Women's Roles In Westeros Society

One of my favorite shows on television today is the adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s book series, A Song of Ice and Fire, which has since been popularized today and commonly referred to as the HBO-designed title for the series, A Game of Thrones. The show does an exceptional job of coupling dramatic events with real world applications, which says a lot for a show regarded as a fantasy series by critics. Throughout the show there are certainly several different political implications that are taken from real-world experiences from the early days of the English caste system. Additionally, the show consists of many different noble families in a fictional medieval society that is a stark contrast from the traditional family structures we see …show more content…
For example, a women’s role in Westeros society is viewed as much lesser than that of a man, however, there are many different female characters that defy these roles. One of these female characters is the young, yet ambitious Arya Stark. Arya is the youngest of the Stark children and through family of orientation is given an ascribed status immediately at birth. By this I mean that because Arya is involuntarily born to the prestigious Stark family, she is immediately ascribed to the higher social class, which comes with the burden of marrying whoever her dad tells her and to become a princess or queen one day. However, Arya goes through significant role strain when contemplating becoming just like these prototypical women in society. Arya, with the help of her dad, begins taking sword lessons and becomes an exceedingly talented swordswoman exceptionally quick. This is an example of how Arya was able to change her ascribed status to an achieved status due to constant training and hard effort. Moreover, there are countless other examples throughout the show of how Westeros takes part in social injustices. The caste system provides an efficient way for the powerful members of society to remain in full control over the poor members of society. Furthermore, it is exceptionally hard to further your rank in society if born into a low-class family. However, on the contrary, high-class family members are often thrown into positions of power without any qualifications. These levels of social injustice make it nearly impossible for someone other than a member of a noble family to rise to power. However, the low-born members of society are not meant to realize this, thus creating a false social conscious among the society. This means that the large majority of society is living day-to-day while ignoring these social issues, possibly