In his sculpture, L' estasi di Santa Teresa (1647 - 1652), Bernini uses dramatic and sensual waves in the woman's hair and gown, which portrays that she is submissive and wishes to be touched. http://www.thais.it/scultura/image/sch00349.htm During the early Romantic period, the role of women was broadened from being merely housewives and mothers to one with more educational duties. The issue of woman's rights was addressed during the early Romantic period for three reasons: the French Revolution, legislation in, and finally, the Industrial Revolution. ... Towards the ...

• Word Count: 1482
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

She has a costly set of beads around her arm, which should be used for prayer, but end in a brooch inscribed ambiguously Amor vincit amnia (Love conquers all), but unfortunately it seems it is referring not to the love of God, but romantic love. ... Her brooch is ambiguous as to its meaning - "Amor vincit omnia", meaning'love conquers all', is perhaps an acceptable sentiment if meant religiously; however, 'amor'was usually taken to mean romantic, rather than religious, love. ... It is interesting to note the way Chaucer manipulates with the mode of medieval romance in char...

• Word Count: 1688
• Approx Pages: 7

Unlike the earlier romantic 19th century novels of Jane Austen whose characters such as Elizabeth Bennett lived happily ever after, Victorian novelist George Eliot, broke the tradition of the standard romantic novel by representing women in unhappy relationships and the reality and problems of the woman's role in life and their place in society, this is particularly evident in her realist novel Middlemarch. Another example of the way women were represented in the mid-Victorian period is in poetry such as Tennyson's "The Lady of Shalott" who is bound by the web she weaved within th...

• Word Count: 1599
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Egeus doesn't choose the court on a whim; rather, he is hopeful that by taking Hermia to the literal and symbolic seat of the highest authority of the land, she will recognize and honor masculine authority and, by extension, will comply with traditional gender roles, which dictated that a woman should marry to either preserve or advance social ties and familial goals, not to gratify her own romantic or sexual needs or desires. ... The fact that Olivia uses her power as the lady of the house to compel a servant to lie on her behalf so that she can make her romantic and sexual decisions for...

• Word Count: 2208
• Approx Pages: 9
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Graduate

As a result to the stigma attached to single women, (Morris, & DePaulo, 2006) found that rental agents prefer married couple over singles or cohabiting romantic couple. ... Unmarried people, especially those who are not in a romantic relationship, are perceived as less responsible, less mature, and less well adjusted than married people (Etaugh & Birdoes, Morris, DePaulo Hertel, & Taylor, 2008). ...

• Word Count: 1542
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography

Most individuals, who have viewed the well-known film Pretty Woman, have found the film to be romantic and a modernized version of the happily ever after tale of Cinderella. ... Most people find the movie Pretty Woman dreamy and passionate but using women as an ornament and looking down on the lower class is not what I call a romantic movie. ...

• Word Count: 1499
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography

After months and months of suspense, love has finally been discovered. Love was not discovered by anyone in the classroom. Two characters in Chekhov's "The Lady with the Dog- fell in love. It is such a romantic way to end the semester. Well, enough about school and on to the facts. In every sh...

• Word Count: 1555
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

Often times these women opt not to get married, for they find that "true- romantic love is nowhere to be found in a society which inequalizes the sexes from birth. ... (Firestone 252) Romantic Love, despite all of its enthusiastic recommendations, has proven to disadvantage women whether one analyzes it from a psychological or philosophic...

• Word Count: 1940
• Approx Pages: 8

Eva Luna was my introduction into the world of Isabel Allende's novels and I have to admit that in the beginning I had to struggle with the stereotype of "romantic pulp novels- to get myself through the first twenty-five - thirty pages (Wilson). ...

• Word Count: 2213
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The role of women in society is very different today compared to the role of women in Victorian society, in the 19th Century. Discuss this statement with reference to Maggie Tulliver in "Mill On The Floss" Since the book "Mill on The Floss" was written nearly two hundred years ago, it is no sur...

