These two books determine the status and role of women during the early 20th century. I want to Interpret the stereotypes of women during the late 19th century, explore the different literary devices used in both texts, compare the similarities and differences between these two stories, and also describe the women's obligations to society in that time period.…
Throughout history male dominated societies have been prevelant. The primary structure of the household has been patriarchial for the most part. Some women have accepted this condition; others women, however, find strength and pride in their sex and have thus ignored the norms of male domination. In her nove, Like Water for Chocolate, Laura Esquivel comments on feminism and society’s instated role for women. Through the story’s protagonist, Tita, Laura depicts a women in her traditional role and shows shows how she deters from what she is expected to do and how she is expected to act and embraces life in the manner she wishes to do so. Ultimately, Laura Esquivel utilizes Tita’s role as a women, cooking, and her nience, Esperanza, to depict the triumph of feminism.…
The women that Matteo Alacran, the main character in Nancy Farmer’s House of the Scorpion encounters affects him in both positive ways and negative ways as some of his experiences are prejudice, and some are hospitality.…
The Portrayal of the Plight of Women by the Author, In Their Particular Period of Time…
Fantomina is a novella describing how a young woman Fantomina goes about trying to seduce Beauplaisir.Fantomina details the events of how a young woman curiosity leads her into “faked prostitution” and ultimately falling in love with Beauplaisir.The novella chronicles how the young woman does whatever she can through disguising her identity to be always with the one she has fallen in with, Beauplaisir.The story ends when Fantomina gets pregnant and is sent to a monastery in France. Haywood’s Fantomina represents an important moment in the evolution of gender constructions in the eighteenth century.This research essay is from short story Fantomina.Eliza Haywood Fantomina perceives that gender categories can easily be changed by showing that nothing is ever fixed.You have the power to manipulate any situation you are faced with.…
Husbands were more concerned about what everyone else thought so they needed to be constantly on guard to exhibit conduct benefiting their sex, as well as vigilant that no one maliciously tarnished their reputations (224). The story of “La Constancia” vividly illustrates the relationship between honor-status and honor-virtue. When Jose Maria believed that his wife’s virtue had been taken, he was dishonored not because his he believed that Constancia actually committed adultery, but because Jose believed what he had been told about his wife’s…
Throughout her novel, Pizan’s discloses her insight about the oppression of women through the creation of three fictional personas; Lady Reason, Lady Rectitude and Lady Justice. The term lady applied to these characters indicates noble spirit, instead of the common notation of noble birth. While conversing with the “ladies,” Pizan discusses the topics of women in the legal system, social system and marriage. These ladies also provide Christine with a procedure to build the ‘City of Ladies,’ which will provide women with a defense against the constant disparage of men and allow them to be educated.…
The Decameron by Boccaccio was written to be appealing to both social classes, the lower and the higher. It was very successful considering that it was written about religion and sex. With it being focused around the two subjects, Boccaccio was able to reach out to both social classes easily. Boccaccio’s humor in religion and sex can be seen throughout his stories. More specifically, it is shown in the introduction, the story Ciapelletto, and the monk and abbot story.…
Male superiority and the subordination of women are sustained with the conformity of both men and women. The male domination seems to be a social norm accepted and followed by al people in the society. Men are showing their stereotyped perception on women, like Leonato jokes about his daughter as ‘Her mother hath many times told me so’ and Benedick ‘as being a professed tyrant to their sex’ implies their confirmed perception of women to justify their superiority in the society. Women are viewed as a possession and property of men that Benedick brings out the idea of purchase to ‘buy her that you inquire after her’. Women are linked with the image of cuckold when Benedick regards that ‘I will have a recheat winded in my forehead’ and ‘pluck off the bull’s horn and set them on forehead’. The idea of cuckold focuses on woman’s disloyalty that brings out the mentality of men that women are wicked as ‘beauty is a witch’ and women do not deserve as much as men do. With their stereotyped image, the male superiority is confirmed by men. On the other hand, the readiness of women shows that they conform to the male domination and willing to submit to men. Hero…
The presentation of relationships and marriage is a significant concept within literature and society. The writers of the three texts; ‘A Doll’s House’, ‘Wide Sargasso Sea’ and ‘The Worlds Wife’, explore the patriarchal ideal that was supported and reinforced by a social structure, wherein women had little political or economic power. They were economically, socially, and psychologically dependent on men, especially on the institutions of marriage and motherhood .On the other hand men struggled to increase their reputation in society by gaining social and economic power and status, in order to have a superior image and dominant character in relationship and marriage. In these literary texts women are presented to be obliged to obey men to some extent, therefore there is an explicit indication of relationships and marriage being overwhelming and shown to be an unequal relationship in literary texts such as ‘A Doll’s House’, ‘Wide Sargasso Sea’ and ‘The Worlds Wife’.…
A short story, “The Necklace” (“La parure”) by Guy de Maupassant in 1884 and a poem, ‘The Story of an Hour” written by Kate Chopin in 1894 are literary works that are very comparable yet are different. The two women, Madame Mathilde Loisel and Louise Mallard, portrayed in these literary works are protagonists who have trouble because of conflicting expectations imposed on them by society. Both Mathilde Loisel and Louise Mallard want something more than what their lifestyle offers them. During the time when the authors wrote these pieces, the social behaviors showed gender suppression/oppression. This essay will compare and contrast elements of content, form, and style between two different literary works.…
In “The Judge’s Wife” the author, Isabel Allende, creates a piece readers can understand to the point of empathy. Because her short story examines human behavior in respect to passions, justice, and emotion (love) in a manner that one can become fully immersed in the plot. The author makes use of imagery to embellish not only upon her environment, but also her characters. Allende presents the ideas of corruption, innocence, and strictness simply through words that capture the descriptions of her characters. The strait laced judge being “…dressed formally in black … and his boots always shone with bees wax.” The author uses a variety of techniques to make full use of the limited space within her short story by using strong imagery, characterization, and theme.…
Camille Paglia once asked aloud “Heaven help the American-born boy with a talent for ballet.” It is not right to ridicule or target a child for liking something that goes against masculinity or femininity just because they belong to a certain gender. What actually defines a gender? Simple biology has taught us to differentiate men and women by females being able to bare offspring and our common sense merely perceives the physical anatomy. Believing that the world consists of only two genders has been a cultural invention that which does not accommodate the vast amount of experiences humans are capable of living. Even methods of parenting can play a major role towards forming their children’s sexual identity. However, although people are born either male or female, they are made and shaped into men and women.…
Throughout history, the treatment of women has been an ever-changing issue. Othello by William Shakespeare is a story in which the women characters are treated in the unfair way that women of the time of the story were treated. This makes the story a great model for comparison of the treatment of women in the present time and in the past time when the story takes place. In order to make this comparison, one must first examine the way that the characters of Bianca, Emelia, and Desdemona are treated.…
The tenth story of the third day in the Decameron is an exploration of language just as the rest of the book. Within this story, the smallest of words can make the biggest differences in how the themes can be interpreted. The genius of Boccaccio’s writing is that while he may have had different aspirations for the Decameron, the interpretations can be as modern as the Decameron is celebrated.…