Novels such as Fantomina, Oroonoko and Millenium Hall showcase the correlation between the time he authors were writing and the education of women. The lack of female rights and gender equality during the time, leads the authors to socially critique society by going against the grain. Writers such as, Sahra Scott, Eliza Haywood, and Aphra Behn create female characters who can think for themselves and redefined what it meant to be a woman during the eighteenth century. The power of free will and thinking lies in knowledge and education, because the more aware one is about a topic, the more helpful it will be do develop self-ideas and beliefs. This paper will show that women used education broadly as a subversive tool for Fantomina, education …show more content…
Literary Review: An overview of female's education
The Enlightenment period started during the long eighteenth century, from 1685 to 1815. The Enlightenment period challenged and opposed societies limited and closed-minded ideals. The Enlightenment Movement was a radical movement, which questioned authority and wanted to change the core thinking of society through rational thought and change. “Enlightened Women: A Discussion on Education, Marriage and the Domestic Sphere in Eighteenth Century Society” states, “with the dawning of the Enlightenment and its emphasis on education, humanism, science, and scholarly discussion, the expectations of women’s learning changed and with it, their roles within the household” (Huff 29). With the progression of enlightenment, women became more open to ideas and opened their minds beyond
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Therefore, for a woman to compete with a man in the literature realm was challenging pre-existing lines that one was not supposed to cross. “The constitution of civil governments has put almost insuperable obstacles in the way to prevent the cultivation of the female understanding” (Morton 192). It was hard for women to enter an education field of being an author. For example, in “The Prologue,” written by Anne Bradstreet. The narrator states, “a Poet’s Pen all scorn I should thus wrong, / For such despite they cast on female wits. / If what I do prove well, it won’t advance, / They’ll say it’s stol’n, or else it was by chance” (27-30). Bradstreet displays her frustration with not seeking to be the best author but wanting to just be a part of the literary world and not be looked down upon or degraded just because of the simple fact that she happens to be a woman. Women such as Anne Bradstreet paved the way for authors such as Eliza Haywood, Aphra Behn, and Sarah Scott. When studying these female characters text, one question is consistently arising, “How does the time period based on unequal education and gender inequality transfer into the author’s function of her
Female authors were first introduced in the late 1800’s; nobody knew what to expect since women never
Women have faced oppression in the literary community throughout history. Whether they are seen as hysterical or unreliable, women writers seem to be faulted no matter the topics of their literature. However, Anne Bradstreet and Margaret Fuller faced their critics head-on. Whether it was Bradstreet questioning her religion or Fuller discussing gender fluidity, these two women did not water down their opinions to please others. Through their writings, Bradstreet and Fuller made great strides for not just women writers, but all women.
As mentioned above, women’s role were unjust to the roles and freedoms of the men, so an advanced education for women was a strongly debated subject at the beginning of the nineteenth century (McElligott 1). The thought of a higher chance of education for women was looked down upon, in the early decades of the nineteenth century (The American Pageant 327). It was established that a women’s role took part inside the household. “Training in needlecraft seemed more important than training in algebra” (327). Tending to a family and household chores brought out the opinion that education was not necessary for women (McElligott 1). Men were more physically and mentally intellectual than women so it was their duty to be the educated ones and the ones with the more important roles. Women were not allowed to go any further than grammar school in the early part of the 1800’s (Westward Expansion 1). If they wanted to further their education beyond grammar, it had to be done on their own time because women were said to be weak minded, academically challenged and could n...
Mary Astell and Margaret Cavendish’s works use education as the beacon for women and their fight for equality. These women use differing points to celebrate the beauties of being female and the need for education to empower the powerless. Astell questions the validity of the dominant while juxtaposing real interests versus subjugated ones to illustrate the value of education in a woman. Cavendish uses similar tactics by insisting the notion of self-enlightenment and the value of mimicry of men to make this a shared world. Who would later go on to challenge that by sharing a transformation and the pride in simply being.
The book became a great source of information for me, which explained the difficulties faced by women of the mentioned period. The author succeeded to convince me that today it is important to remember the ones who managed to change the course of history. Contemporary women should be thankful to the processes, which took place starting from the nineteenth century. Personally, I am the one believing that society should live in terms of equality. It is not fair and inhuman to create barriers to any of the social members.
