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Women and literature
Women's voices in literature
Women and literature
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Lady Mary Pierrepont was coming from an aristocrat family. She was an English writer and she was known for the letters she wrote while she was traveling. She became Lady Mary Wortley Montagu when she elopes against her father's wishes with Edward Wortley Montague, who was named ambassador to Constantinople. Because she contracts the smallpox, she decided to follow her husband in his travels, claiming that the change of climate would be benefic for her health. It wasn’t casual for woman to travel alone and poorly perceived by society. One of the famous one was “The Turkish Embassy Letters”, she wrote this letter while she was traveling to the Ottoman court with her husband. Also, at this time woman were not published but it didn’t stop her from writing. Like the French “Precieuses”, she circulated her poetry to friends and was more interested in satire, wit, and sex than sentiment. She also was a journalism editor and published her own periodical “The Nonsense of Common Sense”. By writing her letters while traveling and using her personal and sentimental style, she engaged the style ...
Queen Liliuokalani wrote a letter, titled, “Queen Liliuokalani’s Letter of Protest to Mckinley” she writes that she believes that the treaty that the United States is trying to carry out to take over Hawaii is an injustice, since it goes against many of Hawaii’s civil rights. The letter was written, while The United States was in the Spanish-American War. The United States was attempting to take over Hawaii, just to look stronger to the Spanish. In her letter, Queen Liliuokalani discusses the treaty that the president of America is trying to carry out. America threatens to blow up Hawaii, if the Queen does not give up her power to America. One example that demonstrates the purpose and point of view is when the author states, “The treaty ignores
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 man 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. While Anna Williams views escaping the confines of marriage as a desirable thing, Charlotte Lennox’s greatest lament, as expressed by her poem “A Song,” is merely to have the freedom to love who she pleases. Although Charlotte Lennox has a more romantic view of men and love than Anna Williams, neither woman denies that need for companionship.
In the first chapter, she wrote about the part of women in the colonial era in two disparate stages. From the 1600 century to the 1700 century, women just made their family to have happy family. But in the middle 1700 century, they had the part of a “pretty gentlewoman”, and they had much bondage that made them. The next chapter, Berkin took over the stand-up of women’s social; it brought a positive direction. Many women began with the notion of their political actions and started to mention their future. In the third chapter, the book talked about many difficulties in the wartimes: lack of troopers, foods, material, and women’s death. When the war started booming, women tried to arrange in her life. They left their house, to protect their assets like ranches or works. Also, they saved their children. Moreover, in the chapter four and the chapter five, she wrote about the compare and contrast of their perspective between the high level and low level, and good women in the family. Many people came into the military as bondage: they made the meals and washed clothes, also they treated the wounds of soldiers. There were many reasons in the wartimes, but women tried to serve in the army. They did many jobs, but they did not completely recognize their
What was the predominant image of women and women’s place in medieval society? Actual historical events, such as the scandal and subsequent litigation revolving around Anna Buschler which Steven Ozment detail’s in the Burgermeisters Daughter, suggests something off a compromise between these two literary extremes. It is easy to say that life in the sixteenth century was surely no utopia for women but at least they had some rights.
Naivety as well as the longing to fit into society with a loving man and stable, well-to-do peasant family deceived an honorable woman. Bertrande de Rols’ young marriage had difficulties from the start. With the guidance from family, the Catholic Church and Basque customs, Bertrande attempted to follow the sixteenth-century expectations for women, but was misled by her own fear, loneliness and catastrophic past.
“Biography.” Rev. of The Last Empress by Daniele Varè. Saturday Review of Literature 14 Sept. 1936: 19.
The contrast between how She sees herself and how the rest of the world sees Her can create extreme emotional strain; add on the fact that She hails from the early 1900s and it becomes evident that, though her mental construct is not necessarily prepared to understand the full breach against Her, She is still capable of some iota of realization. The discrimination encountered by a female during this time period is great and unceasing.
de Pizan, Christine. “The Book of the City of Ladies”. The Norton Anthology: World Literature. Volume B. 3rd Edition. Ed. Rosalind Brown-Grant trans. New York City: W.W. Norton & Company, 2012. 781-807. Print.
