Amanda Cloud
The question of “did women have a renaissance” is not something that has not been asked before. In 1977 Joan Kelly wrote an essay addressing this question specifically. In the Renaissance, when the political systems changed from the Medieval feudal systems, women of every social class saw a change in their social and political options that men did not. Celibacy became the female norm and "the relations of the sexes were restructured to one of female dependency and male domination" (Kelly 20). Women lived the life of the underlying sex. Men ruled over everything, even through half a century of Queens.
“When
England was ruled for half a century by Queens but women had almost no legal
power; When marriage, a women’s main vocation, cost them their personal
property rights; when the ideal women was rarely seen and never heard in public;
when the clothes a women wore were legally dictated by her social class; when
almost all school teachers were men; when medicine was prepared and purified
at home; when corsets were
constructed of wood and cosmetics made of bacon and eggs; when only half of
all babies survived to adulthood?" (Hull 15).
The above
passage says a lot about women in the Renaissance. The role of women was a
very scarce role. Women were supposed to be seen and not heard. Rarely seen
at that. Women were to be prim and proper, the ideal women. Females were able
to speak their minds but their thoughts and ideas were shaped by men. Mostly
everything women did had input given by men. Women were controlled by her
parents from the day she is born until the day she is married, then she would
be handed directly to her husband so he could take over that role. In the
time of the renaissance women were considered to legally belong to their husbands.
Women were supposed to be typical ‘housewives.'
Though women were inferior to men, women in different classes had different
roles. Low class women were expected to be housewives and take care of everything
to do with the house. The expectation of working class women was a little
bit different. These women were expected to work for their husbands and help
them run their business. They would work along side with their husbands and
then go home and take care of the house hold. Upper class women may have had
servants and workers working for them but the women were still expected to
take care of the house hold. Women could not work by themselves. Neither could
they live alone if they were not married. If a women was single, she was made
to move in with one of her male relatives or join a convent and become a nun.
There was no other option at this time for women.
In accordance to different classes of women, the only women that were aloud
to express themselves were upper class women, but not sufficiently. The existence
of women was there but it was a marginal existence. Very rarely would a women
of less than upper class be seen or heard expressing herself. It was unheard
of. When women did express themselves, what they would express was tainted
by male influence (Mazzocco).
The Taming of the Shrew is a play written by William Shakespeare. In this
plat the main character is Katherine, she is the Shrew as mentioned in the
title. A shrew is a woman who is very outspoken. The word Shrew is very negative
word when relating to women. In the time of the Renaissance, people looked
down on women referred to as a shrew. These women were very open about expressing
anything they wanted to. In this time period, a outspoken woman was unheard
of. People strongly disapproved of women like this in the renaissance. Men
were the only people aloud to be outspoken and expressive.
Katherine is a shrew of the worst degree. Sometimes her words and actions
are extremely violent. She was a very abusive women. There was a strong sense
of disapproval from everyone about Katherine. No one wanted to be given the
job of ‘taming’ her. That is until Petruchio comes along and decides
he will do the task in order to marry into her fortune. In this time, the
renaissance, women are to be seen and not heard. The ideal woman is quiet
and respectful. She has no problem being controlled by a man. She enjoys the
attention she gets from men for being a dainty female. This ideal woman is
Katherine’s sisters Bianca. Shakespeare decided to have two characters
contrast such a great deal. It shows the reader how different the two types
really are. Katherine, compared to Bianca, seems like a crazy woman.
In Taming of the Shrew, men pine after Bianca for her beauty and her dowry.
She is soft spoken and sweet. Katherine is just the opposite. She is forward
and loud strong willed. Men do not want Katherine. They are frightened of
her.
Shakespeare
has used the two different types of female characters in the renaissance to
offset each of them. Having a shrew and the ideal woman in the same play shows
off the characteristics of each of these woman. They are polar opposites.
The renaissance may have been ruled for half of a century by women, but in
everything else men ruled. Unless you were upper class, women were unable
to speak their minds freely and even then men dictated how they did such a
thing. Women were supposed to be house wives and were expected to do whatever
their husbands said. If a woman did not conform to their husband she would
be called a shrew. This is considered to be the beginning of contemporary
times. Things have changed but this is were it all started.
Works Cited
Hull, Suzanne. Women According to Men: The World
of Tudor-Stuard Women.Walmut Creek: Alta Mira Press, 1996.
Kelly, Joan. “Did Women Have a Renaissance?”Women, History and
Theory.Ed.Joan Kelly.Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press,
1984.1950.
Life in Elizabethan England: A Compendium of Common
Knowledge.<http://renaissance.dm.net/compendium/index.html>
Mazzocco, Angelo. The Role of Women in the Italian Renaissance. Mount Holy
Yoke College. <http://www.mtholyyoke.edu/courses/nvaget/evrst/womrenaissance.html>