...In The Merchant of Venice and Pygmalion, Portia and Eliza on the surface seem to be typical women of their time, sold to men and told who to marry. Although more than 300 years separate these two plays, the role of females is very similar in that they are portrayed by society as objects of desire. Women typically got their identity from that of their husband’s power and status. Portia and Eliza both illustrate how women can have great influence and which is unheard of from women in the renaissance and early 20th century. Shakespeare and Shaw use female characters to convey the true definition of feminism by creating heroic and independent characteristics in Portia and Eliza. As seen in both the Merchant of Venice and Pygmalion, Eliza and Portia were both given arranged marriages and told who they belong to. This was the common thing that was done in renaissance time (Merchant of Venice) and also in the early 1900’s (Pygmalion). In Pygmalion, Higgins says “Very well, then, what on earth is all this fuss about? The girl doesn't belong to anybody—is no use to anybody but me”, Higgins is implying that Eliza doesn’t belong to anyone at the moment, meaning that a girl should belong to someone. In Merchant of Venice, Nerissa is quoted “Your father was ever virtuous; and holy men at their death have good inspirations: therefore the lottery, that he hath devised in these three chests of gold, silver and lead, whereof who chooses his meaning chooses you, will, no doubt, never be chosen...
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...By far Curley’s wife is the most significant character in the novella. She symbolizes women at the time period, and plays a big role in the plot. She is the very reason most of the impactful events happen. At a glance Curley’s wife seems like a needy attention hogging woman, however she is very complex and interesting. Curley’s wife is an accurate representation of how women were treated in the 1900’s. Women were very irrelevant to the social world and became the minority quickly. All throughout the story Curley's wife is told to “stay in the house” and fulfill “woman duties.” The evidence above directly mirrors to the way women behaved and were treated in the 1900’s. Women stayed home doing chores, cooking, and performing every need...
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...What right does one man have over another, let me rephrase the question, what right does one person have over another? This is the question that women have been asking for over the last one hundred years or longer. America was a very different place 100 years ago, from the way that people interacted with each other to the rights and perception that some individuals had on other persons place in society. In the early 20th century women were to be seen and not heard, they were unable to vote, work, or even own land in many parts of the country. Many of the different movements for women came from the abolitionism, the early fight for social justice. For social movements, human rights are simultaneously a system of law, a set of values, and a vision of good governance. Each of these dimensions of human rights offers resources for grassroots social movements, but in quite different ways. (Merry, Levitt, Rosen, & Yoon, 2010) Understanding that rights for everyone is ethically and morally right was even hard for some of the most prominent men of history. It was a very hard tradition to break to give women the same rights and privileges as men, especially when leading political and cultural figures had pressing opinions. Despite the rise in women’s importance on the economic, social, and political scene, many men still did not see them as strong, productive, or politically active members of society. A leading politician of these two decades, Theodore Roosevelt, on more than one occasion...
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...Walsh July 14, 2013 The role of women in today’s society has changed significantly from the modern age. There will always be different traits of each gender that can’t be duplicated by the opposite gender. Many families have tried to make the responsibility roles more equal amongst the adult male and female in the house hold. In today’s society the women is still treated un equal, less human rights than a man and the American culture still tends to believe that a women can’t do a job that a man can. In the modern age, the women were expected to raise the children, keep the house cleaned and have dinner ready when the man gets home at the end of the day. Families were not able to pay for the expense of child care so the mother stayed home with the children. Many of the children were also home taught because school was too expensive or too far for the family to travel to. The man in the house hold tried to do some hunting and they grew their own crops to cut down on the cost of food. Times started to change and families could barely get by so it became worthwhile for the female to try and find a way to help out the family financial as well. When it was time for the women to enter the work field, it was difficult for them at first. Employers had a lot of doubt in the female’s work ability and the quality of the job they were capable of. In the eye of an employer, men are seen to be a strong individual and women are seen to be weak. For a while there...
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...Women Equality In the early years of United States, while it was still a fledgling country, Thomas Jefferson made the Louisiana purchase. Suddenly, America had doubled in size and was full of unknown land. Sacagawea, a woman, lead an expedition commissioned by the American government to explore this new land and document all its findings. Her knowledge and leadership was essential to completing the mission, and because of her work the United States was able to safely settle the land. While the United States has relied upon strong, powerful women such as Sacagawea since its formation, the number women that have been capable of holding powerful positions has far exceeded the number of women that actually have. Currently, women do not hold the same power as men in the workforce and the government, in the United States. It is evident that women have come a long way, but it is important that we continue to support the movement of women in powerful leadership positions. Historically, women have always been at a great disadvantage in regard to competitiveness in the workplace. As early as 1790 women were already being discriminated against. One of our Founding Fathers Alexander Hamilton was even quoted saying women are “a source of cheap labor” (Leckie). Women back then were often sent to work long hours, in hot sweatshops, performing undesirable tasks. Yet, they still made less than men. Organizations of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s such as the Lowell Female Labor Reform Association ...
