The Role Of Women From The Anglo-saxon To The Reformation Time Period
Women in literature were portrayed from the Anglo-Saxon time period to the Reformation time period. All women were not treated equally, and some believe women are still not treated equally to this day. There were not very many women in stories during the Anglo-Saxon time period, and if they were there, the portrayal was not positive. They were portrayed as weak and ineffective. There are many examples of women getting mistreated in stories such as Beowulf, “The Wife of Bath’s Tale,” “Federigo's Falcon”, and Hamlet.
In between the Anglo-Saxon time period and the Reformation time period, there was a Renaissance time period. During the Renaissance time period, women were still underneath men. When the women got married, they gave up all of their lands to their significant other. Hamlet is a perfect example of the Renaissance time period. Ophelia did not get treated how the women do today. She was forced to listen and do what her father and the other men told her to do. With the role of women during the Anglo-Saxon time period, an example is “Federigo’s Falcon.” Monna is the woman in this story. She had a wealthy husband, who before he died, left his inheritance to their son. “He made his last will… since he had also loved Monna Giovanna very much, he made her his heir should his son die without any legitimate children; and then died.
“One important tradition passed on to European women in later centuries was that families would strive to keep their property intact, even if this meant giving it to a woman”. After Monna’s husband dies, Monna and her son go to their land, near where Federigo lives. Monna’s son eventually became ill and was suffering. Monna’s brothers kept telling her she had to get married. “The lady was repeatedly urged by her brothers to remarry since she was very rich and still young”. This was not acceptable during this time because not a single woman could be rich and single.
Suddenly, Monna put her foot down and said she only wanted to marry Federigo. “I would prefer to remain a widow if only that would be pleasing to you, but since you wish me to take a husband, you may sure that I shall take no man other than Federigo”. Most women did not get to pick who they could marry. Usually, the men would tell the women who they are going to marry and then they had to sign papers. The papers were an agreement to listen to the husband. The women usually got handed over to their husbands from their fathers. Another story that portrays women during the Anglo-Saxon time period is Beowulf. In the story of Beowulf, Grendel’s mother was the only woman in this story. She was portrayed as an evil creature. She was motivated by revenge especially after her son got killed. In the story of “Beowulf”, she was also portrayed as an ugly creature. These were just two of the stories during the Anglo-Saxon time period that have examples of women getting treated unequally or worthless.
The way the women got treated in the Anglo-Saxon time was way different than during the Reformation. Women were rarely spoken about during the Anglo-Saxon time period. They had to stay in their houses all the time. They were not talked about in literature like men were. If there was a woman being talked about in literature, she was usually getting negative words spoken about or to her. Anglo-Saxon times also showed how women were weak and useless. Another story that shows women getting mistreated is Hamlet. The maid got raped. The king did nothing about it. It was not a big deal like it is today. The king’s only punishment he gave was to find out what the women most desire. This shows how much the women really mattered during this time period.
During the Anglo-Saxon time period, marriage helped keep the peace between other groups. The women still had the right to disapprove the proposal. The women’s role during the Anglo-Saxon time period was to take full responsibility for the regular day basis activities of the house. They were also in charge of watching the slaves, making new clothes, and being the hostess. Usually, the women were the ones to prepare the food. During the Anglo-Saxon times, the men prepared the food for their families. The women usually served the drinks in the mead hall while the men were preparing the meals. Some women dressed up as men and went with them to battle at war. There were some army groups where there were only women fighting. Other women learned how to battle, to be able to protect their children and land from predators, while their husbands were battling at war. If women did not get married, they were forced to go to a convent. Here they received an education.
Many women became ill and died because they didn’t have the same care as men did. It was against the rules of the Catholic Church to let a man see a woman’s body. Therefore, this caused more women to die because many doctors or caretakers were men. Women then had to step up to the plate, with no education and figure out how to take care of the other ill women. Midwifery became extremely important. Many women did not know how to handle childbirth. Eventually, some of the women in the town learned how to become a midwife. These women became very special and were valued by many. During the Anglo-Saxon time, many believe this was the time where women were mistreated the most. During the Renaissance, women were still not treated equally. Men still ruled over women during this time period. Women were not welcome in any public setting. If they were it was shown as disrespectful.
During the Renaissance period, women were controlled as children by their parents and then handed over directly to the hands of their husbands. The husband would have full control over his wife until she passed away or he died. When the couple would get married, the woman had to sign a contract for her husband. According to cedarcrest.edu, the marriage contract stated, “the wife must obey the husband. This obedience or submission extends not only to the performance of duties required by the husband but also to the abstinence from those activities which are displeasing to him.” Women who did not marry were controlled by a male in the house or a male relative.
