Patriarchy In The Bride By Joseph Rowlandson

“Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper” This repetition exposed that as a woman in thet Elizabethan era must conform to her gender’s expectations, obliging to anything that men do, as she as a woman does not have the right to be in charge of herself and must need a man to guide her as a woman couldn’t do it

Between 1050 CE to 1300 CE, the lives of women were defined by their status derived from marriage. However, because of a decline in the number of aristocratic women, the unbalanced ratio between men

In Marshall Erikson, we see a dominant formation of postfeminist masculinity, which simultaneously merges traditional masculine value. His large physical build body structure and lawyer profession as well as his emotional softness, a caring nature, and domestication to his long time girlfriend and wife, Lily, give the viewers a conflicting construction of masculinity. However, the textual affirmation of his faithful marriage does not identify with traditional masculinity values. Franka Heise, in her article “‘I’m a Modern Bride’: On the Relationship between Marital Hegemony, Bridal Fictions, and Postfeminism” conveys the privileges of ‘marital hegemony’ in contemporary American culture which reinforces and legitimizes “heterosexuality as norm and monogamy as a social duty” and where marriage is “the most desirable and ultimately only legitimate form of intimate, heterosexual relationship” (Heise 1).

“A woman’s place was seen as being at home. She cleaned, cooked, and raised her children. Few girls received an education” (Duchess). During this time prior to women's suffrage, they played a non prominent role in

More than six hundred years later the same issues of inequality and misogyny are still present in our society. The movement to fight against anti-feminism is not new. Thus, it only proves that the discrimination of women is more than centuries old. Written in 1405, The City Of Ladies is an allegorical story in response to the attack of men against women. Christine De Pizan highlights how a women are capable of good and moral character despite to the contrary of what male philosopher claimed to believe.

Femininity has always been directly related to masculinity. Whether they are building off of each other or tearing each other down, they are usually being compared in some way. Usually, the argument is over which has more power. Writings in these time periods were usually oriented around the masculine construct. However, there are a few distinct works that break the norms and give us insight on how femininity was constructed in those time periods.

Geoffrey Chaucer was one of the best poet in England and his eminence were highly- regarded. In his poem “Wife of Bath”, he consolidated several innovative ideas about genders. His belief of equality between men and women, idea that sovereignty of women were fine by men, and the great academic level of Wife of Bath shown that Chaucer is a feminist. Back in Europe, 1300s, women had a very different social status from now. Women were believed to be set as quiet, home staying figure.

As Richard Steele tried to define women, he said that '' a woman is a daughter, a sister, a wife and a mother, a mere appendage of the human race…'' Here as we can see, a woman from the moment that she was born, not as she was, regardless of social background, were defined by her relationship with a man. She was respectively under the responsibility of her father and her husband, so women should honor both of them and must obey both. During the marriage process, the contribution of women was very significant in terms of the construction of new family. This implementation was applied in the upper and middle classes of the society throughout the early modern period in a rigid way. Families from these groups do prenuptial agreements for their children because at that time the marriage was not just a decision of the two people, it was decided collectively.

“To the Ladies”, written by Lady Mary Chudleigh, is a poem that expresses feminism, and gives women a taste of how they would be treated in a marriage. Chudleigh displays this poem as a warning to women who are not married yet, as she regrets getting married. She uses such words that compares to slavery, and negative attitudes toward future wives to warn them. Back in this time period when the poem was published in 1703, women were known as property of men and you won’t have an opinion or a say so. The poem expresses a life of a naïve woman, who is bound to marriage by God, and she cannot break the nuptial contract.

The doctrine of the spiritual equality of women, the sanctity of the marriage, and the rules of consanguinity, divorce and remarriage, though sometimes perverted to ambitious purposes, nevertheless were powerful engines influencing the Roles of Women in the Middle Ages, and raising their condition in the

‘Sigh No More Ladies’ by Shakespeare, and ‘Les Grands Seigneurs’ by Dorothy Molloy are both poems reflecting the misogynist and stereotypical views that men place upon women. ‘Les Grands Seigneurs’ focuses on the inescapable transition that women face after marriage- from having authority in the relationship to becoming powerless, whilst the speaker in ‘Sigh No More Ladies’ embodies the belief that men in relationships cannot be tamed and will never settle down. Dorothy Molloy opens the fourth stanza with a volta to convey both the narrator 's loss in power and the speakers husband 's gain in power, as well as the negative aspects of both in the poem ‘Les Grands Seigneurs’. This is illustrated in “But after I was wedded, bedded”.

Beginning with Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre is one of the most iconic works in Victorian literature that highlights the struggle of women in a patriarchal society – something which can be considered ahead of Brontë’s time. Jane’s character is the embodiment of the enlightened female consciousness, and represents women’s desires and ambitions for emancipation. With the novel being written in a time when the patriarchy served as the dominant power, the themes that were portrayed through the text were concerned with women’s social position, society’s regard for physical beauty, and gender inequality. Brontë also expressed women’s desires for education, economic independence, liberation, and equality.

In 16th century England, the interest of the group was generally prioritized over individual rights and freedoms. Family was an important group in society, that was headed by the man of a household. Men’s individual rights were prioritized over women’s and reflected as in the best interest for the family. Patriarchy

It is not just marriage that Philips is critical of; in her poem “Against Love” Phillips condemns love and courtship in general for restricting not just women’s but also men’s independence. “Against Love” boldly

The role of men and women in the Middle Ages was not much different from what is generally assumed by the people of twenty first century. A married women was nothing without the permission of her husband, a single women had less rights than men. If a certain person is a women it concludes that they are not allowed to join tithings, could not serve as manorial officers, and possibly could not act as pledge in the court. A married women was unable to sell or giveaway land without the permission of their husband which explains the position of married women’s that “they were not treated by their courts as full adults”1. They were totally dependent on their husband because the husband were considered to be the head of the household.