An Unmarried Woman

Harriet Jacobs, embodying women’s struggles to overcome a male-dominated society, demonstrates how agency is not limited to well-off white women. Jacobs, the first woman to write a slave narrative, was not even legally recognized as person, let alone as an individual on equal standing with any man, black or white. Although Fern and Jacobs both struggled to navigate complex relationships in a male dominated society, Fern at least enjoyed the luxury of citizenship. Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life…

In the “Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, the character of Mrs. Mallard is a victim of a male dominated patriarchal society. In the19th century during the patriarchal period, men suppressed women 's rights and identity by imposing private will upon them (Jamil, 216). Women in the 19th century were expected to lead their lives by society 's and their husband’s expectations. At the beginning of the story, Mrs. Mallard is overcome with grief due to the loss of her husband. It was natural that she…

powerful woman, who is independent and capable of existing outside the environment of home and family. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “A Scandal in Bohemia”, challenges traditional social perceptions and gender assumptions toward Victorian women with his characterization of the female character, Irene Alder, which creates social tension between her…

anxieties, yet they are wholly different. Peter’s anxieties stem partly from his frustrations of his relationship with Clarissa Dalloway. After experiencing rejection of his proposal for marriage to Clarissa, Peter has been unable to find another woman to marry. In the novel during times of high emotion for Peter, he takes his pocket knife out of his pocket and plays with the blade, or he fingers the pocket knife in his pocket. These images are violent and phallic and are interpreted as one or…

the perfect “mother woman” and decides to try and find her independence Repression and woman / femininity: I feel like these two are…

A woman in the Renaissance is defined by three stages in her life: Pre-Marriage/Childhood, Married, and widowed (unless she dies first) and would only be seen as a sister, a wife, a mother, and nothing more. Her place in society was “to be obedient; manage the household; rear the children; and nurse the ill.” But all in all they were considered less than men, mostly in the case of higher reasoning which society (which was influenced by the male perspective) believed only men were capable of .…

broken. I want to argue that Sofonisba Anguissola conveyed her self-consciousness as a woman and emphasized her power to create as an artist effectively but subtly. Held captive by the structures of a patriarchal society, she did not keep silent. However, via her portraits loaded with double entendre, her daring spirit remained acceptable to the society. In this way, Anguissola unified her roles as a noble woman as well as an exceptional artist, which were…

cases of divorce because all of the power went to the ‘superior’ male, creating a parallel between slaves and women of this era. Even in cases where man and wife are still married, men continue to withhold rights from deserving women. "[Man] has made [woman], if married, in the eye of the law, civilly dead,” and “has withheld from her rights which are given to the most ignorant and degraded men - both natives and foreigners.” Even in cases where man and wife are still married, men continue to…

The strangled songbird that the women in the play discover explains the ambition behind Mrs. Wright’s crime, but also symbolizes Mr. Wright’s treatment towards his wife. Minnie is connected to Mrs. Hale’s memory of her as a young, unmarried woman who liked to sing. Like the dead bird, Minnie was once extremely intelligent and held so much life within her, but this spark and life was strangled out of her life with Mr. Wright, by her married life caught in a patriarchal society living with…

affair with Cassio. Iago used the line “She did deceive her father marrying you;” (Act three, Scene three). Iago’s scheme all leads up to Desdemona being killed for being a “whore.” Iago knew how men believed it was normal to be called on by another woman to cheat on the unsuspecting husband and put that idea in Othello’s head by claiming that, “all Venetian women cheat” (Shakespeare). Desdemona would have been breaking a big rule of obeying the male family members and according to the article,…