writingwomen

"The Rover"

Hi all, sorry for blogging so late in the week but I have been extremely busy, and lately I've been feeling like a chicken with my head cut off...ha,ha... But I must say that I extremely loved "The Rover", it was an excellent play! And the characters are amazing and hilarious. I just all-around loved it, it was great! Well to start with Dr. J's question, I must say that the women's feelings in this play were tossed around a lot thanks to the men. Hellena is an amusing character, she is very sly. I find it hilarious when she dresses up like a man and sneaks around to cause trouble. She wanted to find out the real truth behind Willmore and Angelica, and she did so exactly in a manner that every woman in that same situation would love to do, but never would. I feel shame and disappointment for her, because she gave up the notion of becoming a nun, for her love in Willmore, only to find out that he and Angelica slept together the day after she gave up her virginity to him. Like Florinda, Hellena is a determined woman but she also opposes Florinda, by her stubborn ways, as she is capable to shrug off men, even if her heart is broken.

Florinda is determined but also extremely bothered by the path set forth for her by her brother and father. Florinda's desire to follow her own feelings and to not succumb to the wishes of her family, portrays that she is self-determined and independent. In this period, this would be regarded as highly opposing the norms when pre-arranged marriages were the norm, and daughters had no choice in the matter, but to marry the man chosen by their family. This image of Florinda as extremely independent is amusing because it is as though she is standing up for all women by disobeying her family's wishes for her to marry Don Antonio, while really being in love Belivile. I felt like saying "you go girl" when I was reading the play because of her determination and wit. However, it is very sad and alarming to find that she was that close to being raped by Willmore, when she wanted to remain chaste for Belivile. I can't believe that rape was such a popular issue in this period, it is a violation of women, and it is really hard to see that it was even publicly acted in plays. Even if it wasn't shown/acted on stage, and the aftermath was the only thing that was seen, I still find it hard to grasp that female violation was such a common and public issue.

I have sympathy for Angelica as all through the play men constantly chase her. But on the contrary, she knows exactly what she wants, and that is Willmore, and she is very disappointed when she realizes that he is not faithful to her. I think that Angelica only wants to find true love with one man, but cannot with such a player like Willmore. Her backlash against Willmore suggests that although she loves him, his disloyalty forced her to change her feelings as they are completely rotated 360 degrees, when she has the guts and nerve to almost kill him. All men in this play, with the exception of Belivile and Don Pedro, are all idiots and players that only see women as sexual objects. As a ciaos instigator, Willmore only seeks pleasure with these women and he is completely wrapped up in his deceit and lies that he doesn't know what to do with himself. The men were solely concerned with their next prey and whom they could conquer next. Aphra Behn sets forth a different outlook on women in this period and it is interesting to see how she portrays both sexes in the play.

Blogs

Don't forget to get blogging! Some of you have been a little slow off the mark, but remember, I would like to see the equivalent of a paper, in terms of word-count and analysis, by the end of term. Aim for at least one substantial entry a week. I have started to post questions, if you would like something to get you going.

Questions...

Astell and Wollstonecraft both write about women's education. How do their approaches differ? How are they similar?

What perspectives, or world views, underlie each of these texts?

What rhetorical strategies do they use?

The Rover

Attitudes towards women and sexuality within the restoration period play an important part in Aphra Behn’s The Rover. All of Behn’s female characters represent a type of woman that Behn is writing against. Women in the Restoration were permitted on the stage and were permitted to write, however those concessions did not improve man’s attitudes towards women and their sexuality: Behn attempts to minimize the difference between the status of the virgin and the whore. Copeland identifies the chief similarity between Hellena and Angellica as their "advertising of themselves. 'Pray tell me, Sir, are not you guilty of the same Mercenary Crime, When a Lady is propos'd to you for a Wife, you never ask, how fair--discreet--or virtuous she is; but what's her Fortune--which, if but small, you cry--she will not do my business--and basely leave her, thou she languish for you--say, is not this as poor?' (2.1.357-61) This remark, original in Behn's play, considerably enhances the play's political dimension. More than a metaphor for the commodification of women, Angellica's prostitution image is cross-gendered, for men are designated "mercenary" in negotiating sexual contracts between husband and wife. Moreover, this prostituted contract is, in principle, foundational for ail the socio-political contracts between male individuals in public life?
(Pacheo, Anita)
Behn empowers the women in her text by removing the male authority figure and placing the women on equal or elevated positions of power. Behn also examines the three primary methods of disposing, and dis-empowering women and refutes them through her powerful female characters. Behn through the character of Hellena attacks the Restoration tendency to dispose of unwanted daughters by sending them to a nunnery, regardless of their suitability to be a nun. Behn then ,through Florinda , attacks the Restoration habit of marrying off daughters for monetary gain rather than compatibility, or (heaven forbid) the women’s individual choice. Behn through Angellica’s character attacks the society’s view on prostitution by empowering Angellica, and therefore the sexuality of women. The authority of the Father figure represents the authority and control enforced by the patriarchy. By removing the father figure Behn equalizes the women and men, perhaps even elevating the women above the men in her play. This equalization process sometimes forces Behn to attribute typically masculine traits to her female characters in order to argue that women can do anything that men are capable of.

