Importance of the Eunuchs in Elizabeth Inchbald’s The Mogul Tale

In the middle period there were many tales of great warriors, kings, and men alike as well, as in the ancient period and the early 20th century. Yet, what happens to the women? There emerges a great curiosity as to who had the upper hand when it came to control. However, as the saying goes, behind every great man is an even greater woman. In the tale “The Thousand and One Nights,” a woman’s sexuality, emotions, and physical actions towards men are not overtly influential. However, when considering, how women used sexual and emotional control towards men, you start to wonder who is really in control. The women are in control. Women’s powers in sexuality and the emotional reactions by men play a vital role in this story.

na Nanda 's Neither Man Nor Woman is an ethnographic study about the lives of Indian men known as the hijras. Through interaction with the hijras and her study of Indian culture, Nanda provides a glimpse into a unique society and lifestyle. The author goes into detail about the lives of hijras, their treatment by Indian society, the economic and sexual implications of their existence and status within Indian culture. Nanda defines the hijras as “...the name given to a full-time female impersonator who is a member of a traditional social organization, part cult and part caste, of hijras, who worship the goddess Bahuchara Mata. Hijras may be eunuchs with partial surgical sex reassignment; their sexuoerotic role is as women with men.” (Nanda)

In the sixteenth century the role of women in society was very limited. Women were generally stereotyped as housewives and mothers. They were to be married, living their life providing for her husband and children. The patriarchal values of the Elizabethan times regarded women as the weaker sex.’ Men were considered the dominant gender and were treated with the utmost respect by females. Women were mainly restricted within the confines of their homes and were not allowed to go school or to university, but they could be educated at home by private tutors. Men were said to be the ones to provide for their families financially. Women were often seen as not intelligent. Property could not be titled in the name of a female within the family. Legally everything the female had belonged to her husband. Poor and middle class wives were kept very busy but rich women were not idle either. In a big house they had to organize and supervise the servants.

Shakespeare and Bram Stoker write suppression and madness into their female characters who represent the condition of women during their time. Ophelia from Hamlet and Lucy from Dracula are a symbol for all women from both the Renaissance and Victorian era and their actions portray the suppression of the patriarchal system. Throughout the whole play, Ophelia and Lucy walk down the same path as both of them get oppressed by their families and go through an extreme character development while expressing their desires.

Sixteenth century England was the Elizabethan era, with an unmarried woman as the Queen. Even though there was a woman on the throne, the expectations of women did not change and stayed very much similar to when men were King.

Formalized unions in the Heian era had been organized starting with pre-pubescent boys to girl’s after their first menstrual cycle. Genji had been wed at a young age to the four year older Aoi and thereafter wooed profuse women. As a son of the emperor he possessed unabashed access to women across the political spectrum. Polygamous relationships for men were a normal function of aristocratic society during this era. Sexual adventures were however concealed and any sights of women would rile a man’s desire for copulation. Yet in the context such interactions typically transpired during the cover of night and the lovers never witnessed dawn together.

230). Help is not given because of the victim blaming that is done throughout the recovery process, and the representation of apathy. The general distaste of the subject of selling one’s body for money is a controversial subject that makes some steer away. “Women are manipulated by consumerism and perversion of family values to fulfil family needs and consumption in the name of cultural tradition – duty, care, gratitude - even if it means being sold into prostitution”(Turner, 2002, pg.17). Culture pushes women to fulfill roles of traditional values while also maintaining money for family, causing some women to be more prone as victims of sex trafficking. This is another example of our society pushing women (and men) towards the

The play Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare is set during the latter days of the Roman Empire. It can be argued that women were treated like possessions back then, and that Shakespeare was implicitly stating the oppression women faced. One of the main female characters of the piece, Lavinia, was constructed in a certain way to fulfill this social role in the patriarchal society. However, the other female character, Tamora, was created to oppose the social role of female objectification. Though, there are still moments in the play where she is implicitly objectified but still maintains her superiority- an object of male desire.

