Perfect wife Essay Example

Perfect wife Essay Example Perfect wife Paper Perfect wife Paper Elizabeth Barrett Browning Aurora Leigh An exploration of the alterity of the artist woman in Book 2 and 3, focussing upon the symbolic judgments voiced by Romney and Lady Waldemar, with reference to Auroras impertinence and asexuality. Both Romney Leigh and Lady Waldemar make symbolic judgments about Aurora. They are disturbed by her role as a writer, which they view as impertinence. As an artist woman in a mans world, this makes Aurora neither man nor woman in their eyes but asexual. This essay explores these judgments in the light of Auroras otherness which is in contrast to the identity which a patriarchal society has constructed for women. Romneys voice is the voice of patriarchy. His speech reveals the identity that a patriarchal society has constructed for women when he tells Aurora that the proper place for a Woman as you are, mere woman, personal and passionate is in the role of: doting mothers, and perfect wives, Sublime Madonnas, and enduring saints! (II. 220-3) As this speech shows, Romney believes all women should remain within the traditional roles assigned to them by patriarchy. The expectation for women is that they resemble in behaviour, the Virgin Mary or other saints, who endure great hardship but without complaint. Victorian society believed that a womans sole focus in life should be on the needs of her children and her husband and only then can she be viewed as the perfect wife. Romney Leigh sees nothing in Aurora which resembles any of these attributes for as he says, We get no Christ from you. (II.224) As a writer, Aurora fails to conform to the ideal woman, wife and mother as it has been constructed by patriarchy, rather she embodies an otherness which is in complete contrast to this ideal. However, Romney even refuses to give her credit for her writing because he feels her lack of womanly virtue destroys her credibility as an artist, and verily/We shall not get a poet, in my mind. (II. 224-5) Clearly, Romney views Auroras otherness as an impediment to her skills as a writer because he believes she is unable to act like a woman was expected to be. This notion is revealed further when Romney accuses the woman artist of trying to be a prophet, who is attempting to teach the living about things which woman cannot understand. What Romney means is that women are supposedly only sympathetic to the personal woes in life, whereas men are capable of sympathizing with a more universal anguish and general suffering in the world. (II. 181-199) He tells Aurora: You weep for what you know. A red-haired child Sick in fever, if you touch him once, Though but so little as with a finger-tip,Will set you weeping; but a million sick You could as soon weep for the rule of three Or compound fractions. (II. 213-18) This reveals not only Romneys patronizing symbolic judgement of the woman artist being incapable of experiencing any emotion with regard to the greater, and in his view, far more important issues in life, but also that all women are incapable of having these feelings which is why he believes women do not make good writers. In Romneys judgment, all women are selfish and not do feel anything for the wider and more important issues. He says that since this is a world/Uncomprehended by women, then the world should remain Uninfluenced by women. (II. 218-20) Since Romney Leigh perceives women to be outside the realm of true human emotion, he even sees them as not human. Indeed, Romneys symbolic judgment of womenartists is that they are like beasts for Aurora is described as a grand wild creature of the woods, who hate[s] the stall built for her. (II. 1098/9) In other words, Aurora is like a horse.

Profile of Mary Lacey Sr. & Mary Lacey Jr, Salem Trials

Profile of Mary Lacey Sr. & Mary Lacey Jr, Salem Trials The name â€Å"Mary Lacey† belongs to two women involved in the Salem witch trials of 1692: Mary Lacey the mother (referred to here as Mary Lacey Sr.), and her daughter Mary Lacey (referred to here as Mary Lacey Jr.). Mary Lacey Facts Known for:  in the 1692  Salem witch trialsAge at time of Salem witch trials:  Mary Lacey Sr. was about 40, and Mary Lacey Jr. was 15 or 18 (sources differ)Dates: Mary Lacey Sr.:  July 9, 1652- 1707.  Mary Lacey Jr.: 1674? - ?Also known as:  Mary Lacy Family, Background: Mary Lacey Sr. was the daughter of Ann Foster and her husband, Andrew Foster.  Ann Foster emigrated from England in 1635.  Mary Lacey Sr. was born about 1652.  She married Lawrence Lacey on August 5, 1673. Mary Lacey Jr. was born about 1677. Mary Lacey and the Salem Witch Trials When Elizabeth Ballard of Andover fell ill with a fever in 1692, the doctors suspected witchcraft, knowing of the events in nearby Salem.  Ann Putnam Jr. and Mary Wolcott were called to Andover to see if they could identify the witch, and they fell into fits upon seeing Ann Foster, a 70-something widow.  She was arrested and sent to Salem jail on July 15. She was examined on July 16 and 18.  She resisted acknowledging that she had committed any witchcraft. An arrest warrant was issued against Mary Lacey Jr. on July 20th, for â€Å"Committed Sundry acts of witchcraft on Eliz Ballerd, the wife of Jos Ballerd of Andover. to her great hurt.† She was arrested the next day and brought to an examination by John Hathorne, Jonathan Corwin, and John Higginson.  Mary Warren fell into a violent fit at the sight of her.  Mary Lacey Jr. testified that she had seen her mother, grandmother and Martha Carrier flying on poles given by the Devil.  Ann Foster, Mary Lacey Sr. and Mary Lacey Jr. were examined again that same day by Bartholomew Gedney, Hathorne, and Corwin, â€Å"accused of practicing witchcraft upon Goody Ballard.† Mary Lacey Sr. accused her mother of witchcraft, probably to help deflect the charges against herself and her daughter.  Ann Foster had until that time denied the charges; she may have shifted strategies to save her daughter and granddaughter. Mary Lacey Sr. was indicted for bewitching Mercy Lewis in Salem on July 20. On September 14, the testimony of those who charged Mary Lacey Sr. with witchcraft was delivered in writing.  On September 17, the court tried and convicted  Rebecca Eames, Abigail Faulkner, Ann Foster, Abigail Hobbs, Mary Lacey Sr., Mary Parker, Wilmott Redd, Margaret Scott, and Samuel Wardwell, and they were condemned to be executed. Later in September, the last eight convicted of witchcraft were hanged, and at the end of the month, the Court of Oyer and Terminer stopped meeting. Mary Lacey After the Trials Mary Lacey Jr was released from custody on October 6, 1692, on a bond. Ann Foster died in jail in December of 1692; Mary Lacey was eventually released.  Mary Lacey Jr. was indicted on January 13 for â€Å"covenanting.† In 1704, Mary Lacey Jr. married Zerubbabel Kemp. Lawrence Lacey sued for restitution for Mary Lacey in 1710.  In 1711, the  legislature of the Province of Massachusetts Bay  restored all rights to many of those who had been accused in the 1692 witch trials. Included were George Burroughs, John Proctor, George Jacob, John Willard, Giles and  Martha Corey,  Rebecca Nurse,  Sarah Good, Elizabeth How,  Mary Easty, Sarah Wilds, Abigail Hobbs, Samuel Wardell, Mary Parker,  Martha Carrier, Abigail Faulkner, Anne Foster, Rebecca Eames, Mary Post, Mary Lacey, Mary Bradbury and Dorcas Hoar. Mary Lacey Sr. died in 1707.