Blazing New World

I decided to read Margaret Cavendih's complete book "New Blazing World" for my paper. It was an extremly different read from alot of the other pieces we have read and will probably read the rest of the course. Alot of the book was very scientific and based around natural philosphy. It helped to have a tiny bit of background in some of Plato's ideas etc. The parts of the book where Cavendish outlines many of her hypotheses are in a much different style than many of the female writers we have read. At times it made the piece a little boring because it was similar to reading a dated article in a science journal. Still it is interesting how Cavendish blends science into fiction without taking away credibility to either the subject or genre.Cavendish was not only writing, which was considered distasteful, but also discussing male subjects and even openly rejecting some of their ideas and theories. No wonder Cavendish was considered an oddity and outcast. I would not reccomend this book to everyone to read, but I think it was important that its summary was in our course reading list.

It Isn't Easy Being Green

I've always written, but outside of my personal writing, I’ve never really revealed much about myself in anything that I've put down in black and white (which is why I don’t blog a lot – it makes me feel very exposed!) A few weeks ago DR. J. said (well, she didn't say this exactly, but I interpreted it this way) that what category or genre you choose to write in, or how you develop and apply your craft makes as much of a statement as the words that you actually put on the paper. In another Women in Writing class she put forward the idea that literature can include more than the traditional genres and formats like poetry, short stories, novels, etc.

During the past six months, while on leave from my work, I’ve consciously avoided business writing (with the exception of developing some marketing materials for a friend’s business and creating some fundraising brochures and letters). When I left my work, I initially thought that I might not go back, but while I’ve been away, I’ve developed a fresh perspective and new insights about why I do what I do for a living.

Corporate communications has been my field. Whether it has been PR related, HR focussed, or Marketing driven, I've never ventured far from my Communication roots. Writing in business is fun and interesting because it's a place where a person can touch many parts of the business and interact with a variety of people. The work can be very fulfilling because communications serves a real clarifying role by helping company leaders develop and speak to a vision for their company's future. It can also be a unifying role, because good communication brings together people under that common vision.

There are few people who walk among and between the worlds that exist within a company. Among those who inhabit this in-between space are Corporate Communicators. Sometimes it can be exciting to be in a place where you can really see and understand the big picture; where you are in a position to help others see and understand it too. Sometimes it’s alienating because there is no place in particular that you can call your own. Everyone knows what Engineers do, what Managers are supposed to do, what Cashiers do, what Accountants and Administrative Assistants do. What about the Communicators? In a world that worships the bottom line, how can you justify spending millions to improve something as vague as communication? How do you even define it? How do you implement it? How do you measure it? Beyond the writing itself, these are the greatest challenges that Corporate Communicators face.

Before choosing to go back to my field, I really had to know that I wanted to face these challenges again and that what I do is really worthwhile. Personally, the hardest part was questioning if what I did for a living was relevant. My year in school and in particular, the Women in Writing course led me to believe that my work makes a difference. It is a reflection of who I am. I understand why I have chosen to write for business and I finally don’t worry that it’s irrelevant , even if it never wins me a literary prize.

