Reconsidering Harcourt in Wycherley’s The Country Wife
Wycherley’s The Country Wife opens on Horner, the lead, telling his physician about his plan to change his reputation from that of a rake (promiscuous man-about-town) to that of a eunuch in order to gain access to women without anyone knowing. He withholds this plan from everyone but the doctor, who becomes his accomplice by spreading the rumor of Horner’s impotence to the gossipiest women in London. Horner’s sex life constitutes two of the three main plots, in both of which he gains access to a married woman and cuckolds her husband. He comes close to being found out but narrowly escapes discovery when the women of the play and the doctor reaffirm his condition, thus persuading the cuckolded husbands that they have not been made cuckolds. The other plot involves Harcourt, Horner’s best friend, who falls in love with and immediately proposes to Alithea when Sparkish, the would-be wit whom she is arranged to marry, introduces them in an attempt to make Harcourt jealous and thus win his approval. Harcourt then spends the rest of the play making failed attempts to win Alithea away from Sparkish. In the end, Horner’s plots intersect with Harcourt’s, and Horner slanders Alithea to keep his affairs secret. Sparkish had kept Alithea’s loyalty because ostensibly he was not jealous and seemed to trust her, but he believes what Horner says about Alithea without waiting to hear her defense and shows that he is not really who she thought he was, nor did he ever really care about her. Harcourt, on the other hand, defends her honor and trusts her, despite the slander, and once again offers marriage. Alithea, who had fallen for Harcourt but had to keep her feelings secret, is now free t...
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...and his insistence on ignoring Alithea’s warnings. I assume that Harcourt relies on this stupidity and is thus confident and in control.
[26] Vieth 343.
[27] As Ogden points out, “His [Horner’s] most serious mistake is to suppose Margery Pinchwife will share his uncomplicated view of sex.” Ogden xxiv.
[28] See note 8.
[29] See note 10.
[30] Pat Gill argues that “Harcourt steps in to redeem Alithea from obloquy, claiming that his name and his word (his sign) will supply any lack she may have. Like Horner’s confident play with language, Harcourt’s deployment of his name to squelch rumors is a power maneuver, an assertion of dominance over the female domain of gossip.” Pat Gill, Interpreting Ladies: Women, Wit, and Morality in the Restoration Comedy of Manners (Athens: U of Georgia P, 1994) 69.
[31] Hume 14-5.
[32] Canfield 254.
[33] Hume 15-23.
Captivatingly, both women act daringly, regardless of the culturally constructed labels as women, products of incest and wickedness. They use their “otherness” as a power mechanism, rather than an excuse to passivity. In conclusion, Elphaba and Antigone challenge conventional roles of gender, as they are strong, courageous figures of rebellion and exemplify a lack of traditional gender normativity.
Some evaluations claim that the Dionysus appearing in The Bacchae is fairly true embodiment of the ideals of ancient Athens. He demands only worship and proper reverence for his name, two matters of honor that pervaded both the Greek tragedies and the pious society that viewed them. In other plays, Oedipus' consultations with Apollo and the many Choral appeals to Zeus reveal the Athenian respect for their gods, while Electra's need for revenge and Antigone's obligation to bury Polyneices both epitomize the themes of respect and dignity. Yet although Dionysus personifies these two motifs, his clashes with the rest of Athenian tradition seem to make him its true adversary. Dionysius distinctly opposes the usual views on gender, age, rationality and divinity, leaving the reader to wonder whether these contrasts were Euripidean attempts to illuminate specific facets of the culture itself.
Yet, despite the fact that no two women in this epic are alike, each—through her vices or virtues—helps to delineate the role of the ideal woman. Below, we will show the importance of Circe, Calypso, Nausicaa, Clytaemestra, and Penelope in terms of the movement of the narrative and in defining social roles for the Ancient Greeks. Before we delve into the traits of individual characters, it is important to understand certain assumptions about women that prevailed in the Homeric Age. By modern standards, the Ancient Greeks would be considered a rabidly misogynistic culture. Indeed, the notoriously sour Boetian playwright Hesiod-- who wrote about fifty years before Homer-- proclaimed "Zeus who thunders on high made women to be evil to mortal men, with a nature to do evil (Theogony 600).
This essay explores the role of women in Homer's Odyssey, James Joyce's Ulysses (1922) and Derrick Walcott's Omeros (1990), epics written in very different historical periods. Common to all three epics are women as the transforming figure in a man's life, both in the capacity of a harlot and as wife.
Irigaray, Luce. “That Sex Which is Not One.” The Critical Tradition: Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends. Ed. David H. Richter. Boston: Bedford Books, 1998. 1467-1471.
