Cultural Herstory

A detailed Summary of Cultural Herstory

In the stories of King Lear, The Faerie Queene and The Wife of Bath's Prologue, women are represented by the roles in which they play in the British culture in which they lived in. Each tells a story of the impact they made on society though communicating the culture in which they were present. Culture, in a sense, is a set of rules or standards shared by members of a society, which when acted upon by the members, produces behavior that falls within a range of variation that the members consider acceptable. British culture in the sixteenth century, focused mainly on the actions of men while the women took a back seat. Although, not always positive, this back seat was at times influential in the decision making of the men. In addition, each back seat driver was responsible for manipulation, as presented by King Lear's daughters in King Lear, chastity, as presented by Britomart in The Faerie Queene, and sexual power by The Wife of Bath in The Wife of Bath's Prologue. Consequently, each character shines as they portray a persona of great influential capability as they begin to fascinate the audience by relating their individual tales to their cultural herstory.

particular Christian virtue, as he or she would convey at the court of the Faerie Queene. Britomart, the hero of Book III is the female warrior virgin. She is a skilled fighter who has a strong heart, which "has an amazing capacity for calm thought in troublesome circumstances" (Gardner characters 2). Although she is chaste, she still desires true Christian love. Guided by a vision through a magic mirror, she searches for her future husband, Arthegall. Edmund Spencer presents chastity as a central and many-sided virtue. In modern times, "we tend to see chastity simply as the avoidance of lust" but for Spenser love is viewed in a different light (Gardner section6 3). Britomart is a strong warrior, which reflects the strength of will that the virtue of chastity gives a person. Her strength and good judgment saves Redcrosse, the hero of Book I, which proves that chastity is devoting yourself to gain true holiness. When not fighting, Britomart shows Christ-like sides of chastity by being humble although she is truly weak. Therefore, each trait of Britomart is a true depiction of the culture of her time in which she communicates her strength through resisting the temptations of lust and physical satisfaction.

e William Shakespeare, "the most influential writer in all of English literature," is piece of literature filled with human cruelty and awful, seemingly meaningless disasters (Gardner context 1). Emerging from the back seat, Goneril and Regan, two of King Lear's evil daughters, have an appetite for his vast amount of land. To obtain such an entity, they are willing to go far and beyond to betray their younger sister and flatter their emotionally unstable father. The plot begins with Lear, the aging king of Britain, deciding to step down from the throne and evenly divide his kingdom among the loyalist of his daughters. He begins by asking, "Tell me, my daughters- since now we will divest us, both of rule, interest of territory, cares of

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Approximate Word count = 1324
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English