Taking Matters into Their Own Hands The tables and tides are turning more and more each day, allowing the writings of people from all classes of life and gender to be studied. The poetry of Isabella Whitney, an educated servant and writer from the second half of the sixteenth century, remained long in obscurity, but like Elizabeth I, whose poetry is often neglected in favor of studying her reign and rhetoric, light is being shed on their creative works. The two female writers, although separated by class, display the fears and frustrations of women who are down on their luck as Fortune imprisons their hearts and bodies and leaves them powerless to change their situations. Whitney wrote “I.W. To Her Unconstant Lover” and “The Admonition …show more content…
Written in 1571, thirteen years after being crowned queen of England, the poem shows that the queen still suffered from fear of “future foes” that threatened to depose her as ruler of her country (Elizabeth I “The Doubt” 1). The first line of the poem, written in response to the attempts of the supporters of Mary, Queen of Scots, to claim the throne of England for Elizabeth’s Catholic cousin displays the queen’s worry that her power and reign are not, at the time, completely stable and secure. Yet despite her fears, the queen writes several lines later that “if reason ruled / Or wisdom weaved the web,” she could gain power over Fortune and no longer fear the future (Elizabeth I “The Doubt” 7-8). Instead, with a rational mind and a heart and body no longer trapped by stronger people, Elizabeth begins to find a way to conquer Fortune and powerfully determine her own fate. Elizabeth ends the poem by revealing that she is no longer a fearful prisoner at the mercy of those with more authority than her, but a powerful ruler of England. With this poem, the young queen displays her formidable strength and warning to any, including fate, who threaten her
In the late 1800s, nearly all women were viewed as subservient, inferior, second class females that lived their lives in a patriarchal and chauvinist society. Women often had no voice, identity, or independence during that time period. Moreover, women dealt with the horrors of social norms and the gender opposition of societal norms. The primary focus and obligation for a woman to obtain during the 1800s was to serve her husband and to obey to anything he said. Since women were not getting the equality, freedom, or independence that they desired, Kate Chopin, an independent-minded female American novelist of the late 1800s expressed the horrors, oppressions, sadness, and oppositions that women of that time period went through.
In the early to mid 1700’s women were often viewed as individuals that needed to be sheltered from anything difficult or dangerous. Elizabeth Swann is a prime example of this stereotype. Throughout her life, Elizabeth dreamed of being independent, however, her father and his army did not allow her. Once she is finally able to escape her sheltered life, she quickly finds herself in a lot of trouble and needs help to escape it. While Elizabeth Swann wants to be viewed as independent, Elizabeth is heavily reliant on the “damsel in distress” stereotype and uses the men in her life to save her.
As evaluated by Smith, “Like the best heroes, Whitney – the black girl from Jersey who worked her way to global stardom, made history and died early from the weight of it – makes bravery look easy... She is calmly joyful – cool, actually, and free of fear. And when she arrives at Oh, say [cymbal] does our star- [cymbal] spangled banner yet wave, she moves to lift the crowd. It's a question. It's always been a question.
She labels herself a “weak and feeble woman,” calling out her biggest weakness in the eyes of the people. She then powerfully juxtaposes this idea with her “heart and stomach of a king,” purposefully choosing not to identify herself as a queen . To label herself as a queen is to eliminate her own power; Elizabeth knows how little respect queens get. Being king means equal respect. This is why Elizabeth calls herself a king: because she gains more respect, and it is more familiar for the people to refer to their sovereign as kingly.
Another theme transmitted throughout the story, though not as prevalent as the evilness behind repressing human rights, is that giving up one’s own comfort, safety, and life for a cause one believes in is a selfless and admirable action. When Minerva began organizing a resistance, she was aware of the dangers that came with it. However, she sacrificed her personal happiness for the greater good. When Minerva began to become seriously involved in the resistance, she asked Patria to take care of her child even though it greatly pained her to do so. Patria responded by saying “‘But Minerva, your own child--’ I began and then I saw it did hurt her to make this sacrifice she was convinced she needed to make”(155).
