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Treatment of women in literature
Womens roles during the late 1800s
Treatment of women in literature
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How society perceives a person is often dictated by their gender. Mrs. Sommers, an 1890’s housewife shrouded by her husband’s name, is often seen as nothing more than a little, insignificant, poor woman. Unlike her male counterparts, she, like many women in this era, is believed to be weak, passive, and familial while men are to be strong, dominant, and independent. Men often attempted to control their wives, and even fashion was constricting in that time period, with corsets tightly clinging to their chests, and crinolines caging their lower bodies. Mrs. Sommers faced this same oppression, especially when she took on her husband’s name and gave birth to children, giving up her own desires and her own self. “The neighbors sometimes talked
In Charlotte Perkins Gilman's, The Yellow Wallpaper we are introduced to characters that can be argued to be representational of society in the 19th century. The narrator, wife to a seemingly prominent doctor, gives us a vision into the alienation and loss of reality due to her lack of labor. I also contend however that this alienation can also be attributed to her infantilization by her husband, which she willingly accepts. "John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage" (1). The narrator here realizes her place among the order of society and even notes that it is to be expected. She is aware of her understanding that things between she and her husband are not equal not only because he is a doctor but because he is a man, and her husband.
The 1870s was a time when women and men were seen as unequal. Females were thought of as the weaker sex of society, and were expected to be obedient to men. According to the Women’s International Center, “Women were long considered naturally weaker than men, squeamish, and
Throughout most of recorded history, women generally have endured significantly fewer career opportunities and choices, and even less legal rights, than that of men. The “weaker sex,” women were long considered naturally, both physically and mentally, inferior to men. Delicate and feeble minded, women were unable to perform any task that required muscular or intellectual development. This idea of women being inherently weaker, coupled with their natural biological role of the child bearer, resulted in the stereotype that “a woman’s place is in the home.” Therefore, wife and mother were the major social roles and significant professions assigned to women, and were the ways in which women identified and expressed themselves. However, women’s history has also seen many instances in which these ideas were challenged-where women (and some men) fought for, and to a large degree accomplished, a re-evaluation of traditional views of their role in society.
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.
In the latter years of the nineteenth century, women's roles in American society underwent gradual but definite growth, spurred on by a rapidly changing society. As the nation recovered from its Civil War and slavery faded away, a massive transformation of industrialization took place, and revolutionary scientific ideas, such as those presented in Charles Darwin's Origin of Species, and by Sigmund Freud, caused people to question and to rethink fundamental aspects of their lives, religion, and beliefs. Social reforms in the fields of health, labor, and education developed as the publication of books and periodicals revealed to the public the problems therein. At the turn of the century, women's roles were severely limited by society's concepts of male supremacy and female inferiority. Women were perceived as weak, a notion upheld by the "prevalence of invalidism among nineteenth century women". (Muhlenfeld, Elisabeth) Fashions of the times didn't help either. Voluminous, billowing skirts hampered movement, and corsets caused dizzy spells and fainting. A woman's priority in young adulthood was to find a husband, and after doing so, raise a family and run a well-kept household. Women were not expected to harbor aspirations other than "... the acquisition of a husband, a family, and a home....". (Cowen, Ruth Schwartz) The male-d...
In the Victorian era, in New York City, men and women roles within the society were as different as night and day. A man regardless of his extra curricular activities could still maintain a very prevalent place in society. A woman’s worth was not only based family name which distinguished her class and worth, but also her profession if that was applicable.
From the beginning of this era, men had access to greater rights and opportunities than women. It became normal that women were not allowed vote or inherit their father’s title, as the next man in the family would whether it be his son, or brother. They were also not allowed to act in theatre, enter the professions, or receive an education (Thomas). Society felt that women were weak and couldn’t handle the tasks of a man. Due to this, women had to obey all male relatives whether it wa...
