Powerful Discourses Regarding Women's Bodies

Back in the Middle Ages, rulers of many country were men and/or boys. For a women to be in power was usually a last resort. Elizabeth I fell under this situation and became the Queen of England. As people have regarded females, many disliked the idea of a women becoming the leader of England which has forced Elizabeth to use her power and authority to assert her position whereas people who have accepted Queen Elizabeth I has allowed her to act kind, sympathetic, and proud. Majority of the people during the time period were misogyny

“ 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.

Considering the fact that a female successor to the throne of England was ascending, there was a tremendous amount of political influence on her reign. The Act of Supremacy (Doc. 3), declared by King Henry VII, assured that Elizabeth would be the rightful heir to the throne of England; this parliamentary act stated that Elizabeth is the most superior

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.

As a woman, the narrator must be protected and controlled and kept away from harm. This seemed to be the natural mindset in the 19th century, that women need to have guidance in what they do, what decisions they make, and what they say. John calls her a “little goose”(95) and his “little girl”(236), referring her to a child, someone who needs special attention and control. His need for control over her is proven when she admits that her husband is “careful and loving and hardly lets me stir without special direction”(49). John has mentally restrained the speaker’s mind, she is forced to hide her anxieties, fears and be submissive, to preserve the happiness of their marriage. When the narrator attempts to speak up, she is bogged down and made guilty of her actions. Her husband makes her feel guilty for asking, he says, “‘I beg of you, for my sake and for our child’s sake, as well as your own, that you will never for one instant let that idea enter your mind!’”(225-226). By making her feel guilty for her illness, John has trapped her mentally from speaking up about it, convincing her that she must be more careful about her actions. Men often impose the hardships placed upon women during this era. They are often the people reassuring them of their “womanly” duties, and guiding them

In the Elizabethan period, women were subordinate to men. They were considered to be ‘inferior' beings who were controlled by their husbands, fathers or any other men in the family. Women were not allowed to hold their own opinions, views or lifestyles. Men had control of everything, some of these included money, politics, work, children, women and home.

The main ideas about gender against Elizabeth’s reign were related to the Church. When she began ruling in 1558, Elizabeth immediately became Head of

In her speech to Parliament in 1559, she claims that she has already been married to England (Document 7). This means that she will take care of England like a dutiful wife would care for her husband. However, because it was published after her death, the purpose of this document was to explain the legacy of Queen Elizabeth, and how great of a ruler she was despite being a woman. Another response to views on women in leadership was the execution of her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots, due to the threat Elizabeth felt from Mary in an attempt of assassination. This shows how Elizabeth is able to make the most difficult decisions, which is a skill required to have when ruling over a nation. One must also note that women were viewed as weak emotional human beings. But Elizabeth showed that she was not weak by executing her family member and thus, shows her sense of duty to her kingdom. Another example of a positive response was at the start of her reign, when England was on the verge of bankruptcy, due to the financial destruction caused by the previous Tudor reigns. Nonetheless, she managed to make England debt-free, proving that she had the capability of dealing with difficult monetary tasks and therefore, responded to the opinions of women not being able to rule successfully. Finally, before the invasion of the

During the 16th century, Queen Elizabeth I experienced a lot of oppression during her reign in England. Many religious figures opposed the idea of a female ruling a country, saying that it is against God’s will. Other citizens of the country, specifically personal associates of Elizabeth, however, stood behind the queen and admired her bravery, confidence and love for England. Elizabeth responded to the gender ideas in an authoritative way, She had to live with female stereotypes, and used it to her advantage when possible but she asserted that the stereotypes did not completely apply to her and that she was perfectly capable of ruling England.

Ann Wood Douglas suggests that a significant number of number in America during the early nineteenth century considered themselves ill. Many of these women, Douglas asserts, were self-diagnosed. However, these diagnoses were both encouraged and stimulated by the culture surrounding them. These women were not just sick, instead, they were sick because they were women. Their anatomy, specifically the uterus, was viewed as an inherently erratic and troubled organ that

It was thought “that reproductivity was central to a women’s biological life” and a woman must “concentrate their physical energy internally, toward the womb” (Ehrenreich and English p44). Many women’s disorders were termed hysteria derived from the Greek word hystera, meaning womb. It was thought these disorders originated from the womb since this was the main aspect of a woman’s life. These types of treatments were not necessarily a need for medical attention to women’s disorders but instead a simple way to maintain the women’s role in the 1800’s: the domestic stay- at- home care-giver. Women needed to remain at home caring for man and their offspring.

Much of Elizabeth’s success in managing parliament is due to her personal skills and tactics. Elizabeth used a tactic of moderate reform, such as through the Religious Settlement, as it successfully isolated extremists and prevented the encouragement of large-scale extremism. Elizabeth cleverly exploited her gender to successfully control Parliament. The queen’s feminine charm often the loyalty

An expecting couple awaits to discover the gender of their baby. The nurse announces that it’s a girl. The couple is extremely excited, but do they truly grasp the weight of what this implies? Gender is not simply a physical trait, as it affects nearly every aspect of a person’s life. Stereotypes repress the potential in all men and women. The same stereotypes are found throughout literature such as Medea by Euripides, Chaucer’s “The Wife of Bath’s Tale”, “Sonnets” by Shakespeare, “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and Frederick Waterman’s “The Best Man Wins”. A common thread between these pieces is that power can be gained by those who are suppressed by defying gender stereotypes and social hierarchies.

Men die in battle; women die in childbirth” (Gregory 1). This quote from the historical novel “The Red Queen” presents a straightforward reality that women and men believed before the advancements of modern medicine. In accordance with past social norms the time periods between the 17th and 19th century have shown that women would always hold the role as the weaker sex. Between the prejudice of men who considered themselves superior and the way history portrayed woman in a submissive light, there was no understanding of what women experienced throughout their lives. There may have been a few incidences that made an appearance here or there, but their significance would soon lose recognition in the masses of that time. Unfortunately, the only role that was considerably memorable for women during these eras was marrying into a well-off family and producing children. Still, even in this aspect of their lives women were viewed as inadequate. Childbirth held no advantage for men and midwifery was considered a profession that only a woman would be fitted for. In the late 1800’s a prominent surgeon by the name Sir Anthony Carlisle even went as far as to say that midwifery was a “humiliating office” and therefore “suitable only to women”( Massey 1). However, comments and thoughts like this would prove to be invalid as men became more immersed in the practice of childbirth. Fear of death led women of higher status away from traditional practices of female midwifery and they turned

“There is no protection. To be female in this place is to be an open wound that cannot heal. Even if scars form, the festering is ever below” (Morrison 163). Toni Morrison, in her novel A Mercy, suggests that women in 17th century American society were constantly subjugated as inferiors no matter their class or privilege. Although Rebekka and Widow Ealing were both privileged, white women, they still faced the societal pressures that harmed the mother-child relationships among the slaves – Lina, Florens, and Sorrow. Each chapter of A Mercy is told from a different character’s perspective, allowing readers to understand the similarities among the female characters’ standpoints during this time period. By depicting the tribulations of motherhood that extend beyond society’s narrow stereotype, Morrison exposes how societal pressures of the late 17th century America influenced the complexities of motherhood.