Few societies are keen to shine a kind light upon those who flout their norms and expectations, but it is not uncommon for these individuals who refuse to conform to inspire a sense of intrigue and interest in the very societies they defy. This is certainly the case for the infamous outlaws Anne Bonny and Mary Read. Two of only a few female pirates remembered today, Bonny and Read are clear examples of the strange fascination people hold for such outlandish figures. Like other women of their ilk who refuse to play the role of passive victim and otherwise lead lives outside the narrow lines of what is considered acceptably feminine, they are simultaneously sensationalized and criticized. Such a contradictory portrayal aids and abets in the …show more content…
dehumanization that allows for these individuals to be forced into the role of the beastly woman. This is a woman so unyielding and free with her sexuality that she is interpreted as an almost villainous, animalistic seductress.
In the book A General History of the Pyrates, often attributed to Daniel Defoe, Anne Bonny and Mary Read are cast as clear examples of this archetype. They are made sinful, beastly deviants who refuse to conform to the passive gender norms expected of her. This is made evident by their scandalous origins, descriptions of their rugged looks, their crass and bold behavior unbefitting of a woman, and the way in which they are both made spectacles of for the pleasure of the public.
As recounted in A General History of the Pyrates, Anne Bonny’s and Mary Read’s beginnings are shrouded in scandal and duplicity. The two arose from similar circumstances, both as children of adulterous relationships. In Mary Read’s case, this led to the deception of an old woman on Read’s mother’s part in order to obtain money (Defoe 153). The old woman was the mother of a man Read’s mother had been married to and borne a son with. However, the husband vanished at sea and the son died, leaving only the mother and her illegitimate daughter. Thus, Read was disguised as her widowed mother’s dead son, “and the supposed Grandmother should allow a Crown a Week for its Maintenance” (Defoe 154). Anne Bonny’s story reads much the same
way, opening with an account of the indecent affair a household maid and Bonny’s father behind his wife’s back. In order to conceal the identity of his misbegotten daughter from the town and his then-estranged wife, Bonny’s father proceeded to “put [her] into Breeches, as a Boy, pretending it was a Relation’s Child he was to breed up to be his Clerk” (164). For Bonny and Read, this cross-dressing behavior would carry on into their adult lives. Such disreputable origins illuminate from the very beginning the way in which the author intends for the audience to view these women. Immorality and what would then have been considered deviance was woven into their very upbringings. Thus, it is implied there is no other way for these women to have turned out. Moreover, as children born of adultery, the author indicates this sinfulness resides in their very blood. It is also interesting to note the similarities between the childhoods of Bonny and Read, and the way in which their stories continue to be comparable thereafter. This signifies a sort of typecasting on the part of the author, though he claims to simply be recounting the facts. Nonetheless, the degree of resemblance between the two is striking, and the choice to include such emphasis on their early lives as is present in A General History of the Pyrates was no doubt a conscious choice on the author’s part to make a commentary on the values and morals their parents failed to instill in them. The irregularity of Anne Bonny and Mary Read is by no means constrained to the childhoods of Anne Bonny and Mary Read, and given that the stereotype of the Beastly Woman is one that deals largely with physicality, it is sensible to expect there might be a fair deal of importance placed upon their unconventional but nonetheless attractive looks.
The history of The Black Civil Rights Movement in the United States is a fascinating account of a group of human beings, forcibly taken from their homeland, brought to a strange new continent, and forced to endure countless inhuman atrocities. Forced into a life of involuntary servitude to white slave owners, African Americans were to face an uphill battle for many years to come. Who would face that battle? To say the fight for black civil rights "was a grassroots movement of ordinary people who accomplished extraordinary things" would be an understatement. Countless people made it their life's work to see the progression of civil rights in America. People like W.E.B. DuBois, Marcus Garvey, A Phillip Randolph, Eleanor Roosevelt, and many others contributed to the fight although it would take ordinary people as well to lead the way in the fight for civil rights. This paper will focus on two people whose intelligence and bravery influenced future generations of civil rights organizers and crusaders. Ida B.Wells and Mary Mcleod Bethune were two African American women whose tenacity and influence would define the term "ordinary to extraordinary".
Smith Susan L. “Neither Victim nor Villain.” Journal of Women’s History Vol. 8 No. 1
Margaret Atwood’s speech ‘Spotty-Handed Villainesses’ is an epideictic text, which explores the significance of having a multi-faceted depiction of female characters within literature as a means of achieving gender equity, centring on the fictional presentation of women as either virtuous or villainess. The title of the speech
It is known by many that, in regards to literature coming out of the South, female characters traditionally do not receive as much attention or detail as their male counterparts. Harry Crews does not, as one might say, “stray far from the path” of male dominated prose. However, this is not to say that there are only few women present in his writing, in fact quite the contrary. Women are not only present in Crews’s work, they are vividly entwined with the experiences and fiery outcomes of his male protagonist’s journeys; and A Feast of Snakes is no different. In “Having a Hard Time of it: Women in the Novels of Harry Crews,” an essay written by Elise S. Lake, Lake examines that even though some may interpret Crews as using women strictly in disrespectful or obscene ways for the advancement of his male characters, that “sheer variety disputes the notion that Crews stereotypes women narrowly” (84). We see a multitude of angles and personalities in A Feast of Snakes alone, including: Lottie Mae and Beeder acting as an empathy release valve; the abused wife, Elfie; the ultimate cheerleader/ catalyst, Berenice; and finally the vicious sexual icons Hard Candy and Susan Gender.
The impact of female rebellion on society is illustrated as so intense that it must be stopped before it becomes overtly uncontrollable and violent. However, there is a mysticism to the fringe society of Bacchant which both tantatlizes and concerns its viewers. The Bacchae uses this ambiguity with not only female rebellion but also other attributes such as the relationship between Dionysus and Pentheus, violence, crossdressing, and others. The dual nature of The Bacchae leads it to be highly readable and rebels against conventional thinking.
