some women are sexually discriminated against in their work places and in their homes. Another challenge for women is how they are denigrated in the media and by men.
Indeed it is this tradition that both writers attempt to disrupt at various points in the two texts with varying degrees of success. At the time of writing women were often disregarded as second class citizens and were presented as inferior to men. In this way, these two texts present the difficulties that women experience when trying to assert themselves in male society. Specifically, their identities often suffer due to lack of communication and voice. However the traditional role of femininity that was enforced upon women by a stringent and somewhat vigorous society was changing and these two texts challenge the traditional role of femininity both directly and indirectly throughout.
And if that’s sinful, then let me be damned for it!”(Scene Nine).She seems enraged that her reality is unraveled, that everyone now sees her fantasy for what it is, fantasy. Her lies about her purity, her age, her background, everything is now out in the open to be judged and scrutinized by the public. Blanche DuBois is a tragic figure. She is out of place both geographically and temporally (Scene One). She appears to be trying to remain a ‘young women’ when in fact she is getting old, this results in an unappealing persona.
“… How I wish I might see him and his bride in utter ruin, house and all, for the wrongs they dare inflict on me who never did them harm!” (55) Medea resolves to avenge her self and make her husband Jason suffer more then she has in order to punish him. While Medea speaks to the Chorus of the role of women in their society and their great disadvantages she is seen as a heroine willing to avenge the wrongs done to women, which is a rarity during the given time period “Of all creatures that have life and reason we women are the most miserable of specimens! In the first place, at great expense we must buy a husband, taking a master to play the tyrant with our bodies…” (56) Medea is undoubtedly a feminist which emphasizes her strong and independent character. Her tendency to violence and ruthlessness however is evident at the start of the play when the nurse is prompted to predict that Medea may do harm to Jason’s new bride out of jealousy and harm her children because they remind her of Jason “I’ve already seen her glaring at them like a bull, as if she wanted to do something awful. I’m sure of one thing, that anger of hers won’t die down until someone’s felt the force of her thunderbolt.
Assess the view that the main role of religion is to promote patriarchal ideology and maintain the oppression of women (33 marks) According to feminists there are countless examples of patriarchy which have been used to control and later oppress women. Places of worship show this as they often segregate the sexes. An example of this is the Jewish synagogue in which women are placed behind screens separated from the men who in turn are situated in the main centre space. This highlights the marginalisation between the men and the women. However if this was the case surely women would recognise that they are being treated unequally.
The Crucible and The Scarlet Letter share many themes that are still present in today’s society, such as the use of public humiliation as a punishment. Because of their sins, both John Proctor and Hester Prynne were alienated and punished by their peers and town leaders. The public humiliation that they faced helped shape the characters in the eyes of the reader and affected the way that they behaved and acted. The most obvious theme contained in both texts is sin. In The Scarlet Letter, the sin that has been committed is adultery where Hester Prynne and Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale conceive an illegitimate child, a daughter named Pearl.
They end up feeling guilt and shame because they have violated tow of the basic rules of humanity. Those rules they have violated are incest and killing one’s parent. The guilt and shame gets to Jocasta to make her commit suicide and Oedipus blind himself. Bullying today in society could fit into this category. Guilt and shame could cause suicidal thoughts in a person.
By making Daisy feel horrible and guilty for letting her dad rape her, and exploiting her in front of Suzanne. The other symptoms Lisa showed were