Being upright and modest, reserved and quiet, correct and dignified, sincere and honest: these constitute the moral nature of a woman. A person’s birth and their hierarchical status dictated the way they behaved. They accept the general assumption in Confucianism that all humans operate in a highly contextual world of hierarchical relationships where behavior is dictated by detailed codes of ritual propriety. When a woman was born, even in the case of statuses, she is placed on the low scale of respect when compared to men. In the ways of Confucianism, women are put in the bottom spectrum to reflect the earth. They are subservient and essentially dirt. While men are portrayed as dominant; representing Heaven and the higher being. As a result …show more content…
In the case of humility, Ban Zhao in her writings, Admonitions for Women, she says to, “let the woman respect others; let her put others first, herself last.” A woman at this time was not to draw attention to herself or have any wrongdoings, and in the case of doing so, she was permitted to deny it. A woman’s behavior at this time were directed in four specific ways: virtue, speech, appearance, and her work. Starting with her virtue, a woman must at all times guard her chastity. She must not act in immoral ways and be seen with men. She must be a virgin until she is married, and she must be modest. A woman is essentially responsible for anything that happens to her own body. What a woman must take seriously is her person for it is the source of all her actions. If she is composite and proper, she will gain respect. However, if her actions prove otherwise, her virtue and honor may be …show more content…
Crude language will lead to offense. She must be passive, and if she comes across offensive languages and rude gossip, she must ignore or condemn it. A woman must also not love to gossip, for it shows immoral behavior. Her appearance is equally important. She must bathe regularly, wear perfume, and dress fashionably according to status. To bathe, is to cleanse not only physically but spiritually disgusting filth. Lastly, she must do her duties as a wife and daughter. She must learn to sew and weave. She must als clean the household and prepare food and wine for her husband and family. One of the specific teachings of Confucianism is filial piety. Filial piety is the respect and duty toward your parents. This has a major role in the life of a woman during this time. A woman must serve not only her parents, but her in-laws, as well. She keeps to this in accord with rightness and holds to it in accord with the rites. She must take care of her in-laws in accordance with their every need and want, just as they would be her own
During this time period women were not respected at all and were belittled by all med in their lives. Even though men don’t appreciate what women they still did as they were told. In particular, “Women have an astoundingly long list of responsibilities and duties – th...
Yan Zhitui states that, "women take charge of family affairs, entering into lawsuits, straightening out disagreements, and paying calls to seek favor...the government offices are filled with their fancy silks." (Differences between north and south, 111). Yet, even in the Qing dynasty women were still restricted by and expected to uphold more traditional ideals, especially in the public eye. So, in the end, through her virtue, Hsi-Liu’s two children we able to become upright. Here, there is a split between what a woman is supposed to be according to old Chinese tradition, and the realities facing women in Tancheng. The loss of her husband, and economic hardship had forced His-Liu to behave in a different way, as if she were usurping the power from the eldest son so she could teach the two boys a lesson about being good family members. While she still maintains the ideals of bearing children, and being loyal to her husband, even after he dies, out of necessity she is forced to break from Confucian ideals of being only concerned with the domestic issues. This too put her at odds with the more traditional society around her, as the villagers pitied her sons, but vilified the Hsi-Liu for being so strict with them (Woman Wang, 65). Had she remarried, she would have been looked down upon even more because she would had broken her duty to remain faithful to her deceased
Ban Zhao wrote Lessons for a Woman around the end of the first century C.E. as social guide for (her daughters and other) women of Han society (Bulliet 167). Because Zhao aimed to educate women on their responsibilities and required attributes, one is left questioning what the existing attitudes and roles of women were to start with. Surprisingly, their positions were not automatically fixed at the bottom of the social hierarchy. Ban Zhao’s own status as an educated woman of high social rank exemplifies the “reality [that] a woman’s status depended on her “location” within various social institutions’ (167). This meant that women had different privileges and opportunities depending on their economic, social, or political background. Wealthier noble women would likely have access to an education and may have even been able to wield certain political power (167). Nevertheless, women relinquished this power within the family hierarchy to their fathers, husbands, and sons. Despite her own elevated social status, Ban Zhao still considered herself an “unworthy writer”, “unsophisticated”, “unenlightened’, “unintelligent”, and a frequent disgrace to her and her husband’s family (Zhao). Social custom was not, however, the only driving force behind Zhao’s desire to guide women towards proper behavior.
In the patriarchal, Confucian influenced, Han dynasty, a woman’s role and social status was far from equal to that of a man. In Ban Zhao’s work Lessons for a woman she depicted the role of a woman, as a lower-class member of society. Hidden beneath the stereotypes of what a woman was supposed to be, Ban Zhao was a rarity of her time as she excelled as a historian and teacher.
III. The Obedience of Women Introduction Not only are women expected to lead lives in which they depend on men to be happy and wealthy, but they are expected to do so with total obedience to the expectations of men. It is important to see how women react to the requests of men and how much freedom for thought and action they are allowed to have and what consequences occur when a woman disobeys what is asked of her. Cinderella In the Brothers Grimm, the first characterization of Cinderella is a description that “she was always good and said her prayers” (Grimm 122).
...c. 4). This is an example of one of the seven unequal relationships in Confucianism. Much of the social structure of classical China was based on Confucian ideals (Doc. 3). In Greece the relationship between a husband and wife also very unequal due to her young age and lack of education. Alone a woman had no political rights and limited legal powers therefore is was necessary for a husband to provide for his wife much like a father would (Doc. 6) A woman would learn house hold management and eventually produce heirs. These two similar systems of social roles was not a benevolent system. It did not take into account the welfare of individuals, particularly woman who had little power to leave in a bad marital situation. However by insuring that people know their place, which kept them in line, classical societies were more prosperous and able to run more smoothly.
