Agency or Complacency: the Complicated Life of the Venus Hottentot
In Suzan-Lori Parks’ Venus, readers are introduced to a fictionalized version of Saartjie Baartman, a woman who was smuggled into London from South Africa in 1810 to perform in a freak show (Elkins). In both the play and in real life, Saartjie (known as the Hottentot Venus) is subject to both degradation and dehumanization throughout her short life. Some argue that The Venus has agency over her situation when she is prepositioned with different offers; due to The Venus’ circumstances and her status as a black woman during the 19th century, she does not have any control over the different offers she receives during the play.
At the beginning of the play The Venus is either
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Once she makes her appeal towards the Court, they respond positively to her words and end up allowing her to remain in the country. The Venus has learned to manipulate the dominant group in society in order to get what she wants, and she applies this tactic of manipulation to her conversation with The Baron Docteur. Before accepting his offer The Venus asks The Baron Docteur for many things, namely money, food, and clothing, all of which he agrees to (88). Because The Baron Docteur is already infatuated with The Venus, it is easier for her to get what she wants from him, and unlike The Brother, The Baron Docteur is more considerate towards The Venus. This can be seen when The Venus asks The Baron Docteur if she has a choice whether or not to go to Paris, to which The Baron Docteur replies, “Yes. God. Of course” (88). Here, she is more careful in her decision making because her naivety has already been taken advantage of, yet she ultimately accepts his …show more content…
Before The Baron Docteur approaches the Venus, he first speaks with The Mother-Showman with the intention of purchasing The Venus. The Mother-Showman is reluctant and tries to dissuade The Baron Docteur from purchasing The Venus by lying on her character but The Baron Docteur resorts to using his wealth in order to get what he desires, which in this case is The Venus (81-83). By the time he first approaches her, The Venus is his property, putting her into a position where it is extremely hard for her to say no. While The Venus does not refuse the offer of The Baron Docteur, because he owns her, it is clear that the only acceptable answer to this offer is a yes. Because of the master-slave dynamic that has been established between them without her knowledge, if she refused his offer, there is a possibility that she would have been forced to go to Paris regardless of what she truly
According to Sherrie A. Inness, “The Captive was hauled by critics as the first play on the American stage to deal openly with what one reviewer called a “repulsive abnormality.” Ten years prior, God of Vengeance was scorned for offending rabbis, Jewish men and women’s religion and abusing the significance of the Torah. Critics and reviews failed to deliver their remarks on the intimate lesbian love, but in The Captive, the lesbian undertones are concealed and carried out in a strategic fashion, yet these moments were censored and triggered. Due to these moments where the acts of lesbianism were not apparent, it was deemed with obscurity, causing the play to fall short overall. Similar to God of Vengeance, The Captive was confronted with “obscenity charges in the United States, and after a run of less than five months, the play was raided and closed down by police” (Inness 304). With this framework in mind, my case study is not diminished by the greater public opinion, rather Edouard Bourdet’s strategic approach to lesbianism and the way in which is portrayed in society juxtaposed the emergence of lesbianism in the United States in the early part of the twentieth
Over the course of time, the roles of men and women have changed dramatically. As women have increasingly gained more social recognition, they have also earned more significant roles in society. This change is clearly reflected in many works of literature, one of the most representative of which is Plautus's 191 B.C. drama Pseudolus, in which we meet the prostitute Phoenicium. Although the motivation behind nearly every action in the play, she is glimpsed only briefly, never speaks directly, and earns little respect from the male characters surrounding her, a situation that roughly parallels a woman's role in Roman society of that period. Women of the time, in other words, were to be seen and not heard. Their sole purpose was to please or to benefit men. As time passed, though, women earned more responsibility, allowing them to become stronger and hold more influence. The women who inspired Lope de Vega's early seventeenth-century drama Fuente Ovejuna, for instance, rose up against not only the male officials of their tiny village, but the cruel (male) dictator busy oppressing so much of Spain as a whole. The roles women play in literature have evolved correspondingly, and, by comparing The Epic of Gilgamesh, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and The Wife of Bath's Prologue, we can see that fictional women have just as increasingly as their real-word counterparts used gender differences as weapons against men.
