"In the words of the Wife of Bath, God has given women three talents- deceit, weeping, and spinning" (Power 118). The institution of marriage is revealed to have little to do with love, but a lot to do with getting what you want or sexual gratification. She showed us a rare glimpse of a woman with a position of authority in medieval society. She used sex to get what she wanted from her husbands, making her well practiced in the art of sexual manipulation. She presents herself as someone who craves sex, sees marriage as a way to experience the finer things in life and loves to be an instigator.
Beatrice is cynical and witty; she doesn’t conform when it comes to the role of women in Elizabethan time. In terms of how males view females, there is a theme of cuckoldry (men who married unfaithful wives). This is shown in the first scene when Leonato confirms that Hero is his daughter, ‘Her mother hath many times told me so’, a joke at her expense, implying she is unfaithful to him. In a conversation between Claudio and Benedick, they talk about Hero. Claudio asks if he ‘noted’ her, Benedick tells him he did not, but he ‘looked on her’.
George and Martha play a series of games in order to measure themselves against one another; not only against each couple, but also individually. Martha seduces Nick in front of his wife to test her sexuality, her greatest asset. Indeed, she puts on a sexy dress, and talks about her sexual past in order to gain authority and power. George intimidates Nick with all sorts of questions; he teases him and interrupts him without really paying attention to Nick’s replies. Alcohol in the scenes at first serves as a way to mask true emotion throughout the evening.
Steinbeck leads the reader to believe that Curley does not really care about his wife; if he did, he would not be flaunting their private life and he would consider her dignity. This instantly degrades Curley’s wife’s reputation. Candy goes on further to describe her character by telling George that ‘she got the eye…I seen her give Slim the eye’. ‘The eye’ is suggesting that she is looking at other men whilst being married which creates a negative impression of her character on the reader. Steinbeck raises
Mrs. Mallard conflict started with her having health issues and finding out her husband had died. Then she doesn’t know how to feel about her husband’s death. During the story it seems that Mrs. Mallard was only at the will of her husband because her husband (society) expected her to be. When I read “Clever Manka” it left me with a sense of will to fight for what you wish for. I say this because when her husband told her to pick any one thing in the house to take with her.
They have arranged marriages rather than marrying freely to whom you ever you desire. Marriage and tradition play a huge role in the short story “Marriage Is a Private Affair” by Chinua Achebe, where we have the main character Nnaemeka does not follow his tradition and therefore is an outcast in his own tribe. Marriage and tradition bump heads throughout the story which causes pain, rejection, and neglect. When Nnaemeka tells his father that he is going to get married his father is in total disbelief and does not agree with his son’s choice. Nnaemeka marries out of tradition, where the father chooses who he wants his son to marry.
Mrs. Mooney was previously involved in a dysfunctional marriage to a “shabby stooped little drunkard” (61). Similar to her own marriage, Mrs. Mooney indirectly forces Polly to marry for money. Mrs. Mooney is a ruthless character as a result of her previous troubles. Consequently, Mrs. Mooney’s maternal connection with Polly is non-existent, turning their relationship into a business. When Mrs. Mooney is observing Polly’s interactions with young men, she becomes frustrated that “none of [the men] meant business” and considers sending Polly back to her previous job (63).
Arranged marriage is nonexistent, couples are free to marry whom they wish but the man needs to negotiate the marriage with the family of the bride. A bride price needs to be paid as well which is becoming very expensive because families see the bride price as a recompense for the effort put in raising the child. Each religion tends to marry within their own group. Homosexuality is considered an aversion and harsh penalties are imposed. The lack of allowance to homosexuality is blamed on tradition and culture but the main belief is homosexuality threatens the continuance of the human race.
Henry approached government about a divorce as he claimed that his marriage to Catherine of Aragon was a sin as the Leviticus states that marrying your brother’s wife will be punished by remaining childless. Henry failed to get a divorce so Wolsey promised Henry that he would be able to get him a quick and easy divorce. However this was not the case as the divorce was granted many years later and Thomas Cromwell was the one to do so. This could have led to Wolsey’s downfall as it proved to Henry that he no longer needed Wolsey as he wasn’t able to do his job. As well as trying to claim that Henry’s marriage was a sin, he tried to persuade the pope that the previous pope was wrong to marry Henry and Catherine because Catherine and Arthur had consummated their marriage.
His sexual orientation was even that of a female, expressing romantic interest in a male, wanting to dress up in dresses, ect. This gives the community a negative outlook on him and his family. The neighbors wish to keep Ludo away from their son, who Ludo is in love with and said that he will marry him once he grows into a woman. Ludo’s parents send Ludo to a psychiatrist. In my opinion I feel that the counseling did not help Ludo because he still had embedded in his believe that he is a female.