...ut men, family ties and financial stability would be difficult to obtain, which were necessary to secure an identity in the early south. Early Southern women were ultimately forced to identify themselves by the males to which they were tied. Three female characters from the works read thus far, struggled without men to identify them. For Désirée, her past and family heritage proved too much to overcome. Without the surname provided by her husband, Désirée was without an identity to call her own and gave way to societal code. Yet, due to their internal fight for self-satisfaction, Lena and Janie were able to overcome their lack of identity by establishing their own without the aid of a male. In conclusion, identity is attainable for some women. However, it takes a Southern woman dedicated to her own beliefs to overcome such obstacles and return stronger than before.
Throughout the course of history, inequality has always been a wall that prevented the evolution of society. But as mankind fought for equality, gender is no longer a key element that can deprive people from their rights. This, however, did not occur abruptly; on the contrary, people, notably women fought to gain basic rights and engage in their community. Writers such as Kate Chopin and Charlotte Perkins Gilman talked about the hardships Women faced in the late 1800s to erase their status as lower than that of men. In Silk Stockings by Chopin, she reveals the story of Mrs. Sommers and her struggles to balance between temptations and responsibilities. On the other hand, Gilman talks about a woman going through mental illness and her attempts
Many women in modern society make life altering decisions on a daily basis. Women today have prestigious and powerful careers unlike in earlier eras. It is more common for women to be full time employees than homemakers. In 1879, when Henrik Ibsen wrote A Doll's House, there was great controversy over the out come of the play. Nora’s walking out on her husband and children was appalling to many audiences centuries ago. Divorce was unspoken, and a very uncommon occurrence. As years go by, society’s opinions on family situations change. No longer do women have a “housewife” reputation to live by and there are all types of family situations. After many years of emotional neglect, and overwhelming control, Nora finds herself leaving her family. Today, it could be said that Nora’s decision is very rational and well overdue.
For women in the United States of America during the early 1970’s, they were beginning to break down barriers of which had been embedded in the American society for years. Even with the barriers, women could overcome, it was found that “gendered and sexualized assumptions still shape the class situations of women and men in different ways” (Acker 444). With the issue of the class system continuing to impact the inequalities of gender, women were impressed upon to undergo alterations of their identity and their appearance to marry into a higher class. The speaker in “Cinderella” discussed the proposition that one of the main things women had to do to improve their class standings was to alter their appearances. One of the main alterations used to present the idea of being a higher class is by their father, who “brought presents home from town, jewels and gowns” (Sexton 33-34). By making his stepdaughters look of a higher class than they were positioned in, it was easier to marry off the daughters to achieve social mobility. Overall, by altering the identity of women in the 1970’s, women were more likely to obtain a higher social status and were able to have more of an impact on the cultural changes in their
Leading up to the twentieth century, females were considered subordinate to the male. Women were unable to enter the workforce, were denied the right to an education, and were not granted the right to vote until 1920. The inferiority of women was carried into female characters in works of literature and visual arts; the common female character was a house wife puppet with a husband as the puppeteer. In Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl,” and Alice Walker’s, Everyday Use, women are portrayed as the other by giving women undesirable traits such as submission, vulnerability, and lack of experience to emphasize women’s inferiority.
The expected roles of men and women in the nineteenth-century differ from what is expected of both men and women today. However, the expectation of men’s roles has not changed nearly as drastically as women’s roles have since this time period. Just as Ibsen displayed in his play men were expected to be the one who was stronger, smarter, and the breadwinner for his family. Whereas, women were expected to be weaker, less educated, and the homemaker for her family.
Women are looked at as less than males, and males are to be far superior because society thought male to be the better gender. “A Doll's House,” by Henrik Isben describes the sacrificial role of nineteenth century women , men in society and in the household.
For one to conform to Victorian society’s ingrained gender stereotypes is the ideology that one should behave in certain ways which are deemed as being socially ‘acceptable’ by Victorian society. The exploration in this essay is whether society shapes the individual in a ‘Doll’s House’ and ‘The Murder in the Red Barn’. The men and women in a ‘Doll’s House’ and ‘The Murder in the Red Barn’ are either shown to be conforming to Victorian gender stereotypes or are presented as being unconventional.