Article Summary Project

Threaded Discussion about Womanhood in the Eighteenth Century.

Francoise-Athenais de Rochechouart

Student Reviews
and Critiques of an Article.

Each student will read, summarize, and discuss "The Cult of Womanhood in Eighteenth Century Thought," an article written by Marlene LeGates in Eighteenth Century Studies, Vol. 10, pp. 21-39 (The American Society for Eighteenth Century Studies, 1976).

You can find this article on JSTOR and download it through the Library website.

The summary should consist of:

1) a description of the content of the article. About a half to two-thirds of a type-written page.

2) the student's assessment of the article. What was good about it?  What was bad?  What did the student learn? This should be about a half to two-thirds of a page.

The initial summary should be about a page to a page and a half.

Each student should submit their summary to my by e-mail for posting on the class website by the due date.

After the summaries are posted on the website, each student should read their classmates' summaries and comment on them for posting on the website. Students are encouraged to critique their fellow students' work and to engage in productive dialogue about the issues raised by student commentaries.

Please keep your comments polite. Having a disagreement over historical fact and interpretation is fine, but you must support your arugments historically.  Avoid personal insults and gratuitously nasty comments.

A Threaded Discussion....  
"The Cult of Womanhood in Eighteenth Century Thought."
An article by Marlene LeGates
From "The Cult of Womanhood in Eighteenth-Century Thought," by Marlene LeGates, Eighteenth Century Studies, Vol. 10, pp. 21-39 (The American Society for Eighteenth Century Studies, 1976).

A Thread by Roger Bunn

June 14, 2009

While reading "The Cult of Womanhood in Eighteenth Century Thought" written by Marlene Legates, I got a better understanding of the role of women during the Age of Enlightenment. The man was viewed as superior to the woman everywhere but the bedroom. It has been proven that women had a higher sex-drive during this period. Most women were obedient to their men during this time, but there were still some who weren’t. Pamela even referred to her husband as her master and thought of herself as more of his servant than wife. The title of a married man was the most honorable title of all. The article basically attributes the rise of women’s work to the vast growth of industrialization. The article also states that the pattern of women’s work remained unchanged for the lower class, while upper-class women still had the responsibility of maintaining large households.

I couldn’t find much good in this article. However, I did find many bad and disturbing things. It’s hard for me to think of my future wife as a slave or servant to me. I’m sure that this is the way that things were done before and after the Age of Enlightenment, but we live in a completely different society now. For example, in our class we have three males and two females with aspirations of getting a college degree and making their mark in today’s society. In the past, these women would never have had the opportunity to receive a college degree. In addition, the high schools that I have been doing field experience in have mostly female staff. My fiancée is also a high school teacher who is pursuing her doctorate so she can be a professor at the college level. I fully support her and encourage her daily to achieve this goal. I don’t plan on walking behind her or in front of her during our journey through life, but I do plan on walking side-by-side with her.
 

A Thread by Cody Walker

June 14, 2009

In her essay, Marlene Le Gates evaluates the eighteenth century writers’ views of women and marriage and how their views compared to traditional beliefs of the 16-17th century. She first describes traditional beliefs as being misogynistic and originating from ancient Greece. She says that the traditional views of marriage were pessimistic and tended to see marriage as "troublesome" for men, because of women’s sexual impulses and their inclination for disobedience. This view changed from the "disorderly woman" to the image of the virtuous and "chaste maiden." Using Samuel Richardson's characters from Pamela and Clarissa, LeGates showed how these characters changed the views of marriage while reinforcing the hierarchical structure of eighteenth century society.

LeGates describes the views of the eighteenth century "Cult of Womanhood," stating that the "reduction of female virtue to chastity" and the moral superiority of women were not new concepts, only shown differently. She used the works of Richardson, Rousseau and Rowe to compare the characteristics of female innocence and defenselessness, and showed that in traditional sources a female's virtue was contributed to by traditional controls that were strengthened. While the women in these stories were allowed moral superiority, they would ultimately surrender to the male authority, saying that women who rebel "cannot be tolerated."

