In the poem “Medusa” gender conflict through control is also illustrated when she says: “a suspicion, a doubt, a jealousy”. This depicts that she feels ownership over her husband and wants him to “be terrified” if he does not obey her commands. However, in “Les Grands Seigneurs” the narrator conveys that after she was “wedded, bedded … a toy, a plaything … wife” she is nostalgic for the first three stanzas to how men were towards her before she was married as she is now powerless. We can depict that there was less gender conflict before she was married. Moreover, in “Medusa” powerlessness is also portrayed when she rhetorically questions herself “Wasn’t I beautiful?
The extract begins by Desdemona mentioning the 'song of the willow' and that she will 'sing it like poor Barbary(her mother's maid)'. This reflects her inner emotions of hurt and betrayal, similar to Barbary's, who had been forsaken by her lover. To sing the song somehow indicates her realisation that their relationship is at the brink of a terrible split, and there is a sense of hopelessness about the situation. As traditional women do, Desdemona weeps at her misfortune but does nothing to change it, reflecting the typical passivity of grief and despair so often portrayed by jilted women in the past. Marriage has apparently softened Desdemona, diminishing what spirit she had earlier in the play, the spirit that made her a rebel, she agreed to a secret marriage and went against the patriarchy, which is hardly the image of a 'proper' woman.
The two texts present a woman from a disadvantaged point of view and how she struggles to establish a foothold in a male-dominated society. In Hamlet, analysis of the plight of women falls on Ophelia and Gertrude. The two women endure chauvinistic suffering and finally break loose. Gertrude transgresses the patriarchal bounds of femininity by marrying soon after her husband’s death, much to Hamlet’s chagrin. Consequently, he refers to her as “frail” (Act 1, Scene 2, line 146).
Then the poem goes on to describe how the lord swept hair off her feet by seducing her by complementing her on her looks. However she starts to question the lords judgement on why he picked her, this is proved when she says, "Why did a great lord find me out and praise my flaxen hair?" This suggests that she has no confidence in her appearance or status or it could be that she feels that the lord is only after one thing. She then goes on to say that he has filled her heart with care. In the second verse the poem shows how the lord has managed to take the cottage maiden back to his house.
In Kate Chopin Three short stories “A Respectable Women” “The Kiss” and “The Story of an Hour” the leading women defy their daily roles of Purity, Domesticity and Submissiveness. At the turn of the twentieth century women were expected by society to be pure. Purity back then was one of the most important roles of women. They had to Guard it with their life if not thet weren’t a women and are then unfit to get married. It was said that the greatest night of their lifes is when they marry and lose their virginity to their beloved husband.
The duchess is objectified in the poem. Instead of seeing her innate virtuous and pious characteristics, the duke observes only the aesthetical beauty of his wife in a painting after her death. This notion is reinforced by enjambment in the quote: ‘I call/ That piece a wonder, now…’ The words ‘that piece’ are a pun which is used to describe the painting as well as the duchess herself. The underlying concept here is that in Victorian society women were regarded as trophy possessions and your wife had to be presentable as she reflected your reputation. The duke despises his wife’s great kindness and humility towards other people and is enraged that she did not show the same sort of devotion towards him.
As a result of her husbands control, the woman develops and obsessive attachment to the wallpaper which masks the walls of her bedroom. Gilman composed the short story to make determined statements about feminism and individuality to oppose the male authority that ruled over her during her lifetime. Gilman does this by describing the narrators decent into madness, which is caused by many factors, all being linked to her husband. It’s immediately apparent in “The Yellow Wallpaper” that the woman allows herself to be inferior to men, in particular her husband, John. This ultimately leaves the reader with many questions about 19th century male-female relationships and perhaps insanity.
In the poem, the narrator was having an affair with a lord. As they weren’t married and had a child, the narrator was seen as impure by the society and so, he cast her by choosing her cousin Kate. During the whole poem she talks about how her love for him was truthful while he used her like a “golden knot”, like an object made her a fool. She compares her situation to Kate’s and in some way reproves her choice of accepting him by “If she had fooled not me but you/ If you stood where I stand/… I would have spit into his face/and not have taken his hand”. We can also notice jealousy when she compares “… I sit in howl and dust/you sit in gold and sing” and “He lifted you from the mean estate/to sit with him on high/I was a cottage-maiden/… Contented with my cottage-mates,/ Not mindful I was fair”.
The author illustrates to all the women how lonely and dependently women have in the family. In the story, Calixta’s husband doesn’t quite recognize her sexual desire. For that reason, Calixta and Alcee experienced the passionate moment while her husband is away with their sons. “When he touched her breasts they gave themselves up in quivering ecstasy, inviting his lips. Her mouth was a fountain of delight.
Female Characteristic In Oates’ Stories: As Victims of Their Own Desires. Joyce Carol Oates short stories in “The Collector Hearts” obtains different stories of women that show their most insecure features. The short stories “The Dream Catcher, “Rectangle Black Box” and “The Collector Hearts” can be seem as an example of women put in a victimizing situations that can make them seem vulnerable. In “The Dream Catcher” Eunice is a women that is a victim of maternity, in “The Rectangle Black Box” the aunt is a victim of her abusive husband and in “The Collector of Hearts” girl is in need of love. Female characters in Oates short stories are victims of their sexually because of their maternity cycle, of victimization and need for a men and/or love.