who would do anything for the children and the Medici families. They were loving wives as well, but supported their husbands in different ways. Lucrezia supported her husband politically, because he was ill and unable to govern to his full potential sometimes (Young, 107). In comparison to Contessina, who supported her husband emotional, by pleasing him with her house management skills. Their letters clearly illustrate their different personalities, and help historians and readers get a good sense of the change in women emerging in the renaissance.
Contessina letters represent her as an attentive mother, which was an important characteristic during this time period. According to Tomas, “The importance of a mother’s intercessory role as a source of power for the
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Medici women is certainly evident in the case of Contessina De Bardi” (Tomas, 46). Despite not being very cultured, she knew the importance of education, and made sure her children were well educated. She managed her household well, and fulfilled the typical roles and responsibilities of a woman during this time. For example, she educated her children and supervised her household (Maguire, 20). When Cosimo was exiled to Venice for a year, Contessina managed the estate in his absent. Contessina was attentive to expenses, and successfully maintain equilibrium despite having great wealth. Contessina was a humble and overall good person. She loved and truly cared about all the members in her family and her acquaintances, and was seen as a peacemaker. This side of her personality is illustrated in her letters, as well as her maternal and nurturing instincts. In Contessina personal letters between some of her acquaintances, sons, and family members historians get a true sense of Contessina personality.
Despite not having excellent writing skills, and not being able to properly format letters, Contessina personality is still clearly represented. For example, in 1430 when the plague came through Florence, Cosimo and his two sons went to Verona and Ferrara. On June 6, 1430, Contessina wrote a letter to her son Giovanni to check in on her family. As a good mother Contessina tries to help her son by giving him advice, and displays her maternal and caring personality. Contessina states, “ It has been very hot here for some days, and I expect it is the same with you, so take care to keep cool” (Contessina De Bardi). Contessina exhibits typical maternal concerns, such as making sure her children okay and are healthy. She gives them maternal advice and guidance despite not being with them. In the letter she not only gives advice for her son, but also checks up on her husband and her other son Piero. For example she states, “ Take care to caress him and see that he is comfortable…” (Contessina De Bardi). This illustrates how caring and concerned she is for all her
family
Calixta was not happy with her marriage. During the 19th century, marriage was more like a duty that must be done by all women. Women grew up
One of the big objectives for the play was establishing the story and what was happening within it. Casina is sizeable play with a lot of characters, working on multiple levels to get what they want. Which meant that our group had to condense the whole story into a 7-8 minute performance. To do this, we had to choose a central character for our version of the story and try to shape our performance around just their view. We chose the wife, Cleostrata, because our group liked the level of agency that she was able to have within the story.
In the traditional political history of Italy the people outside of the ruling class of the society were rarely studied. Only with the use of social history did the issues of class and gender begin to be debated by scholars. Numerous recent articles have done a great job of analysing particularly men of high status. In this paper I will look at the lower classes of Renaissance Florence. More specifically, I will center my focus on the lives of women during this era, how they were treated and viewed by people of other classes and how women were viewed and treated by men.
By educating herself she was able to form her own opinion and no longer be ignorant to the problem of how women are judge by their appearance in Western cultures. By posing the rhetorical question “what is more liberating” (Ridley 448), she is able to get her readers to see what she has discovered. Cisneros also learned that despite the fact that she did not take the path that her father desired, he was still proud of all of her accomplishments. After reading her work for the first time her father asked “where can I get more copies” (Cisneros 369), showing her that he wanted to show others and brag about his only daughters accomplishments. Tan shifts tones throughout the paper but ends with a straightforward tone saying “there are still plenty of other books on the shelf. Choose what you like” (Tan 4), she explains that as a reader an individual has the right to form their own opinion of her writing but if they do not like it they do not have to read it because she writes for her own pleasure and no one else’s. All of the women took separate approaches to dealing with their issues but all of these resolutions allowed them to see the positive side of the
Women were very important to the development of the Republic in the United States. Although their influences were indirect they had a big impact. Women were not allowed to participate in elections or hold office; however they were wives of politicians and “mothers of republic”. Despite being legally ineligible for the above roles they were granted the right to education and a small amount of freedom, which in turn enabled them to become more intellectually acceptable on the topics of government.
This story focuses on the extra-marital affair a housewife named Calixta has while her husband and son are away due to a storm. Although we learn that Calixta has an affair we also know that she doesn’t completely defy the Cult of Domesticity. From the story we get the idea that she remained pure until she married her husband and as Chopin tells us in page 689 “She had not seen him very often since her marriage, and never alone,” this line suggest that even if she saw her past lover around she would not speak to him because neither of them were ever alone and they both didn’t want to disrespect their marriages. In addition Calixta seems to be a very good housewife and mother. She appears to be always tending her home. In page 689 we learn that “[sitting} at a side window sewing furiously on a sewing machine. [Calixta] was greatly occupied and did not notice the approaching storm.” She is so focused on her chores that she didn’t even notice a storm. For Calixta sewing and doing chores around the house is what is normal. She has assumed a role as a married woman and mother and she is fulfilling it. Before the affair you can say that by societies expectations she was a true woman, she kept her virginity until marriage, she makes sure her house chores are done, and she takes care of her family. Even after the affair she acts as if nothing has
What would do if someone raped you or sexual harassed you? Most likely you would prosecute them in court. What would you do if you were told you couldn’t prosecute them because you were a lower class woman? This was the scenario in Ancient Rome. Everything depended on your gender, status, and job. Even though women have fewer rights than men, women still had a legal and social position in Ancient Rome. Women had a position in marriage and family life. There were also a lot of women that were in religious groups, were prostitutes, and were slaves.
