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Even though, these powerful male authorities tried to get Margery to resign or admit to something that was not true about herself, Margery stood her grounds firmly. She did not see herself as inferior to these male authorities, but as their equals as she defended herself bravely, even suggesting that “as far as going to prison, I am not afraid for my Lord’s love, who suffered much more for my love than I may for his” (Kempe 83). These are not the only men who prohibit and ridicule Margery because of her beliefs. Margery is also told by an old monk that he would rather have her enclosed in a “house of stone” where she has no contact and can’t speak with men, or advised by men she comes across in her travels and that she should “go spin and card as other women do,” (Kempe 22) which clearly shows the parallelism between her gender and how they expect of her gender to act and Margery’s actual behavior. As Caroline Walker Bynum indicates in her piece Fragmentation and Redemption, reviewing the binaries of societal gender roles as, “Male and female were contrasted and asymmetrically valued as intellect/body, active/passive, rational/irrational, reason/emotion, self-control/lust, judgment/mercy, and order/disorder” (Walker Bynum 151). So essentially, the
There was a particular male authority, a famous preacher, who gives others the bravery to backlash at Margery as he believes that she is lying, “Then many people turned against her and were full glad that the good friar held against her. Then said some men that she had devil within her. And so had they said many times before, but now they were bold, for they thought that their opinion as well strengthen or else fortified by this good friar” (Kempe 110). While floundering with the exclusion of this male authorities, Margery turns to Jesus Christ for
In the 17th century novel Hawthorne wrote, relationships between men and women are very valuable and seem to hold great importance. Also God an...
...Christian values in her own way in order to justify her character’s actions, in addition to using religion as a way of explaining what she thinks of herself. On the other hand, Margery Kempe was a woman who took religion to a new level as a result of “supposedly” having very intense visions and experiences with Jesus Christ. The result was a woman who believed that she had more religious authority than an archbishop of the church and who possessed the strength to continue on her path, despite allegations of being psychotic.
Even women were thought to be inferior to men and hence, had limitations on their rights. An example is Kit, the protagonist, which was raised by her grandfather in Barbados differently than anybody else in the Wethersfield town. She is more independent and does not have that much affiliation to the church. Also, she is not used to do chores or dress with dull colors nor read mainly the Bible. On the contrary, she is used to read Shakespeare, wear colorful dresses, not used to attend meetings every week, have a negra to serve her, and she was even able to swim in the river, which no women could at that time. Her behavior in Wethersfield causes problems since the first day in which she was seen swimming when traveling in the Dolphin and even Goodwife Cruff said, “No respectable woman could keep afloat in the water like that” (36). Since the beginning Kit was put in suspicion and as a consequence of her actions she is then accused of being a witch, arrested, and sent to
Correspondingly, Kempe acts as if she is Jesus’ puppet which is a clear indication that denial of autonomy is taking place. Tarjan McKay defines this as “the treatment of a person as lacking in autonomy and self-determination” (56). The creature looks up to Jesus very much but unfortunately there is no respect coming from his end. Christ knows that he can essentially control Margery and her actions because she lacks independence and self-sufficiency. In order for Margery to go to heaven one day, as Jesus promised, she has to do what he says. For example, he directs her to take off the hair shirt. On page 14, Jesus asserts “And daughter, you have a hair cloth upon your
is very upset and think that they are the cause of her "death". Also, the Friar
In the past centuries the equality of women was diminished, most women believed it was irrational of individuals to think the way they did. Judith Sargent Murray explains “ Is indeed a fact, that she hath yielded to
The female body is often described as a temple: a place that requires care and love from the woman who owns it. Ownership of one’s body for women in the seventeenth century, however, was non-existent. Women did not have the right to argue against men’s decisions: even when it involved their own lives. The Duchess in John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi decides she no longer wishes to live under anyone and takes it upon herself to get remarried. Despite numerous warnings from her siblings, the Duchess attempts to claim control over her life. Her attempt, unfortunately, fails due to several factors such as her physical body, her family, and her status. This begs the question of who in this power struggle truly owned the Duchess, if not herself.
The Elizabethan era was a patriarchal society. It was a time when men were considered to be superior and women were considered to be inferior. Women were regarded as the weaker sex-physically and emotionally. It was believed that women always needed a man to look after them. If they were married, their husband had to look after them. If they were unwed, then it was their father, or brother that needed to look after them. Mary Wollstonecraft, wonders about the“…exclamations against masculine women; but [questions] where are they to be found?” (7). Wollstonecraft is calling for the strong and masculine women to come out of hiding of society’s shadow to and stand together against the oppression. However, the only per...
