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Male dominance over women in the 19th century
Male dominance over women in the 19th century
Male dominance over women in the 19th century
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Hannah Foster’s The Coquette represents two main genres. The seduction novel, a genre that centers in on a pathetic and naive female character who is ultimately seduced away from friends and family set out to protect her, made pregnant, and then is left by an unfaithful partner to suffer and die. The Coquette is also a novel of republican motherhood, the idea that women must be schooled in virtue in order to keep the republic running smoothly and educate their children. The ideal eighteenth century woman could be split into four virtues and these virtues would be domesticity, submissiveness, purity and piety. In the eighteenth century, domesticity functioned as the practice of housework. There were little to no opportunities for women outside …show more content…
of the home but republican motherhood set out to challenge the norms of domesticity. Republican motherhood allowed domesticity to expand and change. Although republican motherhood is one of the ideas that is consistently reinforced throughout the novel, the audience is meant to align with Eliza Wharton and root for her despite Eliza being a coquette and casting a negative light on her reputation.
Gender roles were important in the eighteenth century because firmly established roles for each gender helped build and maintain a strong family unit. A family with a strong structure was vital because the family was the basis for all other institutions. Everything from government to church worked through the strong family unit. Women in the eighteenth century were designated to maintain household order and be subservient to the man. Eliza Wharton does not lose her innocence throughout the novel, Foster starts the novel with Eliza already enticed by the idea of freedom. Eliza refuses to cooperate with the domestic and republican ideology that is enforced by the women around her. Eliza challenges those who are happily the voice of domesticity. Eliza has no intention of participating in typical republican motherhood and matrimonial bonds. Eliza’s refusal to accept the normal gender roles of the eighteenth century is a menace to the patriarchy. One of Eliza’s suitors Boyer, ends up getting his heart …show more content…
broken and becomes irate. In a letter, Boyer writes “There is a levity in your manners, which is inconsistent with the solidity and decorum becoming a lady who has arrived to years of discretion. There is also an unwarrantable extravagance betrayed in your dress. Prudence and economy are such necessary, at least, such decent virtues, that they claim the attention of every female, whatever be her station or her property. To these virtues you are apparently inattentive” (Foster 84). Boyer launches a direct attack on her virtue as a woman in the eighteenth century. Boyer becomes cross that he was rejected so painfully by Eliza and she seemingly has little to no remorse over the incident. Boyer insinuates that Eliza is a coquette and does all he can in attempt to evoke a response out of her or make her feel down about her personal interests. Boyer’s tone in this letter is paternalistic and condescending and his complaints are that of a man who becomes upset when a woman is not behaving according to their expectations. Not only does Boyer attempt to shame Eliza but he also damages her reputation by spewing his hateful and condescending rhetoric. Lucy Freeman and Julia Granby are modeled to be the positive influences in Eliza’s life. Lucy and Julia are the perfect examples of women who go from republican daughterhood to republican motherhood with no blip along the way. Julia is a republican daughter who is in the marriage market and set to be proposed to. Lucy has transitioned from a republican daughter to republican mother when she marries Mr Sumner. Lucy and Julia are loyal to the republican collective and often lecture and denounce Eliza and her actions all in the name of protecting her reputation and virtue. The two often attempt to reach out to Eliza and convince her that domesticity and republican ideology are the way to go. Lucy takes a harsher approach to confronting Eliza about her morals and lifestyle. In a letter from Lucy to Eliza, Lucy states “To see a woman depart so far from the female character, as to assume the masculine habit and attitudes; and appear entirely indifferent, even to the externals of modesty, is truly disgusting, and ought not to be countenanced by our attendance, much less by our approbation.” (Foster 113) Lucy’s words are harsh considering she is one of Eliza’s “best friends”. Lucy’s beliefs align with those of the typical eighteenth century man which indicates that she is not only submissive to men but also society. Lucy’s statement reinforces how strong the patriarchy was embedded into eighteenth century America. Although Lucy and Julia are made to be the positive characters in Eliza’s life, it is hard to take their side and believe that they truly want the best for their friend. It becomes complicated throughout the novel because it is obvious that Eliza is going down a self destructive path but it is hard to be mad or condemn her because she wants personal freedom. Eliza is the typical revolutionary daughter and wants to break away from all aspects of life holding her captive. Eliza views marriage, republican motherhood, and society’s expectations of women as a dead end, a tomb. Eliza knows that if she complies with the republican ideology of her friends and family, she will have to resign her freedom. Eliza’s rhetoric constantly points to the idea that she loathes ownership. Despite her friends relaying constant warnings, Eliza continues down her own path of freedom and self destruction and it is obvious her fate will not be magnificent but it is almost impossible to condemn a character who is intrepid. The style of epistolary writing conveys the story and moral through documents such as letters.