In Shakespeare’s “Othello”, the role of women is deeply emphasized; the significant characters of the play Othello, Iago, and Casio, each have a lady that stands behind him. These women each have commitment to remain faithful and respect their husband's needs, especially Desdemona and Emilia.
Cisneros starts the essay by reflecting on an anthology for a work that she wrote where she stated “I am the only daughter in a family of six sons. That explains everything” (Cisneros 366). Right after she introduces herself as how she sees herself now as the statement that she had written she feels does not explain enough about her to the reader. Next, she then goes into her story of how she sees herself and what has made her who she is. This explanation is taken throughout the entire essay as she explains how she got to where she was in her career. Her thesis is that growing up alone in isolation made her work hard to prove herself to her father. The thesis is very obvious in the essay and Cisneros successfully uses proves her thesis as she explains her childhood with her dad in the center of attention. Although others may argue that Cisneros’ relationship affects who she is in a negative way, Cisneros successfully proves the relationship between the two positively affects who she
While reading the poetry of Sappho, it is clear that some poems might be read as having a strictly sexual interpretation; however, I much prefer to interpret her writings as more of a correspondence, mostly one sided, between her and the women with whom she interacted with daily. Some of those had left the town and were beyond reach. Sappho’s poems read much more like intimate notes to friends than risqué love poetry. She is a woman who writes for herself and for other women, much like Jane Austen did in the beginning of the nineteenth century. “Men have had every advantage of us in telling their own story. Education has been theirs in so much a higher degree; the pen has been in their hands,” says Anne Elliot, the protagonist of Persuasion (Austen 223). Austen wrote novels about women, and men, but the focus was more on the women’s lives and roles. She wrote novels that were meant to be read by women. In today’s society, the idea has arisen that Jane Austen books and the films based on them are “chick flicks,” and most men will refuse to read or watch them. From the scholars who write on Sappho, it seems that there is a generalized trend that male scholars tend to see her poetry in the more modern sense of the word lesbian, while female scholars make more allowances and believe her work to be more about communication and relationships between women.
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.
Bianca, Desdemona, and Emilia, the three main women from the play, attest to the struggle of male dominance and the issues of societal stereotypes of the classification and limitation of female roles. At the surface, the powerful women seem timid, loving, and willing to care and aid their freelance husbands. However, when explored in a deeper sense, the females can be described as able, having a sense of self, and have attributes that qualify them as much more than housewives, maidens, and objects; Bianca, Desdemona, and Emilia are described as individuals that allow part of themselves to be shared with men that underappreciate their abilities and profounder
The presentation of moral courage leads Emilia’s Speech and Felix’s actions to challenge the social and religious morality of their time. For instance, Emilia’s Speech establishes her cynicism towards men as Shakespeare’s lexical choice of ‘would not’ demonstrates that without the contraction displayed, it highlights Emilia willingly not to ‘marry.’ Therefore, her courage to challenge the social and religious morality of her time establishes that she disobeys with the main principle that “Wives submit/to husbands/the Lord” knowing that marriage is an obligation and her refusal demonstrates that she has “sense like the men.” This is evident as compared to the “Fair” Desdemona who does ‘displease’ men it establishes that she has respect and authority because of Othello. Whereas, Emilia lives in Desdemona’s shadow and has a contradictory personality to which her loyalty is divided,[between Iago and Desdemona] similar but different to Desdemona’s “divided duty” to her husband and father.
Therefore, our sympathies lie with the Duchess, who only desired to live the life she chose. She does her best to protect those she loves, hiding Antonio and caring for the safety of her children to the very end. She murders no one, and before her death forgives all. She is a most noble duchess and a true heroine.
Throughout history the role of women has been heavily debated. Women have had to struggle for the rights they have today,even if some of us may still question if women really do have the same rights as a man. Whether it was getting the right to vote or even being able to join the work force, women have earned their place in society today. There are many avenues that you could take to see and understand the role of women throughout history. For this essay, we will look at William Shakespeare's Othello to see how he interputs women. There are three women in this play we can focus on. They are Desdemona, Bianca, and Emilia. As the story unfolds the roles of these women are set forth The first women that I will discuss is Bianca. Bianca would be known as a modern day prositute. By analizing her relationship with Cassio, it seems as though Bianca really wanted to have some sort of relationship with him. An example of this is in scence 3,act 4. It begins as Desdomona and Emilia exit as Bianca enters. Bianca begins to question Cassio about his whereabouts. "Bianca: 'Save you, friend Cassio! Cassio: What make you from home? How is't with you, my most fair Bianca? (I'faith,) sweet love was coming to your house. Bianca: And I was going to your lodging, Cassio. What,keep a week away? Seven days and nights, Eightscorce eight hours, and lovers'absent hours More tedious than the dial eightscorce times?