She was not declared innocent until Benedick and the friar discover what happened and told everyone (4.1.186-255 and 4.2.50). This proves that men are believed over women. The women also could not defend themselves. They could not defend themselves with words but also with actions. After Hero was accused and fainted at the wedding, Beatrice wanted to avenge Hero’s integrity and honor.
Suicide upon the death of one’s husband was considered very honorable and virtuous, especially when committed in order to avoid a rape (an act of unfaithfulness.) A woman would inherit her husband’s business upon his death if she had a son, but upon her son’s coming of age, the business would be his. There are numerous examples throughout the book of wives being traded and used to pay for goods, as though women were goods themselves. The third chapter focuses on the difficulties of the seventeeth century Chinese widow. A woman was expected to always remain loyal to her husband, even after his death.
The housing market also plummeted leading to negative equity, which the majority of the working class could not afford resulting in the repossession of their houses combined with the drastic increase in unemployment Britain was in a mess. However Major did have some success, he abolished poll tax, which was very popular among the public, he increased spending on the NHS and introduced transport subsides to keep travel fares low.
While the neighbors believed her due to her storytelling skills and because the brother-in-law, Ning, was single, Ning was soon brought to jail. Because he was sure of his right, he refused, but unfortunately no one believed him and soon received death penalty. On the other hand, Miss Shi was granted $100,000 in cash. Not long after, she had an affair with a monk and was brought to attention to the court; she received a beating and soon passed away. From this story, it is obvious that Miss Shi was wrong and had caused death upon a righteous man.
Also women were forced to bind their feet. This painful and deformative practice made women in China more marriageable. Chinese men preferred girls with small feet. These were terrible practices but most women in China agreed that they would be better off being a concubine to a wealthy man was preferable than staying on the farm and starving. Needless to say, Chinese women had no rights and were treated little better than animals.
Female Infanticide in China Throughout Chinese history families have always valued males over females. Males could help harvest the fields, bring in a dowry, and carry down the surname to future generations. This has led to a major problem in present-day China: Female infanticide. Female infanticide, caused by many factors such as abortion and the One-Child Policy in China, will lead to a significant gender imbalance, a shortage of wives, and a premature senior citizen class unless acted upon by the government. Female infanticide became more prevalent in the 1900’s.
Aylmer shows his weakness when he sacrifices the closest thing to perfect in his world, his wife, to his work and obsession for control over her. Georgiana, likewise, shows weakness when she chooses death to make her husband happy as opposed to finding anyone else that would have done everything in there power to love and respect her even with the birthmark. Aminadab, who is not, mentioned much throughout this story but, he is just as important as Aylmer and Georgiana. He tells Aylmer, “If she were my wife, I’d never part with that birthmark.” This depicts the characteristic of Aminadab, a man of nature rather than a man of science. Therefore, his main flaw; he should have not departed from nature to work with a man of
Changing Attitudes For much of the nineteenth century, most people believed that people were poor because they wasted their money. By 1900, public opinion was changing. People realised that poverty could be caused by many factors. They also felt that the government should give some help to the poor instead of leaving it all to charity. Social Reformers This attitude change was partly down to the work of social reformers.
It was her virtue that defined whether she was to be esteemed or denounced. Women were expected to embody, “chastity, courage, tenacity, and unquestioning acceptance of the prevailing hierarchy- unto death if necessary.”(p.100) This literally meant that suicide was a desirable recourse in order to protect the woman’s virtue or that of her husband’s. A woman’s loyalty to her husband was paramount. A story is told of a young girl who’s betrothed was slandered so her family arranged another marriage, but instead of allowing herself to be married to another man, she hung herself in order to stay true to her rightful husband. This demonstration of loyalty was deemed worthy and right, instilling a complete dependence of a wife on her husband.
The people of China have been most influenced by Confucian ideas, and during the Han Dynasty Confucianism became part of the official education. Since Confucianism was being taught widespread it influenced the minds of the Chinese people enormously. Something the Confucian ideals taught was that women must hold a position that has less power than men, lowering the status of women. The only way a women could gain any type of respect was by birthing a son. It was taught that women should not have any type of rule and no one should care about a women’s ideas.