Examples Of Revenge In The Duchess Of Malfi

Simply put, promoting a women to a superior position is forbidden according to God’s law and the interpretation of the Holy Ghost. But he was a Scottish religious reformer which is why he would dislike Elizabeth I even more because of her religion with writing this piece. However, naturally, people who were Catholic or in any religion would find a bit of displeasure because it is proved by God’s law that somehow, women in any power or superiority is almost like a taboo. Document 3 is from “The Second Book of Homilies” by bishops of the Church of England and authorized by Elizabeth I which is less on the theme of religion but displays the misogyny even in families. It explains that the husband is the leader and the wives must listen to their husbands, almost like as if women were objects.

Revenge can bring out many people’s inner evil. In Edgar Allan Poe’s “Cask of Amontillado”, the main character, Montresor carefully plans revenge against Fortunato. Montresor is a man who vows vengeance against a professional wine taster named Fortunato. The wine taster insults Montresor, and he had enough of it. The insult sets him off and he plans a deadly and successful revenge. Throughout the story, Montresor attentively plans his revenge against Fortunato just like an expert.

“ 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.

The poem “My Last Duchess” is a historical event that involves the Duke of Ferrara and Alfonso who lived in the 16th century. Robert Browning "My Last Duchess" presents a narrative about a recently widowed Duke who talks with an emissary had come to an arranged marriage with another lady from a powerful and wealthy family. In the perspective of Duke, power and wealth were integral in marriage and was determined to be married to a wealthy lady from a famous family. As the Duke orients the emissary through the palace, he stops and shows a portrait of the late Duchess who was a lovely and young girl. The Duke then begins by stating information about the picture and then to the Duchess. Duke claims that the Duchess flirted with everyone and did not appreciate the history of the family: “gift of a nine hundred years old name.”(33) However, when an individual continues to read the poem, it is evident that the Duke played an important role in killing the lady. Duke states that “he gave commands; / Then all smiles stopped together”(45-46) he used these words to define the death of his beloved Duchess. The aim of the essay is to analyze literary devices that emphasize the content of the poem, which includes rhetorical questions, exclamation mark, and em dash.

A woman’s alternative would be becoming a nun, giving up all social freedoms and dedicating your life to serving the poor and God. Women who were subject to this life received a much more thorough education than other women, in order to properly learn religious concepts and theory. Otherwise, a woman’s education was limited to basic reading abilities paired with instruction on how to do homely activities. A woman of this time period had utterly no voice in politics. Law was man’s law. The life of these women were controlled by the men who surround them, their opinions meaning little to nothing. The life of a woman in medieval times was bleak and varied little. Romantic literature was on the rise, full of damsels in distress that only further perpetuated negative stereotypes of women during these times. These romances were full of helpless women in situations only a man could get them out of, or else they would be doomed. Despite this cultural oppression of women in this time period, some strong female characters were erected in medieval romances. A perfect example of an abnormally strong and independent female main character would be Enide from Erec and Enide written by Chrétien de

Keep in mind, during this period of time, women were seem as individual who should learn how to be a good mother and wife. This act of

The medieval church taught that women were inferior to men and that they should be compliant and obedient to their fathers and husbands. Men look down to women as their respect for their ladies are limited as in Canterbury Tales were these women start out as beneath men. These same men who feel the need to arrogate women of their dignity find their fate is later put into the women’s hands. Although a women is taciturn and does not speak out to the men and talk of their animadversion toward the men’s behavior, these same ladies have the power to then decide how these men should serve their punishment for their sacrileges and unruly decisions as in the “Wife of Bath’s Tale”, were after his life was saved by an old lady, in return this old women requested to him to “take me as your wife” (p.138). A women’s love and passion should be approached with appreciation and admiration otherwise being inconsiderate and impassionate will turn a women against a man.

The late seventeenth century, when the enlightenment began, was a period of great turmoil, which persisted at intervals throughout the succeeding century. Reason had led many thinkers to the conclusions that kings and queens were ordinary mortals, and that conclusion implied new kinds of uncertainty. Society in this period worked by the means of well-defined codes of behavior. Religion during this period was still very important to many people. Moliere’s “Tartuffe” is a great illustration on how religion affected people at that time. Moliere was very brave to write this story based on how the Catholic Church was influencing and blinding people. Women also played a huge part of the enlightenment period and society during this time. Women of the upper classes occupied an important place in the Enlightenment society, presiding over “Salons,” gatherings whose participants engaged in intellectual as well as frivolous conversation (Puchner 7). In the literature that we have read, society overlook women capabilities and their logic thinking. The story that was a great example of this is “Tartuffe “and “The Love Suicides At Amijima”. Throughout these two text you can easily point out the difference between a man and a woman role in society. In this essay, I will dive into how society played a factor in “Tartuffe” and “The Love Suicides at Amijima”.