In Shakespeare’s plays it is important to understand the historical context of women in the Elizabethan Age and their role. The Shakespearean era consisted of a misogynistic and patriarchal society which contrasted with Queen Elizabeth being the head of the state. Even though the most important person in England was a woman, the common woman was still very limited in her power and in her independence. Women in this era were dependent on men socially, economically and sexually. Married women were not allowed to be in the public without their husbands, they were bound to the domestic area. Women in general were believed to be less rational than men and always needed male protection and guidance. As they were thought to be incapable of caring for themselves, it was the men’s duty to control their sexuality; the father had to guarantee that his daughter marries as a virgin and the husband had to control his wife so she would only bear his children. Economically women were dependent on men because they were not allowed to have their own business or be involved in trade. They were seen as objects of bartering that men traded with and treated as if they were property. Women were believed to be passive objects, this idea of male dominance above women is represented in theology and philosophy and even supported by medical science: “The fact that female sex organs were inside was

Using the elements of fiction and truth a mass amount can be gained from understanding how women fit in with the government/patriarchy. From novels comparably, A Passage to India and A Handmaid’s Tale, these two reflect different times: a realistic time of Indian Imperialism and a Utopian fantasy that could indubitably become the future of tomorrow. How do they correspond with the role of women? Both either represent or differ from the true, unseen representation of women amongst the power of the elite, against the suppressors of the minority, and the

Vesperus’ masculine beauty is a central theme in Li Yu’s moral comedy, The Carnal Prayer Mat. What’s more, his life trajectory parallels non-Mahayana Indic accounts of Siddhartha’s path to enlightenment, particularly on the emphasis placed on descriptions of both men’s physical perfection and their subsequent sexual appetite and prowess. Both Vesperus’ and Siddhartha’s masculine beauty propels them forward on their life paths, positioning them in the simultaneously instructive and destructive feminine sphere of the inner quarter. The wealth of sexual experiences gives both men the necessary insight for their critical realization of the superficiality and emptiness of a life guided by carnal desires and sexual pursuits of women. As a

A common discussion between the sexes is the omnipotent power that men seem to hold over women in all societies. Why do men always have the social advantage over women? Both Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and Beaumarchais’ The Marriage of Figaro show that there is indeed a social stigma placed on women where women are not allowed as much freedom to either fight back against a suitor or choose not to accept a suitor’s love and choose another. Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night focuses mainly on the negative stigmas against women, while Beaumarchais’ The Marriage of Figaro places most of the blame for perpetuating the stigmas on the aristocracy, especially the men within the aristocracy (i.e. the Count). Both texts examine the social role women play in society, and both texts critique the societal norms that restrict women.

Many wonder how or why these boys get involved with something like this and it is honestly quite awful. In most case’s they are kidnapped, or enticed at a youthful age and are kept until the age of 18, and are considered property instead of people(South Asian Post). But, there are some boys who go into this lifestyle because it gave them a chance at a better life. A life that they never would have had, if they would have stayed in the life of poverty. Some of these boys did this because with being a bacha came with

The Hijras of India are typically born male, but they undergo ritual surgery to remove their male genitals in order to establish a new gender identity (Guest, 2014). The Hijras identify with the Hindu Mother Goddess, Bahuchara Mata, who is generally represented as transgendered (Guest, 2014). They typically dress and talk like women, although they are not seen as male nor female (Guest, 2014). They may also engage in sex with men. Because Hijras identify with the Hindu Goddess, they are revered as a sacred figure, but at the same time, they are marginalized in society. They live according to an established code of conduct in communities known as “gharanas” (Patel,

The 19th century essayist and literary critic William Hazlitt wrote of Cleopatra, "She is voluptuous, ostentatious, conscious, boastful of her charms, haughty, tyrannical, [and] fickle," which are "great and unpardonable faults" (Hazlitt 2-3). Much of the criticism of Antony and Cleopatra has recycled this judgement, depicting Cleopatra as a villainess uses her eroticism and sexuality to motivate Antony to seek power. Cleopatra is memorable for her propensity for violence as well. While Antony and Cleopatra was written after the death of a violent English queen, Elizabeth I, Shakespeare may have been faced with a dramatic dilemma: how to make a woman