Last spring when I was in British Columbia, I bought a Haida print of a frog. The description that went along with the print described the frog as a creature that bridges the space between two worlds – the water place and the land place. He speaks to the aquarians on behalf of the land dwellers and vice versa. I see myself as the frog. Like him, I feel at home with the people across the business regardless of the setting. I see how we are all alike and that most issues are universal, although the methods for approaching and solving the issues need to be adapted to suit the differing environments. After years of feeling like the ugly duckling because I thought I lacked something for not fitting tightly into a specific space, I’ve come to see that the frog is a valuable contributor to pond life. This perspective has been influenced by the Writing in Women course discussions and the accompanying readings of works by brave women who dared to express themselves their own way.

Backtracking a little...

Here, from the excellent wood s lot, is a post about the Auchinleck Manuscript, produced in London in the 1330s.

Here is a text from the MS called "Alphabetical Praise of Women." I haven't the skills to read it, but it's nice to know it exists given all the misogynist texts extant from that time.

Question...

Here, as promised last class, is a question—well, two questions— to get you blogging about The Rover:

What, if anything, distinguishes the female characters from one another?
And what, if anything, do they have in common?

Margaret Cavendish

Happy Valentine's Day all! I want to say that I really enjoyed all of the readings for this week; however, I found that Cavendish was particularly interesting. She is a very rebellious woman whose stance in society caused much debate I'm sure, but never the less, she boldly did exactly what she pleased regardless of what would be said about her while she did so. I admire her for her strength to live her life the way she felt she should. I thought that "Nature's Cook" was a very amusing poem and her contrast of food and death is rather funny. It says a lot about her way of expressing herself, as death can be seen as a masculine topic that opposes the domestic realm of cooking which is more of a feminine topic. She completely turns the typical womanly actions around the house into something much more masculine. Even the first line that states, "DEATH is the Cook of Nature" gives us a good introduction into Cavendish's will to express the role of the female by boldly opposing it in a very masculine way. And in her time, this must have been outrageous for people to read considering the fact that a woman's sole function was to keep house and cook. Cavendish was a very gutsy woman and she must have been very brave to put herself out in the open like this. I admire her ability to express herself regardless of her place in society. She saw that women had a lot of potential but were denied it because of their womanly roles. Her independence to stand up for herself is amazing when she is put in context with the period that she lived in. I really enjoyed her as a writer and admire her determination to put herself forth as she had no intention to let anything stop her she was a writer.

Happy house burning?

Bradstreet's Poem "Verses upon the Burning of our House, July 18th, 1666" from its title does not sound like an optimisitc text. Although the topic is depressing the rythm seems almost sing-songy (I apologize if this is not a word). Each line describes what physical things she has lost and then suddenly at the end of the poem she finds a certain unexpected joy. Her sudden faith is of course remarkable. It also seems strange that the last few lines do not break away from the rest of the poem into a seperate stanza:

50Yet by his gift is made thine own.
51There's wealth enough; I need no more.
52Farewell, my pelf; farewell, my store.
53The world no longer let me love;
54My hope and Treasure lies above

It is very difficult to believe that Bradstreet turns to these thoughts so quickly. It almost seems as though this poem was written for the inspiration of others. More of a much later after the fact then actually during the burning of her house. The tone and rythm of the poem is so well structured that it is difficult to believe this was written at a very emotional moment. What does everyone else think?
Perhaps I am just jaded.

Slandering the personal lives of women writers

It seems like many of the women writers that we are coming across in class have led very interesting lives. Their personal lives or sexuality through the 21st century lens is constantly being scrutinized. I know that it is important to know some background information about a writer to help understand their writings; however, I also feel that reading too much into their personal lives can compromise the true intent of their writings. I don't feel that the sexual orientation of a male or female should compromise the integrity of their writings. The feeling of being in love, angry, happy or sad is the same for a person of any sexual orientation. The negative term of being "man hating lesbians" has often and wrongly been associated with feminists. Having these types of negative views of feminists and looking through a 21st century lens makes it all too easy to discredit and misinterpret the beautiful poetry of writers like Catherine Phillips.

Rape Culture

Peripherally related to the course, as we were talking about female sexual vulnerability in Aphra Behn's "The Unfortunate Happy Lady":

An excellent post by Ampersand on Alas, a blog about the elements that make up (our/everyone's?) "rape culture." Be sure to read the comments as well.

