During the Renaissance a lot of writing during that time addressed a certain topic, such as something political, social, and/or religious. Marguerite De Navarre composed her greatest literary achievement called The Heptameron, which is a collection of seventy stories. All these stories were told by five men and five women who are trapped in a house due to bad weather conditions. In a few of these stories told by them discusses the topic of social conflict between men and women. Stories told by the women propose the men in them as greedy individuals. In story 8 the husband wanted his wife “to be faithful to him, but was not so keen on having the rule applied to them both equally” (276). He believes it is alright to have a relationship with …show more content…
In story 10 Amador fell in love with the young girl Florida. As they grew older he finally confessed his love for her and said “I am not one of those men who would exploit this advantage. I desire no favor, nor pleasure, from you, except what is in accordance with the dictates of virtue” (286). Amador claims he wants to be a true knight by following all the rules of chivalry but Florida believes he has some other evil intention. As a few years go Florida’s suspicions of Amador become true as Amador “began to pursue the path that leads to the forbidden goal of a lady’s honor” (293). Now many believe that Amador lied to try and get in Florida’s pants. However, at the same time some believe he had convinced himself that his intentions were innocent and pure therefore he didn’t lie. Even if he did lie it’s not like he’s the only one who’s done it before. This story is told by the perspective of a woman which makes the story biased towards the female character, making her look like the innocent one and Amador the evil one. If the story was told by one of the males’ perspective it would’ve most likely been the other way …show more content…
Amador believes that Florida’s husband shouldn’t be the one she loves, “he’s not worthy of the smallest corner in your heart. So you do not really belong to him, even in body” (293). He also tries to make it sound like what he’s doing okay by saying “bear in mind that no sin may be imputed when the heart and the body are constrained by the power of love” (293). Florida disappointed that Amador is no longer the virtuous knight he once was left the room and loved him no more. Now after all these years of servitude to Florida, was Amador obligated to do and say the things he did that night? One of the men made a decent argument stating that men are true gentlemen around ladies because they “put on such haughty expressions and adopt such refined ways of speaking, that people who see nothing but their external experience go in awe of them, and feel obliged to admire and love them” (301). Men always tend to be intimidated by well-educated and powerful women and often get close to them by telling and doing what they want, which is the same thing Amador did. The man also made a good point saying “However, in private it is quite another matter. Then Love is the only judge of the way we behave, and we soon find out that they are just women, and we are just men” (301). Once alone love takes over and you forgot who they are and just see them as another human being no better
The Renaissance gave more light to philosophy, and philosophers thought everyone is equal. There was a female ruler, and art put women in the public eye. Yet, women weren't allowed to take part as much as men, and upper class women had even less rights than peasant women. Queen Elizabeth affected the West in many ways. She refused to marry until the day she died, and she defeated the Spanish Armada. Her supporting the arts also helped plays and paintings bring women more into the public eye. Still, women still had less rights than men at the time. Most philosophers were men and many of them preached of how men were more powerful than women. And in contrast to popular belief, upper class women had even less rights than peasant women at the time. Upper class women were treated as mere housewives, which limited the rights of women because the most powerful women at the time were illiterate. Giving them little power compared to
The Canterbury Tales has many stories with multiple meaning and messages, but love is one subject that is argued throughout the book. There are two stories of the book that are discussed quite often on this subject “The Franklin’s Tale” and “The Wife of Bath’s Tale”. “The Franklin’s Tale” argues that a marriage where everyone is considered equal is superior while the “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” supports the idea that a marriage best works with a woman being in charge. These two stories argue the two dramatically different opinions of gender relations in marriage, with their own tales as examples to support their position. Since the Wife’s tale is based off of inequality in relationships while the Franklin’s tale is centered around equal gender relations. Due to this the Franklin’s tale is of course the ideal situation.
Again, however, we are faced with a story, this time written after the fact, that sheds a negative light on an ideology. It seems Nathaniel Hawthorne did not want to endorse puritanism, but denounce it, denounce the abuse and contradiction it implied. Once more, we find a work that denigrates an established understanding of love. First, there was opposition to the courtly love tradition, now, we find opposition to the puritan love ideology. So far, we have only been willing to define love by what it wasn't, what we felt was a wrong way of doing things.
Historians and scholars often overlook the part that women played in the Renaissance. Did women have a Renaissance? The period did not occur in a male only vacuum; women played an important part in the changes taking place across Europe. No matter a woman’s station in the class system, women, were still considered the sinful daughter of Eve, the downfall of man. Into this world stepped Isabella d’Este, one of the great women of the Renaissance.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and Dracula by Bram Stoker, both nineteenth century texts, present women and their roles within society at that time as one of subservience to their male counterparts. Women had no independent means of subsistence, and were obliged to follow the conventions set by men.
The Shadow of the Galilean by Gerd Theissen is a fictional narrative about a Jewish merchant, Andreas, searching for information about a group of people known as Essenes, John the Baptist, and Jesus of Nazareth. While traveling through Jerusalem Andreas was imprisoned by the Romans thinking he was a part of a demonstration against Polite when his mission was to find Jesus. Andreas writes, “I never met Jesus on my travels through Galilee. I just found traces of him everywhere: anecdotes and stories, traditions and rumors. But everything that I heard of him fits together.
