The Women of Marblehead: Analysis of John Greenleaf Whittier's 'Skipper Ireson's Ride'

The prose of this excerpt distinctively illustrates the speaker’s negative attitude directed at the “gentlefolk” people. The use of metaphors, an ironical satire, and vivid examples of their idleness amongst the gentlefolks assist the reader to identify his disdainful attitude towards the gentlefolks. According to the speaker the only thing that is holding this arrogant type of people back is their idleness, which leads to a number of odd mishaps.

In "Dover Bitch", we begin with a rather liberated lover, who resists the attempt of the "Dover Beach" speaker to trap her into his meditation and, in fact, betrays him with the speaker of "Dover Bitch." At first glance, this lover appears to be more of an equal to both poem's speakers. However, this is perhaps not the case. The woman (or "girl", a term that implies lack of maturity) is not described as "intelligent" or "thoughtful", but rather as "pretty." The speaker assumes that the audience will think less of her because she's said "one or two unprintable things" -- after all, that's not very ladylike. And finally, her redeeming quality, what makes her "all right", is her willingness to have a drink and a good time with the speaker. In fact, the woman/girl in "Dover Bitch" is no more empowered than the lover in "Dover Beach" (assuming, for a moment, that the "Dover Beach" lover was female). She is still described in terms of her looks and her behaviour with men; that she has "read Sophocles in a fairly good translation" is peripheral. Our overwhelming impression of her is a bottle of cheap perfume. It appears that "Dover Bitch" in fact does display a patriarchal position on gender, which though different in its details from such a position in Victorian times, is no less insidious or unfortunate.

The second female role in this text is the Lady of the manor, Sir Bertilak de Hautdesert's wife. The Lady first appears in this text in stanza 18: "She was the fairest of all

The reader is told that while the young wife is made up and dressed like a little doll, it wouldn't be much of a stretch for men to see her as a prostitute or a slut. He even states in the last line of this section that for some men, the young carpenter's wife looks like the kind of woman they'd like to take to bed, others would see her as the kind they'd like to take home to meet their mother (she was a flower "For any lord to leggen in his bedde, or yit for any good yeman to wedde.").

Despite the achievements of women in many different fields, society still attempts to limit women to certain roles. Furthermore, in the poem, women “… are defined […] by what [they] never will be,” (lines 19 - 21); once again, the author claims that women are defined by what they are unable to do because of gender bias. Instead of being given the chance to be influential, they are continually limited to staying at home or doing jobs “meant for women.” Finally, Boland tells the tutor that women “…were never on the scene of crime,” (lines 27 - 28). This serves as a metaphor for how women are never allowed to do important jobs; instead, they are left at the sidelines due to the repeatedly ignored restrictions placed on women by our gender-biased society.

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

In Geoffrey Chaucer’s poem The Canterbury Tales a young Chaucer tells of the people he meets on a pilgrimage to the shrine of Saint Thomas Beckett in Canterbury. One of the most vivacious characters on the pilgrimage is The Wife of Bath. Both the Wife of Bath’s prologue and tale share a common theme of a woman’s control in a relationship with a man. The Wife of Bath and the old hag in her tale share a similar perspective on what women want most in life. In the prologue and tale the reader is exposed to the idea that what women most desire in life is to have control over their husbands and lovers. This tale and its prologue are linked through the way that Dame Alice, the Wife of Bath, fashions the old hag in her tale after herself.

Like a template. Every family had to have one of these. Families during this time did not bond or grow up together, but had been brought and constructed. Another example of sexism can be found in stanza five, as Dawe says, ‘’… and then it was goodbye stars and the soft/ cry in the corner when no one was looking…’’ This shows the audience that in this society, during this time period, men were also stereotyped as they were not allowed to cry. They DO NOT cry.

There are three women in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, the prioress, the wife of Bath and the prostitute in the Shipman’s Tale. The prioress and the wife of Bath are the only ones of the three that have a fully developed part of the overall work. They are equal to the male characterizations; the prostitute is only minor player. Women are rarely mentioned in the other pilgrim’s tales. The wife of Bath and the Prioress are examples of strong medieval women. As Chaucer depicts them, they are a departure from the typical sinful daughters of Eve with the exception of the prostitute. The wife Dame Alisoun, and the prioress are both pious, successful females but they are still under the domain of men. Chaucer’s women are still part of the patriarchal world of the late middle ages.

It is interesting to see that Brown decided to present this information in the form of a quote instead of using his own words to describe the women of his novel. One of the reasons for this is to stay consistent with his novel. Brown is continually sourcing quotes from other authors at the beginning of his chapters as well as throughout the novel, to have us look on other people’s words with a

These three brides represent the femme fatale, the fatal woman. The over sexualised women whose charms ensnare her lovers in bonds of irresistible desire, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations. These women serve as monstrous reminders of what happens if the boundaries of proper behaviour and traditional gender roles are crossed. These women, although beautiful, possess the wrong type of beauty, one of which brands them as evil, openly sexual and seductive women. Who, in addition lack the chaste passivity and fragility of the ideal Victorian lady, thus making them deserving of some form of punishment in order for them to be returned to their pure, innocent, albeit dead, human form.

of Woolbridge’s actions for the sake of her reputation. The poem has a major theme of Women

In the story, Wife of Bath, In medieval times, women were misrepresented and were never treated equally as men were. Literature showed a lot of misrepresentation of women. For example, in the prologue of this story, out of all the characters, only two were women and the of them were men. This shows how women were not wanted in anything that was important. Another example is told in lines 36 through 39, “To live in their virginity, as clean In body as in soul, and never mate. I’ll make no boast about my own estate. As in a noble household, we are told,” (Lines 36-39). What it is trying to say is that men see women as an item that is supposed to marry, have children and to do what they are told to.

The first women referenced in the text is Guinevere. She was “… gloriously framed at her place on the platform, pricelessly curtained by silk to each side, and canopied across with tasteful tapestries… studded with stones and stunning gems… but not one stone outshone the quartz of the queen’s eyes; with hand on heart, no one could argue otherwise” (lines 74-84). After reading this sensual and graceful description, it can be assumed that Guinevere is an incredibly beautiful woman, which places her on a dais while at the same time objectifies her for her beauty. Her involvement in the story revolves around her physical appearance which solidifies the Gawain poet’s intent to show Guinevere as a submissive observer rather than an active member of

In Geoffrey Chaucer’s The wife of bath’s Prologue and Tale, it is one of the many Canterbury tales that can bring us awareness of the women’s role in the middle ages. Even though Alisoun, who is the wife of bath is a female traveling with a group of men; she still manages to hold her own ground. She tells thr men in order to have a great