William Wycherly's The Country Wife and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's “Epistle from Mrs. Yonge to Her Husband” both open a discourse on female sexual desire and fidelity, representing similar ideas. Both works consider the constraints of honour and societal expectations upon women, and the double standard for fidelity between husbands and wives. Ultimately the works present a final statement through consequences for women affected by the issues, with different views about the future for oppressed women.
Montagu's “Epistle from Mrs. Yonge to her Husband” opens the discourse upon repressed female sexuality with a very plain statement that “Too, too severely laws of honour bind / The weak submissive sex of womankind” (Montagu ll. 9-10). The speaker describes women as weak and submissive, using the very concepts society uses to maintain the binds upon women to reinforce the truth of the statement. The speaker is clear that honour is the tool used to maintain the oppression, as society self-monitors and moderates individuals. In Wycherly's The Country Wife honour is also to blame for controlling women's sexuality. Horner observes that women of honour “are only chary of their reputations, not their persons, and 'tis scandal they would avoid, not men” (Wycherly 183). This reinforces the representation of honour as binding and controlling women's behaviour. Further, it introduces the concept of female sexual desire, in suggesting that women ultimately avoid affairs due to the societal repercussions.
Montagu's “Epistle” also discusses female sexual desire, claiming that “Nature with equal fire our souls endued” (Montagu ll. 26). Female desire is constructed as natural and equivalent to male desire. This emphasizes the speaker's view of w...
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...ped in the unending contract of an unhappy marriage. The Country Wife may reveal truths about the state of marriage and women's sexuality, but the text's conclusion presents a future which perpetuates these truths. In contrast, Montagu's “Epistle” presents a more hopeful view of the state of society. Mrs. Yonge's affair is revealed to society and she faces the consequences of the scandal. However, the text gives voice to her struggle and presents a reasoned argument in her favour, which “will surely pity find / from every just and reasonable mind” (Montagu ll. 65-66). Montagu's text is self-redeeming, giving the speaker confidence that sympathy from the public is on her side, and hinting at retribution for her husband (Montagu ll. 80). The agency permitted by the existence of the text moves to ensure that “The lips condemn me, but their souls aquit” (Montagu ll. 68).
Each chapter contains numerous sources which complement the aforementioned themes, to create a new study on cultural history in general but women specifically. Her approach is reminiscent of Foucault, with a poststructural outlook on social definitions and similar ideas on sexuality and agency. Power cannot be absolute and is difficult to control, however Victorian men and women were able to grasp command of the sexual narrative. She includes the inequalities of class and gender, incorporating socioeconomic rhetic into the
In the eighteenth century, the process of choosing a husband and marrying was not always beneficial to the woman. A myriad of factors prevented women from marrying a man that she herself loved. Additionally, the men that women in the eighteenth century did end up with certainly had the potential to be abusive. The attitudes of Charlotte Lennox and Anna Williams toward women’s desire for male companionship, as well as the politics of sexuality, are very different. Although both Charlotte Lennox and Anna Williams express a desire for men in their poetry, Charlotte Lennox views the implications of this desire differently than Anna Williams.
Pinchwife’s adopts a relatively relaxed attitude being ‘cuckolded’ despite his jealousy; he employs exaggeration to ridicule women in London; he tells Margery ‘Ay, my Dear, you must love me only, and not be like the naughty town women, who only hate their husbands.’ (2.1.79-80) ‘Ay’ show the distress he is experiencing due to his tremendous jealosy, He attempts to control the fool Margery by criticising women of the ‘town’ He describes women of London as ‘naughty’ as they cuckold their husbands. They are not ‘good’ wives and they are not controlled by their husbands. This gives the reader an insight on the role of women in the male social power exchange.
Women’s honor was never concerned about her moral compass but rather what she can do to benefit a man and his image. The harmful implications that this author has is that women and honor now has changed to lying about their life and changing their looks to persuade people into thinking that they have their life in order and also how they make the man in their life look based on how she handles things and the way she presents herself. Most people who read these notes will not realize that it actually has gotten worse for women there are going to be many people that continue to lie to themselves as Rich said that their not actually lying because they don’t think about when they lie they consider it a normal occurrence and they do not see what could happen if they actually told the
Kate Martinson’s diary provides an insight into life in the late nineteenth century that is usually unseen. Entries are written almost every year and are often poignant and descriptive. Kate Emily Anderson Emerson Martinson is a complete contrast to our perceptions of the nineteenth century woman. Not only does she feel restricted and a failure for not fulfilling the perception of a true woman, but she seems to fulfil the roles of both husband and wife within her marriage. She is responsible for both the families’ moral and economical wellbeing, and initiates a divorce and an independent life when her husband reveals he has another family. This essay argues that Kate Martinson is atypical, and challenges our original interpretations of a nineteenth century woman.
Accordingly, I decided the purposes behind women 's resistance neither renamed sexual introduction parts nor overcame money related dependence. I recalled why their yearning for the trappings of progression could darken into a self-compelling consumerism. I evaluated how a conviction arrangement of feeling could end in sexual danger or a married woman 's troublesome twofold day. None of that, regardless, ought to cloud an era 's legacy. I comprehend prerequisites for a standard of female open work, another style of sexual expressiveness, the area of women into open space and political fights previously cornered by men all these pushed against ordinary restrictions even as they made new susceptibilities.
