Sofia says, “All my life I had to fight. I had to fight my daddy. I had to fight my brothers. I had to fight my cousins and my uncles. A girl child ain’t safe in a family of men.” (page 42) She also says, “…my mama…she under my daddy foot.
The image of a dominant female character, a woman with enormous and incredible breasts presents allegories of the male world, where men are usually choose women for their sexual satisfaction. Female breast is positioned as a tool for male intimidations, it is not the goal for desire, but it is a violent instrument intimidating men around this female character. Tura Satana, the actress, who plays the main role in the film, has a violent and magnificent appearance. Her makeup is aggressive; she wears black costume and scares off men. What was the main intention of the director, when he showed a woman from a different perspective, than it used to be in the society?
Not only are these standards physically impossible for some men and women to achieve, they are completely unfair. Nowadays, things like magazines and celebrities try to define beauty and fit the “ideal image” of a gender into a box. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, it always has been and it should remain that way. For my male Frankenstein I choose to emphasize certain parts of the male body. The head and face for my male are extra-large because men are
Shakespeare presents the stranglehold that men have over women and furthers the notion that men view women as items to be controlled in Messina culture. The characterisation of Hero can be seen as offensive to many female critics as Hero’s willingness to be ruled by male figures ’I will do any modest office, my lord, to help my cousin to a good husband’(2/1/346) presents how the Elizabethan society expects obedience from women and Hero helps promote this ideology. However, Leonato’s treatment of Hero addresses how gender relationships, even between family members are highly suggestive of harm. When Claudio slanders Hero, Leonato exclaims ‘vanquish’d the resistance of her youth and made defeat of her’ (4/1/45-46). This is pitifully sad,
The women are casualties of a domestic prison, a prison for the mind, created by society and their husbands, who are victims themselves in their own way, of a Gilded Age mindset. The women have no voice and no authority. Their intellect and creativity is considered a frivolous obstacle and a distraction from their jobs as homemakers. There is irony in the endings of these stories in that the victims, the women, adjust to their lot and turn the tables on their oppressors. In Trifles, the women come to a realization that they must bond together against their clueless husbands to see justice done.
Bianca struggles to fight for the love and respect she thinks she deserves from her partner, Cassio. A clear sign of Cassio’s authority is Bianca’s obedience towards him. After a quick phase of Bianca’s jealousy of another possible mistress, Cassio demands her to get over it and leave him be; she then says, “Tis very good. I must be circumstanced.” The way she almost immediately obeys his commands evidently gives him the power in their relationship. Throughout the play, Cassio who merely views her as an instrument for his bodily pleasures is constantly playing Bianca.
So, the monstrous mother has been created as an allegory which acquired theological and literary significance. Parallel readings of monstrous maternity have reinforce this idea so much that in some texts, when is necessary to blame someone for something that has failed because some dark desire, a woman is used as a vehicle of men’s failure. Francus gives as example Errour in Spenser’s The Faerie Queen, Sin in Milton’s Paradise Lost, Criticism in Swift’s Battle of the Books, and Dulness in Pope’s Dunciad, where female reproductive power gives them authority over male. Francus’ point of view is that this causes a patriarchal fear of the female power and the response for this is the demonization of the female reproduction. The problem about female reproduction is that since the mother has the power to choose what kind of product she is going to deliver to the world, as she produces more
Linda may come across as a strong woman who has her head on her shoulders but she is weak and needs to have someone, even if they treat her as poorly as Willy did. Ophelia on the other hand, needs her brother and father for similar reasons, she doesn’t know how to be alone or make decisions for herself since they have always dictated her life for her. She relies heavily on both of these men, and has absolutely no sense of independence. Her reliance on her father is shown when her father dies and she completely loses her mind, “Oh, this poison of deep grief. It springs all from her father’s death, and now behold!
Even though, women have become more independent, they still want to feel love of a man as it is a necessity. As the play proceeds, Blanche is not the only one to depend on men for attention, love interests and socio-economic progress. Her sister Stella is heavily restrained by her husband Stanley Kowalski. This dependence promotes the abuse of women both verbally and physically. When Stanley beats Stella and she forgives him because she has nowhere else to turn and has the fear of being alone.
For the most part, women were also viewed as having a power that threatened men’s reputation. As Carol Cook states in her article on Reading Gender Difference in Much Ado About Nothing, “Masculine privilege is contingent on the legibility of women, and the ambiguous signifying power of women’s ‘seeming’ is the greatest threat to the men of Messina”. Although this