What art succeeds in doing is transmute the sexual expression into an acceptable form - by turning it into a thing of beauty and approximating it into a haze of sublimity. In the post- modern climate of media, eros as sexuality reels dangerously on the brink of pornography. Yet what is also important is to realize that it is an important lens to view our social, political and cultural identities. At the beginning of the twentieth century, sexuality rode on the tide of social progressivism and became a vehicle for artistic expression in the novel. Also, when eros as sexuality serves as a principal theme in serious or popular literature, it is often used as a means of remarking upon the dynamics in a society. This is the point that is scrutinised and analysed in this paper where the sexuality of women is seen as an important definition and perspective in Toni Morrison’s Sula (1973).The novel explores the lives and friendship of Sula Peace and Nel Wright in the black neighbourhood dubiously named ‘The Bottom’ in the city of Medallion . The novel also investigates lives of its various female characters in this community who add to our understanding of the life of African American women. Morrison is one of the most remarkable African-American authors of the twentieth century and her novels remind readers that the position of African-Americans in the white-dominant society of the United States of
Throughout the plays, the reader can visualize how men dismiss women as trivial and treat them like property, even though the lifestyles they are living in are very much in contrast. The playwrights, each in their own way, are addressing the issues that have negatively impacted the identity of women in society.
The Birth of Venus is a beautiful Renaissance canvas masterpiece created by Sandro Botticello. The picture illustrates the birth of Venus in a very mystical way. Venus has emerged from sea on a shell which is being driven to shore by flying wind-gods. She is surrounded by beautiful roses which are painted in a truly remarkable color. As she is about to step to land, one of the Hours hands her a purple cloak. The back drop includes the sea and a forest. The overall effect of this painting are almost overwhelming, color and beauty meet the eye in every angle.
by analyzing the case of Sarah Baartman as the quintessential Black female erotic body. The viewing of black women’s bodies as animalistic explorative and subsequent centuries of colonialism but also connects all hegemonic movements to surveillance and defining/redefining of the black female body.
Once sold to these people Neaira becomes what is called a Hetaira, a high-class courtesan. Under the ownership of these two men, Neaira receives more luxury and control over her life, but she is still at the beck and call of her owners. Her first taste of freedom of choice is when these two men want to liquidate their assets. While it is a controlled choice between paying 2,000 drachmas her freedom or be sold for cheap to a brothel. Obviously, lead into one choice Neaira seeks to pay out the 2,000 drachma settlement.
The before 20th century, society has not been kind to women because they were considered the weaker or fairer sex. Even though women were granted equal rights in the 1920s, women had to silently and unwillingly grapple with unjust treatment from American society. Glaspell uses Trifles to examine this quiet struggle “[as] the first major work of feminist theater written by an American playwright,”(Beatty) and adds a revolutionary new voice to the dramatic arts of the time. Due to its “absence [ from the stage during the early and mid-20th century, it has indicated] the way that women have traditionally been eclipsed on the American stage”(Beatty). Glaspell’s choice of the word Trifles, instead of the title of the short story which is A Jury of Her Peers was as insightful in...
Georgia Douglas Johnson was a playwright of the Harlem Renaissance whose social commentary delved into the hardships of African Americans in the early 20th century. As an African American woman of the time, Johnson often brought to light the difficulties of her race and gender. In Johnson’s play Plumes she invites her audience into an everyday kitchen, with two hardworking early 20th century African American women trying navigate their way through a racially oppressive and patriarchal society. Johnson uses the characters’ desires to provide for those that they love, as an illustration to the adversity of everyday life of the African American in her time, particularly the African American woman. In this paper, I will explore the complications
In the 19th Century, women had different roles and treated differently compared to today’s women in American society. In the past, men expected women to carry out the duties of a homemaker, which consisted of cleaning and cooking. In earlier years, men did not allow women to have opinions or carry on a job outside of the household. As today’s societies, women leave the house to carry on jobs that allow them to speak their minds and carry on roles that men carried out in earlier years. In the 19th Century, men stereotyped women to be insignificant, not think with their minds about issues outside of the kitchen or home. In the play Trifles, written by Susan Glaspell, the writer portrays how women in earlier years have no rights and men treat women like dirt. Trifles is based on real life events of a murder that Susan Glaspell covered during her work as a newspaper reporter in Des Moines and the play is based off of Susan Glaspell’s earlier writing, “A Jury of Her Peers”. The play is about a wife of a farmer that appears to be cold and filled with silence. After many years of the husband treating the wife terrible, the farmer’s wife snaps and murders her husband. In addition, the play portrays how men and women may stick together in same sex roles in certain situations. The men in the play are busy looking for evidence of proof to show Mrs. Wright murdered her husband. As for the women in the play, they stick together by hiding evidence to prove Mrs. Wright murdered her husband. Although men felt they were smarter than women in the earlier days, the play describes how women are expected of too much in their roles, which could cause a woman to emotionally snap, but leads to women banding together to prove that women can be...
