Satire In The Lady's Dressing Room

Presenting literature to the public that is meant to be a commentary on social or political issues, masked under the guise of entertaining and fictional, is a tool implemented by authors and activists for centuries. While not all satire is as overt as Jonathan Swift’s suggestion that we eat the babies, it does not diminish the eyebrow raising suggestions that are conveyed once the meaning has been discovered. In Aphra Behn’s The History of the Nun and Eliza Haywood’s Fantomina, the established expectations of the female role within society are brought into question then directly rejected. These expectations establish that women should be deferential to men, morally unblemished, and virtuous at all times. Men, however, are not held to these expectations in the same way. The masculine roles assumed by Isabella and Fantomina demonstrate a private rebellion against the established patriarchal society as it warns against the under-estimation of women and proves that women exist independently.

“The Office” is a critically acclaimed comedy television series spanning nine seasons. The show is a “mockumentary” a style of satirical comedy that is crass in nature. But uses its platform to shed light on the hazards of societal norms that reinforce stigmatic ideals. This particular show follows salesmen’s lives around the workplace in a dying work field of a small town.

The poem goes on to explain� that Strephon's perception of Celia is forever altered and that he can no longer look at a woman without thinking of "all her Stinks" (122). After the Deacon's sexual assault and subsequent discovery of Clareese's menstrual cycle, "he drew back in disgust-no, _hatred-_then rinsed his hand in the kitchen sink and left without saying a word," and then

The life of a lady in the 19th century is painted in a romantic light. Pictured in her parlor, the lady sips tea from delicate china while writing letters with a white feathered quill. Her maid stands silently off in the background, waiting for orders to serve her mistress. What is not typically pictured, is the sadness or boredom echoed on the lady’s face. Perhaps the letter is to a dear friend, not seen in ages, pleading with the friend to visit, in hopes that the friend will fill the void in the lady’s life made from years spent in a loveless marriage; or possiblyk20 the lady isn’t writing a letter at all, but a novel or a poem, never to be read by anyone but her. Edith Warton and Charlotte Perkins Gilman, are 19th Century ladies who dare to share their writing with the world. Through their works, the darker side of a woman’s life in the late 1800’s is exposed. Gender politics in the 19th dictates that a lady is dependent on her husband for her financial security and social standing; that is if she is fortunate enough to marry at all. In Edith Warton’s The House of Mirth, Lily Bart is a beautiful woman in her late 20’s, who fails to marry a wealthy man. The narrator in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper slowly goes insane under her physician husbands misguided attempts to cure her of depression. The downfall of Lily Bart and the narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper is

The narrator is portraying a woman who is looked down upon because of her mental illness, but women at the time were often seen as childish or too emotional. “Then he took me in his arms called me a blessed little goose,” (Gilman 5). The narrator’s husband, John, treats her almost like a father would treat a daughter. The narrator is belittled because of her inability to act like women at the time were expected to. “Victorian values stressed that women were to behave demurely and remain with in the domestic sphere,” (Wilson 6). During the 19th century, women were expected to simply care for the children and clean the house. Most of the time, women who aspired to do more than that were not considered respectable wives. “Because the narrator is completely dependent on her husband and is allowed no other role than to be a wife and a mother, she represents the secondary status of women during the 19th century,” (Wilson 5).

Thomas Hardy’s poem “The Ruined Maid” introduces its reader to the harsh reality of lower class Victorian Women. Critical scrutiny through a feminist lens helps widen the scope of understanding to reveal beyond the satirical irony of the writing and bring to light the deep rooted social issue of Victorian England’s paralyzing poverty and its effects on women. In Critical Theory Today feminist criticism is explained as, "...the ways in which literature (and other cultural productions) reinforce or undermine the economic, political, social, and psychological oppression of women" (Tyson). “The Ruined Maid” clearly challenges

With puppy water, beauty’s help, distilled from Tripsy’s darling whelp” (29-33). This statement depicts that women will go to the extent of applying urine from an animal to hide their imperfections. From a man's point of view, this is nauseating and absurd to find such a repugnant fluid masking the face of every beautiful woman. As Strephon’s curiosity leads him forward, his fear of the unknown prepares him for another sight, “Hard by a filthy basin stands, fouled with the scouring of her hands; the basin takes whatever comes, the scrapings of her teeth and gums. A nasty compound of all hues, for here she spits and here she spews” (37-41). The image of Celia’s white teeth after seeing the compound created by them is tarnished. Strephon cannot believe that such white teeth were actually the colour of the paste he found. Thus adding to his point that women are not what they seem or of the same value. Next, he goes to see her chamber pot and is shocked with the contents he saw, “When frightened Strephon cast his eye on’t, it showed a visage of a giant. A glass that can to sight disclose the smallest worm in Celia’s nose. And faithfully directed her nail to squeeze it out from head to tail; for catch it nicely by the head, it must come out alive or dead” (61-68). Such a sight led Strephon to see all the blemishes that once covered beautiful Celia’s face. Men would not have thought of Celia the same way if all those ‘worms’ that covered her were still

