During the age of the scientific revolution women faced continuous struggles with their representation in a heavily male dominated society. Even during the reign of Queen Elizabeth the I, women were seen as incompetent temptresses that deceived and distracted men to fulfill their own desires. Women writers of the time were required to place great thought and consideration into their works on any subject or risk being written off as foolish or shrewd. However, this led to another problem for women. The careful and clever arguments only managed to increase their reputation as deceivers of men, and worsen the reputation placed on them. How should women have written so that they could express their ideas: was confidence the key to being taken
…show more content…
Ester Hath Hanged Hamen, written by Ester Sowernam responds to the accusations proposed by Swetnam, asking “How rare of a thing is it for women to offer themselves prostitute? How common a practice it for men to seek and solicit women to lewdness? What charge do they spare?” (1457). Writing quite forwardly Sowernam calls out men on their actions of evil and focuses the blame on them. Sowernam uses valid arguments to illustrate that the claims of men are false, that it is indeed men who are the corruptors, and they shift blame on women for their short comings. She also chooses to write in a witty and jesting manner, removing any chance of her opinions simply being seen as shrewd. Elizabeth, Whitney, and Sowernam all show that for a woman to be taken seriously it was required that she write with confidence while maintaining an appropriate amount of cleverness and strategy. Intelligence though important to show, could easily be written off as vain and condescending without the proper implementation of cleverness and confidence. However, no matter how women chose to write, there would be no escape from the negative reputation of a having deceitful and incompetent nature. These notions existed before woman were writing seriously, and though they could be reinforced by the cunning a woman needed to apply in her works, it is an idea fabricated by men with no true basis that there would be no escape
Ester Hath Hanged Hamen, written by Ester Sowernam responds to the accusations proposed by Swetnam, asking “How rare of a thing is it for women to offer themselves prostitute? How common a practice it for men to seek and solicit women to lewdness? What charge do they spare?” (1457). Writing quite forwardly Sowernam calls out men on their actions of evil and focuses the blame on them. Sowernam uses valid arguments to illustrate that the claims of men are false, that it is indeed men who are the corruptors, and they shift blame on women for their short comings. She also chooses to write in a witty and jesting manner, removing any chance of her opinions simply being seen as shrewd. Elizabeth, Whitney, and Sowernam all show that for a woman to be taken seriously it was required that she write with confidence while maintaining an appropriate amount of cleverness and strategy. Intelligence though important to show, could easily be written off as vain and condescending without the proper implementation of cleverness and confidence. However, no matter how women chose to write, there would be no escape from the negative reputation of a having deceitful and incompetent nature. These notions existed before woman were writing seriously, and though they could be reinforced by the cunning a woman needed to apply in her works, it is an idea fabricated by men with no true basis that there would be no escape