Crossposted to scribblingwoman.

epitaph

Well this is not a very insightful entry. I just wanted to say that I found Behn's poem "Epitaph on the Tombstone of a Child, the Last of Seven that Died Before" very beautiful and featured it in my site before I even realized it was in the course readings. I included a picture beside the link that made me think of the poem.

Here is another poem by Behn which I also like.
SONG
From "Abdelazer"

Love in fantastic triumph sate
Whilst bleeding hearts around him flowed,
For whom fresh pains he did create
And strange tyrannic power he showed:
From thy bright eyes he took his fires,
Which round about in sport he hurled;
But 'twas from mine he took desires
Enough t' undo the amorous world.

From me he took his sighs and tears,
From thee his pride and cruelty;
From me his languishments and fears,
And every killing dart from thee.
Thus thou and I the god have armed
And set him up a deity;
But my poor heart alone is harmed,
Whilst thine the victor is, and free!

Aphra Behn [1640-1689]

epitaph

Well this is not a very insightful entry. I just wanted to say that I found Behn's poem "Epitaph on the Tombstone of a Child, the Last of Seven that Died Before" very beutiful and featured it in my site before I even realized it was in the course readings. I included a picture beside the link that made me think of the poem.

"I have made a world of my own, for which nobody, I hope, will blame me, since it is in everyone's power to do the like."

"I have made a world of my own, for which nobody, I hope, will blame me, since it is in everyone's power to do the like."
I found Margaret Cavendish very interesting to read. She has a strong presence in "A blazing new world" and reveals her inner self quite deeply, especially in comparison to some of the religious female writers we have read. Cavendish positions herself very highly in this piece ( to almost a point of arrogance), compared to her probable position in reality. Cavendish's feminine utopia is a bold move in patriarchal society, but as the quote says above each person has his or her own world within themselves. Cavendish is not dismissing her work in the quote above, but instead arguing she is not absurd. She is also arguing that many other women have their own desires within and a picture of an ideal world, which may not meet the patriarchal reality.

Reading For February 11th

Hello all. I ahve been off of the Blog scene for a few weeks, and for that I apologize. I did enjoy last weeks(Feb 4) readings. Well, at least what I did read of them. I was guilty of skipping a few. Anne Bradstreet was the writer who I found to be most intriguing. I completely admired her strenght and lack of dependance upon material things. You could feel in her tone, however, the devestation. It felt as the if hours after this fire had occured, or even as it was occuring, Bradstreet grabbed paper and pen and began to put her heart on the paper. It was a very sad, almost dark poem, but as I mentioned had the silver lining of strenght and endurance. I also found Aemelia Lanyer to be interesting. But I wasn't captivated by her work. I just found it amusing how she semed to put herself up on a pedestal. Whether or not it was meant to be a soapbox with which to congregate all "vertuous Ladies", I don't quite know, but it struck me like a pedestal.
Now in regards to this weeks readings I have to admit that "Mad Meg" takes the blue ribbon. This Margaret Cavendish woman was all over the map. She made about as much sense to me as "Don King". I particularly enjoyed the paragraphs numbered 51 and 53 in "The Blazing World". If I were in high school during my experimental stage I would have probably tricked myself into thinking it was deep. And it may well be deep, but I personally could not make head nor tail of it. The final paragraph was frighteningly evangelical. My advice would be, if you are on a farm with "Mad Meg", don't drink the Kool-Aid. But seriously i think it is amazing that she managed to have this published and make a career out of it. That is a very impressive accomplishment, geven so many knew her for her oddities.
Katherine Philips is a complete opposite when mirrored with Margaret Cavendish. Her poetry is beautifully constructed and though "Mad Meg" no doubt put as much of herself into her work as Philips, Katherine's work just seems to hold a more natural soul. "To my Excellent Lucasia, on our Friendship", and "Epitaph: On Hector Philips" are filled with love,admiration and the talent to properly display it. Well that all for me folks.

