Experience can Mislead

This subverted expectations of females as they were supposed to be loyal to their male partners and shouldn’t want to take their power. In this essay I will talk about their desire for power and revenge, and why this has lead them to be portrayed in such a disturbed manner and how this goes against people’s expectations. Firstly, the four women subvert expectations of femininity by not submitting to male authority. In the play, Lady Macbeth questions things instead of accepting it. “Yet do I fear thy nature; it is too full o’ the milk of human kindness,” this is Lady Macbeth accusing her own husband of being too kind instead of being the fearless warrior he is supposed to be.

However, Sanger’s acclaimed speech “The Morality of Birth Control” advocates that pregnancy prevention will aid the advancement of modern Anglo-Saxon American society, while stating that in order for that to occur we must disregard traditional views. By using ad hominem, Sanger labels her critics as conservatives who base their reasoning through scripture, rather than scientific knowledge, which subsequently makes their argument irrelevant and biased. She challenges her conservative opposition by discreetly titling them as sexists who purposely keep women “ignorant” and oppose any improvement women fight for. When women “fought for higher education” opponents believed they would lose their “sanctity”. When women desired to join the business sector, opponents concluded that intermixing of genders would poison the purity of women.

The Wife of Bath recognizes that the key to survival for a fourteenth century woman is marriage, as shown in her having had five husbands and being married at the age of twelve. The Wife of Bath is also not what a wife should be. She torments her husbands by denying them sex until she gets what she wants, which is land and money. When she does sleep with them, it always means "nothing," but for the older husbands it means their lives (Chaucer 224). The Wife of Bath, in her mind, has the right to deny sex because it is she who hold the "'power of his body' not he" (Chaucer 223).

We become aware of Desdemona's determination when she marries Othello, despite accusations from Iago that she is under a spell and is deceiving her father. When her fiancé is accused of bewitching her, she immediately defends her love for him. "And so much Duty as my mother showed to you, preferring you before her father, so much that I may profess due to the Moor my lord". Like many of Shakespeare's other female characters, Desdemona does not embody the stereotypical role of sixteenth century women. When Shakespeare wrote Othello, women had few rights and little power in society.

Canterbury Tales - Wife of Bath is Not an Attack on Women and Married Life Feminists have proposed that the Prologue of the Wife of Bath is merely an attack on women and married life. The Prologue is spoken by a woman with strong opinions on how married life should be conducted, but is written by a man. It is important to examine the purpose with which Chaucer wrote it. This is especially so as many of the pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales condemn themselves out of their own mouths, such as the Monk and the Friar. While the Wife spends most of the Prologue arguing in favour of the deceit and deviousness that wise wives will execute, the argument is often illogical and can approach ridiculousness in its vehemence.

The Wife of Bath would not be considered a prudent person by any means, especially considering the social customs of the Middle Ages that required women to be chaste and obedient. Despite these social conventions, she is sure of herself. The Wife of Bath introduces herself and a few of her numerous husbands before she tells the other pilgrims why she leads her particular lifestyle: “Housbondes at chirche dore I have had five/(If I so ofte mighte han wedded be)” (ll. 6-7). During these lines, the Wife of Bath claims she has had five husbands, but the questionable legality... ... middle of paper ... .... She uses her asset to gain for herself, but she does not take from anyone else.

If she had to put them in their place, she would make her husbands feel guilty, even if they had nothing to feel guilty about. The Wife exaggerated with her accusations, showin... ... middle of paper ... ...raitor, you say she’s game for any fornicator.” (Bath 265). The wife wanted what every woman wants in a relationship which was POWER. The Wife of Bath came across as a very fake woman. So how would she be portrayed in today’s society?

Electra aligns Clytemnestra with her sister Helen. She accuses her mother of primping before the mirror long before Agamemnon's crimes, obviously for someone else. And Electra claims Clytemnestra's rationalizations do not address the persecution of Orestes and herself. Clytemnestra accepts that Electra favors her father, but as to this business of the new baby?

Hecht's view might have been that women could have equality to men, but its not important enough to let them talk about it. His display of faithfulness in the women's unfaithfulness is also a reaction to the Victorian idea that the wife should be there for her husband. It could also be a scary reality in Hecht's mind that times were changing and women wouuld not be at every beaconing call of their husband. Hecht reinforces his Ideas of change by taking Arnold's "...the cliffs of England stand, glimmering and vast" and transforms the Victorian idea of women into "...cliffs of England crumbling away behind them,". This supports the idea that Hecht is aware of the changes that are happening and he is envious of the way things used to be.

During the English Restoration, Mary Astell's piece Some Reflections Upon Marriage repeals the systematic way of marriage arrangements and advises woman to refrain from the contract until husband and wife are equal. William Congreve's play The Way of the W... ... middle of paper ... ...age: She identified with women and encouraged them to change their lives, respect their abilities, and avoid an easy admiration of men. She did not seek a revolution in sexual relationships, but she did attack in strong language men's use of wives as "upper servants," the waste of women's intellectual and moral talents, and men's self-interested, dishonest manipulation of courtship and marriage." (Smith, 818). Astell says that the women need to wake up and realize the inequality before they can take action.