For centuries man has been considered to be the dominate species. Writings throughout history adumbrate that women are habitually invariably subordinate. Throughout the nineteenth century, women were severely oppressed, repressed, and suppressed by society. Men influenced repression of women’s ideas because it was believed it did not count and held no value; an abundant amount of women unfortunately agreed. An extensive amount of women were uneducated, and subsequently this greatly impacted on their way of thinking. Although the women’s suffrage movement was prominent, an abundant amount of women, in my opinion, were negatively influenced by society as a whole. Within literature, writings oppressed women, and belittled them; portraying them to be weak and in need to have support. This has been the misconception for an extensive amount of centuries. It is debatable that the influence men had on societal views had impacted the boundaries on the views between madness and sanity. Importance on being portrayed as the “perfect” women or housewife could have also been a factor. The late nineteenth century the author, Kate Chopin, brought to the surface truth underneath women with the use of her stories. Many considered this to be madness, because of the content in her writings. As Aristotle once said ‘“No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness.” (Goodreads)
In the area of religion the “emphasis of religious based subordination suggested that, for a woman to be virtuous and serve God, she must follow the lead of her husband […] this gave men the impression that they had a God given right to control their wives, even if this mean through the use of physical correction” (Nolte 1). Due to the fact that religion is claimed to be an important Victorian ideal, men believe that for women to lead a virtuous life, she must follow the wishes of her husband. Even if these wishes allow her to be beat.
Honored in the Anglican Communion as an insightful female mystic, English-born Margery Kempe never officially made became a saint as she seemed to desire but upon the discovery of her autobiography in the 1930s has become a long studied posthumous voice in the realm of medieval philosophy and theology. However, while it is long claimed that she deserves the title of mystic, Kempe’s mental state has been largely debated among scholars, though madness and mysticism have always been characterized under a degree of fluidity, with the emergence of psychiatry in the 1800s an effort has been made to clearly distinguish the two. However, many theorize that one cannot experience mysticism without a strong exercise in reason. Margery Kempe’s autobiography
These women were looked upon as secondary subjects to their husbands with minimal function, capable only of mothering and controlling the household. Although Puritan beliefs cored around the church, women were not allowed to join. Not to mention that in the 17th century, southern women were also unseen for their potential. Women weren't allowed to own anything and had no form of power. The men of the south justified this mistreatment by saying that the women were “too delicate”. It wasn't until 1638 that a woman by the name of Anne Hutchinson advocated for women by preaching predestination. Anne’s unconstitutional act of publicly disagreeing with the puritan church of men led her to trial in Massachusetts. In this trial the governor, Mr. Winthrop, condemned Anne for practicing a religion without involving men. The governor was quoted saying, “Well, admit there was no man at your meeting and that you was sorry for it, there is no warrant for
Who knew that Margery could set an example for women in the Middle age time. Feminist speculations can be traced back to the 1300’s, where women, often, were expected to follow traditional, gendered norms. Margery Kempe is a representation that presents how women were objectified. In correlation to feminism, the idea of misogyny and patriarchy concepts can be interpreted through the anti-patriarchal woman, Kempe, who serves as a critical spectator through her novel. Kempe is portrayed as a hysterical woman that endures through the misogynistic, patriarchy and traditional norms in the Middle age time society. It is through religion, Kempe is a critical spectator against gendered expectations, and goes against the patriarchy of England while
In Puritan communities, women’s roles comprised of two (2) features. The first being they are “the weaker vessel in both body and mind” and men should not expect anything of significance from them. The second was the way they manipulate their lives to avoid their born roles and fulfill their own desires and aspirations. Men readily accepts their superiority to women and so they are the community leaders. With this, they are ashamed of women and react harshly when women object to these gender roles.
Gender is primarily normative, its yields prescriptions for what behaviors are expected for someone and does so through a variety of channels. Most important gender operated simultaneously with other power-relations in order to yield what is a fairly complex final power distribution. She defines her feminist ideas as one that attempts to understand, criticize, and correct how gender operates within our moral beliefs and practices. The domain of the feminist ethicist is the domain of power relations that are both legitimate and illegitimate. To understand the domain, the feminist view of ethicist is concerned with creating an appropriate description of how power differences work in our