Gender Roles In The Crucible

Feminism Over Decades

Women have a role to fulfill in society. From the 1600s to now there have been gender roles in place for men and women. These roles were supposed to be followed, especially by women, to be accepted in society. Women with less rights were seen as traditional and people felt bad for the independent women, but it became more acceptable over time.

Women in the 1600s had less rights than men. In The Crucible women were needed to be housewives and mothers. Elizabeth Proctor was a great example of that stereotype, because she stayed home taking care of her children all the time. On the other hand Abigail was frowned upon for her behavior, but her age saved her. Since she was an orphaned kid, she got away with acting like she was independent. Abigail said, “I never knew what pretense Salem was, I never knew the lying lessons I was taught by all these Christian women and their covenanted men! And now you bid me tear the light out of my eyes? I will not, I cannot! You loved me, John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet!” In this quote Abigail was

tired of being told what to do, and wanted to be with John Proctor. When he refused to be with her, it started her accusations of witches in Salem. These accusations gave her that sense of power over everyone, including men. In the end, Elizabeth Proctor still came out as the more moral woman.( Miller ) The women in this time did not have much freedom, which is ironic since the Puritans had moved to North America for freedom. Women were still not able to own land or have jobs of their own in America.
Men were more superior than women in the 1920’s, even though they did gain more rights. Women had made great advancements. In The Great Gatsby women started making their own culture. Jordan Baker was a great example of the advancements, and was considered a “flapper” in this time. Tom said, “They oughtn’t to let her run around the country this way.” He didn’t like the way Jordan acts because she is being too independent. He believes that women should stay home rather than go out and be independent.(Fitzgerald) This shows that men back then were realizing that women were starting to make advancements, so they thought they needed to start controlling their women more. Daisy was a more traditional woman in this time. She listened to Tom and let him control her in mostly everything she does. When Gatsby wanted her back she would not divorce Tom, because divorce was frowned upon in this time period. Tom on the other hand still walked all over Daisy by cheating and lying multiple times. Men weren’t frowned upon for this kind of behavior, but if women were to do anything slightly out of line they were frowned upon. Violence and control started up in this time period when men started realizing women were becoming more independent and their superiority was being diminished.
Women who were independent without choice were felt bad for.

In A Rose for Emily, Emily was an independent woman, after her father died. The townspeople and mayor felt bad for her, so she was exempt from paying her taxes. She did not go by many of the traditional standards that women were supposed to live by. For example she had not gotten married or been close to marriage until later in her life. People thought this was weird, so once she finally found a man, that many people didn’t approve of, they allowed it. Homer did not marry her and tried leaving her, but she did not want him to leave her so she made sure he didn’t. The story said, “She will persuade him yet.” Not many women around this time would have forced a man to stay with them. Emily defied the traditional standards of women back then and the whole town felt bad that she was so independent and had to do stuff for herself.

(Faulkner)
Women’s independence was more accepted by the late 1900s to the early 2000s, but there were still stereotypes. Even the view on men started evolving. This can be seen in the movie Mean Girls. The girls are still stereotyped in the way that they have to act as high schoolers, reaching certain standards. The women were expected to promote hyperfemininity to be popular or pretty. There were certain standards to what was considered pretty or socially acceptable. Many women started bringing down other women for not being up to those standards. Gretchen said “I’m sorry that people are so jealous of me… but I can’t help it that I’m popular” This shows that women got in over their heads when they got attention from other people. (Wiseman) Cady Heron had to adapt to these standards as she moved from Africa to the United States. She started comparing high schoolers to wild animals in the way that they form groups, compete, and act in general. She tried fitting in by not being herself and trying to be popular, but that just led to hate towards her from real friends. Damian was an example of how gender roles were reversed and started becoming acceptable. Men used to be considered manly and strong, but in this time period men started getting more feminine traits. Some men still did not find this acceptable and started bullying the more feminine like men for it. This sort of violence from men can be seen back in the early 1900s too. When men think something isn’t right they try to use violence to fix the issue.
Women with less rights were seen as traditional and people felt bad for the independent women, but it became more acceptable over time. Women have made many advances in their freedom over time, and it keeps advancing everyday. The stereotypical role of women in society has been there since the beginning of time. American literature shows how there have been advancements over time in the way women were treated. 
Works Cited
Faulkner, William. “A Rose for Emily.” Archive.org, American Library Association, 9 Feb. 2013,
archive.org/details/ARoseForEmily1930.
Fitzgerald, et al. “The Great Gatsby.” , By F. Scott Fitzgerald, The University of Adelaide
Library, 7 Mar. 2014,ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/f/fitzgerald/f_scott/gatsby/index.html.
Miller, Arthur. The Crucible: A Play in Four Acts. Penguin Books, 2003, www.cirianhinds.eu/pd
f/crucible3.pdf.
Wiseman, Rosalind, et al. Mean Girls. Performance by Lindsay Lohan, et al., Paramount
Pictures, 2004.