Unconventional Women

In an old Hebrew myth, scribed in medieval times, Adam had a wife prior to the complacent, obedient Eve; her name was Lilith. Lilith was created not from rib, but from the same dust as Adam. As the story goes, Lilith refused to lie beneath Adam, stating that they were equals. When Adam tried to force her into compliance, she fled to the treacherous Red Sex. Considered a demoness by all accounts, she sat on the edge of the sea, birthing more than one hundred demon babies every day. Adam cried to God for help, and God sent angels to fetch Lilith back. When she refused, they condemned her to a fate of either taking the life of an infant (unless that infant has its name written on an amulet) or if she cannot, then she must take the life of her own babies. Also, one hundred of her demon babies would die every day. Instead of taking the lesser of two evils, Lilith spitefully accepted this fate instead of returning to the Garden with Adam. In literature, especially those written by males, it is not uncommon to see a headstrong woman portrayed as, or even becoming, the villain. The last sentence of your opening paragraph is the thesis. The first paragraph should just deal with making the argument. In this case you might want to cut back on the information about Lilith and introduce all the women your paper will discuss: Lilith, Lady Macbeth, and the wife of Bath.. Go into more detail on Lilith after the opening paragraph. The thesis should make an clearer, more specific, and stronger argument about all these women and what they represents: that is a strong feminine character that challenged creation myths and cultural norms.

From the ancient accounts of Alexander the Great’s mother Olympias, to the more well-known Cleopatra or Catherine the Great, to literary figures such as Chaucer’s Wife of Bath, or Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth; strong, childless, and unconventional women, regardless of their motives, are seen as evil or villainous if they are as ruthless as their male counterparts. This thought has been propagated in literature and history since ancient times,(avoid generalities make a specific reference) and the double-standard for men and women continues even today.

Women’s inferior role to men has sprung up in the literature of every generation, culture, and era. This has been perpetuated by the ideology that women are naturally submissive, pious, and gentle creatures. “The Cult of Womanhood” describes this ideology by placing men and women into two “spheres” – not unlike men are from Mars, women are from Venus. (reference here) The public sphere involves business and public life, ruthless and uncaring. This sphere is reserved for men. The other sphere, the private sphere, is gentle, nurturing, and devoted to familial and religious matters. When a women steps outside this sphere, she is reviled and, what some sexist journalists have called her, a “mental hermaphrodite.” The Wife of Bath, Alyson, one of the traveling characters in Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tales” is a prime example of a complex, independent woman in literature, who by Chaucer’s pen, is an immoral being. GoodAlyson explains her quintet of marriages, going into detail about how she controlled, lied, and manipulated all of her husbands until their deaths. She says, “Of tribulacion in marriage, of which I am expert in al myn age. This is to seyn, myself have been the whippe.” (III.179-181) ExcellentShe is seen as a sexually dominant man-hater, instead of a headstrong, vivacious woman.

The written account of The Wife of Bath, and her subsequent story of a rapist who learns the error of his ways through honor was probably inspired by Chaucer’s own accusations of rape, and is a mea culpa to women of the time. Her attitude, brazen and unapologetic, was also a commentary on the antifeminist feelings of the time. It isn’t rare, then, to imagine that women in history would be judged by the author’s culture as well. Such is the case with misunderstood ancient figure, Olympias. She was a princess of tribal country by birth, and the Queen of one of the greatest empires of the time, Phillip II’s Macedonia. Her devotion to the wine-god Dionysus, and probably with some disgust toward Phillip, she claimed that the son she bore, Alexander, was of mythical descent. She encouraged Alexander to be brave, forward-thinking, bold, and arrogant. This upbringing helped forge the dyanmic personality that became Alexander’s trademark, and catapulted him to greatness.