Examples Of Being A Bad Girl During The Elizabethan Era

Improved Essays
From time to time, there have been adjustments classifying women with the appropriate label as a “good” or “bad” girl. Up to this present day, a woman representing herself as a “good” girl confirms her actions as an upright woman in society whereas it also holds a negative connotation. In fact, a woman portraying herself as a “bad” girl establishes her behavior as unladylike but at the same time attractive for men. Nonetheless, Shakespearean scholars can agree that being a “good” girl during the Elizabethan period was ideal contributing to the traditional values of a woman finding a decent man to marry, bear as many children at her husband’s request, and from then on live a merry life. Under those circumstances, women like practice being obedient,

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Subsequently, the inequalities between the genders are evident in the master plan Petruchio uses to change Katherine from a “bad girl” to a “good girl” because it depicts the extent to which patriarchal men would go to ensure their dominance over women. According to feminist theory, women who follow patriarchal standards are called “good girls” and they “are put on pedestals and idealized as pure, angelic creatures whose sense of self consists mainly or entirely of their usefulness to their husbands” (Tyson 87). Since Katherine does not follow this definition, Petruchio takes it upon himself to change her. In other words, as Critic Marianne L. Novy states, “The way [Petruchio] talks about society proves him independent of its actual judgments and ready to reverse its expectations…

    • 749 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Throughout time, the moral standards and values of society and its members greatly changes, this in turn tremendously affects the perception of the actions performed by those in the past. Specifically in the perception of literature, the perspective in which it is viewed significantly influences how people understand them. If we look at literature written in the past through a modern lens while applying modern standards and values to it, much of the subject’s essence is lost in that translation because their is no attempt to understand what the writing meant when it was written, nor an effort to try and dig deeper for analysis of the writing. This is the cause of debate of the role that sexism plays in William Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew.…

    • 1508 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Throughout time, and especially during the middle ages, a woman’s role and position in the household as well as society was very much imposed upon being described as more at home and without a creditable opinion on important matters. But as time went on women became more educated and liberated developing strong opinions, being less confined, thus leaving the impression of women in traditional societies as being more “dangerous” or even “evil” as conveyed in Beowulf, Lanval, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and the Wife of Baths. During the mid-evil time period, the bible was seen as a huge source on how people and men especially saw gender roles and what was right from wrong. Since the beginning, they have used the bible in reference to women’s nature and have compared them to Eve and the apple and evidently saw women as prone to temptation, evil, untrustworthy, seductive, weak, acting purely on their own intentions and…

    • 1152 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Treatment of Women in “Othello” and “Trifles” Throughout history the handling of women has evolved. From the Victorian Era to the latter half of the nineteenth century many authors have championed the unfair treatment of women in books, poetry, short stories, and plays; however two authors have penned works worthy of comparison. In “Othello,” a maiden marries for love; however she is ultimately the fatal victim of her love. On the other hand, in the play “Trifles,” the downtrodden Minnie murders her abusive husband. Both Shakespeare’s “Othello” and Glaspell’s “Trifles” present the theme of patriarchal dominance through female characters who exemplify submission, victimization, and veiled strengths.…

    • 933 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The treatment of gender issues between both men and women portrayed in Much Ado About Nothing by Shakespeare has impacted both the audience of the Elizabethan era and modern day society. Independent, boisterous, and impulsive women were often looked down on, for they did not obey the male figures in their lives. The patriarchal society and the imbalance of power between both genders in Much Ado About Nothing is shown through the characterization in Beatrice’s courage, Hero’s dependency, and the men in the play who believed that they were superior. This was because women were supposed to be silent and gentle and submissive to their husband and listen to everyone. Hero perfectly described the “ideal woman”- a woman who rarely stood up for herself…

    • 1768 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In literature, the role and function of women varies depending on the author. Particularly in the past, there were playwrights who portrayed women as frail, passive figures to be only used as pawns for mistreatment from men. We can see this portrayal in William Shakespeare’s, Hamlet, as well as Arthur Miller’s, Death of a Salesman. The female characters in these two plays are to be considered as two-dimensional characters that only serve to help develop their male counterparts character. However, a closer study reveals that the true roles these female characters took on had purpose; for some, they were the most prominent characters of the play.…

    • 106 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Feminism in Fifth Business and Hamlet The current society has various perspectives of women both negative and positive. Moreover, literature exemplifies the different role of women comparing the roles of ancient and modern women. These comparisons have one thing in common, and that is the multifaceted roles of women in the ancient and modern society. This comparison is evident in two works of literature centuries apart; Fifth Business by Robert Davies and Hamlet by William Shakespeare.…