New Blazing World

Margarete Cavendish’s New Blazing World she uses Utopian fiction to attack the repression and domination of women. Cavendish believed that women were not the immoral, petty creatures that men percieved them to be. Cavendish believed that women were intelligent and capable of being their own people if they could only step outside the confines of the patriarcle system that traps them. The protagonist of the story moves outside of the patriarchy and the instant that she does , she goes from the meek, helpless female to a highly capable leader:
”in her left hand she held a buckler, to signify defence of her dominions, …in her right hand she carried a spear made of a white diamond, cut like the tail of a blazing star, which signified that she was ready to assault those that proved her enemies” (Cavendish,133). The spear represents the masculine role that the protagonist must fill to become a leader. Cavendish is using even having her character’s use the male ‘tools’ to form and maintain a society. Cavendish explores in her Utopian fiction, scientific possibilities and complex sociological and philosophical idealogies:
she erected schools and founded several societies. The bear- men were to be her experimental philosophers, the bird men her astronomers, the fly-, worm- , and fish-men her natural philosophers, the ape-men her chemists, the satyrs her Galenic physicians, the fox-men her politicians, the spider and lice-men her mathematicians, the jackdaw-, magpie- and parrot-men her orators and logicians, the giants her architects, etc. But before all things, she having got a sovereign power from the Emperor over all the world, desired to be informed of both the manner of their religion and government…
(Cavendish, 134)

Cavendish’s interest in science and philosophy was considered inappropraite for a woman, but that did not stop her from proving , through her fiction, that she understood the concepts just as well as any man. Cavendish proves that she also can use the “master’s tools to dismantle [his] house.”

On blogging

For anyone interested in pursuing blogging, here is an entry from Klastrup's Cataclysms with links to various articles about blogging. Thanks to jill/txt for the link.

On the gender front...

Plus ça change, plus c'est le meme chose. Here are two sobering links in this the year of the goddess 2004:

A woman sets off airport security alarms with the chastity belt her husband apparently forced her to wear. (Link from BlogsCanada)

(It was harrowing browsing through what came up when I googled "chastity belt." Who knew?? Somehow this is not what I imagine the proponents of sexual abstinence had in mind.)

Final chastity note: "Two historians say chastity belts are purely medieval myths." Medieval myth, contemporary reality. Huh!

Second link: Another reason not to buy fashion mags: here are two (1, 2) before and after pictures. (Link from feministe. feministe goes on to link to an "uglification" contest — whereby people Photoshop celebrity photographs — and I find it pretty offensive that for many people ugly = old.)

Cross-posted to scribblingwoman.

Anne Bradstreet

Anne Bradstreet's poem "Verses upon the Burning of our House" is a poem that is very moving and sad. I cannot imagine losing my home; it would be one of the worst things that could ever happen to me. From all of her devastation that obviously came along with such a huge loss, she twists it around instead and looks at her loss through a spiritual perspective. She reminisces of all of the great memories that she's shared there, but there is still a real sense of loss which is apparent by the way she acknowledges that nothing will ever occupy it's place in the house. " Here stood that Trunk, and there that chest, There lay that store I counted best, My pleasant things in ashes lie And them behold no more shall I" (Bradstreet, 25-28). She's a woman who is devastated and has nothing else to live for. When she says, "Adieu, Adieu, All's Vanity" (Bradstreet, 36) she means that this world is now worth nothing to her because in time everything will eventually come to an end. She turns her back on the world and talks of her home in heaven and the wealth and happiness that are waiting upon her arrival there. She expresses her feelings that her only hope for the remainder of her life is her life after death in heaven. She says, "Thy world no longer let me love; My hope and Treasure lies above" (Bradstreet, 54). I find this poem very sad and touching.

Hand-outs

If you miss a class for whatever reason, you may want to check the course shelf in the Hum. and Lang. office to see if there were any handouts. There are a few things in there now, from last class and previous classes.

Past presenters: if you still have extra copies of your handouts, you could give them to me or put them on the shelf yourself. Future presenters: give me any extra handouts after class.

Why my site is the cat's meow

I didn't necessarily mean for you to attach your assessment of your page to the page itself; in fact, this might be a little awkward. I apologise if I wasn't clear. Don't worry about rushing to remove them for tomorrow. But perhaps sometime, when you get a chance.

