A History Of Early Modern Women

"Changing attitudes in Britain Society towards women was the major reason why some women received the vote in 1918". How accurate is this view?

The medieval concept of maleness was heavily influenced by the writings of the classical period. The physiological and other medical theories that constituted this concept were not restricted to the domain of medicine. They were supported by the religious doctrines. All of these rhetorics were based on a common assumption that men are physically, morally, and intellectually superior to women. A key component that defined maleness was virility. Men were charged with the duty of taking care of women’s health by regularly performing sexual intercourse so that their uterus did not dry up and she remained fertile. So important was this trait to the idea of masculinity that it was considered as a valid reason for divorce. This caused a woman’s chastity to be inextricably linked with her husband’s honor. Adulterous behavior on the wife’s part was considered to be a sign of weakness in a man. A disobedient daughter also tainted a father’s honor and diminished his masculinity. A consequence of this was that a woman’s body became a site of sexual violence to avenge one’s honor. The Reeve’s Tale presents an instance of this, where two Cambridge undergraduates are determined to teach the dishonest miller a lesson and achieve their motive by sleeping with his daughter and wife. Another parameter on which manhood was judged was the sex of the child he engendered. In his writings, Aristotle had claimed that male semen was the source of life. This belief was reinforced by the medieval physicians. If a man begot a male heir, his masculinity was bolstered. These discourses resulted in a strict division between the two sexes. While women could transgress this code of conduct without severe repercussions, men were forbidden from exhibiting any feminine behavior. Many instances of cross-dressing among women have been found both in literature and reality; however such impersonation was not permitted for men.

“ The belief that women were inherently inferior in intelligence, strength, and character was so persuasive that for men like Knox, a woman ruler was almost a contradiction in terms” (“Documents for Chapters 5&6”). In the 16th century, women were looked upon as a gender that should stay in the house and work, not have power and rule over a country. Discussing the govern of Queens during the 16th century, such as Mary Tudor, Lady Jane Grey, Mary, Queen of Scots, and Elizabeth I, allowed prejudices to be lessened but never completely be erased. No matter how these four notable ladies came into power, the accomplishments they overcame, achieved and wrote about proved to be great and substantial in making history as it is written today.

A woman in medieval times was not considered a person, but property. A woman would be forced to wear layers of drab clothing, the style determining their social class ranking. A woman of wealth would wear decadent gowns and women in poverty would wear plain spun dresses. Their goal in life was to find a husband, to give in to his whims and be the epitome of submission. Sometimes, peasant girls would be forced to take up a trade prior to marriage. After the marriage, she was forced to give up this trade, the skill she possessed, and either maintain the lifestyle as a housewife, or help her husband with his trade. In regards to whom a woman married, there was little to no choice in the matter. Often, girls were married to strange men, men they

Throughout the three literary periods: The Ancient World, The Middle Ages, and The Renaissance; women have been portrayed and treated in different ways. The Iliad by Homer is about the Trojan War fought by the Achaeans and Trojans which was over the capturing of the wife of King Menelaus, Helen of Troy, by Paris. In The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer, it is about a group of 29 people who are all on a pilgrimage to Canterbury to worship St. Thomas’s shrine; however, as Chaucer describes all these types of people not many of them are very religious and the stories they tell show the perspective and portrayal of women in this time. In Francis Petrarch’s poetry Rhymes, he describes his love and admiration for a woman who doesn’t love him back, yet Petrarch still confesses his love for her through his poetry. Through these stories and poems, The Iliad, The Canterbury Tales, and Rhymes, from the three time periods, the role of women is a progression of how they were looked at and their role in that time period, by men.

Life was not easy for women and children in the middle ages. We have abusive spouse and such in today’s time period, but in the Middle Ages abuse was even encouraged “as a way to keep women under control” (Lawler). The children had it worse. The children of the Middle Ages, were abused by men, women and even servants to make them behave. In the Middle Ages, the law did not intervene. If you were a woman of upper class then you were lucky! They typical did not go through the abuse that the lower-class women did. As long as a man didn’t kill his wife during the abuse, he wasn’t doing anything wrong according to the Canon law. (Lawler)

The biggest main idea of this article was that women are not remembered in history. As said by Ulrich, “Many people think women are less visible in history than men because their bodies impel them to nurture” (658). Although, women were

Then in society, men were portrayed as “dominant figures” and women were the “nurturers”. Men not only filled the fatherly role but they also usually earned the “breadwinning”, went to work all day, and financially provided for the wives and

Women withstood a multitude of limitations in the medieval era. Due to the political, social, and religious restrictions women encountered, historians neglected to realize that they demonstrated agency. The female experience is something that has been overlooked until recently. Unfortunately, without the knowledge of how women found ways to exert their power, we are experiencing a deficit of knowledge in this period. Through the close examination of the primary sources: The Gospel of Mary, Dhouda’s Liber Manualis, and Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, the creative means of female force are displayed.

Women from the medieval times had clear roles. The women had strict rules to follow by. When it came to marriage, the wives had to submit to their husbands and follow their lead. Women were supposed to be cleaning, stay at home with the kids, cook, make clothes, etc. The women who steered away from these “typical” roles, made very interesting characters. The majority of gender expectations came from the church and biblical history. Since Eve was the cause for the fall of man, there were a lot of anti-feminist feelings. Women were held accountable for the majority of man’s suffering, and were consequently inferior and to be dominated by men. Purity, holiness, and chastity, were all presumptions of women from outstanding role models like the Virgin Mary.

During the Renaissance era, beauty was portrayed as being overweight in sense of the human body and purity. Women 's figures and forms were viewed as alluring and sensuous as they were never believed to be fat but a full figure.

This book was very interesting it goes through many details of how women were during the 16th century. The author of our books takes us through the lives of three women even though these women did not have very much in common the era of their time. Davis shows us how this certain time period put these women in certain situations that not only changed them as a person, but also who and what their lives will become. One aspect I would like to point out was religion. Religion was very important during this time so of course religion played a big role in how the 16th century came to be known. Furthermore, religion made it so that there were certain things women could and could not do like from our book by Hanks. For example, I would like to reference

The reason this was the common view during this time period and even in the recent past is that women were thought to be the weaker sex. Now when we hear weaker we think physically weak. But this was not the case, women were thought to be weak in all aspects compared to men. This meant that women were both physically and emotionally unable to provide or take care of themselves which meant they needed constant supervision. Before they were married their father would be in charge of them.

Women in the 18th century were looked at as voiceless objects in a world ruled by men. Women and men did not always have equal rights. In the 18th century women were mainly defined by their family and household roles. The woman did not really have legal identity apart from their husbands. Women were look at as slaves because all they did was be at the house and satisfy their husbands in what they wanted. Men would have total control over his wife’s property. The woman also did not have the right to vote unlike men. Some things that women did not have the right of was to vote, own property, could not sit in a jury trial, and could not be a part of a lawsuit. In 1830, a number of women in the United States argued for the right of woman to own their property and to divorce. In the 18th century gothic literature was happening. Gothic literature was in fiction, art, music, poetry, film, and television. Gothic tradition also includes sense with extreme emotion, fear, madness, and death. Death as a tomb, entombment was also used which is to be placed in a tomb be buried. A feminist writer, publisher, social activist, public lecture, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, said that women depending on men made them unquestionable slaves to them in the United States society. Perkins married the artist Charles Stetson in1884, which then both had a daughter named Katherine. A story that she wrote that can illustrate how women were like in the 18th century is “The Yellow Wallpaper”. The story “The

Women 's history is the study of the role that women played throughout history and the strategies required to do all things considered. It