In the historical accounts, which often read like a novel, of The Burgermeister's Daughter, Steven Ozment reveals to us the trials and tribulations of the Buschler family, and most specifically the hardships that fell upon the youngest daughter of the family, Anna. The Burgermeister's Daughter tells an intricate story, as well as revealing to the reader the world that a woman in the 16th century must live in. One key theme in The Burgermeister's Daughter is the treatment of women, and the role of social status in the pre-modern age. While in the prior decades women's rights seemed to be getting better, in the 16th century, a lot of those rights had been stripped away. The sheer hypocrisy of the people in this German society at the time …show more content…
"Having her clothes cut in such a way that one could see her naked body" (Pg 17). She was also rumored to have been stealing from her father, and spending large amounts of time with various boyfriends at night at her father's home, and forcing the family steward to fetch them wine, and when the steward refused Anna "put a knife to her heart when she hesitated, once forcing her to flee in fear for her life" (Pg 19). It seems that Anna's adverse behavior may have been in part to her father's inability, or unwillingness to provide her with a suitable husband.
It seems interesting to me that Hermann, her father, had not set her up for marriage, and from the beginning of the book I get a strange feeling that there is an unnatural relationship between Hermann and Anna. Hermann keeps Anna to himself, and after his wife dies he brings Anna back into his house to serve in the role recently voided by his late wife. My thoughts were somewhat established in the chapter On The Run, subtitled Incest?. While Anna was forthright about her willingness to string along multiple lovers, the idea that she has an unnatural relationship with her father seems to play an integral role. It would make a lot of sense as to why Hermann never found a suitable husband for Anna, and even Anna remarks that, "during her captivity he
Steven Ozment examines the marriage between a sixteenth century German merchant and his wife. The publication illustrates the adversities of a long distance marriage, the Black Plague that passed through Germany, the passing of little Balthasar, their only child, as well as the trade of business that assists the binding of the two and their union together. Magdalena and Balthasar write letters back and forth to one another in an attempt to keep each other sane. The disposition of their marriage held a robust love for one another. Their letters were exchanged during the time of Balthasar's business travels. The numerous amount of diverse emotions, misfortunes, and affection that Magdalena and
Does being a female put every woman at a disadvantage in a patriarchal society? In The Marquise of O, Heinrich von Kleist tells the story of a woman named Giulietta who lost her husband, but continues to take care of her children. This almost perfect life of hers came to an end when she was raped and found out she was pregnant without any knowledge of the incident. As a woman living in the 18th century, she was put at a disadvantage because she now had to now find a father for the child in order for her and the child to avoid public scrutiny in the patriarchal society where having a father figure or more so his name was crucial. In this paper, I will be looking at the problem of feminine passivity in the Marquise of O and how this is shown
Anna is very hard headed. She did what she thought was right, even though her parents begged her to reconsider her choice. She kept Kate’s wishes a secret until the end of the story even though Kate’s choice made their parents upset with Anna. Anna did what was in the best interest of Kate even though it meant others would look down on her. Without the truth coming forward, their parents would have never understood why Anna wanted her body
As for Anna’s crimes, on a social and familial level Anna, having not been married off at an appropriate age, pursued sexual relationships with not one but two men out-of-wedlock and without her father’s knowing. Furthermore, Anna was accused of stealing from her father relentlessly and of leading a “scandalous, undisciplined, and reprehensible life” (3). These crimes, in addition to the consequent reactions of her family and city would provide the foundation out of which the feud would fester.
Although love is about sacrifice for the significant other, it can also a very selfish emotion. During the story the when Gurov and Anna are in their affair she starts to complain and he, “could not help feeling bored as he listened to her...she buried her face on his chest and clung close to him,” (Chekhov 269), showing that he is not willing to listen to her when
If Anna cannot save Kate, I do not think she will face lifelong psychological damage because Anna did everything in her power
What was the predominant image of women and women’s place in medieval society? Actual historical events, such as the scandal and subsequent litigation revolving around Anna Buschler which Steven Ozment detail’s in the Burgermeisters Daughter, suggests something off a compromise between these two literary extremes. It is easy to say that life in the sixteenth century was surely no utopia for women but at least they had some rights.
Anna also undertakes a spiritual journey over the course of the book. Her learning of the villages’ Rector, Michael Mompellion’s true thoughts near the novels end, as well as her realisations on the nature of some of the other villagers causes her to question her Christian faith and its restrictions it places on her in the society she lives in. This can be seen in her accepting view of the Muslim faith in the epilogue.
The words of advice given to Alexander would change his behavior momentarily. Through others respect for her, she was able to dispel Alexander’s behaviors to live a life without torment briefly. In addition, she was able to shape her life by removing the immoral company of her husband through sending a request to those around the prince, who helped her to seclude herself from the immoral actions of her husband. A particular request of this nature was her request to stay in Tsarskoe Selo longer than usual, which was away from the city where her husband’s immoral company dwelled (p.79). Her request was granted to her eliminating Alexander’s immoral actions temporarily.
First, the structure of the story reflects Anna's state of mind. The events in the story seem to take place with a total disregard for timekeeping.
, Anna Fitzgerald was brought into the world to be a genetic match for her older sister. Anna also realizes that she may not be able to live the life she will want to live if she is subjected to giving away her kidney to her sister Kate. Therefore, Anna tells her parents that she does not want any of this, and proceeds to sue them for medical emancipation and the
Sence Percy disappeared, Annabeth didn’t stop looking for him. This made all the chances of getting married to Percy skyrocket because this act of kindness would show Percy that she cared for him a lot, even more than she did when they were together. Annabeth has a dagger that is made out of celestial bronze (Can kill beast beyond belief but can also not harm the mortals. Useful in fights that are surrounded by
Anna knew that if Simon heard about this, he would give her a lecture about how it could have caused harm to him and killed him. He would also say that despite all his lessons, Anna was still doing the wrong thing. Even after he told her quite a few times about it, she was still going against all his lessons and all the morals and conclusions he had drawn and taught about. She was still doing what she shouldn’t be doing, even though she knew that no one--neither her parents, family, or teacher--would approve of her decision. If Anna hadn’t done this, it wouldn’t have led to all the other events and mishaps in the novel such as her other attempts of killing John.
Women in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s had specific roles determined by the males who were dominant in their society. Women began to write stories which told their gender roles in that era. The authors of these stories lived in this time period and their stories reflect a lot of the traditional roles that were expected of them. The author’s purposes, were to tell about how marriage imprisoned women in this period of time. Kate Chopin and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s stories provide examples of the gender roles. Their reasoning of writing these stories was to call on women of this era to learn how to empower themselves in this society.
It seems to me, however, that Anna is still too young for coitus. In another year to two she may yet learn to experiment, aside from which I feel uneasy at the boyfriend's pressure on her to have sex. It seems to me that he may be too controlling and insensitive of her feelings or of her developmental stage. The fact that he is 3 years older