Upon attempting to answer a question like this, it is important to consider the definition of the phrase 'morally ambiguous'. Are we judging morality upon the expectations of society? If so, are we considering modern day society or or the much more religious and conservative Victorian society which Bronte experienced? In both cases, however especially the society contemporary to Bronte's time, morality was seen as something black and white, evil and good were entirely mutually exclusive. Evil was a potent force which intended to hurt and destroy, against the expectations of society which were usually based on Christian views.
Women in this age became small property in the eyes of men, but this was not the intended message in the Qur’an. The likes of Ahmed, and Stowasser, who were prominent female Islamic scholars explained that men misinterpreted the essence of Qur'an. The first example of women being represented in the Qur’an as devout and bloomed with holiness is Mary. Stowasser stated that Mary is the only female identified in the Qur’an and even described as “impeccable” to sin itself. Mary is a significant figure in the Qur’an, she was the mother and was professed as a ‘prophet’.
This is what makes me believe that the text is critical and wants to portray how such a woman tries to redeem herself by giving examples and justifications throughout the text. The text makes it seem like having more than three husbands is a crime. The prologue begins with Dame Alison justifying her actions early by making reference to Cane of Galilee. Also to defend her position, she refers to various people who had multiple wives. She state that King Solomon “hadde wives many oon.” She questions the bible and ask why women cannot marry more than one but men can have many wives.
Throughout the article, she references women and the culture of overwork, completely disregarding the men in society today that are “workaholics” in order to support their families. Because of her feminist beliefs, she takes a primary view of the issue as one the only effects women in this article. There are however a large number of men who become workaholics in order to support a family, where the woman chooses to stay home with the children for example. When Rebick states “women need to make overwork a major public policy issue,” she is being prejudice towards the male population that is also effected by overwork. She only references woman in her advice on how to overcome the issue, therefore leaving out a major demographic in the workforce.
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.
In doing so, she focuses only on the benefits of one being monogamous and presents only, what is in her opinion, the social problems typical of polygamists. Her obvious negative opinions of promiscuity are evident when she says “Promiscuous people are not happy.” (Bell, 2004, line 62) and “They are never satisfied with what they have, but continue to strive toward something that is always out of reach.”
In ancient times, which in this analogy will be referred to as the shadows on the wall in Plato’s cave, women were seen as inherently inferior to men, and their only role was to get married and have children. Men owned women, they were passed down from their father’s possession to their husband’s possession, as symbolized in the traditional isle-walking during marriage, and dowries almost always being needed for marriage. The old sentiment was, that nobody wanted previously “used” property. In addition, because there was no contraception and heritage decided your level of respect in the community, virginity was a guaranteed paternity test. But of course, all these reasons for the invention of virginity pale in comparison to religion.
Athenian men thought women were both morally and physically weak to an extent. Laws related to Athenian women suggest women were morally and physically weak. In Athenian Courts, women are debarred from participating in any political or legal processes and if they were involved in any situation of that sort, their identity would go unnamed, if they of respectful/honourable kind. Women were also seen as an asset to the oikos and always need to be under a guardianship of the kurios, which is usually either their fathers and later, after marriage, their husbands. And if a woman succumbs to acts adultery, this is seen as a great threat for the Oikos as the women can no longer be seen as honourable or chase, casting doubt on children’s legitimacy.
We might know the Marthas’ names but the Handmaids’ real names are never used. They are labeled Of-someone which shows how they belong to their Commanders and have no real identity of their own. This labeling itself is a method of control on women as the women are constantly reminded that they are not identified by names but by labels and that they have no identity of their own. Gilead is a society where on the surface, it promotes solidarity between women. The Aunts teach the Handmaids at the Red Centre about how women are now protected and respected.
Women were discouraged for their struggle of independence. It was purely a man dominated society who wanted to keep them oppressed. They always used to keep women dependent so that they may not violate the established rules of that time masculine society. Charlotte Bronte wrote Jane Eyre in such time to give vent to female voice for independence. She injected this feature into her protagonist Jane Eyre.