    • 825 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    His luck has run out as he faces the king’s court, unable to save himself and “he would never receive help from her” (130,466). But look who rides in to save the day, the real knight-in-shining amour his fair lady on a palfreys (131,473). She isn’t the only female stereotype that had influence over the court though, the two ladies before her are also divine and the men praised and where pleased with “their bodies, their faces, their coloring, each more impressive” (132, 530-531). These features are common when describing a female image simply to a man’s pleasures but Marie De France didn’t describe them this way for men. The maidens use there feminine looks, bodies and their sexy silky clothes to get the attention of the court and distract them from proceeding with Lanval’s persecution.…

    • 1465 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Imagine a society where the only purpose of women is to be wives and bear progenies. That’s primeval Athens, where females are seen as the property of men. However, the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, projects the opposite notion, which is uncommon because the play was written in the 16th century. In the play, a young Athenian woman, Hermia, disagrees to marry Demetrius, the man of her father’s choice. Hermia is depicted as having dominance through her bold actions that go against her father’s authority.…

    • 765 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Twelfth Night was written near the end of Queen Elizabeth 's reign in England. The notion of a strong female, such as Elizabeth, choosing to lead a country without the help of a man began to provoke people to consider what truly a woman’s role was (Callaghan, 86). For the most part, up until this time literature strongly focused on powerful male leads that expressed dominance and intelligence greatly surpassing the minor female characters in literature (Callaghan, 32). Shakespeare 's Twelfth Night strongly questions whether men are superior to women or society has simply forced women into the background, ignoring women 's ability to rival men 's talents and rationale. Feminism in Twelfth Night detects negative attitudes towards women of the…

    • 1835 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Women are always held in higher standards then man. This is especially true for those that lived in the time of William Shakespeare. All had to have certain virtues before a man could ever think of marrying her. Women in Shakespearean time had to have been kind, had chastity and was faithful, and had to have been obedient to their husbands. Women who did not have or follow these standards were more than likely killed.…

    • 870 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Brilliant Essays

    The Power Of Women In The Clerk's Tale

    • 3016 Words
    • 13 Pages
    • 7 Works Cited

    The Tale reveals that the perfectly good woman is powerful, or at least potentially so, insofar as her suffering and submission are fundamentally insubordinate and deeply threatening to men and to the concepts of power and gender identify upon which patriarchal culture is premised (Hansen, 190.) However, the happy ending brings the heroine the dubious reward of permanent union with a man whom the Clerk, embellishing his sources, has characterized as a sadistic tyrant, worst of men and cruelest of husbands (Hansen, 190.) As a final message and a warning for both men and women alike, the Clerk's tale ends with the following…

    • 3016 Words
    • 13 Pages
    • 7 Works Cited
    Brilliant Essays
  • Superior Essays

    At the time of Shakespeare’s plays, the role of women was seen as obsolete or unencouraged. Women were not to be educated, they were to obey their father’s wishes then their husbands, and they were grouped into the social class of their husbands. Women also rarely left the comfort of their homes; except to attend church then return straight home thereafter. The female roles in plays were played by younger boys. In medieval times, it was considered to be disgraceful or embarrassing for women to be on stage.…

    • 1317 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The effect of a male-dominated society on the school system’s curriculum includes reading poems and stories that have men holding power over women. The female protagonist begins to challenge the required literature at her school because the female characters are not good role models for young women since their downfalls are a result of being too eager to please and trusting the wrong men. In the story, the young girl questions what purpose these weak female characters serve in the classroom: “why did we have to study these hapless, annoying, dumb-bunny girls?” (Atwood 224). This quotation aids in understanding why Atwood’s female narrator identifies with the Duke as opposed to the Duchess because it illustrates her yearning for females to be represented as powerful and intelligent instead of merely an object that men can easily push around.…

    • 974 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Not many of Shakespeare’s plays contain a female character in the lead role position. Therefore, when female characters have a prominent role in plays it is something to pay attention to. For instance, in Measure for Measure, Isabella’s character serves to break down the patriarchy by using their own constructs to emphasize how outrageous their ideas are. Isabella does this by falling into one of the three categories that the patriarchy says women belong to. In this society, women are either maid, widow, or wife and problems occur when women do not fall into one of the three defined categories.…

    • 939 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays