Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Essay 17th century english literature
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Essay 17th century english literature
The scold’s bridal is a symbol that the society of the 17th century, particularly in London, is dominated and ruled by men who are able to submit women.
“Between 1560 and 1640 […] records disclose an intense preoccupation with women who are a visible threat to the patriarchal system. Woman scolding and brawling with their neighbours, single woman refusing to enter service, wives dominating or even beating their husbands; all seem to occur more frequently in this period” . Natalie Davis said even a new class of “the woman on top” was emerging. But how does this stay coherent with the artefact in the picture? The scold’s bridal originated in Scotland during the 16th century. But it got widely popular in the lower class in England during
…show more content…
Also the physical pain was relevant to stress the superiority of the men. The woman would cut her tongue if she attempted to speak as many devices had sharp spikes attached to the mouthpiece. The woman was forced to wear the device which also illustrates the physical inferiority. The mouth opening also did not allow food consumption. The woman was not even in control of her own life. She would starve without the help of the man.
Furthermore it was very likely that the punishment was not imposed by a court as most of the times only wealthier people or matters concerning property were addressed to the court. Instead ‘unofficial community actions’ were implemented by ‘informal means’ . This would imply that a man could choose how to punish a woman. The woman did not have an opportunity to defend herself. She could only be freed of the Scold’s bridal when she surrendered and accepted her ‘misbehaviour’.
The scold’s bridal was an instrument of power in order to control the woman and enforce the submission of her. But the necessity of such a device might also illustrate the fear of men that the existing patriarchal order was threatened. Why did its popularity grow during the seventeenth century, especially in English towns such as
Long before the early 19th century, the idea of ceremony-specific clothing, particularly for a one-time event, was beyond the financial means of the vast majority of the population. People tended to wear their most fashionable garments, with no real consideration of one-time use or symbolism of color or style.
Tague, Ingrid H. Women of Quality: Accepting and Contesting Ideals of Femininity in England, 1690-1760. Rochester: Boydell Press, 2002.
Ulrich shows a progression of change in the way that women’s sexuality was viewed in New England. First, she starts with a society that depended on “external rather internal controls” and where many New Englanders responded more to shame than guilt (Ulrich 96). The courts were used to punish sexual misconducts such as adultery with fines, whippings, or sometimes even death. There were certain behaviors that “respectable” women were expected to follow and “sexual misbehavior” resulted in a serious decline of a woman’s reputation from even just one neighbor calling her names such as whore or bawd (Ulrich 97-98). Because the love between a man and his wife was compared to the bond between Christ and the Church, female modesty was an important ideal. “Within marriage, sexual attraction promoted consort; outside marriage, it led to heinous sins” (Ulrich 108). This modesty was expected to be upheld even as death approached and is seen with the example of Mary Mansfield in 1681. Ulrich describes Mary to have five neck cloths tucked into her bosom and eleven caps covering her hair. “A good wife was to be physically attractive…but she was not to expose her beauty to every eye”. Hence, even as she died, Mary was required to conceal her sexuality and beauty. However, at the end of the seventeenth century and throughout the
Upturning Social Tradition in Middleton's A Chaste Maid in Cheapside and Beaumont's Knight of the Burning Pestle
In Western culture, it is understood that marriage is based on an equal partnership and not one person controlling the other. On the contrary, in the early 19th century, women were usually in unions that were male dominated. Women were meant to be seen and not heard. Likewise, in the short story, “The Story of an Hour” and the play “Trifles”, two women from very different circumstances share the same fate of being dominated by their husbands and lose their identity while married.
Because of the time period in which Lady Chudleigh lived, 1656 to 1710, her views on marriage greatly differ to those of our 21st century society. During her time women were expected to marry and fulfill the wishes of their husbands by acting as household caretakers while their husbands went out and worked. Hence, it is no surprise that Lady Chudleigh compares being a wife to being a servant. In “To the ladies”, Lady Chudleigh warns women effectively to avoid marriage by using tone, diction, and implicit and explicit details as her weapon in the fight against sexism of her time.