Throughout Europe there was a heated reaction to Elizabeth’s rule because of her gender. Many English religious leaders and reformers expressed much discontent with a female ruler. The figureheads were discontent because not only

The private sphere included wives, mothers, family, and immediate household. The information above helps us understand why women had little access to public power but it also shows us why it was necessary for women to sometimes use other means to control their surroundings to their desired end. A point to think on is, we should not underestimate the fact that a woman's self-interest may have been the driving force in her pursuit of influence (power). We also cannot assume that women were always helpless victims of society unable to affect forces that may have seemed beyond their control. In defining the private sphere, the scope of a woman's self-interest included wives and mothers working to advance the interests of their spouses and children. Simply by her management of the household she allowed her spouse to leave home and give his service for the crown which in turn could supply him with prestige and power through his military endeavors. A medieval woman could be forced to use many methods, not always acceptable ones, to reach a desired outcome. The contribution of money and support through dowry, wage labor, household works, production, patronage and hospitality, were many of the acceptable ways. The use of affection within her household gave her influence because it could directly result in loyalty to her. Wifely persuasion could be used as in the instance of convincing a spouse to donate funds to

Revenge can be analyzed, as it becomes the exhibited behavior of the Widow resulting from a number of causes. First cause is the harm done to her family; second cause is the Widow’s perception of violence during that time; and the third cause is her aggression toward the killer of her son. The first cause of her revenge is the most obvious reason why she avenged the death of her son, and this is because the killer caused pain to her family. Any mother would be committing the act especially that her son was the only company she has. The second cause pertains to the Widow’s perception of revenge during that time, and because at the time, wars and feuds were still evident in the French society, bloodshed for the Widow is not something to be scared of, given any means. This story was only successful in showing to its readers how the society thinks of death during those times, which can be achieved through any means, by which losing one’s life was not something to be thought of carefully. This just proves that during that time, morality was not given high regard as it is now. Death by any means can be accomplished by anybody, regardless of age, gender, and status in society. The third cause of the Widow’s behavior is her aggression toward the killer of her son, which was not literally shown or described in the story, but was evident based on

Indeed, it quickly becomes clear that the Duke disliked many things about his dead wife. The Duke dislikes how the Duchess liked everything that she saw, believing that she was “too easily impressed; she liked whate’er she looked on”. It disappoints him because he wanted to impress her with his marriage to her and also with his money and lifestyle. What annoyed the Duke most was that:

Many laws of this time and era disallowed woman to have the same opportunities as men. Women belonged to their fathers, and then to their husbands. If a woman came from wealth, often were allowed to marry from the starting age of 12. A reason Queen Elizabeth never married was so she wouldn't lose her power to man. Women were

William Shakespeare's “The Tempest” examines patriarchy through gender and class. The patriarchal system enables men to have absolute rule over the women within their lives. In the play, Prospero exercises his rights as a father to control Miranda’s love and enact self-righteous deeds. Moreover, Prospero's patriarchal rule does not halt within his family, but rather encompasses the entire kingdom of the island of which he rules. “The Tempest” forces readers to acknowledge paternal patriarchies. Thus making one examine the ways in which the female gender is discredited by the male characters within the text.

Sixteenth century England experienced a phenomenon sometimes referred to as the Age of Queens. The decisive power of the country was placed in women’s hands and their reigns were watched with a reasonable doubt. There is contrast of rule in terms of reigns between Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth of England, both of whom were engaged in a protracted struggle for the English throne. Beside the legitimacy of their claims, there are more significant considerations which predestined them to either increase or lose their power. The rule and attitudes of the two monarchs bore significant influence upon the times in which they lived, including social, political and legal precedents which were being challenged and in some cases reversed. The fact that both Queens encountered situations of striking similarity, serves as a suitable example for a remarkable comparison, helping to analyze the lives of the two Queens and how their lives diverged as a result of such encounters and their actions thereafter. They were both Queens, struggling for the throne, they were women as well as rivals; they both had affairs with married men, however, one managed a narrow escape from the disgraceful situation, while the other failed to do so. Mary grew to hate Anne Boleyn, mother of Elizabeth, because he took the position of her mother Catharine as Queen of England. Before Elizabeth came to the scene, Mary was loved and was the only child of King Henry VIII of