Ghazala Noor Hist 117A U.S. History: 1600-1877 Monday 6:00 – 9:10 Was the Salem Witchcraft Hysteria a Product of Women's Search for Power? The two articles in this Issue seek to answer whether the witchcraft hysteria was a product which helped women get power or not. Lyle Koehler is the more persuasive author arguing: yes it was a product of women search for power. In the past, at sixteen to seventeenth century, women had no rights like men, they fought for their rights; however, they didn't get freedoms till the nineteenth century. The most plausible reasoning for the Salem witch trials was that the women were trying to show social equality and they wanted to seek attention.
Anyone seen to not be abiding by these gripping, worlds would simply be regarded as an outcast of society and a no body. However things began to change for women legally and morally, and how far they changed is a key standing point at the centre of this essay. There was a significant amount of change legally and morally stemming from the work of individuals who strived to achieve better positions and respect for women. However although these women played a huge role in influencing change its important to note that these were not just any women. Further more its key to not that one of the main factors hindering changes for women legally and morally would be class.
Directed Task 5 Early Modern Europe - What was contributed more towards creation of opportunities and obstacles for women in Early Modern Europe-their marital status or their economic class? The question involves assessing how far opportunities and obstacles were created for women as a result of their marital status in comparison to their economic class. The answer to the question is then found by deciding which one contributed more. The topic involves looking at the lifestyle of women between 1500-1789, from all across Europe. Comparisons can also be made as to how the lifestyle of women differed across Europe as well as over time.
Many countries and people probably did as well. On paper it appears that England would win without a doubt; they had all the means necessary for a victorious win over the colonists. When people come together to fight over a common cause, it is amazing what can happen. This is proven true by the outcome of the War for Independence. America won not because they had better soldiers, more supplies and weapons, or better fighting styles.
As we might say today, women’s ‘public image’ changed and improved,” says Constance Rover, a historian. Part of the reason why the war was key to women gaining the vote in 1918, was because of changing opinions towards women. “Surely a land fit for heroes to live in might include a place for a few heroines as well?” says Constance Rover. Women had proved themselves useful which was leading to greater equality with men. It would have been simply unreasonable to deny women the right to vote, especially now that women had more of a presence in society.
In comparison Fay Weldon’s Letters to Alice, written a few centuries after, shows a clear link of how particular concerns, held by society, have altered. A women living in the late 1800’s had very few rights and freedoms. Education was a thing men and if a women engaged in such activities she was at risk of being shunned by society or “left on the shelf.” Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice follows a young girl, Elizabeth Bennet, who struggles against society’s expectations. Being a smart and well educated women, she is somewhat frowned upon, however this has been disguised by Austen through her dialogue. An example is seen near the beginning of the book in which Mr Darcey and Mr Binley’s brother are engaged in polite conversation.
Agrippina the Younger Agrippina was one of the most influential women of her time. She had achieved powers and honours, previously unachievable by Roman women. Even Livia, wife of the great Augustus Caesar, did not hold the range of powers bestowed on Agrippina herself. The reason behind her power is her use of her incredible linage to impose herself upon the political scene. Part of the reason behind Agrippina’s power was her close proximity to some of the most powerful men in the ancient world, she was the great-granddaughter of the great Augustus: who also had achieved a deified status, daughter of Germanicus: said to be the reincarnation of Apollo himself, sister of an emperor (Caligula), wife of an emperor (Claudius), and mother of an emperor (Nero).
To answer this question research will be made into how women were expected to act in western European society through nobility, townswomen and women that were considered peasants. This will be shown through varying views held as some believed that being a second class citizen depended on your class and where you were from as some women might have had more of a chance to step away from the sex classes, while others didn’t have this opportunity. This will help answer the question about whether or not women were second class citizens, and whether how right this question is about women or how wrong it is. If we look at noble women in the medieval ages between 1100-1400, they were able to have a happy life with wealth and riches that they could use at their disposal. Though there was more pressure on women in nobility compared to other women as they had more “demanded of them than other women.” While the husbands were at home they still had to obey them, this can’t be said though when the men go away for business, travel or for war because the women of the house would hold the authority.
It could have been their appearance, the time, or the gender roles. According to the OAH Magazine of History during the witch craze time Puritan New Englanders considered themselves to rather be more enlightened than others when it came to women’s place in society and in their cosmology (Reis). European view on women
It is hard to imagine the suppression and adversity women lived with only a few centuries ago. Our history has alluded to an inequality of women among men, telling us that women did not deserve the same inalienable rights; the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In Stanton’s “Declaration of Sentiments’, these are spelled out quite specifically and are drawn on by her own personal experience which speak loudly for the voice of women in the mid 1800’s. It is through the work of Stanton and her supporters that women today have the rights and choices they do and through the writings of Chopin and Wollstonecraft which provide an insightful look into the suppressed yet intellectual nature of the women of their day. The contemporary