During the Renaissance time period, women were denied all political rights and considered legally subject to their husbands. The job of the woman was to perform all the duties expected of that of a housewife. Women were judged by the men. In order to know if a woman was beautiful, she needed to have men tell her that. They only saw beauty on the outside, they didn’t care what their personality was like or what kind of heart they had. Women were always getting criticized by the men. There was no respect for any of the women, not even the queens.
Women were required to work alongside their husbands in the field and also complete the role of a housewife. If there was a widow or unmarried woman and she was of full age; the woman could inherit the land, sign contracts, make a will, and lastly get sued or sue others without having a male guardian. The men were very strict with the women still during the Renaissance. During Shakespeare’s time, it was rare to have women perform in plays. The play Hamlet was made during the Renaissance. There was a character in the play, named Ophelia. She was a beautiful young lady. She was portrayed as a sweet and innocent girl because she obeyed her father and her brother. Ophelia was dependent on the men to tell her how to behave.
Later in the story, Ophelia was portrayed as a weak lady. She always had listened to the men. Shakespeare portrayed Ophelia as getting depression and not being safe to have her alone anymore. She then had to be on suicide watch. Soon, Ophelia found a time where she could kill herself. She then drowned herself, while she had the chance. According to challies.com, “women used their gifts, in three general areas: in the home, in government, and in publishing. Protestant wives facilitated their husbands’ gospel work and raised their children in the fear and admonition of the Lord.” Public offices were not what the women were shooting for. They were in the public offices because they were excelling in the jobs they already had such as taking care of their homestead. These women were special, they had the energy to take on more than what they were forced to do. According to challies.com, “Reformation women give us solid examples in this era as we try and learn what womanhood can actually be, based not on our feelings or desires or tradition, but on unchanging biblical principles and priorities in a world that is very confused on this subject.” The outlook for these women was not seeing what they were allowed to do but seeing what they could do to fulfill the gift to Jesus. This outlook was huge to the women in the Reformation time period.
You may think women received equal rights on February 6th, 1918. This is when the Representation of the People Act of 1918 was put in place. Many people believe this is when every man and woman were equal. Well, this information is incorrect. All women were not treated equally even after this law passed. If you were a woman back then, you could only vote if you owned a house or you and your spouse owned a house. This law helped, but it didn’t help every person. 8.5 million women were able to vote after this law passed. To break it down rationally, it was about two in every five women that were able to vote. Women were still put at the lower class even after this law was put into place. Women were always portrayed lower than men throughout all of the literature during the Anglo-Saxon time period, to the Reformation time period. Throughout these stories of; “Beowulf”, “The Wife of Bath’s Tale”, “Federigo’s Falcon”, and “Hamlet”, they all portrayed women to be weak and useless. The always were portraying negatives. If the women weren’t beautiful on the outside, they weren’t beautiful at all. If they didn’t listen to the men or were out in public it was a huge deal.
Works Cited
- Anderson, Bonnie and Judith Zinsser. A History Of Their Own 1998. “Anglo-Saxon Women.” 2007, research.uvu.edu/mcdonald/Anglo-Saxon/Anglo-Saxon. %20Women/kimMain.html. Accessed 9 May 2019.
- Beowulf Poet. Beowulf. The Language of Literature, edited by Arthur N. Applebee et tal. McDougal Littel Inc., 2006, pp.32-63.
- Boccaccio, Giovanni. “Federigo’s Falcon.” The Language of Literature, edited by Arthur N. Applebee et tal. McDougal Littel Inc., 2006, pp.172-176.
- Burrell, Heidi. “The Roles of Anglo-Saxon Women.” csis.pace.edu/grendel/projs2003a/. Johane,Heidi&Yee/Women.htm. Accessed 8 May 2019.
- Challies, Tim. “Reformation Women: Gender Roles During the Reformation.” 6 Nov. 2017. www.challies.com/sponsored/reformation-women-gender-roles-during. -the-reformation/. Accessed 9 May 2019.
- Chaucer, Geoffrey. “The Wife of Bath’s Tale.” The Language of Literature, edited by Arthur N. Applebee et tal. McDougal Littel Inc., 2006, pp.155-166
- Zuber, Amber. “Gender Roles in the Renaissance: Questions of Gender in Shakespeare’s As You Like It.”www2.cedarcrest.edu/academic/eng/lfletcher/ayli/. azuber.htm. Accessed 07 May 2019.
