Abbie Cory states, “Access to political, social, and economic power and resources was allotted along a hierarchical arrangement whereby upper and middle-class men dominated, while the access of women to such resources was much more limited and was achieved largely through their relationship with men” (1). Therefore many times women married in order to rise in social status and for power. In the novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, marriage is treated more as a tool for the transfer of property and power throughout the story rather than as a means of commitment to love. In this story the property is passed from person to person. There is no stable owner of the land, and this has everything to do with marriage.
The inferiority of women in the fifteenth century is a commonly accepted fact. This inferiority is evident by the literature of this time. Authors such as Machiavelli make obvious the philosophy that men were the dominant sex in the way he lays out his ideas. On the other hand, Thomas More in his book Utopia, makes an exception by viewing women differently. Utopia is a book describing how leaders should go about making their country a perfect one.
Discrimination of Women Because of Patriarchy Economically All over the world people are imposed by a system which declares them the boundaries between women and men and expresses that “the most powerful roles in most sectors of society are held predominantly by men, and the least powerful roles are held predominantly by women.”(Allan 1) This system is named as patriarchy and while it is shaping people according to patriarchy’s rules, people are unaware of this huge because after a while patriarchy is regarded as an objective system. Thus, not many people hesitate about patriarchal rules and reject patriarchy’s affirmation. Also they obey patriarchal rules. There are definitions of patriarchy in dictionaries such as “a social system in which the oldest man rules his family and passes power and possessions on to his sons.”(Longman 2) This one points out patriarchal system’s permanent effect on society. Although firsly these effects form social life , also effects on economical areas should be concerned.
An entire workforce of men would definitely consider the male’s needs over the females, resulting in unbalance and discontentment from the female public. Moreover, since females make up almost half of the population in most countries, it is impossible to just overlook the needs of the women. By promoting such a stereotype and opposing to females taking on careers traditionally dominated by men, room for advancement would become greatly limited. Another component is the family aspect, which are immensely affected by the presence of gender stereotypes in the society. According to social expectations, the father spends most of his time away from home, working in the office in order to support his family financially, rather than emotionally.
Curley’s wife essay Curley’s wife is a character of wide complex and diversity. Her role slowly unwinds and develops throughout the course of the novel, constantly changing the reader’s opinion of her due to her ambiguous characteristics. We see through the novel that in 1930’s America women were generally treated with contempt through the course of the novel and as a general theme. Steinbeck depicts females as ‘trouble makers’ who bring ruin on men; Curley’s wife who walks the ranch as a temptress, seems to be a prime example of this destructive tendency. Women were looked upon as inferior; and incapable of the skills men were, so a woman’s role was mainly housework and nothing with manual requirement.
Torvald’s attitude toward Nora Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House” is a very controversial play that wounded every man’s masculinity and triggered their self-preservation alarm. Nora’s bold choice to leave her husband, along with her duties as a mother and as a housewife, caused a wave of criticism mostly, if not entirely, from the male population. In the 1800s it was unheard off for the woman to take full control over the situation, make her own decisions and most importantly to stand up and leave behind her spouse. Henrik Ibsen challenged the society’s mentality and shook the very foundation it was built on with his three act play. Evolution of Torvald’s character is shown from a man in control of his life, his wife and his household, to a man in front of whom his whole perfect life falls apart all thanks to one woman.
These incidents clearly revealed the powerlessness of the women and their lack of control they have of their lives. Aside from being treated as objects, women are also seen in a position of inferior status to men in the Iliad. This is evident through the women’s laments for their deceased husband or male relatives. In Book Twenty-four, Andromache expresses her grief to her departed husband, Hector, "Therefore your people are grieving for you all through their city, Hector, and you left for your parents mourning and sorrow beyond words, but for me passing all others is left the bitterness and the
The superficiality of life is constantly contrasted with the differing social structures within society in Katherine Mansfield’s The Garden Party and Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway with her continuing fear of aging and the new that constantly rocks her world. The challenges on the role of women and the place they possess in the society are constantly questioned as writers sought to shock their audience and show the world on how they saw it. Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler not only presented a woman that challenged and pushed the boundaries of society, but a woman who did not want to be the stereotypical wife “Angel of the house”.
The Declaration of Sentiments was an inspiring and powerful speech written by Elizabeth Cady Stanton where she argues about the inequality of women and the lack of rights given to them, regardless of them being poor, wealthy or a different race. She mentions that all men and women are “endowed by their Creator with certain alienable rights” to provide the idea that the government has no authority to decide on who has freedom and who does not. A strategy she uses is including parallel structure to intensify her message which gives details on the list of grievances that can be identified in the repetition of the infinitive phrases of “he has...”. Her syntax and organization of her passage establishes an extended analogy to the Declaration of Independence which forms a satirical piece to create a powerful argument to support her position of all females wanting the same rights as white men. Since she is a witness of bearing the lack of freedom, she creates a high credibility in her speech knowing that women and male supporters will believe in her claim of demanding equal rights to women.
Maggie was very uneasy around her sister; her mother tells her anxiousness in regard to Dee’s visitation: “Maggie will be nervous until after her sister goes: she will stand hopelessly in corners, homely and ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs, eyeing her sister with a mixture of envy and awe” (119). Dee undermines her sister, not always knowing what type of impact she impresses upon Maggie. Dee does not appreciate her sister or her mother, both of which is barely educated and lives in a poor, dilapidated home. In fact, Dee had her own way of making this noticeable in one instance when she stood off in the distance while their first home burned down with her mother and sister inside (121). She does not feel comfortable taking on the old fashioned lifestyle her mother and sister do.