• Word Count: 1369
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The role of women in society is very different today compared to the role of women in Victorian society, in the 19th Century. Discuss this statement with reference to Maggie Tulliver in "Mill On The Floss" Since the book "Mill on The Floss" was written nearly two hundred years ago, it is no sur...

• Word Count: 1370
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Apart from comparing Gonne's threatening beauty to a weapon, Yeats also interpreted Gonne as a feminist who always had the dominant role in the romantic relationship, overruling while emasculating the man in order to manipulate him to resort to violence. ...

• Word Count: 1252
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

There is something about pink purses and perfect manicures that gives off an ultra-feminine vibe. As we step into the world of Elle Woods, main character of the movie Legally Blonde, it becomes apparent that she is a girl. Not just an average girl, but a girly-girl. A key interpretation of a gir...

• Word Count: 1257
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Henrik Ibsen's classic play, A Doll's House, takes into the account the role of women during his time period and also how they were treated. His play intertwines the complexities of life, being a newlywed young woman, and conflicts that potentially arise in real life. While the results of the con...

• Word Count: 1296
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

Henry Lawson Henry Lawson portrays the drover's wife with a lot of sympathy, but does seem to imply that the life is unnatural and destructive, even though she can cope with it - the Bush is "no place for a woman". The story itself is both well written and interesting, using the incident of the s...

• Word Count: 1266
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

THE AWAKENING- as a comment on the 19th century American feminine predicament At the center of THE AWAKENING is Edna Pontellier, a woman of the 19th century who rebels against social constraint of that time and acknowledges her sexual desires. She does even more than just acknowledging she has...

• Word Count: 1837
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography

Because Alcott is teaching her young readers what it means to grow up, she must face the question of Jo's fate in the novel: will she remain independent and romantic, or will she conform to custom and marry? ...

• Word Count: 1473
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Many female characters in 19th Century texts are caught between a need for independence through working, and a need for security, through marriage and the taking on of domestic duties as a housewife. They must choose between the uncertain prospect of setting out on their own and the extensive limita...

• Word Count: 1558
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Like his other romantic comedies, The Taming of the Shrew focuses on courtship and marriage and the various roles that the man and woman play, but, unlike most of them, it devotes a great deal of attention to married life after the wedding. ...

• Word Count: 1693
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

Shakespeare in Love, directed by John Madden and written by Marc Norman and playwright Tom Stoppard, is a romantic-comedy drama that depicts a lustrous affair between the privileged Viola de Lesseps (Gwyneth Paltrow) and the upcoming commoner playwright William Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) which transpires during the fictional development of the play Romeo & Juliet. ...

• Word Count: 1880
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Janie's Quest for Identity Throughout much of history, many women have spent a significant amount of their lives in search of their own voice and ways to represent themselves and their lifestyles. Some of the ways they have been able to convey their story's is through literature, folk tales and o...

• Word Count: 1946
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

A Garden of Discovery for Mrs. Givings Most aspiring actors wish to follow an established actor's career path – their choices in roles, their style, their sheer excellence. One that many young female stage actresses might look up to is Laura Benanti, who originated the role of Catherine Giving...

• Word Count: 1862
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

Stereotypes have long identified what is "male" and what is "female". These stereotypes, designated by society, determine what type of role each gender fulfills in society. But male and female roles change over time, and as traditional stereotypes begin to fade, so do gender roles. Today, women experience freedom and opportunities that were thought unattainable by their female ancestors. Stereotypes and gender roles had a strong hold on society in the late 1800's, and because many women silently desired independence above all else, their wish for equality was a common theme in literature...

• Word Count: 2223
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Susan Glaspell was born in Davenport, Iowa in 1876. After graduating high school, she started writing professionally, for a local newspaper. In 1901, she began her career as a fiction writer. Her fiction works were romantic stories set in the Midwest, and she was published in several popular mag...

• Word Count: 2006
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

"The exemplary female prototype in advertising, regardless of product or service, displays youth (no lines or wrinkles), good looks, sexual seductiveness, and perfection (no scars, blemishes, or even pores (Cortese 2008, 59)." It's a difficult point to argue; in looking around, what's gleaned is how...

• Word Count: 2240
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: Undergraduate