Traditional female characteristics and female unrest are underscored in literary works of the Middle Ages. Although patriarchal views were firmly established back then, traces of female contempt for such beliefs could be found in several popular literary works. Female characters’ opposition to societal norms serves to create humor and wish- fulfillment for female and male audiences to enjoy. “Lanval” by Marie De France and “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” by Geoffrey Chaucer both show subversion of patriarchal attitudes by displaying the women in the text as superior or equal to the men. However, “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” also incorporates conventional societal ideas by including degradation of women and mistreatment of a wife by her husband.
The character analysis of Mary Anne Bell in comparison and contrast to Martha and Elroy Berdahl implores the audience to consider the idea that gender is not inherent.
Over the course of time, the roles of men and women have changed dramatically. As women have increasingly gained more social recognition, they have also earned more significant roles in society. This change is clearly reflected in many works of literature, one of the most representative of which is Plautus's 191 B.C. drama Pseudolus, in which we meet the prostitute Phoenicium. Although the motivation behind nearly every action in the play, she is glimpsed only briefly, never speaks directly, and earns little respect from the male characters surrounding her, a situation that roughly parallels a woman's role in Roman society of that period. Women of the time, in other words, were to be seen and not heard. Their sole purpose was to please or to benefit men. As time passed, though, women earned more responsibility, allowing them to become stronger and hold more influence. The women who inspired Lope de Vega's early seventeenth-century drama Fuente Ovejuna, for instance, rose up against not only the male officials of their tiny village, but the cruel (male) dictator busy oppressing so much of Spain as a whole. The roles women play in literature have evolved correspondingly, and, by comparing The Epic of Gilgamesh, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and The Wife of Bath's Prologue, we can see that fictional women have just as increasingly as their real-word counterparts used gender differences as weapons against men.
Professor’s comment: This student uses a feminist approach to shift our value judgment of two works in a surprisingly thought-provoking way. After showing how female seduction in Malory’s story of King Arthur is crucial to the story as a whole, the student follows with an equally serious analysis of Monty Python’s parody of the female seduction motif in what may be the most memorable and hilarious episode of the film.
As insinuated through her poem’s title, “A Double Standard,” Frances Harper examines a double standard imposed by societal norms during the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as the different effects this standard foisted upon those of different genders. Harper’s poem is narrated by a woman who has been derided by society for her involvement in a sexual scandal, all while her male counterpart experiences no repercussions. By describing how her situation involving the scandal advances, delineating the backlash she receives for her participation, and reflecting on the ludicrously hypocritical nature of the situation, the speaker discloses the lack of control women had over their lives, and allows for the reader to ponder the inequity of female oppression at the turn of the 19th century.
Society often views individuals that do not conform to its expectations as separate from the societal group. The Story of the Marquise-Marquis de Banneville, by Charles Perrault, François-Timoléon de Choisy, and Marie-Jeanne L’Héritier follows two main characters, one of which does not fully conform to binary gender presentation. The Girl with the Golden Eyes, authored by Honoré de Balzac, portrays an “oriental” woman as an object to be purchased and used. In Le Roman de Parthenay Ou Le Roman de Melusine, written by Coudrette, the heroine is a half human, half fairy who holds great power. In this paper, I argue that the majority of biologically female protagonists in these novels exist in-between the expectations society has for them, which
Showalter, Elaine. The Female Malady: Women, Madness, and English Culture, 1830-1980. New York, NY: Pantheon Books, November 1985.
Social factors have always encouraged the idea that men embody masculinity and women embody femininity and, thus, certain gender-norms are expected accordingly. In the past, such expectations were traditional and to go against them was frowned upon by the general public. Contemporarily speaking, there is more freedom to avail oneself of today than there was once upon a time. Jeanne-Marie LePrince de Beaumont’s fairytale adaptation of ‘Beauty and The Beast’ was published in 1740. During this time, men and women were compelled by the social conventions associated with their gender. When analyzing the literary work, the reader can grasp what gender roles are eminent in the characters identity and motives. By exploring the choice of language being
Women are what bring this story to such cavernous depths. We are not brought into the perspective of the men, we are, however, told about how they are loved, hurt, and manipulated by the women. There is a scale of personality among the ladies which ranges from the pious uncertainty of Gwenyfar to the essence of strength from Morgaine. We are first enthralled with Igraine’s love, repulsed by the sinister Morgause, respectful to the lady Igraine, enchanted by Morgaine’s wisdom and angered by Gwenyfar’s ignorance. The qualities possessed by these woman can be both glorious and destructive.
Women were often subjects of intense focus in ancient literary works. In Sarah Pomeroy’s introduction of her text Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves, she writes, “Women pervade nearly every genre of classical literature, yet often the bias of the author distorts the information” (x). It is evident in literature that the social roles of women were more restricted than the roles of men. And since the majority of early literature was written by men, misogyny tends to taint much of it. The female characters are usually given negative traits of deception, temptation, selfishness, and seduction. Women were controlled, contained, and exploited. In early literature, women are seen as objects of possession, forces deadly to men, cunning, passive, shameful, and often less honorable than men. Literature reflects the societal beliefs and attitudes of an era and the consistency of these beliefs and attitudes toward women and the roles women play has endured through the centuries in literature. Women begin at a disadvantage according to these societal definitions. In a world run by competing men, women were viewed as property—prizes of contests, booty of battle and the more power men had over these possessions the more prestigious the man. When reading ancient literature one finds that women are often not only prizes, but they were responsible for luring or seducing men into damnation by using their feminine traits.