The pages look good! Lots of new links to the right; check them out. And there are others on WebCT: go to the class home page, and then the link that says homepages, and then the icon that says Student WeBCT pages.

letters

It is a shame that Dorothy Osborne only chose or had the opportunity to write in letter form. Her sense of humor is slightly dark at times (upon her loves sickness“Well, seriously, either resolve to have more care of yourself, or I renounce my friendship)” and always intelligent. It was fascinating to look so in-depth at a real woman in this time period and gain insight into marriage ideals. It was also interesting that she thought Cavendish was so outlandish for writing, when she herself had such a talent for writing. From what I have read about these letters they seem to have been used in the beginning as a historical resource and did not seem to be taken for their literary value. In my opinion although they do not fit in the typical classification of literature I believe they have literary value.

Essays

The blogs are a good place to throw out ideas you are working on. Thinking out loud with your fingers. Think of your blog as a notebook full of your ideas. And you may get some useful feedback from your classmates, or from me.

Adding comments to your blog

For people with Blogger accounts (which is most of you, I think), here is a nice walk through of the whole process of adding comments to your blog. With pictures! (scroll down a little to the entry from Sun. Feb. 1/04).

Reminder

Remember that I have asked everyone to write a brief description of what their site does that others don't. In other words, justify your site even though there are likely others on the same topic. Doesn't have to be anything extensive or fancy; just tell me what's out there and how your page adds to, rather than duplicates, existing web resources.

Some how I screwed up

Somehow, I messed things up and can't get anything to post on my personal blog, so everytime I thought I was publishing, nothing was showing up. So anything I written over the last wek or so has somehow gone amongst the missing.
Here is the blog I wrote last week about the 16th century writers we covered:

I have such a hard time doing these blogs, mainly because I use the computer so rarely (I'm obviously not of the computer generation). Anyway, this post is about last week's class on the 16th century writers.
I think Anne Askew was an incredibly brave and unique individual, who's convictions were so strong that she died for them. Her writings are filled with an outlook that seems almost unbelievably postive, during a time in her life that must have been so terrible. While she writes candidly about the treatment she was receiving, she never once sets out to horrify or "gross out" her readers, she just speaks the truth, and it speaks for itself. I also found her to be somewhat amusing in hte way that she continued to stand up to her accusers, always trapping them in their own words, and somehow, coming out on top. She is a woman I would have loved to meet.
I have long been a great admirer of Elizabeth I, and I learned this love from my mother. I have seen so many Biography, Discovery Chanel, etc., specials on her that I feel as if she could be a long-lost family memer. I guess I just admire woman would stood up for their rights and beliefs, especially when under such scrutiny. Whenever the pressure seemed at its highest point, Elizabeth would somehow manage to find a calm and civilized way out of it, always turning disbelievers into believers. Her writings are humorous when read through a 21st century eye, and her strength, intelligence, and individuality is undeniably prsent throughout.
To be completely honest, I found nothing overtly special in the witings of Isabella Whitney. Her poem reminded e, for some odd reason, of "To His Coy Mistress", and because of that, I have a difficult time praising her for her unique abilities and individuality. Maybe if I dug up some more of her work, I could find evidence to make me change that opinion.
I cannot write about Jane Anger, as I could not get the link to work on my computer, and to be totally honest, did not have the time to look around for it on other sights ( I'm so completely preoccupied with making my own website, like all of you).
With Mary Herbert, I got this overwhelming "girly" feeling from her work. Not that I'm calling her typical, well, maybe I am. While I would never be able to even begin to wite a poem that would make any sense, I got the feeling that her work was almost a cop-out. Many females were doing translation at the time, and I'm sure there were many a woman's journal filled with poetic outbursts of grief over the loss of a loved one. I suppose I could just be biter at my own lack of poetic talent, but I cannot help the gut feelings that present themselves while I read.
See you all on Wednesday, bleary-eyed, I'm sure, from the computer haze caused from our webpages.

Blogging How-to's

I have finished the aforementioned list of blogging tips. You can download it as a PDF file from here, or open it in your browser here.

Blogging tips

I'm putting together a page of blogging how-to's. Watch this space. And get blogging, people! After a good start, some of you are pooping out already! Come on, I need something to read!

Webpages

A couple of reminders about the web pages: Be sure to treat your sources just as you would in a paper (i.e., cite them). Including illustrations: it's a nice touch to link the illustrations to their source, indicate the title and artist, etc.

I'm happy to have a look at them before the due date and offer suggestions or comments; just drop me a line with the URL.