You’re Mine, Margery: The Utilization of Instrumentality, Ownership, and Unhealthy Relationships in The Book of Margery Kempe
The nature of a patriarchal society is depicted by a system or social order where women are subordinated and considered inferior beings. The women in such a society have no power to make their personal choices and their actions pertaining different situations are dictated by men. Women are considered as second-class citizens with no voice or influence in decision-making in their respective patriarchal society. Margery lived in this typical nature of society. There are different expectations of different people that Margery interacts with throughout her autobiography The Book of Margery Kempe. Margery conforms to most …show more content…
John Kempe was a conservative who adhered strictly to the gender conforming norms in a place at the time that was aggressively oppressive to females. Many modern scholars have mixed opinions about the relationship that Margery has with her husband John Kempe. To some, John is a supportive husband who’s very tolerant and patient with his wife with her behaviors, though sometimes clearly oblivious. Nevertheless, some could argue that John had cared for Margery during her ill times after the pregnancy. However, it is also evident that they had a rather unsatisfactory marriage, uttered by John himself that Margery is “no good wife.” John agrees to a chaste marriage with Margery after hearing about her visions of God; however, he still expresses his disenchantment at times. “’Alas, sir,’ she said, ‘why move you this matter, and have we been chaste these eight weeks?’ ‘For I will know the truth of your heart.’ And then she said with great sorrow, ‘Forsooth I had rather see you be slain than we should turn again to our uncleanness.’ And he said again, ‘You are no good wife’” (Kempe 18). Despite the claims that John is trying to be supportive of his wife, he is being verbally abusive to Margery since she is not doing what he wants her to do. The conversation of his desires go on and he asks Margery to take action on it once …show more content…
Margery’s position against the male supremacy in the established religions and gender was later brought to the public. The men of the church do not believe Margery’s visions and Margery struggles with gaining approval for her new role as the “public virgin.” The monks of the Canterbury church, entirely made up of men, go as far as wanting to burn Margery because they do not believe her as they shout at her, “’You shall be burnt, false Lollard. There is a cartful of thorns ready for you and a tun, to burn you with’” (Kempe 22). Despite the fact that Margery denies of being a Lollard, the monks do not take notice of this, which could be argued that it’s because of Margery’s gender, as Cixous expresses that a woman’s word almost always falls only on the deaf, masculine ear that could only hear language that speaks in the masculine. Her efforts were not given warm receptions even by the public that greatly detested sexuality-disconfirming norms. She was at one moment greatly rebuked in a public arena where there was a civic ceremony. Margery was inspected, accused, and rebuked on broad daylight. Instead, this was to her the best opportunity to further her claims of male dominance in the society. Margery’s rejection by both the lay people and the elite members of the society is a clear reflection of what the women of her time faced in their efforts to fight against female subordination. Starting
The nature of a patriarchal society is depicted by a system or social order where women are subordinated and considered inferior beings. The women in such a society have no power to make their personal choices and their actions pertaining different situations are dictated by men. Women are considered as second-class citizens with no voice or influence in decision-making in their respective patriarchal society. Margery lived in this typical nature of society. There are different expectations of different people that Margery interacts with throughout her autobiography The Book of Margery Kempe. Margery conforms to most …show more content…
John Kempe was a conservative who adhered strictly to the gender conforming norms in a place at the time that was aggressively oppressive to females. Many modern scholars have mixed opinions about the relationship that Margery has with her husband John Kempe. To some, John is a supportive husband who’s very tolerant and patient with his wife with her behaviors, though sometimes clearly oblivious. Nevertheless, some could argue that John had cared for Margery during her ill times after the pregnancy. However, it is also evident that they had a rather unsatisfactory marriage, uttered by John himself that Margery is “no good wife.” John agrees to a chaste marriage with Margery after hearing about her visions of God; however, he still expresses his disenchantment at times. “’Alas, sir,’ she said, ‘why move you this matter, and have we been chaste these eight weeks?’ ‘For I will know the truth of your heart.’ And then she said with great sorrow, ‘Forsooth I had rather see you be slain than we should turn again to our uncleanness.’ And he said again, ‘You are no good wife’” (Kempe 18). Despite the claims that John is trying to be supportive of his wife, he is being verbally abusive to Margery since she is not doing what he wants her to do. The conversation of his desires go on and he asks Margery to take action on it once …show more content…
Margery’s position against the male supremacy in the established religions and gender was later brought to the public. The men of the church do not believe Margery’s visions and Margery struggles with gaining approval for her new role as the “public virgin.” The monks of the Canterbury church, entirely made up of men, go as far as wanting to burn Margery because they do not believe her as they shout at her, “’You shall be burnt, false Lollard. There is a cartful of thorns ready for you and a tun, to burn you with’” (Kempe 22). Despite the fact that Margery denies of being a Lollard, the monks do not take notice of this, which could be argued that it’s because of Margery’s gender, as Cixous expresses that a woman’s word almost always falls only on the deaf, masculine ear that could only hear language that speaks in the masculine. Her efforts were not given warm receptions even by the public that greatly detested sexuality-disconfirming norms. She was at one moment greatly rebuked in a public arena where there was a civic ceremony. Margery was inspected, accused, and rebuked on broad daylight. Instead, this was to her the best opportunity to further her claims of male dominance in the society. Margery’s rejection by both the lay people and the elite members of the society is a clear reflection of what the women of her time faced in their efforts to fight against female subordination. Starting