Notes

1866-1928: 2 colleges for women.
1880-1928: Women could own their own property.
1919: given the vote.

No time at all for these freedoms.

Why are there no women Shakespeare's? Well, according to Virginia Woolfe, women have not been given the same education. They have been creating in a different medium for years. 17th century theatre: women did not act. There were only boys on stage until the restoration in 1660.
Judith Shakespere runs away, gets rejected from the stage, becomes pregnant via stage manager; all of this culminating in her eventually killing herself.
Women during this time who wrote usually burned or destroyed their work.
The notion is brought up in class that women should write objectively; no one should write in a heat of anger.
Men are saying women are inferior within their work simply because men are feeling very insecure with the women's movement; it all makes for lousy fiction.
Turn back to Shakespeare because he was androgynous.

Notes

Mary Wollstonecraft grew up in an alcoholic/abusive family. Eventually taking over care for the family, she was a product of self-education. With the support of individuals such as Fanny and Joseph, she decided to write.

"Reflections on the Revolution in France", she wrote one of the first responses, 1789. 

It was called "Vindications on the Rights of Men", and to simply read it, one would have thought it was written by a man. 

Man, of course, here is portrayed as virtuous and rational. The question arises as to whether they, in fact, represent a number of classes, or all human beings. 

Wollstonecraft defends the public as opposed to rule by monarchy. Two years later she publishes, "Vindication of the Rights of Woman". 1792 

Just one category 'woman': being a class of persons who have been treated the same. 

She is particularly hard on women here, but she is talking about sexism as systematic or structural. Wollstonecraft mentions that society as an instrument through education trains women not to be virtuous, not moral, not to be rational; encourages sexism. 

Pg. 27 - try to exert power in ways that are allowed through the system. By being confined by the system, women are forced to scheme and plot. The idea is that to be subservient to a system induces immorality. 

A standing army is incompatible with freedoms, it is because soldiers follow orders they are moral. The Army requires manners before morals. 

Women, like soldiers, are disciplined the same way, are told what to do. Are educated in the same way. 

[If you educated a soldier (man) to the same degree as a woman is educated they will both think the same.]

Rosseau was a sensualist in that he thought a woman should never declare herself independent, but should be governed by fear. In this way discouraging her cunning nature. You liberate women and they will have less power. If they have authority then they will be governed by laws and thus less mischievous. 

Rosseau appealed to rights for men, and wrote on women as a subordinate to them. 

Chapter 3: "Women aggravate the situation." 

Attacks man for instilling sensuous ideas within women's thoughts and women for running with more power than she would otherwise have. 

We need a revolution in female manners. Make them labour to reform themselves, and in turn reform the world.

Not that women have not been given enough, but that they have been given too much. 

What she means by virtue is very rationalistic here. 

Cinderella Story

When I think of Cinderella, I think of the movie Sabrina, directed by Billy Wilder. It's an old movie but I do remember seeing it and watching Audrey Hepburn going from chauffeur's daughter (rags) to romancing the rich man's son (riches). In the beginning of the story, Hepburn's character finds herself falling for the younger of the rich man's sons, and upon realizing that he is certainly not interested in a dirty little mechanic's daughter, she attempts suicide. She is saved by the older brother but is so in despair that she flies off to Paris.

While there, she becomes acquaintances with an older distinguished gentleman, who teachers her steps to sophistication, and returns to her old home years later, a new woman. 

She now gains the attention of not only the son she once loved, but also the older one. A slight variation in the classic Cinderella story, in that, she was not automatically given the opportunity, but instead, went out and found it. Upon changing, she got what she eventually desired. 

Notes

The Bloody Chamber

The Courtship of Mr. Lyon is a truly interesting twist on an otherwise familiar story to those growing up with Disney home videos. (Though, of course, this story predates Disney's empire)

In Disney's version the beast is truly mean. Here, we see a beast that only expresses his anger when the father steals, as well as showing it when he hunts. 

It is almost as if the story parallels human life with this beast's, in the process uncovering some real truths on the idea of what's its like to be human. There are many real instances present here, but fairy-tales are meant to distort those moments, putting them on a more dramatic scale; to better entertain us and teach us. 

Mr. Lyon and the young girl both face manhood and womanhood here, respectively. the fascination that comes along with it all; the disgust even.  This man has to come to terms with his own violent potential.  And though he is monstrous, he  still feels the need to be loved.  

Femininity here is shown as a coming to terms with  that initial disgust, and understanding and coping with a man's potential tendency toward violence.

Notes and Quiz

The concept of being 'set up' for life becomes threatening when the individual learns that he or she will most likely not have the same ambition for success, or personal achievement, that they once did. When one does not have to do labour, chances are, nothing will get done. 

As a young man, I know that with parents just around the corner, many obstacles that are present, I refuse to tackle. Yet when my parents are gone someday, I know I will be forced to take the initiative and finally do those things which are now of no interest to me. Necessity forces initiative. So long as there is a support system, it is much easier to just let "those more capable" take care of things...

Quiz 1

Everything depends on how the individual first interpreted the fairy-tale. If that individual appreciated the message within the tale, and they now read a counter message forced upon the same structure, they may come to resent this new message, or idea and eventually discard it; or even make an attempt to protest it. However, they have still read this new idea, it has added to their thoughts- whether voluntarily or involuntarily- and they have changed as a person. They now know of more than the original ideologies.  

This is; however, all depending on the individual actually having read the retelling, which is what I think a lot of authors tend to take for granted. All these precious ideas do not mean a thing unless someone else picks up the book and actually reads it. 

Or, perhaps they were just writing it for themselves... 

First Assignment

These terms needed to be looked up in the Cinderella handouts.

Pious deals with having or exhibiting a religious reverence.

Lentils I could not picture. They are, of course, round flattened seeds.

The only definition I could get for the name Cinderella is one who unexpectedly achieves recognition or success after a period of obscurity and neglect. They call her this because she lies in ashes.

Rook di goo. Your guess is as good as mine. 

Terms like Dior, charwoman, Bonwitt Teller, and Bobbsey Twins had to be looked up to better understand what the author was referring to. They refer, of course, to Christian Dior clothing and style; a human female employed to do housework; a department store in New York; and a classic couple in children's literature; respectively. 

The term curry favor refers to seeking favor by flattery. 

All definitions looked up at thefreedictionary.com and Wikipedia. 

Only the most reliable sources.