The Descent of Alette by Alice Notley follows Alette's journey through the underground subway system, which ends up being a whole different world. Alette's mission to take down the oppressive tyrant that controls this underground world, symbolizes her desire to confront male hegemony. Through refrences to the thesis, form, and historical context it is undeniable that the author is taking the reader on a journey through Alette's struggle with patriarchy.
At different points throughout the poem Notley repeats the thesis of the story. The poem reads, “the holy men,” “the wise men,” “are frivolous” “and cruel” Here Notley is blatantly addressing the brutality of patriarchy. (Notley 90) Alette is being told that powerful men and those that are labeled as “holy” are also cruel. Unless this immorality is stopped there will be no truth in this world. Notley is trying to make the reader understand the need for gender equality. In society women are looked at as inferior to men when it comes to strength and power. She is challenging that idea through Alette’s journey to take down the tyrant. Alette is a heroin in this poem, and portrays characteristics far different than how society has identified femininity. Femininism is not a bad thing, it simply calls for gender equality, and that is what Alette is chasing in this story.
Another place where Notley reiterates the main thesis is while the reader is being introduced to the tyrant. (Notley 5) Alette is told, “you must give up” “to the tyrant” “all your flowers”” all your carnations” “or your cut hair” “give him your hair” “you must give him your jokes” “your best jokes” “he takes whatever-“ The woman on the same subway car as Alette tells her this because she wants Alette to understand ...
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...“A war-maker” “A ruler” From this the reader learns that there has been a distinct split between men and women since the beginning of time. It is interesting that Alette is hearing this information from a headless woman. (Notley 91) The woman being headless symbolizes women being praised for their bodies, sexuality, or feminity not for their brains or education. The headless woman says, “my body” “still danced then-” “but my head” “played audience” “to the achievements” “of males” (Notley 91)
In The Descent of Alette Alice Notley has created an epic poem that confronts male hegemony. The tyrant symbolizes the corrupt patriarchy while Alette symbolizes the capabilities of a female to overcome their gender specific personality traits placed on them by society. Notley addresses the thesis continuously throughout the poem using form, symbolism, and historical context.
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.
This narrator and opinionator, is Merricat, whose views on men and the symbol that they represent is disrupt, and women should play as big or even bigger of a role in society. There are many instances where Merricat enjoys taunting the men such as Charles, “Amanita Pantherina,’ I said highly poisonous. … The Cicuta maculate is the water hemlock, one of the most poisonous of wild plants if taken internally.” (131) This is the representation of a phallic symbol, that she wants to be in possession of, to yield it against her enemy; Charles. Women power and to stand up against the ‘intolerable’ men according to Merricat in this text is celebrated. Men on the other hand are meant to be put in their place and be controlled for once, not be the controller, as it says “I could turn him [Charles] into a fly and drop him into a spider’s web and watch him tangled and helpless and struggling, shut into the body of a dying buzzing fly.”(129) This book represents the values of women; the opposite of men’s ideals and what they stand for as a
Everyone has once been someone that they aren’t necessarily ashamed of, but something they aren’t anymore. When you’re in school, everyone is different; between the popular kids, the jocks, the cheerleader, the dorks, the Goths, and all the other “types” of people. In “Her Kind,” Anne Sexton shows that she has been a lot of different women, and she is not them now. In this paper we will be diving into the meanings behind the displaced “I,” the tone and reparation, and who Anne Sexton really is and how that affects what she is trying to let people see through this poem.
Traditional female characteristics and female unrest are underscored in literary works of the Middle Ages. Although patriarchal views were firmly established back then, traces of female contempt for such beliefs could be found in several popular literary works. Female characters’ opposition to societal norms serves to create humor and wish- fulfillment for female and male audiences to enjoy. “Lanval” by Marie De France and “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” by Geoffrey Chaucer both show subversion of patriarchal attitudes by displaying the women in the text as superior or equal to the men. However, “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” also incorporates conventional societal ideas by including degradation of women and mistreatment of a wife by her husband.
Over the course of time, the roles of men and women have changed dramatically. As women have increasingly gained more social recognition, they have also earned more significant roles in society. This change is clearly reflected in many works of literature, one of the most representative of which is Plautus's 191 B.C. drama Pseudolus, in which we meet the prostitute Phoenicium. Although the motivation behind nearly every action in the play, she is glimpsed only briefly, never speaks directly, and earns little respect from the male characters surrounding her, a situation that roughly parallels a woman's role in Roman society of that period. Women of the time, in other words, were to be seen and not heard. Their sole purpose was to please or to benefit men. As time passed, though, women earned more responsibility, allowing them to become stronger and hold more influence. The women who inspired Lope de Vega's early seventeenth-century drama Fuente Ovejuna, for instance, rose up against not only the male officials of their tiny village, but the cruel (male) dictator busy oppressing so much of Spain as a whole. The roles women play in literature have evolved correspondingly, and, by comparing The Epic of Gilgamesh, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and The Wife of Bath's Prologue, we can see that fictional women have just as increasingly as their real-word counterparts used gender differences as weapons against men.
