King Creon’s attitude on gender ultimately leads to his downfall and his ruin. Antigone’s rebellion against King Creon’s decree challenges both gender influences at the time as well as a sense of hierarchy. The fact that Antigone is woman plays a profound role in the story. Creon admits that he needs to defeat her because of her gender. Antigone’s refusal to lay down and follow the king’s command shows an aggressive side of Antigone.
Then the quote continues and states: “You will find them, [women] a set of harpies, absurd, treacherous, and deceitful—regardless of strong obligations, and mindful of slight injuries…” (86). The bluntness of this statement about women would not have come from a man seeking a wife during this time. The female villain of the novel, Mrs. Hammond exemplified these awful characteristics throughout the story. The author, Rebecca Rush was probably surrounded by women, during this time, willing to stop at nothing to secure their future. As the quote continues, “and when your integrity has been
In Lepines’ letter, he sites how feminists had ruined his life and they were the reason he committed this crime. Feminist theory on crime explains this thought clearly. Lepines’ ideas about the roles of women were formed by a patriarchal society leading him to believe in some that women were not equal to men and should not be given all the opportunities of men (Knuttila, 305). These women wanted to be educated and become engineers; Lepine could not cope with this fact and blamed women, namely feminist for his short comings in life. Did Lepine come up with these ideas himself or was he a product of a society that dictated classical roles and oppression of women?
Pizan so obviously from the start of her writing, introduces how women should behave (from the perspective of a princess), so that her actions shall be beneficial to her and her husband. By talking about the finances, which is radical, Pizan degrades women in all other aspects. Degrading is used in the sense that she does not promote equality in any other way other than the financial aspect. These women could be considered early feminists if they looked for equality in other things as well not just a specific
Steinbeck presents the character of Curley’s wife in a complex and complicated manner. Steinbeck uses her as a literary device to show what it was like for a woman in 1920s America during the depression through Curley’s wife. Steinbeck uses Curley’s wife as a vehicle to show the gender prejudice and discrimination a woman had to face. He wanted people to change the way society thought of people such as women by showing that they are actually lonely and vulnerable even if they don’t seem it at first with the use of Curley’s wife and subtle methods as a symbol for women in that era. Steinbeck makes the reader conflicted on how they feel about her throughout the novel until and after her death.
The Discrimination against Women Identities Throughout history, female were considered lesser beings and nothing more than the property of their husband. In the short story, Blank Spaces by Joanna Cockerline, the acknowledgment of female being inferior creatures in comparison to men is highlighted. Struggle against misfortunes, Elizabeth is oppressed by the social inequality due to the fact that she is a girl. In Blank Spaces, the social inequality implied by the narrative severely impacts Elizabeth’s career hierarchy, character traits, and life experiences. Like many feminist writer, Cockerline focuses her emphasis on how social norm discriminate women by inhibit their job opportunities.
The first such way is to ignore any legitimate concerns women have; the second way is to classify any emotion as unnecessary and “irrational.” Women get taken advantage of solely because society has considered them emotional, which in today’s modern society is often mistaken for being unstable. This in turn affects a women’s status in life. With this in mind, it is the status that will ultimately define their social mobility, “the lower the status, the more manner of seeing and feeling is subjected to being discredited, and the less believable it becomes” (Hochschile 173). Society has usually seen the lower class as unintelligent and therefore have their opinions denigrated. Even if she has a legitimate case to voice an opinion, “a person of lower status has a weaker claim to the right to define what is going on; less
Novels often present women as constrained by society Explore the presentation of women in the light of this statement Women are presented as being restricted by society in the 18th and 19th century mostly by men ruling the world and women being oppressed, this means that women were meant to manage the household. This is shown in Wuthering heights by Catherine being restrained by Edgar in the Linton’s household. Catherine is the main example of a woman who has different expectations of marriage and social life when having a husband. A woman in that time was meant to be obedient, disciplined and faithful to their husband, Catherine is the complete opposite of this and is not obedient, not disciplined and certainly not faithful ‘It is impossible for you to be my friend, and his at the same time’ This shows that Catherine is having trouble deciding who to care for and between her husband Edgar and Heathcliff. Catherine Forces herself into a fever and hysteria when having to make a choice between the two, this shows her being constrained by her mind because she is mentally unstable.
When a man is referred to as a ‘slut” it doesn’t associate to the actual definition used by society. But when a woman is called a “slut” it automatically associates her with a prostitute and she is then frowned upon by society. (Evalee) There seems to be a double standard when it comes to these male to female connotations .One in six women and one in thirty three men have been sexually assaulted in their lifetime. In our modern society women have been degraded to being pieces of meat or just a pair of sexy legs. (Evalee) Although women have come along way since their efforts in aiding the war, today women around the world still face prejudice, underestimation and gender discrimination only because they are women.
Joe's reasoning for attempting to make Chris feel guilty boil down to the fact that it will ultimately sustain Kate's support for him. The period in which A Doll's House was written was a time of intense subordination for women. As a Marxist would say, women were 'reified' by society due to its ideological nature, restricted to mere commodities. Nora is indeed expected to conform to this principle by the characters of the play as well as audiences and critics of the time, but Ibsen has crafted the character in such a way that it is clear she is against the role