Stella exemplifies the perceived domestic role of women during that period, staying at home while Stanley goes to work. She does not have a profession and it is implied that Stanley handles the financial matters of the house from where she states that he “likes to pay bills himself” (Williams 161). When Stanley hears from Stella that Blanche lost Belle Reve, he is immediately suspicious and demands that Blanche show him the paperwork. He gives a speech about the “Napoleonic code”, under which what belongs to the wife belongs to the husband (Williams 133). Neither Blanche nor Stella knows about the code, which reinforces this stereotype.
Due to frustration from male oppression, clubs and the feminist movement, and the counterrevolutionaries, women showed how they were willing and capable of going to all magnitudes to reach their goal of gaining equality to man. Up until the Enlightenment, which spanned portions of the 17th and 18th centuries, women throughout Europe had limited rights. Men expected women to be charming, well-dressed, and pleasing to the eye in order to represent the social status of her father or husband. Mary Wollstonecraft says, “The conduct and manners of women, in fact, evidently prove that their minds are not in a healthy state; for, like the flowers which are planted in too rich a soil, strength and usefulness are sacrificed to beauty” (Wollstonecraft, 171). Whether they were aristocrats, bourgeoisie, or peasants, Frenchwomen’s main job was to take care of domestic needs.
The Chrysanthemums Elisa’s life in the story The Chrysanthemums by John Steinbeck appears to be normal, but deep down inside Elisa feels trapped by her life’s circumstances. Elisa is portrayed as a strong woman however, her place in society as a married woman keeps her from pursuing her true passion, which is traveling. The setting for the short story is early 20th century America, a time period where a women’s gender determined her role in society. Women were expected to live as housewives with their husbands, the thought of a women living the life as a traveler at that time was inconceivable and challenged gender norms. Elisa was not only trapped by the time period and society’s expectation of her gender role, but also by her marriage.
The Invisible Cage Pride and Prejudice In the nineteenth century society, the options of choosing husbands for unmarried women are limited due to the reason that the society has prescribed a set of values for them. The English society associated the entrance of a woman into the public with a reprehensible loss of femininity. Jane Austen, the author of the novel Pride and Prejudice herself suffers in this era by not allowed to be acknowledged as the author for her books. In Jane Austen's book Pride and Prejudice, she depicts how young men and women behave in the society and how they set up their life and social position for their own desires. With this background, Jane tries to deliver the message that the people were restrained and they suffered by the rules set by the society such as family reputation, women’s position, and class division.
In Austen’s time, societal constraints left women with little choice but to marry for economic survival (Multiple, 1966). This is exemplified by the Bennet family, a well-to-do lower-middleclass land-owning family with no male heir. Because of this the Mr. Bennet’s property is entailed to pass ownership to a distant male relative (William Collins) (University of South Africa, Department of English, 2012). The purpose behind one of the Bennet girls marrying Collins is to create financial certainty for Mrs. Bennet and her other daughters. Mrs. Bennet, Elizabeth’s mother, is constantly agitated and obsessed with securing her future.
Thus, the thoughts and behaviors of both Ms. Loisel and Ms. Mallard should not be surprising considering the era in which these stories were written. Nineteenth Century Women: Trapped, Limited and Restricted The idea that marriage is governed by male perennial authority that is better, simply because they define an unchanging aspect of society, is a consistent theme often hidden throughout each story. In “The Necklace”, Monsieur Loisel makes it his obligation to make his wife happy. The reader is first introduced to him when he comes home with an invitation to a grand social event and anticipates that this will please his wife. He continues this pattern when he acquiesces to her demand for a party dress that they cannot afford.
In her Pride and Prejudice, Austen is almost pre-occupied with the theme of marriage. Marriage is a crucial issue of a woman’s life. But it was more crucial for the women of her society, when women mere largely dependent on their male counterparts. So, women sought financial as well as social support through marriage. But Austen did not approve of it.
Americans also believed that women did not have rights. They had no voice in politics and that their role was to stay at home, cook for their husbands, and take care of the children. They were not allowed to participate into anything that was related to men, such as school, sports, and work. As
Women tend to cheat most likely to escape from a relationship/marriage, becomes lonely, or simply wants revenge. Now you will find some women who cheat just for the thrill of, which is due to them not receiving the pleasure they want from their significant other. Overall women who cheat have a tendency to look for a partner who is an upgrade of what they have. Some women get married not based off of love and their dream man, but for security, which leads back to loneliness. Women have more of an “I just want to get married so I feel loved & safe”, unfortunately is not true love; because in the end all they want is someone around.
Views on Marriage in Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice[i] The brilliant novel of Austin shows rather different attitudes of young girls who come from middle-class families in the country towards love by describing their diverse modes of dealing with love and marriage, which reflects the author’s own views on marriage: it is wrong to marry in pursuit of property and status, but it is also stupid to marry without paying much attention upon the elements above. Therefore, she is not only opposed to marrying for money, but also against toying with marriage. She puts much emphasis on the importance of ideal marriage and regards the affection between two lovers as the solid foundation for arranging an ideal marriage. In Pride and Prejudice, it is five kinds of marriages that run through the whole book: the tolerable kind because of incompatibility of sentiments between Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, the imprudent kind for the favor of appearance and ardor between Lydia and Wickham, the dependent kind for the sake of property between Charlotte and Collins, the harmonious kind because of heart-to-heart love between Jane and Binley, the blessed kind as a result of knowing each other well and exchanging hearts between Elizabeth and Darcy. We can also divide those five kinds of marriages in three sorts, according to the diverse foundations they are established upon.