Aphra Behn shattered walls for sexual freedom of women in literature in the seventeenth century. She was called the first professional woman writer in English. Many of her works all have strong female roles holding sexual power. In Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own, she states, “All women together ought to let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn, which is, most scandalously but rather appropriately, in Westminster Abbey, for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds.” She was one of the first female authors to speak candidly about the sexual passion felt by women, which was deemed ill-suited in her time. Aphra Behn creates an atmosphere where the woman is liberated, and can exhibit their sexuality very passionately.
The title “The Willing Mistress” instantly suggests the action taken by the female protagonist. She has little or no sexual inhibitions, and is a full participant in the tryst. The title also alludes that the woman may be unmarried, or betrothed to another man. This poem describes how the female speaker becomes aroused by the excellent courtship of her lover; to such an extent that she is open to engage in a passion exchange. She explains this by saying, “Which made me willing to receive / That which I dare not name" (Lines 15-16). Behn allows the character to embrace her sexual passion which was forbidden by social standards. Further, she can be said to assume the position of a man, resulting in role-reversals. Albeit the position of sexual power is normally held by the man both in literature and in reality, she takes control of her sexual pleasure, and boldly assumes charge of her desires.
Aphra Behn uses imagery to give the reader a vivid depiction of the forbidden scene playing out betwee...
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...r scene, and then coyly asks, “Ah who can guess the rest?” (25). Aphra is very successful in allowing the reader to make a correct conjecture on the events that will follow.
“The Willing Mistress” is one of Ahpra Behn’s poems which display the thwarts the stereotypical traditional roles of women. A woman has the power to be sexually liberated to engage with her lover on an equal or greater level. She shows how women can control what happens sexually; they can be empowered. This vision was not readily accepted in the 17th century—especially my men, but Behn has open the doors for many women to express themselves without inhibitions. Women truly ought to be grateful to Aphra Behn.
Works Cited
Aphra,Behn.”The Willing Mistress”. Responding to Literature: Stories, Poems, Plays, and Essays. Fifth ed. Judith A. Stanford. New York: McGraw Hill, 2006. 597-98. Print.
Updike, John. "A & P." Literature: Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and the Essay. Ed. Robert DiYanni. 5th ed. New York: McGraw, 1998. 27-31.
Baym, Nina, and Robert S. Levine. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 7th ed. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2007. 348-350. Print.
The submission of women is demonstrated in the text through the symbolic colors of the couple’s bedroom. Indeed, as the young woman’s husband is asleep, the wife remains wide-awake, trying her best to provide the man with comfort, while enjoying her newlywed life. As she opens her eyes to contemplate “the blue of the brand-new curtains, instead of the apricot-pink through which the first light of day [filters] into the room where she [has]
“The Faithful Wife”, written by Barbara L. Greenberg, uses first-person narration to depict the style, language, and theme of the poem. By using first-person narration, Barbara Greenberg was able to portray events and ideas very persuasively to the reader. In addition, this first-person narrator creates dramatic irony concerning the title in reference to the body of the poem.
Jokinen, Anniina. "Luminarium: Anthology of English Literature." Luminarium: Anthology of English Literature. N.p., 1996. Web. 9 Nov. 2013. http://www.luminarium.org/
Baym, Nina, and Robert S. Levine, eds. The Norton Anthology: American Literature. 8th ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2012. Print.
In the novel Life of a Sensuous Woman, Ihara Saikaku depicts the journey of a woman who, due to voraciously indulging in the ever-seeking pleasure of the Ukiyo lifestyle, finds herself in an inexorable decline in social status and life fulfillment. Saikaku, utilizing characters, plot, and water imagery, transforms Life of a Sensuous Woman into a satirically critical commentary of the Ukiyo lifestyle: proposing that it creates a superficial, unequal, and hypocritical society.
Guerin, Wilfred L., Earle Labor, Lee Morgan, Jeanne C. Reesman, and John R. Willingham. A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. 125-156.
Alexie, Sherman. Do Not Go Gentle. Baym, Nina, ed. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Vol. 2. Shorter 7th ed. New York: Norton, 2008. Print
Often in literature, there is a certain motivation to control through a female’s sexuality. These desires are used to drive a woman’s sense of power over a man to dominate, manipulate, and destroy. Others are eaten alive by the control it takes over them. Some become dependant on sex and do not know how to interact with men without giving themselves up.
These women authors have served as an eye-opener for the readers, both men and women alike, in the past, and hopefully still in the present. (There are still cultures in the world today, where women are treated as unfairly as women were treated in the prior centuries). These women authors have impacted a male dominated society into reflecting on of the unfairness imposed upon women. Through their writings, each of these women authors who existed during that masochistic Victorian era, risked criticism and retribution. Each author ignored convention a...
113- The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 6th ed. of the book. Vol.
Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl” shows in society how a woman should be placed and what it means to be a woman. A women doesn’t question her partner, instead she is subservient to him. A woman’s duties include staying at home taking care of the children and cooking; while the man works and brings home the money. A feministic approach to Kincaid’s “Girl” points to the idea of the stereotypes that women can only be what they do in the home, they should only be pure and virtuous, and their main focus should be satisfying their husband.
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