Analysis Of Half Hanging Mary By Margaret Atwood

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Reputation was a precious commodity to have in the Puritan times, but “Half Hanged Mary” by Margaret Atwood, demonstrated how easy it was to lose a good reputation. Laws that kept women from sharing same characteristics from men were very common, and were enforced brutally. So i ask a question; Why was it so much easier for women to lose a good reputation? In Puritan society women were viewed to be the weaker sex thus having so many “simple” laws to be broken. In this poem, Mary is accused of owning land without being married, a law that if broken can be sentenced to hanging. This is what happened in this poem, “Half Hanged Mary”. Laws were strictly enforced in the Puritan society, simple ways of live in modern time may be a strict law punishable

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