The epistolary novel challenges gender roles because in a society where the most accepted form of female writing was letters, the epistolary novel gives a new voice to women. The letters written by the characters especially the women go hand in hand with new republican virtues of society. Women were becoming more educated and their letters became more frequent. The epistolary form gives a sense of realism. It allows the reader to dive head first into the lives and problems of the characters, it is set up in a way where the reader ultimately knows more than the character does. This style of writing allows us to get the story from each character as an individual, which is important because if told from another character, events and emotions might get lost in translation or become skewed. Through reading Eliza’s letters, the audience can get a grasp of her personality, her morals, her humor, and her intentions. Eliza’s voice is strong and as she begins to decline her voice starts to dwindle and become muffled and eventually lost. Through being able to see how her voice gets lost, the reader can get a real sense of her decline as a character. Eliza begins to fade and other characters start to step into the light. Eliza’s letters are what makes her relatable and without these snippets from Eliza, the audience might not want to side with her. William Brown Hill’s preface to The Power of
Sympathy states “Of the letters before us, it is necessary to remark, that this error on each side has been avoided--the dangerous consequences of seduction are exposed and the advantages of female education set forth and recommended” (5) William Brown Hill’s preface instills criticism towards women similar to Eliza. It attempts to instill a type of fear with use of the words dangerous consequences and essentially asks women to use their education to get smarter about their choices. Although at the end of The Coquette, Eliza’s fate is a consequence of going against the norm, the audience still pities and feels bad for how naive she was. Her letters are a journey and the end proves there is so much more to a downfall than the individual themselves. Without these letters and this personal insight on the characters, Eliza might not have the same sympathy. The moral of the novel is to convey that a woman should not become lost in her own self interest and become seduced because she will become depressed and she will face the worst fate of all - death. Eliza clearly goes against republican motherhood and social expectations but she is still a character that is strong and leaves a lasting impression for her rebellious tendencies. Eliza was on a quest to find a type of freedom that was not common for her sex. At the closing of the novel, Eliza’s age is disclosed and she is a lot older than seemingly portrayed. The reader becomes more aware of how Eliza struggled throughout her life in attempts to navigate gender roles and virtue. The sympathy once had for Eliza turns into pity because the wishes of Eliza were so misconstrued and it appears that there is no place for Eliza within the society that she desires to live in.
The English attitudes towards gender are reflected in the literacy works of Margery Kempe and Elizabeth I’s letter to Sir Walter Raleigh. Within these two works, the women, especially, challenge the attitudes towards gender roles. First of all, women were expected to be domesticated, meaning all their duties lied within the home and the marriage. The women were responsible for taking care of the children/family and being obedient to their husband.
In the 17th century, many Puritans emigrated to the New World, where they tried to create a brand new society. They moved to New World because they were being persecuted in England for their religious beliefs, and they were escaping to America. The women were immigrating to America to be the wives of the settlers this demonstrates that women were expected to live in the household for the rest of their lives. Women in Puritan society fulfilled a number of different roles. History has identified many women who have had different experiences when voicing their beliefs and making a step out of their echelon within society’s social sphere. Among these women are Anne Hutchinson, and Mary Rowlandson. And in this essay I will
In her final letter to her mother, Eliza admits her wrong doings. She tells her mother she ignored all the things she was told. All their advice fell on her deaf ears. She explains that she had fallen victim to her own indiscretion. She had become the latest conquest of “a designing libertine,” (Foster 894). She knew about Sanford’s reputation, she knew his intentions, and she knew that he was married, yet she still started a relationship with him. And her blatant disregard for facts and common sense caused her unwed pregnancy and premature demise. Eliza Wharton had nobody to blame for her situation but herself. She ignored warnings, advice, common sense, and other options available to her. She chose her ill fated path and had to suffer the consequences.
