Comparing Mrs. Young To Her Husband And The Rape Of The Lock

“My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning and “ The Rape of the lock” by Alexander Pope are two poems that convey a theme of love and objectification towards women.For instance, both poems are similar in their use imagery and metaphors to grasp their audience attention. For example, in “My last duchess” the author shows the wife in the poem as an item controlled by her husband and uses his love for her as an excuse to abuse his power. Her life is ruled by him and she would have to deal with his insane jealousy because his obsessiveness is dominating his reality of his relationship . In this poem the male role has many characteristics one of them being paranoid and not helping him reflect on reality by him owning shrine of items that belonged to all his earlier wife’s. His late wife is shown as a piece of imagery where she is kept on a wall trapped not able to leave his sight or be allowed interact with others. (Browning,1-2) In “ The Rape of the Lock “ the poem starts off with Belinda,the main character, in a dream sent to her by her guardian Sylph. The dream sends a message to Belinda that she must be careful with all men in her life once she has received the message she awakens to a love letter at her sight and forgets the dream in its entirety. Throughout the course of the poem Belinda’s Sylphs are required to protect her chastity and help her contain her purity.. The man in her life is using her as an item and not as a human being.Pope encourages these characteristics

The text ‘The Daughters of England’, is a book written to provide guidance for young women, pertaining to their character and behaviour; the book creates the framework for the role of women in the household. It instructs that women must offer a virtuous influence on men - as wives, mothers, and daughters - as part of their role within society. Estimated to have been written in 1842, in London, ‘Daughters of England’ was penned by Sarah Stickney Ellis; a popular author of Victorian conduct literature. Ellis’ popularity implies that the source was widely circulated at the time, thus represents an important view of contemporary society. This document reveals to us the ideals expected of middle class women of the time, and the principles that were envisioned for them, relating in particular to the ‘separate spheres’ ideology.

After reading “A Nocturnal Reverie” by Anne Finch readers are able to see the transformation of gender roles through time. “A Nocturnal Reverie” was written in the 18th century, which was the start to improve the way women would be viewed in society. This was the start to many advances for women from

Anderson’s assessment stems from the fact that men found obedience to be a desirable female quality during the eighteenth century. Moreover, according to feminists, society during that time was designed for the pleasure and benefit of men alone. While Feminist criticism works well with Charlotte Temple, it is evident that another concept also deserves attention. Although the majority of novel seems to focus on women, chapters two through five connect almost exclusively to economics. The significance of economics and social class in these opening chapters implies that Charlotte is not only victimized due to her gender, but also due to her class. During the first few chapters, the importance of money and gender are revealed. Mr. Lewis exploits and then proceeds to blackmails Mr. Eldridge for money, thus sending him into financial tragedy. This short background story sets up the theme of class struggle for the novel.

Anne Orthwood’s Bastard: Sex and Law in Early Virginia by John Ruston Pagan highlights the paradoxical nature of life in the colonial times and how it aided the creation of American law. The four cases that resulted from the fornication between Anne Orthwood and John Kendall gave present historians a vivid image of how English settlers modified English traditions and began to create customs of their own. Furthermore, it was able to reveal some of the cultural, economical and political values in the colony of Virginia such as tobacco and unfree labor. They helped reveal the reasons why legal systems were created in the first place by documenting the prolongation of social order as well as the preservation of self interest. Anne Orthwood’s Bastard critically examines the role of unfree labor, women, and law in colonial life which perfectly aligns with the deeper question of what values helped shape the nation’s founding in the 17th century Chesapeake.

Thesis: A “true women” in the 19th Century was one who was domestic, religious, and chaste. These were virtues established by men but enforced and taught by other women. Women were also told that they were inferior to men and they should accept it and be grateful that someone just loved them.

The nineteenth century is popularly known for its traditional view of gender roles, especially regarding women. The term “True Woman” refers to what society at that time thought to be the ideal woman, carrying qualities of “modesty, submissiveness, physical weakness, limited education, and complete devotion to husband and home” (White, 2009, p. 1). Women were restrained in terms of sexuality, dress, language, and economic decisions. In Amy Gilman Srebnick’s The Mysterious Death of Mary Rogers, Mary rebels against these standards by being a single women that is also sexually active, however, her actions are what seemingly lead to her demise. Similarly, Fanny Fern’s Ruth Hall also goes against gender norms. In her case, she earns her own economic independence through her writing and lives a more unconventional life as a mother, but faces repercussions from her family. Through the novels Ruth Hall and The Mysterious Death of Mary Rogers, the main female characters revolt against being “True Women” through their daily actions and behaviors, however they’re each punished with consequences for trying to deviate from society’s path.

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.

Patricia Lockwood’s The Rape Joke is a risky composition- not because it discloses information about Lockwood’s personal rape experience, but because it does so from a comedic stance, ridiculing the unfortunate event and the events leading up to and after it. While the creation of the poem was prompted due to the sexual assault she experienced, the content and subject are not centered around the incident or the assaulter but around rape culture and the sociological concept of victim blaming, from both society and oneself. There is no such thing as a rape joke-the joke is the incredulous ways society has guided people to respond to it.

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

In the poem “The Lady’s Dressing Room,” written by Jonathan Swift, one may say he portrays himself to be a chauvinist by ridiculing women and their cryptic habits. However, others may say he wants to help women from the ideals placed upon them by society and prove to be an early feminist. This poem written in the 18th century represented women to be fake and sleazy at first. Then during the 20th century, the feminist movement used it as an attack against women, depicting the poem’s meaning as not valuing their rights and freedoms. The truth far hidden from these points of views became uncovered recently. This essay will explain both sides of the views and using critical thinking will uncover the real message the author intended to portray.

     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

Surprise! Women have sexual desires just like men do. Roles set for women in the 18th century demonstrated the constrictions women endured. The idea of sex, status, and character to a woman depended on what men thought of them. However Eliza Haywood’s Fantomina demonstrates what occurs when the gender power roles are reversed and women are the dominant gender.

Society’s view of women have changed over time, but have always had objectifying tendencies. During the 18th century, cosmetic alteration to natural beauty and materialism heightened, which resulted in a change in the way society viewed women. This change objectified women and scrutinized them more than in previous time periods. Authors such as Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift convey these views throughout their writings. Pope’s Rape of the Lock exposes the materialism used in objectifying women, mainly in the upper-class societal levels. The plot of the story centers a materialistic goal, as the lock of hair that was cut from a woman's head became so called “evidence” of a man’s sexual conquest. Other sexual conquests, forced or not, are

This consideration of appearance in "The Rape of the Lock" is very important as the society that Belinda lives within is very judgmental on the basis of appearance, especially for women. Her role is