The author wanted to provide a realistic view of life in this era and also wanted to bring to life what everyday women felt like then. The subject and writing style could be seen as plain but that is to let you (the reader) be able to feel yourself in the time and place and thus be able to feel the emotional context of the events that happen to the charcters.
Katherine was born to Sir Thomas and Maud Parr in 1512. She had a younger brother and sister, William and Anne.2 Maud served Katherine of Aragon as a lady-in-waiting. It is possible that Katherine and Princess Mary, born only a few years apart, played or were briefly educated together.3 When Katherine was around five years old, her father died. Maud was left to raise her three young children, and from all appearances, took the job as mother and educator very seriously.4 Katherine learned to speak and write French as well as English, which was a remarkable feat considering most people could not read even English. Katherine's love of learning never ceased throughout her entire life. As an adult she pursued the study of Latin and Greek, as well as religious writings of the period. Katherine composed two separate books, Prayers and Meditations, and Lamentation of a Sinner.5
The Wife of Bath challenges patriarchal power by demonstrating the relativity of authority and persuading others to regard the validity of experience. According to Cixous, “nearly the entire history of writing is confounded with the history of reason … it has been one with the phallocentric tradition” (879). In other w...
While Wollstonecraft’s proposal seems remarkable in its naïveté, it is understandable, given the importance she places on correct relationships in Rights of Woman. Wollstonecraft published A Vindication of the Rights of Woman in 1792. It is thus apparent that the relationship she strove to have with Fuseli reflects the ideal relationship described in Rights of Woman, albeit, minus the physical phase. Since she considered respect necessary for true affection, people, including women, had to be worthy of respect. She states that “the first object of laudable ambition is to obtain a character as a human being, regardless of the distinction of sex,” and so was “anxious to render her sex more respectable members of society...” Regarding married women she asserts “her first wish should be to make herself respectable, and not to rely for all her happiness on a being subject to like infirmities with herself.”
In an essay on feminist criticism, Linda Peterson of Yale University explains how literature can "reflect and shape the attitudes that have held women back" (330). From the viewpoint of a feminist critic, "The Lady of Shalott" provides its reader with an analysis of the Victorian woman's conflict between her place in the interior, domestic role of society and her desire to break into the exterior, public sphere which generally had been the domain of men. Read as a commentary on women's roles in Victorian society, "The Lady of Shalott" may be interpreted in different ways. Thus, the speaker's commentary is ambiguous: Does he seek to reinforce the institution of patriarchal society as he "punishes" the Lady with her death for her venture into the public world of men, or does he sympathize with her yearnings for a more colorful, active life? Close reading reveals more than one possible answer to this question, but the overriding theme seems sympathetic to the Lady. By applying "the feminist critique" (Peterson 333-334) to Tennyson's famous poem, one may begin to understand how "The Lady of Shalott" not only analyzes, but actually critiques the attitudes that held women back and, in the end, makes a hopeful, less patriarchal statement about the place of women in Victorian society.
...a classic British author who observed and wrote on society in the late 1700s. Her comedic dramas focused on women and their journey through society even though her own remained stagnant.
Mary Wollstonecraft effected the lives of many women. One significant woman that Mary Wollstonecraft had an effect on was Margaret Fuller. Margaret’s father, Timothy Fuller, had a need for an intellectual companion. Because he did not have a son as his first born, he gave Margaret an education intended only for males of the time. He was also an advocate for women’s rights, playing a major role in the development of Margaret’s feminist views she possessed later on in life.2 He used Wollstonecraft’s novel as a guide for Margaret’s education and instilled in Margaret that there are no limits to the female mind. Mr. Fuller pushed Margaret’s education to the limits, teaching her subjects intended for both women and men alike. He educated her about history and literature, topics thought good for a woman and useful when becoming a wife as well as teaching her top...