Eliza's assaults against True Womanhood are violations of the virtues submissiveness and purity. When Eliza refuses to ignore the gallantry of Major Sanford in favor of the proposals of Reverend Boyer despite the warnings of her friends and mother, she disregards submissiveness in favor of her own fanc...
You could see the helpless and powerless state of women even as far back as the 18th century. The story also exposes the fundamental injustices meted out to women by confining them to a limited domestic sphere. The society dictates the identity and role of the woman; “every young woman is expected to marry a suitable spouse” (Foster 818), take care of her husband and children, while having no voice or rights of her own. Any relationships outside the spheres of marriage is being frowned at. But the man can do as he pleases, even if he is married. While Eliza had to move away from her family and friends because she was pregnant and could not stand the shame and had “become a reproach and disgrace to friends” (Foster 906), Sanford is allowed to continue living his life probably with another vulnerable young woman in the society. While Sanford gets away with his womanizing acts, Eliza is the one who is branded as loose, and termed a coquette; she was the one who lost her life, trying to conceal a pregnancy that was conceived by two people. An unidentified source has this to write about her: “But let no one reproach her memory. Her life has paid the forfeit of her folly. Let that suffice” (Foster
During the Victorian Era, society had idealized expectations that all members of their culture were supposedly striving to accomplish. These conditions were partially a result of the development of middle class practices during the “industrial revolution… [which moved] men outside the home… [into] the harsh business and industrial world, [while] women were left in the relatively unvarying and sheltered environments of their homes” (Brannon 161). This division of genders created the ‘Doctrine of Two Spheres’ where men were active in the public Sphere of Influence, and women were limited to the domestic private Sphere of Influence. Both genders endured considerable pressure to conform to the idealized status of becoming either a masculine ‘English Gentleman’ or a feminine ‘True Woman’. The characteristics required women to be “passive, dependent, pure, refined, and delicate; [while] men were active, independent, coarse …strong [and intelligent]” (Brannon 162). Many children's novels utilized these gendere...
Eliza Wharton has sinned. She has also seduced, deceived, loved, and been had. With The Coquette Hannah Webster Foster uses Eliza as an allegory, the archetype of a woman gone wrong. To a twentieth century reader Eliza's fate seems over-dramatized, pathetic, perhaps even silly. She loved a man but circumstance dissuaded their marriage and forced them to establish a guilt-laden, whirlwind of a tryst that destroyed both of their lives. A twentieth century reader may have championed Sanford's divorce, she may have championed the affair, she may have championed Eliza's acceptance of Boyer's proposal. She may have thrown the book angrily at the floor, disgraced by the picture of ineffectual, trapped, female characters.
The industrialization of the nineteenth century was a tremendous social change in which Britain initially took the lead on. This meant for the middle class a new opening for change which has been continuing on for generations. Sex and gender roles have become one of the main focuses for many people in this Victorian period. Sarah Stickney Ellis was a writer who argued that it was the religious duty of women to improve society. Ellis felt domestic duties were not the only duties women should be focusing on and thus wrote a book entitled “The Women of England.” The primary document of Sarah Stickney Ellis’s “The Women of England” examines how a change in attitude is greatly needed for the way women were perceived during the nineteenth century. Today women have the freedom to have an education, and make their own career choice. She discusses a range of topics to help her female readers to cultivate their “highest attributes” as pillars of family life#. While looking at Sarah Stickney Ellis as a writer and by also looking at women of the nineteenth century, we will be able to understand the duties of women throughout this century. Throughout this paper I will discuss the duties which Ellis refers to and why she wanted a great change.
