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Women 's Portrayal Of Women Essay

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In Early modern literature, there are many pieces of literature that are written by men who talk about women in ways that objectify and try to control them because back then women were not given much agency in society. The women that are being portrayed in this type of literature about unrequited love are seen as extremely flat characters who are just the objects of affections for the narrator. This is problematic as it just portrays women as someone for the narrator of the poem to pin over although women are so much more than that. However, there are some authors trying to empower women and acknowledge the issues within their patriarchal society which are still prevalent to this day. These issues still apply today because there is still blatant sexism when positions of power are still dominated by men. There are some feminist writers on our syllabus even though a lot of them could not care less about how they represent women because they are only suppose to be an accessory to the story. They are always trying to describe what their perfect woman is like but she does not exist in real life. It causes unrealistic standards for women. For example, John Donne’s poem “The Flea” is empowering as he is questioning society’s views about sex before marriage. Donne is giving his beloved more agency throughout the story by criticizing the unreasonable expectations put on by institutions that govern society, like the church. An author in this time period

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