Women's Studies of Debate
Three hundred years ago, female writers focused their attentions' on such topics as the rearing of children, romance, and religion. However, Margaret Cavendish refused to follow these conventions. As a controversial feminist of the period, she published at variety of works depicting the struggle of women in Elizabethan times. "Female Orations" is a selection of Cavendish's which portrays a mock debate on the role of women in society. Despite being written in the mid-1600s, the style of "Female Orations" is remarkably similar to that of modern-day debates. Standard debates, according to Basic Debate by Maridell Fryar and David A. Thomas, have two sides, affirmative and negative, and six rounds. Each round contains one speech, which varies in length and content depending on the round. These speeches are labeled as either "constructive", the longer and more in-depth speech type, or "rebuttal", the shorter speech type responsible for summation of the constructive speeches. In "Female Orations", there are seven speeches. The extra speech, found to be Oration 5, is the only one that does not follow the outlined rules of a standard debate. Oration I, the first of Cavendish's seven orations, is easily compared to the first affirmati
As shown by the many examples present in this analysis, the style used in "Female Orations" is notably similar to that of today's standard debates. Though it was written in the Elizabethan era, "Female Orations" is a piece that could have been written yesterday. By using well-planned strategies and thorough arguments, the cases presented in these orations provide a debate that could very well rival those presented today. Orations III and IV are similar to the second negative constructive (SNC) and second affirmative constructive (SAC) speeches, respectively. By stating that, " ... men, who are our admirers and lovers; they are our protectors, defenders, and maintainers ... we could not possibly live without them ... " (Oration III) , the woman speaking on behalf of the negative case attempts to prove that women are nothing without men, by launching an organized attack on the affirmative. Her views are attacked in Oration IV by the affirmative speaker. The woman voicing her views in this oration, reinforces the affirmative logic. She feels that the women should defend themselves (" ... show men that we [women] are not so weak and foolish ... ") by going out into society (" ... schools, colleges, and courts ... taverns, brothels, and gaming houses ... ") and taking a stand against persons displaying attitudes resembling those of the women on the negative side of the debate. This represents a tactic used today in SAC speeches to reestablish the affirmative contentions. ve constructive speech (FAC) of a textbook debate. The goals of the FAC are to state the affirmative case and plan, to define any ambiguous key terms, and to provide justification for the affirmative case. Oration I is structured with examples that meet these criteria. For instance, " ...
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1194
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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