George Eliot's Impact on Women
Written words can be a light into a dark world. In a Medieval society women had no identity of their own. They were hidden in the shadows of society and struggled to be acknowledged. A woman had no opinion or thought that was worthy of any attention. A women writer had no chance getting of respect in a world ruled by men. In this world that Mary Anne Evans found herself growing up in as a child. Having a normal childhood with a society where a women are always subservient men, she changed her name to a male pen name to get published, and overall would give advice to women.
George Eliot’s real name is Mary Anne Evans, born on November 22, 1819, in Warwickshire (Rooney 249). Mary Evans lived in a comfortable home growing up ("George Eliot" 666). According to Rooney, “Her grandfather was a carpenter, and her father was apprenticed trade, but before her birth her father was an estate manger” (249). She went to an Anglican moderation church and she also went to a boarding school where she received an intense religious background (Rooney 249). In her late teens her mother died, she left school to take care of her father and his household (Rooney 249). Shortly after in 1842 she abandoned going to church, this making her and her father to get into a separation (Rooney 249). She rebelled against the church because women must attend church to get married (Frome 3-4). During this time she was living in London as an editor for Westminster Review, an open-minded journal, and she was unrecognized (Rooney 249). “In 1852 she meet George Henry Lewis, editor of a radical weekly, The Leader” (Rooney 249-250). Mary Evans and George Lewis where having a love affair that lasted until George Lewis died (Rooney 250...
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...w doors for women that struggled during this era. Even though she was a hypocrite many women would come to her house for advice.
Works Cited
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... she addressed many problems of her time in her writings. She was an inspirational person for the feminism movements. In fact, she awoke women’s awareness about their rights and freedom of choice. She was really a great woman.
...ths of the sixteenth century. Yes, women of that time and place left a very light mark on history. Eventually, the story the book tells spirals down into just some nasty courtroom feuds among family members. The story provides a driving narrative that brings into intimate contact disparate kinds that are still prevalent today. And the conclusion drawn from Anna's actions and reactions may surprise. In both everyday life and in times of crisis, women in the twenty first century has access to effective personal and legal resources.
Mary Anne Evans, otherwise known as George Elliot, was a prominent Victorian novelist. As a woman, she wrote under a pseudonym to avoid prejudice against her work by society’s male biased gender stance. A political player, many of her works highlighted current political issues, and unlike many of her fellow authors, she focused on the lower working class, instead of the upper aristocracy, and let her characters identify Agnostically, which was very abnormal for her time. Mary Anne Evans was a self-made success, who highlighted social issues, ad thrived against adversity in a male dominated world.
Throughout American Literature, women have been depicted in many different ways. The portrayal of women in American Literature is often influenced by an author's personal experience or a frequent societal stereotype of women and their position. Often times, male authors interpret society’s views of women in a completely different nature than a female author would. While F. Scott Fitzgerald may represent his main female character as a victim in the 1920’s, Zora Neale Hurston portrays hers as a strong, free-spirited, and independent woman only a decade later in the 1930’s.
“The Weaving of Women’s Tales.” Elements of Literature, Sixth Course. Ed. Kristine E. Marshall, 1997. 72-189. Print.
Thomas Stearns Eliot was not a revolutionary, yet he revolutionized the way the Western world writes and reads poetry. Some of his works were as imagist and incomprehensible as could be most of it in free verse, yet his concentration was always on the meaning of his language, and the lessons he wished to teach with them. Eliot consorted with modernist literary iconoclast Ezra Pound but was obsessed with the traditional works of Shakespeare and Dante. He was a man of his time yet was obsessed with the past. He was born in the United States, but later became a royal subject in England. In short, Eliot is as complete and total a contradiction as any artist of his time, as is evident in his poetry, drama, and criticism.
Thomas Stearns was born on September 26, 1888. He was born in St. Louis, Missouri. His father was Henry ware Eliot who was the president of the Hydraulic-press company. His mom was Charlotte Champe Stearns, a former teacher, a volunteer at the St. louis, Humanity club and also bit of a poet. T.S. Eliot attended Harvard and Merton college, Oxford. I believe that by attending college it made everything possible.
In the late 16th century England experienced poverty, starvation, increase in population, inequality amongst women and men, and lack of opportunity in the work force. During this time England was torn between two religions, Catholicism and Protestantism. England’s economy was primarily agricultural, workers were tied to their land. Due to the social inequality of the 16th century, women were limited to their rights and men were superior. Women worked in the clothing industry and men worked primarily on the farm. Due to the economic hardships in England, men and women migrated to London for a better life. The nation was under the rule of Queen Elizabeth, who surpassed the restrictions placed on women. This paper explores the shortcomings and hardships experienced in Elizabethan England.
Deliyannis, Deborah Mauskopf. "Middle Ages." World Book Student. World Book, 2014. Web. 9 Jan. 2014.
“Girls wear jeans and cut their hair short and wear shirts and boots because it is okay to be a boy; for a girl it is like promotion. But for a boy to look like a girl is degrading, according to you, because secretly you believe that being a girl is degrading” (McEwan 55-56). Throughout the history of literature women have been viewed as inferior to men, but as time has progressed the idealistic views of how women perceive themselves has changed. In earlier literature women took the role of being the “housewife” or the household caretaker for the family while the men provided for the family. Women were hardly mentioned in the workforce and always held a spot under their husband’s wing. Women were viewed as a calm and caring character in many stories, poems, and novels in the early time period of literature. During the early time period of literature, women who opposed the common role were often times put to shame or viewed as rebels. As literature progresses through the decades and centuries, very little, but noticeable change begins to appear in perspective to the common role of women. Women were more often seen as a main character in a story setting as the literary period advanced. Around the nineteenth century women were beginning to break away from the social norms of society. Society had created a subservient role for women, which did not allow women to stand up for what they believe in. As the role of women in literature evolves, so does their views on the workforce environment and their own independence. Throughout the history of the world, British, and American literature, women have evolved to become more independent, self-reliant, and have learned to emphasize their self-worth.