Bradstreet is a master of balance, harnessing her love for God, her family, and her intelligence without dampening her knowledge or creativity. Literary analysts often believe Bradstreet accidentally creates “feminist irony,” () but few explore the possibility of Bradstreet placing the irony there willingly. According to The Works of Anne Bradstreet by Johnston, “Most of what [people] know about Anne herself [are from] her own writings,” () because the lack of personal accounts about her character, but nonetheless many have gathered an unvarying construct of her character. Bradstreet, as an individual, was much more headstrong than many, who believe her inconsistencies are intellectual mistakes, assume. Bradstreet does not fear strict convention or judgement like many interpreters believe, even though she knew some would be inevitably uncomfortable with her
She is going through some articles and realizes that all articles written about women are by men. In this novel it is suggested that men dictated the way women are perceived by society. The reason they dictate it are men are the only ones who have the authority to publish books. They ultimately have the power to represent women in any way they want. This proves that literature is not objective but is biased by the male perspective.
There is no doubt that the literary written by men and women is different. One source of difference is the sex. A woman is born a woman in the same sense as a man is born a man. Certainly one source of difference is biological, by virtue of which we are male and female. “A woman´s writing is always femenine” says Virginia Woolf
Bradstreet’s poems are focused on the simple pleasures found in the realities of the present. She rejoices in the presence of nature that she sees surrounding her in “Contemplations”, rather than that in the pleasure of Jesus and her Puritan religion (like Phyllis Wheatley does). Part of the reality for Bradstreet is living as a female in a male-dominated society. Bradstreet embraces this, but at the same time questions the views towards females. Women in Puritan society played a subordinate role in a traditional patriarchal family structure, and were relatively restricted in their opportunities. They were not generally viewed as equals to men, and in “The Prologue”, Bradstreet questions her role, and thus a woman’s role, in writing poetry. At the end of the prologue Bradstreet writes, “Let Greeks be Greeks, and woman what they are; Men have precedency and ...
“Thinking about Shakespeare’s sister,” resonated how women were treated and how their opportunities differ from that of a man. Virginia Woolf tries to boil down the main cause of why there are not any great women authors. Is it because women do not have the ability to be or raw talent great writers? Woolf’s essay examines the life of William Shakespeare’s sister to answer this question: What kind of life would have Judith lead? Judith is a fictional character created from Virginia Woolf’s imagination.
...ewed women as naturally subordinate to men, women writers attempted to challenge this ideology and assert the need for change. The revolution in France, and the belief in the possibility of Britain's own revolution, led some women to adopt inappropriate outspoken tactics. However, these radical women were given derogatory labels which ultimately prevented other writers from directly challenges the system. Nevertheless, women writers during the final decade of the eighteenth century "politicized the domestic or sentimental novel in response to oppression and exclusion." In their fiction they challenged the roles of women in education and in the household. While they were not tremendously successful, the women of this time made recognizable to the public the importance of changing the role of women in society, and provided an impetus for the entire feminist movement.
According to the author, there is so much potential in the women of the era to obtain a higher and independent education. Although most women aren’t provided with such privileges, they need to display their significant
...sband, mothered eight children, risking death from each pregnancy, and managed to live sixty years. She was the first woman in American Literature to have her work published and also one of the first American women to begin thinking as a femenist. Even though Bradstreet was not a prominent, public femenist, she realized that she had to start somewhere and due to her living in the strict patriarchal puritan society, she did what she could. Although Bradstreet was very religious and held her spirituality very close to her, she still put together early femenist thought and can be considered one of the first American femnists.
Unlike men, women’s education was subject to specific contents. For instances, women were taught to sew, paint, dance but not introduced to socially important field like history, philosophy, economics and others. The main focus on women education was on how to dress and behave and finally find a good husband rather than allowing them to think. They were encouraged to give more attention to their bodies rather than their minds. As a result of which, the body and behaviour became the main basis of which women were
The impact of women character is ideal and significantly receptive. This one is really in the sense of being the main character in any model position. The descriptions of women’s body image are vivid and reflect the environment in that period. The point of view adopted by women writers is to present the impact of the life on an individual on other lives. Women’s image is reflective and it seems to be a person that was close to the main character or who observed the life of the main character from the sidelines.