Even though many of Swift’s readers see a harsh attack on women as one of his major poetic themes, both his poetry and prose strongly satirize the ill nature

Satire is one of the distinguishing marks that makes “A Modest Proposal” a classic example of Neoclassical Literature. In his use of Satire Jonathan Swift was undoubtedly influenced by Greek and Roman cynics who criticized the status quo. Like some of these cynics, instead of offering a reasonable and moral solution to a social problem, Swift captures the attention of the Irish people by a proposition of cannibalism. Describing his proposal Swift writes, “A child will make two dishes at an entertainment for friends and when the family dines alone the fore or hind quarter will make a reasonable dish and seasoned with a little pepper or salt will be very good boiled on the fourth day especially in winter.” In statements like this Swift use the power of

Most women were tied to the home in the 18th Century. Modesty had become an important part of family and society life. Women were considered to have a natural maternal instinct and a natural devotion to family. Attempting to leave this role of motherhood was seen as monstrous and unwomanly by society (Wolbrink, 4 Nov. 2011) Women expected to stay in the private sphere. This hiding from the outside world was an attempt to protect the purity of women reiterating that women are the weaker sex and must be protected. This philosophy is exemplified in an 18th century metaphor, “Women is a plant which in it’s own green house seclusion will put forth all its brilliant

All through Canterbury Tales, women are dealt with as objects in everyday life. In the “Miller’s Tale,” an old man marries a younger, attractive women for her looks. In the “Wife of Bath’s Tale,” a virgin woman has her virginity and innocence taken from her by what is suppose to be a noble and honorable knight and when his punishment is later to marry an older, less attractive women, all respect for his newly wife vanishes. A woman’s level of recognition in Canterbury Tales are through her class in society, whether she is young and beautiful, or old and disgusting, and her degree of experience in life. Women are not desired for their intelligence, wisdom and capabilities which might of kept a relationship deceitful-free. The “Wife of

The treatment of women in today’s culture has a lot of problems. Even though in the last century women have been treated better there are still problems. Women are and have always been sexualized in everything they do. Most of the time women are judged on their appearance alone. Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift is a piece of literature that comes across as misogynistic. There are many times in the book when women are judged primarily on their looks and come across as unable to control themselves. However, Swift is using this kind of writing style to actually convey a point to society. By making these issues larger in the book and by reversing gender roles, it is easier to see all the problems that our society has with the treatment of women. Jonathan Swift is not misogynistic and is trying to prove a point so the treatment of women is improved in our society. The scene of the

     The weakness of women is found in various forms throughout the text. Henry refers to women as “a decorative sex” and that “they never have anything to say, but they say it charmingly.” (Wilde 43) Nowhere is this better supported than during Lady Henry’s

In the very first couple lines Stephon says “Five hours, (and who can do it less in?)/ By haughty Celia spent in Dressing.” Stephon is downgrading Celia in my opinion by saying, it took her five hours to get ready but it was a waste of five hours because she not beautiful. Five hours to get ready is long time and to end up not looking breathtaking like you were expected is unfortunate. Maybe this means no matter what Celia does she will never be beautiful like she hopes. The reason she will never be beautiful in Stephon’s eyes is understood when he says, “And first a dirty Smock appeared, / Beneath the Arm-pits well besmeared.” Stephon is referring to Celia as not beautiful because she seems to be dirty, he only makes this assumption after he sees her dressing room and the clothes in it. He sees her dressing room

In1726, Jonathan Swift, one of the best-known realistic writers in 18th century, published his book Gulliver’s Travels which on the surface is a collection of travel journals of a surgeon called Lemuel Gulliver but actually is a work of satire on politics and human nature. In the four incredible adventures, Gulliver’s perceptions are tied closely with Swift’s shame and disgust against British government and even against the whole of the human condition as Richard Rodino says in his book that Gulliver is neither a fully developed character nor even an altogether distinguishable persona; rather, he is a satiric device enabling Swift to score satirical points. (Rodino 124)