The relationship between ruler and subject is that the ruler must work to protect and govern, while subjects must provide their ruler with loyalty. The father is responsible for caring for his son and providing him an education, while the son must show his father obedience and honor. In the husband and wife relationship, the husband is to provide for his wife, while the wife shows obedience and takes care of the home. The older brother has the responsibility to take care of his younger brother and look after him, while the younger brother must show obedience. Lastly, the relationship between elder and younger places the elder with the responsibility of taking care of the younger. The younger must then show respect and obedience toward the elder. In the even that the elder is unable to care for themselves, as in the case of aging parents, it is the younger’s responsibility to care for the elder. The idea is that when each person is doing their duty in each relationship, society will run much more smoothly and harmoniously. While Confucianism focuses on social aspects, it does not consider the
Confucianism is a philosophy and way of life formed in China by Confucius, an early Chinese philosopher. It began as a simple concept with ideals of personal virtue, simple filial piety, and basic gender distinctions and social inequalities. But, over time with the emergence of Neo-Confucianism it began to transform into a way of life that was degrading towards women with certain hostilities towards rivaling religions. In its early period, from around 500 B.C.E to the Common Era, Confucianism changed in that it became the leading belief system and a major part of Chinese tradition. From the transition into the Common Era to the end of the Classical time period, Confucianism was altered because of a loss of popularity following the collapse of the Han dynasty and the corruption in the governing political system. In its ending period, the post-classical era, Confucianism underwent perhaps its biggest adjustments with the emergence of Neo-Confucianism. The ideas and virtues presented in the “rebirth of Confucian philosophies” of intolerance of foreign religions and extreme filial piety...
Lessons for Women was written by Ban Zhao, the leading female Confucian scholar of classical China, in 100 C.E. It was written to apply Confucian principles to the moral instruction of women, and was particularly addressed to Ban Zhao’s own daughters. As her best remembered work, it allows the reader insight into the common role of a woman during this fascinating time-period. The work starts off by Ban Zhao unconvincingly berating herself, and claiming how she once lived with the constant fear of disgracing her family. This argument is rather implausible, for the reader already knows the credibility of Ban Zhao, and how important her role was in ancient China.
She is an aristocratic woman from the Hans empire who believes women should follow their duties set by society. One of a woman’s responsibilities is to be respectful. Zhao wrote, “Let her bear contempt; let her even endure when others speak or do evil to her.” Women are required to be respectful even if a man is doing or saying evil things. Zhao essay also discusses how women are subservient to men. She states, “They only know that wives must be controlled and that the husband 's authority must be maintained.” Men are supposed to control women and it is the woman’s responsibility to follow his orders. Lastly, she discusses womanly behaviors. She says the four womanly behaviors are “… womanly virtue, womanly speech, womanly appearance, and womanly work.” Women are required to be modest, use appropriate language, to maintain personal hygiene in order to look “womanly” and to make clothes or prepare
What has happened to Confucianism. For a long time, Confucian was accepted as the idea that a healthy society depended on a solid traditional family. Confucius himself, for example, called for people to put principle above selfish desires. People supported hierarchy. The rulers moral example would inspire the people to live good lives. But one begins to detect a new theme emerging in society especially amongst the Chinese reformers: the theme of individualism oppose to familialism. Today, would the Confucian family be more and more aware of abuse to women and children? The rituals and traditions can be seen as both positive and negative. The ways in which women suffered affirm that some rituals were abusive. There are multiple signs indeed that something has gone badly wrong with the Chinese family traditions that led to family instability.
The roles of men and women were clearly defined during the Nineteenth century. Society relied on men to support the women and children, while the women held the responsibility of maintaining the morality of America. Women were judged by four main characteristics: piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity. According to most literature of the time written by both males and females, a woman without these was nothing, but with them she could attain happiness and power (Welter 102).
Christianity and Confucianism are agreed in regarding the relation of husband and wife as a sacred and exalted one. Christianity places it first in importance, while Confucianism subordinates it to the relation of parent and child. Christ came into the world, born of a pure and devout woman. His tenderness and love towards the women who followed him, and ministered to him, has done much to exalt their place in Christian society. The wife has come to be the companion of her husband. In childhood she has been trained in knowledge, and cultivated in virtue, and when the responsibilities of motherhood come upon her, she is prepared to educate the young lives committed to her care, both by wise precepts and a right
Korea adopted Confucianism as the guiding principle for reform with the founding of the Chosôn Dynasty in 1392. For women in Korean society, this meant virtual doom. The Chosôn period is considered to be the dark age for women's culture and women in general. The philosophy of Confucianism considered the relationship between man and woman to be the root of all human relations. The union between man and woman is regarded to be the foundation of human morality. In Confucianism, there is a hierarchical order between man and woman that is cosmologically sanctioned. This order must be maintained for the proper functioning of the human order and society. To accomplish this, human passions had to be kept in check. Thus, Confucianism drew a clear distinction between the woman's domestic sphere and the man's public sphere. To Confucianist, the law of nature gave women an inferior and subordinate position in all aspects of life.
The concept of Confucianism has contributed immensely in the forming of Chinese character, behaviour and the way to live, with its main purpose being to achieve harmony which is considered the greatest social value. Confucianism firmly highlights the impression of mercy, social order and fulfilment of responsibilities. The effects of Confucianism had impacted both China and Japan to the extent that the changes are still noticeable to this day.