William Shakespeare’s The Tempest provides dialogue that portrays the social expectations and stereotypes imposed upon women in Elizabethan times. Even though the play has only one primary female character, Miranda, the play also includes another women; Sycorax, although she does not play as large a roll. During many scenes, the play illustrates the characteristics that represent the ideal woman within Elizabethan society. These characteristics support the fact that men considered women as a mere object that they had the luxury of owning and were nowhere near equal to them. Feminists can interpret the play as a depiction of the sexist treatment of women and would disagree with many of the characteristics and expectations that make Miranda the ideal woman. From this perspective, The Tempest can be used to objectify the common expectations and treatment of women within the 16th and 17th Centuries and compare and contrast to those of today.
In Aphra Behn's “The Rover,” characters define relationships as a type of economy where value and use are key. This time period commodified love and sexuality, valuing financial success over meaningful relationships. The dowry system made rich women with a high status most desirable for marriage and their value was increased by their honor. Typical of seventeenth century literature, Behn plays with this ideology as “the language of love in Restoration comedies frequently draws on the language of commerce.”1 She expresses her beliefs on the “'interest,' 'credit,' and 'value'”2 associated with love and sexuality through the different prices placed on her characters. Where Behn differs from other seventeenth century writers is that she does not give in to the “world dominated by male writers working in specifically misogynistic forms.”3 She gives women the authority within this economy. Instead of having very little power in their relationships with men, Behn allows women to be dominant. They can create their own value and control the amount of access men have to them. Characters such as Moretta and Angellica Bianca are not forced into submission by their desire for marriage, they “ignore[s] patriarchal structure and exhibit[s] no remorse.”4 They force men into submission through their manipulation of the economy of love and sexuality. Aphra Behn's characterization of Moretta and Angellica Bianca using the language of commerce gives them authority that other woman did not have access to.
Charles Darnay, Evremonde as we know him, is a rich leader of France. On the other hand, a lawyer, whose name is Sydney Carton, seems to not care about anyone but himself. However, when he met Lucie Manette, his life was changed a little bit and added her in his circle of obligation. Both of these guys, in our case Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton, felt something unique to Lucie Manette. While Darnay is being sentenced for treason and Lucie is one of the witnesses against Darnay, Carton seems to see the similarity between himself and Darnay and presented it to the court of law The Court of Law point out some similar appearances between them and no one is quite sure if both ...
In 1979, Caryl Churchill wrote a feminist play entitled Cloud Nine. It was the result of a workshop for the Joint Stock Theatre Group and was intended to be about sexual politics. Within the writing she included a myriad of different themes ranging from homosexuality and homophobia to female objectification and oppression. “Churchill clearly intended to raise questions of gender, sexual orientation, and race as ideological issues; she accomplished this largely by cross-dressing and role-doubling the actors, thereby alienating them from the characters they play.” (Worthen, 807) The play takes part in two acts; in the first we see Clive, his family, friends, and servants in a Victorian British Colony in Africa; the second act takes place in 1979 London, but only twenty-five years have passed for the family. The choice to contrast the Victorian and Modern era becomes vitally important when analyzing this text from a materialist feminist view; materialist feminism relies heavily on history. Cloud Nine is a materialist feminist play; within it one can find examples that support all the tenets of materialist feminism as outlined in the Feminism handout (Bryant-Bertail, 1).
In Aphra Behn’s “The Rover”, between the categories of virgin and whore lies a void rather than a spectrum. The three leading ladies of the play Hellena, Florinda and Angellica most certainly fall into these categories; Hellena and Florinda being virginal ladies of quality and Angellica being a famous courtesan. These three women attempt to challenge these roles throughout the play. Aphra Behn uses the domination of the men over the women, the objectification of the women and the double standards that exist between men and women to illustrate the impossibility of taking one’s sexuality into one’s own hands, and challenging the assigned roles of the patriarchal society for the female characters in the play.