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...Modernism’s Relation to Early Film In The Cabinet of Caligari women are portrayed in a way that matches up with Modernism concepts. Dr. Olsen’s daughter is kidnapped and the men quickly hurry to rescue her. This scene shows how Dr. Caligari makes no attempts to resist savagery, in film men often must come to the rescue of women, and the savagery exemplifies why there are boundaries and standards in the world. Dr. Olson’s daughter, Jane, puts herself on Dr. Caligari’s radar when she comes looking for her father. Caligari is using a sleepwalking man, Cesare, to commit murders in the town. Jane goes searching for her father, for no reason other than her curiosity and anxiety, and gets herself in trouble for it. In Modernism, searching for answers can be dangerous as one can see glimpses into the savage world, as Jane does with Caligari and Cesare. As we’ve seen over and over in this course, such as in Heart of Darkness, the savage world is truly too much for a civilized person to handle and leads to many problems. In this case, even though she wasn’t directly searching for knowledge on savagery, Jane’s inquiry helps get her kidnapped. Jane is kidnapped from her sleep. In Modernism sleep is often associated with being g able to see the truth as well as viewing one’s hopes, fears, and desires. While it’s impossible to know what Jane was dreaming about she is quickly awakened into a quick nightmare. However, this “nightmare” helps the truth about Caligari soon become known. Cesare...
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...main trends in births and deaths in the United Kingdom since 1900 The birthrate in the UK has been in a long-term state of decline since 1900. In 1900 the birthrate in England and wales was 28.7, but by 2007 it had fallen to an estimated 10.7. However there have been three fluctuations in the birthrate of the UK, these are know as the three ‘baby booms’ in the 20th century. The First two came after the two world wars (1914-18 and 1939-45), as returning service men and their partners started families that they postponed during the war. There was a third baby boom in the 1960s before sharply declining again in the 1970s. The rate then rose in the 1980s and fell in the 1990s, it has recently increased since 2001. There were major changes in the position of women in the 20th century. In the 20th century women gained legal equality with men including the right to vote. Women now also have increased educational opportunities and girls now do better at school than boys. There are now more women in paid employment, plus laws outlawing unequal pay and sex discrimination. As well as changes in attitudes to family life and women’s role and an easier access to divorce. As a result of these changes, women now see other opportunities in life apart from the traditional role of the house wife mother. Many are choosing to delay childbearing, or not have children at all in pursuit of a career. For example in 2006 on in five women were childless at age 45, double the number of twenty years...
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...In the early 1900’s reformers where willing to fight for what they believed in. It was many different reformers that had a big role in influencing and changing America’s politics and governments since the early 20th century also known as the progressive era. These things helped shape our great nation and what it has grown to be. Some of those reform groups where the muckrakers, women’s rights, and flappers. In the beginning of the 20th century women were basically seen as less than men as they weren’t involved in anything political as in voting, being one of them ones to hold office, and they were looked down upon as second class citizens. However, women were willing to protest and fight for equal rights in the early nineteen hundred’s since blacks had the right to vote due to the 15th Amendment in 1870, they also felt they should have a say in who is elected into office. As time developed during the early 20th century, a group of ladies known as flappers showed that they were willing to rebel against what modern America wanted them...
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...Sambo Fisher Jayne Santos English 101 May 22, 2008 Many Faces There is no good if there is no evil. In the early 1900s, a time of change brought many prosperous beginnings, a time for capitalism, a time for opportunities. However, with them came a time of conflict and turmoil for the poor, the immigrants, and the ostracized—women. In society a woman was classified as the maiden, the nurturer, the Madonna, the sex goddess, the witch, or the whore. In the novel Ragtime, E.L. Doctorow portrays these different types of women as Mameh, Mother, Evelyn Nesbit, and Emma Goldman. Doctorow uses fictional characters along with real historical characters to paint a colorful and vivid picture of these times, to portray the social class distinctions, the morality of women, and the many undergoing changes of this era. Like an hour glass figure the social classes were very distinct among women; there were the rich, the poor, and a few in between. The women of higher social status, the wealthy were embedded with the idea that sexual purity was a must in order to get married. It was considered a stain in a family’s reputation for a woman to have premarital sex and worse promiscuous sex. The importance of reputation is clearly illustrated in Ragtime. “Runaway women died in the rigors of ecstasy. Stories were hushed up and reporters paid off by rich families” (Doctorow 4). To women of wealth marriage was their goal, and their reputation was the only thing they had. In contrast to the wealthy, the...
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...Disney’s iconic movies play an integral role in shaping countless childhoods, and their princess movies, spanning from 1934’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to Moana in 2016, are widely popular, particularly among young American girls. Consequently, the sexist messages of Disney princess movies both pre and post the 1960s Women's Liberation Movement are extremely present in today’s society. Before the Women's Liberation Movement, films such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty portrayed messages that reflected women’s confined role in society during the mid-1900s. These princesses, while playing significant speaking roles, were not only dependent on men but the epitome of their life was marriage but the focus...