The next chapter highlights the gendered division of labor and the difficulty to keep a family as a slave. Chapter six and seven moves on to the eighteenth century and shows how women have improved in areas such as more political participation and increasing social class of
They show the harsh and cruel reality of the surrounding environment that women live in without framing that reality in beautiful frame. This is obvious in William Dean Howells’s “Editha” and Henry James’s “Daisy Miller”. Both Editha and Daisy share the same characteristic of the New Woman. These two women redefine the feminine ideology of women who suffer from following the social norms of their culture. They believe that women should have freedom as well as men, and they are responsible for making decisions in their lives without under
I know I have but the body of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart of a king, and of a king of England” (“Elizabeth I: Speech against the Spanish
Queen Elizabeth I was an important ruler in English history. Elizabeth was different, she remained an unmarried queen regnant, claiming for herself all of the powers that belonged to a man and a prince. Her presence on the throne seriously offended the male sense of decorum. “Thou hast set to rule over us a women, whom nature hath formed to be in subjection unto man… Ah, Lord, to take away the empire from a manna d to give it to a women seemeth to be an evident token of thine anger toward us Englishmen” (Brooke, 2015) Her reign is usually referred to as the Golden Age of England, which is because Queen Elizabeth I dealt with sensitive problems that were left behind from past rulers.
It is true that she proved wrong many people who said a woman could not rule a country such as England, and had a very successful forty-five year reign. However, in their excitement, many overlook Elizabeth’s immediate predecessor Queen Mary, unless to paint her as the Catholic monster from whom Elizabeth saved the English. This is a gross misrepresentation of Elizabeth’s part in Mary’s reign, and more importantly, often means leaving out how much Elizabeth studied her sister’s reign, for examples of both what and what not to do. Elizabeth, like Mary, waited until after her coronation to call a parliament, to avoid casting any doubt on the ‘fact’ that her sovereign right to rule was determined by God, not Parliament. Mary’s marriage, however, was a perfect example to Elizabeth of what not to do.
Queen Elizabeth first establishes the credibility of her troops ability to defend themselves and the people of her realm in the battle against the troops of those of the king of Spain. The queen acknowledges the persuasion by the people regarding their safety to “take heed how we commit ourselves to armed multitudes, for fear of treachery.” In response Queen Elizabeth declares “Let tyrants fear, I have placed my chiefest strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts and good-will of my subjects.” The queen relies that in this battle, she 's no fool but more so the Spanish King and his men are since they have dared to inflict pain and fear into the queen and her
Elizabeth I became the queen of England at the age of twenty-five in 1558, which was a particularly difficult time for a young woman to shoulder the responsibility of ruling the country. At the time, it was riddled with religious conflicts and a huge financial deficit coming from a recent war with France. But by the time of Elizabeth's death forty-five years later, England had experienced one of the greatest periods in its venerable history, causing many people to believe that she was the greatest monarch in England’s history. However, she was an ordinary person who had to cope with numerous obstacles and conspiracies such as marriage issues, assassination threats, and illness along the way.
With that purpose in mind, she revises some aspects of women’s place/absence in history, society, and literature and mixed it with some fiction in order to explain how she came to adopt that thesis. For example, she asks herself what would have happened if Shakespeare had had a sister
This week’s poems where Lord Alfred Tennyson’s “Mariana” and “The Lady of Shalott”, Christina Rossetti’s “No Thank You John” and “Promises Like Pie Crust” and William Morris’ “The Defence of Guenevere”. All these poems displayed something about how women were viewed and the way that they were perceived back in the Victorian times. The first poem “Mariana” is about a woman who lives in worn down house because she doesn't have any meaning to her life because she was never able to marry. The second poem, also by “The Lady of Shalott” is about a woman who was stuck in a tower weaving for her entire life, because if she left a cure would fall on her and she would die. She stayed in the tower growing lonely until she saw Sir Lancelot and decided
“Bishop’s carefully judged use of language aids the reader to uncover the intensity of feeling in her poetry.” Elizabeth Bishop’s superb use of language in her introspective poetry allows the reader to grasp a better understand of feeling in her poetry. Bishop’s concentration of minor details led to her being referred to as a “miniaturist”, however this allows her to paint vivid imagery, immersing the reader in her chosen scenario. Through descriptive detail, use of metaphor, simile, and many other excellently executed stylistic devices, the reader can almost feel the emotion being conveyed. Bishop clearly demonstrates her innate talent to communicate environments at ease.