One of the aspects of the Middle Ages which is explored by numerous scholars today is that of the antifeminist stereotypes which pervaded literature and cultural mores during the period. In an era governed by men, the fact that women were treated as inferior is unsurprising; archetypal visions of femininity fit neatly into medieval history. However, most people would like to believe that such pigeonholing has been left in the past, allowing for more liberated times in which women are portrayed realistically and as the equals of men.
...y protect their tribe or community, women maintained peace and order in the absence of the men. In reading Beowulf, the portrayal of women could be as servants to the men. In reality, this was just the custom of the culture, and as seen throughout the piece women are addressed with respect and praise on many occasions. Women that received isolation and opposition were those that stood on their own without men to do the “dirty work” of violence. With regards to this, one can assume that women of this time period were seen to hold purity, delicacy, and compassion. In serving men and remaining home, men protected women from the inhumanity in war and loss of beauty in grace. This could all be seen rather than women having the mere role of insignificant slaves. In the Old English tale of Beowulf, the customary position of women in society is in respectfully serving men.
Beatrice's refusal to be controlled by men and Hero's subservience carries echoes of modern-day feminism. Comparing this novel to a contemporary society, women have made a substantial amount of progress in terms of gender roles. It is women like Beatrice, and the many others that choose to defy the expectations that are placed upon us by society, that help us progress to a more utopian civilization. This novel can be read by future generations to reflect back on how much we have changed and how much we have progressed, not only as women, but as humans in general. Additionally, this play also serves as one of the world's greatest odes to the single life known to man.
As the years dragged on in the new nation the roles of men and women became more distinct and further apart for one another. Women were not allowed to go anywhere in public without an escort, they could not hold a position in office let allow vote, and they could only learn the basics of education (reading, writing, and arithmetic). In law the children belonged to the husband and so did the wife’s property and money. The only job women could think about having was being a ‘governess’ which would give other women education.
Though not the focus of epic poetry, the female characters of this ancient genre play a central role, as they have a great influence on the male heroes they encounter. In a genre which idealizes manliness and heroism—that is, acts of courage, strength, and cunning— women are set in opposition to these ideals and therefore less respected. At the same time, women who attempt to take on more “masculine” roles are vilified. Here, antagonist is defined as anyone in opposition to the hero’s goals. Female agency—their free will and ability to wield power—is directly related to their role in epic poetry; that is, the more agency a female character has, the more antagonistic of a role she plays. This agency is often enacted through sexuality or supernatural
As a man fascinated with the role of women during the 14th Century, or most commonly known as the Middle Ages, Chaucer makes conclusive evaluations and remarks concerning how women were viewed during this time period. Determined to show that women were not weak and humble because of the male dominance surrounding them, Chaucer sets out to prove that women were a powerful and strong-willed gender. In order to defend this argument, the following characters and their tales will be examined: Griselda from the Clerk's Tale, and the Wife of Bath, narrator to the Wife of Bath's Tale. Using the role of gender within the genres of the Canterbury Tales, exploring each woman's participation in the outcomes of their tales, and comparing and contrasting these two heroines, we will find out how Chaucer broke the mold on medievalist attitudes toward women.
In modern day society, female gender roles are defined in several of forms; ranging from the stereotypical concept of women being the primary caretakers to women being the dominant sex. After analyzing two sources of past literature, two iconic women represent personas of both social standings. In the literary works “Genesis” of The Hebrew Bible; along with, “Lysistrata” by Aristophanes, impactful phenomena take place in the era of these women.
...izabethan times, the teachings of biology suggested that women’s bodies are cold and moist which suggest that they are passive, timid, and hesitating humans. Their bodies supported the concept that women were meant be dominated by men. “The supposed yielding softness and frailty of women’s bodies was all the proof anyone needed of women’s all-around weakness, for most Elizabethan firmly believed that the deposition of the mind is answerable to the temper of the body” (Papp and Kirkland 75). In Elizabethan England, women were controlled, restricted, and stereotyped. They played a role in which society forced upon them. Their existence was beneficial to the growth and development of man.
Women roles have changed drastically in the last 50 to 80 years, women no longer have to completely conform to society’s gender roles and now enjoy the idea of being individuals. Along with the evolution of women roles in society, women presence and acceptance have drastically grown in modern literature. In early literature it was common to see women roles as simply caretakers, wives or as background; women roles and ideas were nearly non-existent and was rather seen than heard. The belief that women were more involved in the raising of children and taking care of the household was a great theme in many early literatures; women did not get much credit for being apart of the frontier and expansion of many of the nations success until much later.
... middle of paper ... ... Somewhat like the mirror in the Lady's tower, Tennyson's poem reflects the attitudes that shaped the destiny of women in Victorian England, while it further succeeds in presenting a model of an assertive Victorian woman existing, albeit briefly, within the bounds of patriarchal society. References Abrams, M.H., ed., pp.