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...consist of the African American women had not being completely emancipated in small towns. From slavery to this present day, African American women are given impossible and uncomfortable tasks such as; keeping their families together, maintaining their own sanity despite being treated like chattel, and to support their men who is denied key ingredients such as masculinity, due to what slave owners had done to the black man’s wife and daughter. Upon slavery ending it was impossible for just a man to care for the family with just one job...
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...The profound economic change that occurred in the early 1900’s was largely influenced and formed by the industrial revolution, in particular the second wave that occurred in the late 1800’s. The revolution as a whole resulted in the change from economies based on agriculture and farming, to industry based profits. This second wave of the revolution not only refined and improved the prior inventions of iron and coal, but brought with it new highly developed technologies such as steel, electricity, oil and chemicals that lead to the creation of new industries that had not existed prior. The introduction of large scale steel and iron production, as well as advanced railway systems and the opening of the Suez Canal, allowed countries to export vast amounts of resources easily, therefore boosting economies. The introduction of electricity into society during this time also had a profound impact on the economic situation of many countries and individuals by allowing possible work hours to be increased dramatically. In 1914, Britain, Germany, France and the US owned 72% of the world’s manufacturing output, having a profound impact on the economies of the countries but also creating a climate of competition between the strong industrial powers. To a certain extent, this economic change throughout the world had a significant impact, and acted as a catalyst for increasing social and political change. Political change was evident during the early 20th century given that dynastic rulers...
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...The Social Changes in Marriage Western Governors University Social Changes in the Module of Marriage Bob Dylan said it the best, “The times they are a changing”. The purpose of marriage in today’s society is no longer what it was over a century ago. Families in the early 1900s were depicted in movies such as “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” where arranged marriages were the social norm. The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet or Leave It to Beaver were the “families” of the mid-1960s.They were comprised of two parents, two children and a happy stable environment. The Husband’s role was that of the provider, with the Wife’s role being that of a homemaker and nurturing mother. The children were a reflection of their parent’s social reverence to society norms. In the late 1960s – 1970s cultural norms regarding marriage, pre-marital sex/cohabitation and childrearing changed significantly. The family was replaced by divorced parents or blended families, reflected in shows such as “Different Strokes,” “One Day at a Time,” and “Parent Trap” reflected such. Currently, non-traditional families are accompanied by same sex marriage and depicted in sitcoms such as Modern Family, which combines multiple variations of family models in one show. These various family modules are becoming widely accepted in society, along with changes in the social module of marriage, as “traditional family values are being swept away by a wave of tolerance toward lone mothers, gay couples and unmarried...
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...redneck. The most interesting part of the book is the ending. We are lead to believe throughout the play that there is some sort of love affair developing between Eliza and Mr. Higgins. The play concludes with them fighting with each other and Eliza declaring that she could teach others. Mr. Higgins finally sees her as a strong women and invites her to stay with him as well as buy him pair of gloves and a ham. As Eliza is walking away she tells him good-bye and that she is never going to see him again (Shaw, 1912). In 1916 Shaw was upset that critics and audiences were actually changing the way the play ended in order to give it a happy ending. So he wrote an essay “What Happened Afterwards,” which proceeds to continue telling the story and Eliza does not end up with Mr. Higgins (Solomon, 1964). Pygmalion was published in 1912 in a time where there was a differentiation between the upper and lower class of society. In this time period women were not seen as having the ability to be strong or independent they had not even gained elementary rights and privileges. Ladies of the upper class were expected to marry into a wealthy family. Women of the lower class had to work in factories, as a housekeepers or do other menial work to help provide for their families and themselves (Trueman, 2015) Shaw was a member of the Fabian Society and...
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...Comparison of Gender Roles Gender roles have always been a part of the daily life throughout the 1900’s, however up until recently this has changed. Women have always wanted to have their own opinion, views and the ability to think and act for themselves. In many of the stories read in class, we see how both men and women have gender roles, and how some want them changed. On the other hand, if they even do. In many stories we have seen the characters struggle with societies views, Janie wants to work and be able to think for herself in Their Eyes Were Watching God. In Trifles, we see that women are considered unimportant, or that they only worry about the little things that seem unimportant, as said by the men in the play. Elisa in The Chrysanthemums also faces gender discrimination, which she wishes to overcome. In the last play we read, A Doll’s House, Nora is subject to gender discrimination as well much along the same terms as the previous stories read. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie just wants to be treated the same as everyone else, meaning the male population. Joe treats her as a lesser person throughout the novel, however she feels she should be able to make her own decisions an example is when she tried to leave Joe, however his remarks were, “ where will you go, who will take you in being married and all leaving your husband.” This is Joe and the male society putting Janie down so she feels powerless, this caused her to stay with Joe and not leave, in addition...
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