That being said, with most virtuous men came a wife and a family. As written ...
In a relationship, Love is a feeling that humans share with a special person. Some bonds could be mutual, while others are dissociated. During the Medieval period, love affairs were dominated by one gender, men, and the women had little or no control over decisions. Before a gentleman married a lady, the gentleman first boasted about her beauty, championed the cause of the lady, and did whatever the lady requested. The era was influenced by knights, and dictated by honor and chivalry that each knight had to display to their king and queen. As a gentleman, a knight had to be just at all times, especially toward ladies. At this time, there was a king named Arthur. King Arthur had a flourishing kingdom that abruptly ended. Later on, many authors recounted the story of the reign of King Arthur. Sir Thomas Malory published Le Morte d’Arthur, and Geoffrey Chaucer published The Wife of Bath’s Tale. Although both of these books recount the reign of King Arthur, the stories are very diverse and unique in their own way. Both stories demonstrate for a relationship to be successful, both partners must be submissive, must be brave, and must be willing to learn from mistakes.
In Chrétien de Troyes' Ywain, women represent the moral virtue and arch of all mid-evil civilization. Women of this time had to be an object of love, which meant they had to have beauty, goodness, and be truthful. They had to be a representative of all chivalrous ideals. They also act as civilizing influences throughout the story. Women are put in the story to give men a reason for acting brave and noble. Men become knights in order to demonstrate to women that they are strong and capable of defending themselves against danger. This, they hope, will win the women's heart.
In the tale that Geoffrey Chaucer had wrote, The Wife of Bath’s Tale, a man was described as a Knight. This Knight wasn’t like any normal Knight, he messed up and raped a girl. This is a big mistake, giving a lot of Knights a bad name, and having those that look up to them start to be disappointed in them. Usually the punishment that is given to those that rape, or in general any other crime, is death or time in the slammer, however, the Queen says no because he is a good looking guy. Instead of death, he had find out what women most desire from men. He is given a year and a day to find out, and on the last day, when he nearly had given up all hope, he sees an old woman in a field who makes a deal with him. The old lady gives the Knight a choice: to have an old, but faithful, wife, or to have a drop-dead gorgeous woman, but to have her never to be faithful, before she tells him what the Queen wants to know. The old lady and Knight get married and she wants him to sleep with her, like husbands are supposed to do with their wives. They argue and she gives him the two choices again; to have an ugly wife, but she is faithful. The other choice is to have a drop-dead gorgeous wife, but is never faithful. With this, he learns a lesson, and sufficient punishment.
... beloved wife has made the decision for him. After going through this incredible journey of his, not only did he study women but he had to explain what women most desired to the queen. Otherwise he would have been beheaded, but was spared because of his looks. Was this justice? Indeed it would have been justice back in the 1300’s because if you were beautiful you could be spared and do a noble deed for the king/queen as they asked. If you did not complete it who knows what could have happened. But for the knight, he completed what he was told to do and in fact after he raped the woman and he was being prosecuted, the journey of his made him find the true knight inside of him. The old woman choice that was offer to the knight demonstrated that he learned his lesson through his sufficient punishment and redemption for his crime.
The renaissance was a time in history when people began to have a new outlook on life. Individualistic views and glorification of the human self and body became very prominent during this time especially in the art and renaissance culture. In paintings, emotions and the beauty of the human anatomy were captured more eminently and sculptures of the human body were shown with pride for its comeliness. Literature projected the human mind and its intellect and much like literature, education was promoted because of the boastfulness of humans.
In Othello, the titular character is a visible minority who holds a high position in the army but falls victim to manipulation by his seemingly trustworthy ensign and friend. While the theme of jealousy remains the main reason for the eventual death of both Emilia and Desdemona, the preservation of honour and reputation also fuel the characters’ actions toward the women. Therefore, the men in the play act cruelly and unjustly in order to defend their honour. While the conflicts between the Othello and Iago seem to be due to jealousy, the play suggests that the men are scared of the women and their power to destroy their honour and reputation.
Secondly, Emilia mentally challenges the social norm of chastity by condoning women that deceive their husbands. Although Emilia does not explicitly state whether she has ever cheated, she does say that she would not cheat for small, material wealth, but any woman would cheat in order to make her husband king: "Who would not make her husband a cuckold to make him a monarch? (4.3. 77). Furthermore, Emilia explains that the reason women cheat is because their husbands "slack their duties" and "break out into peevish jealousies (4.3. 87, 89). In essence, Emilia accepts the "abuse" of men by women because she feels that it is the husband's flaws that evoke the women to cheat.
All of us have heard generalizations about the opposite sex. Most of us have said our share of them when the phone does not ring at the appointed hour or the love of our life mentions those dreaded words: “open relationship.” Men have trouble understanding women, and women have trouble understanding men. This problem is universal, extending through different cultures and time periods. The Egyptian folktale “The Promises of the Three Sisters” reflects the division between the sexes, a theme which is as relevant in our modern society as it was then.