The subjugation of women is a key theme across my three chosen texts, Othello, The Great Gatsby and Wuthering Heights, that is presented both subtly and obviously through forms of physical, sexual and mental denegation. As a subtler example of subjugation, each woman is ultimately controlled and manipulated by a male figure, whether it be through Othello’s suppression of Desdemona upon believing she is unfaithful, Heathcliff’s domination over Isabella or Tom Buchanan’s economic control of Daisy via his financial stability within a class defined society. This confirms Evelyn Cunningham’s perception that, “Women are the only oppressed group in our society that lives in intimate association with their oppressors”, notably in the way that women’s roles are dictated and restricted by the domineering, patriarchal men in their lives, however there are still aspects of female rebellion in each of the texts.
Geoffrey Chaucer’s poem, The Canterbury Tales, contains a character that is read by some as “the epitome of the modern feminist,... takes on the men at their own game of name-dropping, and refuses to be silenced by the patriarchal powers that be” (Evans, Ruth, and Johnson 1). The Wife of Bath contains all the negative stereotypes of women portrayed by men of the Medieval time period, such as being a chatterbox and promiscuous. Which greatly contrasts the other fictional women of her time, who were silent and suppressed in literature. The Wife’s argument “offered a defence of women against their misogynist critics” (Rigby 137) of the Medieval Age. Presented as a critic who beats males at their own game, and gives her the authoritative stance
During the Victorian Era, society had idealized expectations that all members of their culture were supposedly striving to accomplish. These conditions were partially a result of the development of middle class practices during the “industrial revolution… [which moved] men outside the home… [into] the harsh business and industrial world, [while] women were left in the relatively unvarying and sheltered environments of their homes” (Brannon 161). This division of genders created the ‘Doctrine of Two Spheres’ where men were active in the public Sphere of Influence, and women were limited to the domestic private Sphere of Influence. Both genders endured considerable pressure to conform to the idealized status of becoming either a masculine ‘English Gentleman’ or a feminine ‘True Woman’. The characteristics required women to be “passive, dependent, pure, refined, and delicate; [while] men were active, independent, coarse …strong [and intelligent]” (Brannon 162). Many children's novels utilized these gendere...
Leicester, Jr., H. Marshall. "Public and Private Feminism in the Wife of Bath's Tale." Women's Studies 11.1-2 (1985): 157-78.
Traditional female characteristics and female unrest are underscored in literary works of the Middle Ages. Although patriarchal views were firmly established back then, traces of female contempt for such beliefs could be found in several popular literary works. Female characters’ opposition to societal norms serves to create humor and wish- fulfillment for female and male audiences to enjoy. “Lanval” by Marie De France and “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” by Geoffrey Chaucer both show subversion of patriarchal attitudes by displaying the women in the text as superior or equal to the men. However, “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” also incorporates conventional societal ideas by including degradation of women and mistreatment of a wife by her husband.
Sara Mendelson and Patricia Crawford, Women in Early Modern England 1550-1720 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), pp. 37-9 Retrieved from http://muse.jhu.edu.ezproxy.lib.utah.edu/journals/parergon/v019/19.1.crawford.pdf
The article “Spousal Abuse” discusses that Victorian perception of religion, domestic principles, and laws allows men to justify “wife-beating.” Domestic violence during Victorian times is mainly attributed to the idea that the man is the ruler in all worlds. The man’s responsibility of being a protector is the main idea in contributing to domestic violence.
The women of eighteenth-century England tended to agree that they were oppressed and marginalized. Because of this, many women avoided male companionship as a means of dealing with this oppression. Although this method of coping with the realities of life as an eighteenth-century woman seemed desirable to many, some did not agree and sought male companionship.
Women have always been essential to society. Fifty to seventy years ago, a woman was no more than a house wife, caregiver, and at their husbands beck and call. Women had no personal opinion, no voice, and no freedom. They were suppressed by the sociable beliefs of man. A woman’s respectable place was always behind the masculine frame of a man. In the past a woman’s inferiority was not voluntary but instilled by elder women, and/or force. Many, would like to know why? Why was a woman such a threat to a man? Was it just about man’s ability to control, and overpower a woman, or was there a serious threat? Well, everyone has there own opinion about the cause of the past oppression of woman, it is currently still a popular argument today.