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
Domestic principles of Victorian England also promoted the dominance of men. The husband was the supreme being in the house and it was “a husband’s duty to protect his wife […] this authority also allowed for him to use violence, if necessary, in order to keep her in line” (Nolte 3). Caroline Norton gave evidence of this when she disagreed with her husband upon the actions of another lady.
Apparently, these male-defined concepts and stringent regulations imposed heavier penalties for women than men because women were mandated with the heaviest burden of keeping their honor. Central to the concept of honor was a woman’s need to keep their virginity intact otherwise she would be ostracized by the society. A woman who preserved her virginity was held with honor and esteem because she proved superior to her peers (Lavrin 11). Virginity in itself was a highly esteem social quality worth keeping (Lavrin 11).
William Wycherly represents marriage in a peculiar way in The Country Wife. The classic marital values of love, trust, and becoming one with your partner in a bond of love are distorted by intense emotion. The appropriately named Mr. Pinchwife is a jealous husband who moves his new wife Margery to the country with hopes keep her from the outside world, namely the city of London, and the inevitable infidelity that lies there in his mind. However, by denying Mrs. Pinchwife her freedom, Mr. Pinchwife alienates her and encourages her resentment of him.
A lady is an object, one which men attempt to dominate. A man craves to get a hold of this being beneath his command, and forever have her at his disposal. In her piece “Size Six: The Western Women’s Harem,” published in 2002, Fatema Mernissi illustrates how Eastern and Western women are subjugated by the control of men. Mernissi argues that though she may have derived from a society where a woman has to cover her face, a Western woman has to face daily atrocities far worse then ones an Eastern woman will encounter. Moreover, Mernissi’s core dogma in “Size 6: The Western Women's Harem” is that Western women are not more fortunate than women raised into harems in other societies. Additionally, she asserts that though women in the Western world are given liberties, they coincide with the unattainable ideals of what is aesthetically pleasing. Furthermore, to strengthen her argument towards her wavering audience, Mernissi’s main approach in her paper is to get the reader to relate with her issue by means of an emotional appeal, while also utilizing both the ethical and logical appeal to support her thesis.
In the late sixteenth and the seventeenth century, new ideas and motives in arts, inspired by the past but concerned with new concepts, appeared. Building on a courtly love, some writers and poets attempted to discuss the nature of love by commenting on gender issues and sexuality (MacArthur, 1989). Thus, love conventions, based on a passion or an unrequited love, would change, challenging social norms and discussing male and female sexualities. On the one hand, the authors explore male sexualities and a desire for a woman. Phillip Sidney's narrator is a lustful, musing about his chosen woman, her body and a sexual intercourse. Milton's character Comus resembles a similar character when attempting to seduce the Lady, and failing to do so because of her reason and virtue. On the other hand, the two works introduce new and progressive views on women, and their new role in the society. Both Sidney's and Milton's heroines are no longer passive feminine receivers of affections. They determine what happens to them by using reason rather than emotions. Hence, Sidney and Milton exemplify progressive views of their periods, attempting to see gender and sexuality in a new light.
While pointing out that men are attracted profoundly to the foolish beauty of women, as well as women being able to do manipulate men using this power, it just comes to show that Folly is the main source of what pleases men-as well as it being the major power for women. This comes to play with marriage and how “without me no society or mortal union can be pleasant or lasting,” men are able to tolerate women and all their wrongdoings by sustaining it by perceiving it as a joke or illusion. Without doing so, the relationship of a marriage wouldn’t survive or remotely last without ending in divorce. Being that men weren’t blinded by that foolish beauty, and all the folly infused into the foundation of a marriage, then so many of these relationships would fail because men would actually know what their wives were up to and what bad actions they have taken- such as cheating on them. But while there is an arrow pointing at the sexism of men for a while, it does spin back to women once again about how they use their foolish beauty power to blind men into their wrongdoings because even though this what makes marriages last and once again folly is making is seem like it is a good thing- in retrospect it makes women look like the criminal and man like the victim of the life he lives in with the wife he decided to wed. Also regarding children, women wouldn’t have them if they knew how
Achebe, Chinua. “Marriage Is a Private Affair.” World Literature. By Susan Wittig Albert. Rev. ed. Austin [Tex.]: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1998. 1343-50. Print.
Men hold all the power in society in relationships and women because Moll is not able to raise her position in society without the status of a married woman. An issue that Moll runs into is the distribution of choice that men and women in society must adhere to. When looking for the next prospective husband, Moll has to yield to the fact that "The Men had such Choice every where" in accordance to women and future wives (112). Defoe utilizes this phrase to demonstrate that women are subject to men's wishes or choice of which female they choose to spend the rest of their life with. This emphasis is given to the readers to portray the limited distribution of choice women have in society because they are unable to marry a man they truly would want to marry. Women must find a match that suits them, but are limited because they have no control over which man chooses them. Because a woman gains all this wealth and status in a marriage, "Women had lost the Privilege of saying No" due to the fact that there was a shortage in proposals and a woman did not want to risk losing the possibly of security (112). Defoe sees the marriage market as a sort of supply and demand where men and women are vying for the best prospective partner, making it prominent focus in the book because the marriage market controls a woman's life. Because all women are trying to achieve the same goal of being married, society has made marriage a necessity for women in life and in turn, has made women dependent on