In society, there has always been a gap between men and women. Women are generally expected to be homebodies, and seen as inferior to their husbands. The man is always correct, as he is more educated, and a woman must respect the man as they provide for the woman’s life. During the Victorian Era, women were very accommodating to fit the “house wife” stereotype. Women were to be a representation of love, purity and family; abandoning this stereotype would be seen as churlish living and a depredation of family status. Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" and Henry Isben’s play A Doll's House depict women in the Victorian Era who were very much menial to their husbands. Nora Helmer, the protagonist in A Doll’s House and the narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” both prove that living in complete inferiority to others is unhealthy as one must live for them self. However, attempts to obtain such desired freedom during the Victorian Era only end in complications.
But in reality, a male narrator gives a certain sense of understanding to the male audience and society’s understand of the male and females roles and responsibilities in a marriage. Just as men were expected to cut the grass, take out the trash, pay the bills and maintain the household as a whole, women were expected to cook, clean, nurture the children, and be a loving and submissive wife to their husband. The only stipulation required for this exchange of power was to establish a mutual love. In the Victorian age love was all it took for a man to take or alter a woman’s livelihood and
...nancial needs or just in the home men held the advantage. "A Doll's House," by Henrik Ibsen portrays the genders role of nineteenth century women and men in society. Torvald's perception of his wife of how she is a helpless creature shows the overall role which women filled. Women were responsible for the purity of the world through their influence in the home and through the upbringing of her children. They had to beg and ask for permission to do certain activities and essential things. Men were the ones in the family who worked and provided for his family's wellbeing. Because of the family's economic dependence on the husband, he had control over all of all his family members. This showed the amount of progress needing to come in the future to allow woman to start receiving some of the many rights they deserved which men had and so frequently took for granted.
During this time Elizabeth returns home still baffled about the letter Mr. Darcy wrote her.... ... middle of paper ... ... Unmarried women would become governess’ and live as dependents of their family, other relatives, or their employers. The governess position gave them little social status, which opened them up to much prejudice.
Gorham, Deborah. A. A. The Victorian Girl and the Feminine Ideal. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1982. Martineau, Harriet.
Over the centuries, women’s duties or roles in the home and in the work force have arguably changed for the better. In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen teaches the reader about reputation and loves in the nineteenth and twenty-first centuries by showing how Elizabeth shows up in a muddy dress, declines a marriage proposal and how women have changed over time. Anything a woman does is reflected on her future and how other people look at her. When Elizabeth shows up to the Bingley’s in a muddy dress they categorize her as being low class and unfashionable. Charles Bingley, a rich attractive man, and his sister had a reputation to protect by not letting their brother marry a ‘low class girl’. Reputation even today and back in the nineteenth century is still very important aspect in culture. In the twenty-first century, women have attempted to make their lives easier by wanting to be more equal with the men in their society. Women are wanting to be the apart of the ‘bread winnings’ efforts within a family. Since evolving from the culture of the nineteenth century, women have lost a lot of family and home making traditions but women have gained equality with more rights such as voting, working, and overall equal rights. In the twenty-first century world, most women are seen for losing their morals for and manners for others. As for example in the novel when Mr. Darcy is talking badly about Elizabeth she over hears what he and his friend, Mr. Bingley, are saying about her but she does not stand up for herself.
Throughout the early 1800s, British women most often were relegated to a subordinate role in society by their institutionalized obligations, laws, and the more powerfully entrenched males. In that time, a young woman’s role was close to a life of servitude and slavery. Women were often controlled by the men in their lives, whether it was a father, brother or the eventual husband. Marriage during this time was often a gamble; one could either be in it for the right reasons, such as love, or for the wrong reasons, such as advancing social status. In 19th century Britain, laws were enacted to further suppress women and reflected the societal belief that women were supposed to do two things: marry and have children. In Pride and Prejudice, Austen portrayed a women’s struggle within a society that stresses the importance of marriage and strict behavioral customs. As evidenced by the Bennett daughters: Elizabeth and Jane, as well as Charlotte Collins, marriage for young women was a pursuit that dominated their lives.