Angel Soto
Professor Solis
English 207
Prompt 1
Women and Men of before
The 1600s was an important time for Anglo history. The English were very proud when they were finally able to settle in Virginia and not die due to their own poor hygiene and living conditions. As time went on, they were able to grow towns and eventually move. Men, women, and children eventually came to this so called New Land to settle down and to start a new life. It was supposed to be a time of freedom because back in Britain many of these people were actually not allowed to express their religious beliefs to the rules of England. It is shown in these stories by Mary Rowlandson, Anne Bradstreet, John Winthrop, and William Bradford how life was like for these people, but the men. Bradford expresses what it is life and how they were expected to live, expect for the fact that he talks about the men and children, leaving the women out of the picture. During Puritan times, women had almost no rights and were treated as property. There had no religious, economic, or social rights and their main jobs were to be mothers, and take care of the household activities, such as cooking and cleaning. Women were expected to marry by their early twenties, if not, they would be shunned by the town. The life of a Puritan woman was demanding and vicious. They would be put under strict rules, and like kids, in social situations, they would not speak unless spoken too. They were not given an education as they were not expected to need it, as their only goal was to be a good wife, thus was only taught how to do that. Women were also not supposed to write like men were, and because of this, were not able to express their opinions and show how life was for them without publishing anonymously. Since women were not portrayed correctly and were treated how men thought they should behave, it reinforces to both men and women how women should act and to act as far as religious, economic, and social behaviors.
Bradford wrote about the experiences of going from Europe to the Americas and the many important or significant events that took place. While Bradford does take into account his own experiences and how they dealt with bumps in their journey he did not mention women with the same amount of importance. He does consider children, men, even the natives but women do not seem to be of importance in his texts. By Women being less relevant in his text speaks to how women are viewed and treated in society. This speaks to the era that women were living in and how they were treated, Bradford wrote in detail about every important aspect of the journey to America. Any issues that men encountered, the suffering of children, and interactions with natives, but any issues pertaining to women are omitted from any relevance in Bradford’s writing. This form of neglect in his writings could come from his puritan ideals. These ideals could have made Bradford see women as only an extension of a man or their father because of how women were constantly put into a position of submission to their husband or father will. Women lacked the same liberties that men had in terms of actually owning anything, women’s role in society at this time was staying home and having children. “This situation of women’s discrimination that begins in their journeys will be extrapolated to the New World. There, women will be consistently ignored when it comes to the social organization of the new community.” (Galisteo 57). There was no need for women to have ownership of anything because when women would get married everything she owned went to her husband. Women were given this role based on societal and puritan beliefs that a woman only had a duty to her family. That is why the only time women are referenced during his text is as a mother, this shows that for Bradford the only time a woman is relevant is when she is fulfilling her role as a mother.
Winthrop writes in his text a form of a guide that people must use in their new-found home and reasons for following God. Winthrop writes in a way that he is giving instructions and, in those instructions,, men are told how to do things and he provides answers to questions the people may have. Men are addressed all throughout, but the only time women become part of his instructions is when it comes to family, bearing children, and love. “So a mother loves her child, because she thoroughly conceives a resemblance of herself in it., “She sets no bounds to her affections, nor hath any thought of reward. She finds recompense enough in the exercise of her love towards it.” (Winthrop 185). In the journal of John Winthrop, he writes more about women but instead he focuses on Mrs. Hutchinson and her case. Instead of presenting a new perspective on women in society, he focuses on the shortcoming of Mrs. Hutchinson. These writing are more religious based and show how even in religion women are not equal to men, this can be seen in the instructions that Winthrop presents where men are given many roles and a sense of purpose while women are held to only being a mother and a wife. Religion around this time was still very important and religious roles and rules were enforced, which did not allow women to ever break out of their assigned roles in society regardless of wealth. Wealth was not a factor because any wealth that a woman had in reality was her husband’s wealth. Economically speaking women would not provide any form of money or goods to a family home. Instead women were raised to be proper wives and mothers. A woman’s livelihood depended on her getting married, because women did not have access to an education which prevented them from having any real sustainable jobs. Without an education it also keep women in line and kept them conformant with their roles.
Anne Bradstreet introduces new feminist ideas and perspectives with her writings. In Honor of Queen Elizabeth, she writes about what Queen Elizabeth represented for women around the world and more importantly how she defied many misogynist ideas during that time. Bradstreet praises Queen Elizabeth’s ability to rule and also mentions how she had no flaws unlike previous female rulers, “Elizabeth has all the good qualities of the famous queens of history, but none of their characteristic defects. Dido is also 'a great Eliza' because she built Carthage, but she suffers in a fuller comparison to Elizabeth. Cleopatra was as rich as Elizabeth, but less honorable, and so on.” ( Bradstreet 222). Bradstreet not only praised Elizabeth’s ability to rule but also for men to look at how well a woman can rule if given the opportunity to do so. In her writings of Contemplations, Bradstreet looks at life from a perspective where she can see that people die, age, and are not perfect. This is almost as if Bradstreet is going through an existential crisis where she begins to look at the life she lived differently and how the people around her lived. She focuses on nature as well and how nature and life both share a cycle, a beginning and an end. Her perspective of men is clear as she mentions how men are vain, ignorant, and wretched. She even makes references to religion where she begins to blame the fall of man on Adam. Bradstreet not only praises the beauty of life and nature, but she also looks ahead after death. Bradstreet in this writing shows how she views men and how their constant greed and ignorance was to blame for many of the issues that the world had. Her subjective approach makes her writings able to be read by anyone and interpreted in different ways, which makes her writings more relatable. In The Flesh and the Spirit, Bradstreet brings to life the ideas of spirit and flesh in the form of sisters. This pome served as a reflection for everyday puritans and the many internal conflicts that they may have faced throughout their life and religion. She does not directly criticize religion but instead presents the reality that many puritans faced within themselves.
Rowlandson writes about her experiences, being held captive, and her belief in god. Her position as a well-respected woman in puritan society has a lot to do with the way she tells her story. This is why regardless of the situation she was in during her capture she could not lose or reference losing faith in God. Anything that went wrong or didn’t go her way were seen as Gods will. Rowlandson also reflects on the roles of women. She refers back to what many puritans saw as a woman’s only purpose which was to have children which she refers to throughout her writing. In her writing when she mentions trading whatever goods she could make out of sewing represented an idea that was not accepted which was women being able to trade on their own for goods.
Rowlandson and Bradstreet have different voices because even if they shared similarities in religion, the time they lived in, and their gender, they are still two different women. Rowlandson through her writings in a way tries to tell people to never lose faith in god not matter the situation. She uses her capture as a as a tool to inspire those that may be losing faith to hold onto it. While Bradstreet takes a different approach to her religion, she questions it more and is able to criticize it more openly. She understands that women can be more than what men and religion tell her, which is why heavily praises Queen Elizabeth and the image of a powerful women that she portrays. Rowlandson was more willing to accept things as they were because she simply would say it was Gods will, while Bradstreet was more critical and able to think outside of her role and religion. Gender does play a factor in the way these two woman’s voices are different is because of one’s ability to think for themselves. Bradstreet thought for herself, she thought of life after death, she wanted more for women. Rowlandson was not so open minded, she instead relied heavily on her religion for answers instead of trying to conjure them for herself.