The Tragedy of Mariam focuses on Elizabeth's Cary's desire to develop a platform from which women can speak, thereby offering a fuller understanding of women as individuals. By examining issues of public and private language, Cary shows her interest in female voices. As an early-17th-century female playwright, Cary was described by the Earl of Clarendon as `a lady of a most masculine understanding, allayed with the passions and infirmities of her own sex'. This description could be interpreted as a complement to Cary, although the Earl adheres to the patriarchal boundaries placed upon both men and women. The connection that he makes between Cary and masculinity reinforces the stereotype of male authority. This essay will examine Cary's exploration of gender, language and silence in The Tragedy of Mariam. The play's expression of these themes is sometimes open, and at other times covert. By concentrating on the issues of public and private speech, this essay will determine the effects that crossing patriarchal boundaries had on women in early modern England.
But to think about it, the Spaniards expected so much from the Native Americans but the Natives didn’t even expect the Spaniards to hurt them. “All the Indians of all the Indies never once did aught hurt or wrong to Christians, but rather held them to be descended from heaven, from the sky, until many times they or their neighbors received from the Christians many acts of wrongful harm,
"Some mothers might have encouraged intimacy from motives of interest...and some might have repressed it from motives of prudence...but Mrs. Dashwood was alike uninfluenced by either consideration. It was enough for her that he appeared to be amiable, that he loved her daughter, and that Elinor returned the partiality" (13).
Beginning with the lowest rank of women, Emilia and Desdemona, Iago insults them with misogynistic and commanding comments to reveal the stark dichotomy of power between men and women in Shakespearian times. Targeting pathos, Iago uses controlling and degrading remarks to put Emilia down and to gain spousal dominance. In two scenes where Emilia expresses her true feelings, Iago snaps at her by first stating, “You are a fool, go to”, and then later orders, “Go to, charm your tongue” (4.2. 147, 5.2. 182). By telling Emilia that she is a “fool”, not only does Iago abruptly insult her, but he does so publicly, thereby reinforcing male superiority over women in their society (4.2. 147). This type of rhetoric serves Iago strategically as Iago’s public
Aristophane’s Lysistrata is a flawed classic filled with the power struggle between man vs. woman. It is entirely focused and written from the male perspective, in which male-privilege dominated and disregarded the women’s outlook entirely. This “classic” is full of misogynistic perspectives, and should be disregarded as a great piece in Athenian literature.
The play was considered comic by the ancient Athenians because of its rhyming lyricism, its song and dance, its bawdy puns, but most of all because the notion and methods of female empowerment conceived in the play were perfectly ridiculous. Yet, as is the case in a number of Aristophanes’ plays, he has presented an intricate vision of genuine human crisis. In true, comic form Aristophanes superficially resolves the play’s conflicts celebrating the absurdity of dramatic communication. It is these loose threads that are most rife with tragedy for modern reader. By exploring an ancient perspective on female domesticity, male political and military power, rape, and efforts to maintain the integrity of the female body, we can liberate our modern dialogue.
... allows the present day reader to gain insight into commonly held beliefs regarding women during the 14th century. By allowing Alison to have a sense of humor and joke about aspects of her marriage, Chaucer was able to make numerous points regarding women that would not have been acknowledged had a female author created them. By making Alison a laughable character, Chaucer was able to make points about women such as the unfairness of double standards, the acknowledgement of female desire, and the reality of women marrying well to improve their economic situations. Chaucer also provides us with detailed examples of commonly held stereotypes regarding women that are still relevant approximately seven centuries later.
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.
To site a specific incident, Marianne describes her opinion of Edward Ferrars- her sister’s interest- as being very amiable, yet he is not the kind of man she expects to seriously attach to her sister. She goes on to find, what in her opinion are flaws, that Edward Ferrars reads with little feeling or emotion, does not regard music highly, and that he enjoys Elinor’s drawing, yet cannot appreciate it, for he is not an artist (15).
There have been attempts to prove or provide the knowledge that aliens built the pyramids. However, recent research supports the theory that the Pyramids were built by the Egyptians and also refute the possibility that the aliens built the Pyramids. The pyramids of Egypt are fascinating, however, they remain to be a mystery. The well-built architecture is located in Giza, Egypt, on the west bank of the Nile River is the only survivor out of all seven ancient wonders. The pyramid still amazes thousands of scientists and guest's each year. It is also one of the most important aspect of the Egyptian culture that Egyptians are proud of. In this paper, I am going to address three arguments in support the theory that says the pyramids were built