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Influence of the romantic literary period
The role of women in society in the 19th century
The role of women in society in the 19th century
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Recommended: Influence of the romantic literary period
“Story of an Hour” by Kate Choplin showed a different point of view on marriage. Marriage in the Victorian era can be comparable to a master and slave relationship. The Victorian period is also regarded as the era of Romanticism. The roles of woman were inequity to a man. During this era identified by four classes of their society structure.
Women in the Victorian era played the role of providing their husband with a clean house, food on the table and raising their children. Women was known as weak, emotion, submission, dependence, and selflessness. Once married women became property to their husbands. Women did not vote, own property or sue. In the Nobility class enjoyed a life of luxuries and was highly educated. Middle class women were expected not only to take education but also help in the family business. The Working class had many jobs to earn a decent living being housekeeper, teacher, and a governess. The way for a woman to be free was if her husband dies. Mrs. Mallard had a moment of freedom when she thought her husband died.” Free! Body and soul free!” she kept whispering (Choplin). Towards the end of this era feminism ideas started. Women suffrage movement gained and discriminatory laws were repealed.
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Men was known for being brave strong and hard working. Men was the superior in all areas of life. When it came to work men had the freedom to choose what they wanted to do. In “Story of an Hour” Mrs. Mallard remembers her husband as a kind and loving men but being married to him made him an oppressive factor in her life. In marriage the property of the women was automatically transferred to their husbands. Men was in control of the money, Men was treated base off their class. For example when the upper class men and the middle class men have the same jobs the upper class men were treated with more
Allen starts off writing about how men tend to have a bigger salary then do women. She says that man also tend to hold more authority positions then women do. Women most of the time took jobs the were unpaid positions. Females were expected to be wives and mothers to their children while taking care of the house. While women rarely left the house men were expected to make all the money and be
In the final analysis, the author of The Story of an Hour did not reveal enough evidence of a power struggle between Mr. and Mrs. Mallard. Both stories discussed in this essay were written during times when women were treated as property, they had to: cook, clean, and do whatever their husband told them to. Women’s roles have drastically changed since the publication of these stories, women can run there own businesses, and make their own decisions. while some husbands’ roles have changed to become, a” house husband”, they cook, clean, and tend to the
Thesis Statement: Men and women were in different social classes, women were expected to be in charge of running the household, the hardships of motherhood. The roles that men and women were expected to live up to would be called oppressive and offensive by today’s standards, but it was a very different world than the one we have become accustomed to in our time. Men and women were seen to live in separate social class from the men where women were considered not only physically weaker, but morally superior to men. This meant that women were the best suited for the domestic role of keeping the house. Women were not allowed in the public circle and forbidden to be involved with politics and economic affairs as the men made all the
In Western culture, it is understood that marriage is based on an equal partnership and not one person controlling the other. On the contrary, in the early 19th century, women were usually in unions that were male dominated. Women were meant to be seen and not heard. Likewise, in the short story, “The Story of an Hour” and the play “Trifles”, two women from very different circumstances share the same fate of being dominated by their husbands and lose their identity while married.
Reagin, Nancy. “Historical Analysis: Women as ‘the Sex’ During the Victorian Era.” Victorian Women: The Gender of Oppression. Pace University, n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.
Two hundred years ago, during the reign of Queen Victoria in England, the social barriers of the Victorian class system firmly defined the roles of women. The families of Victorian England were divided into four distinct classes: the Nobility or Gentry Class, the Middle Class, the Upper Working Class, and lastly, the Lower Working class . The women of these classes each had their own traditional responsibilities. The specifics of each woman’s role were varied by the status of her family. Women were expected to adhere to the appropriate conventions according to their place in the social order . For women in Victorian England their lives were regulated by these rules and regulations, which stressed obedience, loyalty, and respect.
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
A Woman Far Ahead of Her Time, by Ann Bail Howard, discusses the nature of the female characters in Kate Chopin’s novel’s and short stories. Howard suggests that the women in Chopin’s stories are longing for independence and feel torn between the feminine duties of a married woman and the freedom associated with self-reliance. Howard’s view is correct to a point, but Chopin’s female characters can be viewed as more radically feminist than Howard realizes. Rather than simply being torn between independent and dependant versions of her personality, “The Story of an Hour’s” Mrs. Mallard actually rejoices in her newfound freedom, and, in the culmination of the story, the position of the woman has actually been elevated above that of the man, suggesting a much more radically feminist reading than Howard cares to persue.
Women were expected to set the example for their children, satisfy the needs of their husbands, and it was unheard of for women to express their sexual desires. During this time women were placed into two categories, they were either virgins or married, any woman who did not fit into either of these categories was considered a whore and this meant she was essentially useless. “If a woman went into a hansom alone with a man who was neither her father, nor her husband […] her reputation was irretrievably lost” (Swisher, 181). This shows that even though people did not know the whole story, they judged others by the appearance of things. Most of the Victorian culture was centered on these things that women were expected to do or not to be seen doing. Scientists believed that men were the active ones who were supposed to use all of their energy, while women were sedentary and were supposed to conserve energy. “According to Wollsto...
The story is ironic because Mrs. Mallard learns her husband was not dead, and instead of exulting her husband’s sudden return, she regretted abandoning her moment of freedom. An analysis of “The Story of an Hour” through the historical and feminist lenses, suggests that the story is really about women’s self-identity in the 1800s male-dominated society, and how it caused women’s lack of freedom. During the 1800s, males dominated and were the superior gender in the society. The. Women’s rights and feminism do not exist.
The Victorian era was an extremely difficult time for women in Great Britain. They were subject to gross inequalities such as, not being able to; control their own earnings, education, and marriage. As well as having a lack of equality within marriage, women had poor working conditions, and an immense unemployment rate as well. Not only was the fact that women were viewed as second-class citizens and had limited rights compared to men during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries a major problem, but women were also held to a much different standard, and expected to carry out many
“The Story of an Hour” was a story set in a time dominated by men. During this time women were dependent on men, but they always dreamed of freedom. Most people still think that men should be dominant and in control. They think that without men, women can’t do anything and that they can’t be happy. Well this story has a twist.
The Victorian Era started when Queen Victoria took the throne in 1837 and ended roughly the day she died in 1901. Victorian England “was a strictly patriarchal society” (Yildirim 2). It is common knowledge that during the Victorian era men and women had their own specific roles. It is also common knowledge to know that men had complete legal and economical control over the women (Mitchell 1, 142). Women were expected to stay at home to keep house and take care of the children.
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 his family members. This showed the amount of progress needing to come in the future to allow women to start receiving some of the many rights they deserved which men had and so frequently took for granted.
There was an inborn sense of subordination of women throughout the Victorian era, and rather significant similarities between housewife and servant. This idea that women were not seen as an equal towards men can be traced back to the Victorian English natural hierarchy. It was their belief that those had to serve and owed much to the people superior to them, i.e. kings to gods, lords to kings, and servant to master, ect. (Davidoff, 408). To be born a woman, was to be under complete control of her husband, much like to be born a slave confined to their masters’ demands and wishes (Davidoff, 408). The difference between wife and slave was Victorian England’s social concepts of servitude. Women moved from paternal control in their private home, into a lifetime of servitude of their husband’s home, therefore; women knew their duties were fo...