Also, LeGates infers that these new concepts on womanhood challenged common Christian beliefs about human nature, due to the optimism in the works of Enlightenment writers. However, while describing the different views of Enlightenment writers, Le Gates states that these beliefs reinforced many of the prevailing attitudes of female sexuality.

Le Gates continues by saying that the popularity of the image of "chaste womanhood" came out of society's search for solutions to problems with male sexuality, not only female lust. At the end, LeGates writes that Enlightenment writers associated the virtuous woman with the aristocracy, while characteristics concerning sexuality and female insubordination were linked to the lower classes. She also says that the new image of womanhood created during this time was the aristocracy's attempt to secure their position as the status quo and reinforce the male gender as the dominant power in the family, and society. She sees this "celebration of Womanhood" by writers during the Enlightenment in a "specific social and intellectual context," which included concerns about the family and society during the eighteenth century.

This article uses primary sources to attribute the emergence of the "Cult of Womanhood" during the eighteenth century. LeGates makes use of both classical and Enlightenment authors to illustrate her point. LeGates suggests that scholars should not overate the uniqueness of eighteenth century views of women. By arguing that chastity and obedience were characteristics of a model woman, Le Gates shows that these beliefs only cultivated women's traditional roles within society and were not considered "revolutionary" themes. She makes use of many women's studies and history works by authors such as Antonia Fraser. Her writing flows well, leaving the reader with a fresh analysis of a well-known ideal.
 

A Thread by Laurel Bradshaw

June 15, 2009

The article, "The Cult of Womanhood in Eighteenth-Century Thought" by Marlene LeGates, describes “fair sex” ideas on women in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The ideas of fair sex would be written about in novels, philosophical writings, and letters. The ideas of the age would portray women as weaker vessels and praise women who followed the virtues of chastity and obedience.

The modern writings also reflect a reassessment of marriage driven by the Puritan teachings. The writings stressed “spiritual compatibility” and the importance of love, which brought the two companions together. The author argues that the Enlightenment also played a large role in the family, marriage, and the new woman. The Enlightenment writers placed an emphasis on women as a “dangerous sex” and the strength of the woman to create a tightly woven nuclear family. The article also describes the effects of family, religion, and the states as the reasons why women have evolved into women of strong convictions. Without these influences, women would cease to hold strong morals.

The writings of the Enlightenment also state that “virtue in women was valued so highly because it was so difficult.” The writings of this era reflected that without men, women would cease to be strong creatures and would fall prey to the lusts of their flesh.

The view on the reassessment of marriage in the eighteenth century I enjoyed and agreed with. The Puritans placed an emphasis on freedom of choice when choosing a partner and also the importance of love and attraction when choosing a partner. In many ways the writings of the Puritans set a standard for today’s model of choosing a spouse. I did not enjoy the author’s quotation of Pamela, which stated, “love is not necessary to form a happy marriage,” which echoes man’s idea of sex during the Enlightenment period.

Overall, the article exposed the derogatory views of men on women during the eighteenth century. An example is the author’s statement, “If the timidity, chasteness and modesty which are proper to women are social inventions, it is in society’s interest that women acquire these qualities; they must be cultivated in woman.” This quote describes women as creatures of naturally weak and unfortunate character; without men, religion, and society playing a major role in a women’s life, she ceases to be a woman of strength and character.
 

A Thread by Tony Nicholas

June 15, 2009

The role of women in society and literature has changed greatly over time. Historically, women have always been considered the weaker sex and the seductress of good men. Even early Christian leaders and philosophers viewed this seduction as potentially dangerous to the Christian faith by quoting scripture, that “no one can serve two masters.” They related this to marriage.

Many thinkers believed that women could not control their sexuality and were inclined to disobedience. This concept stemmed from Eve, the original temptress. It was commonly thought that a man could control his sexual urges, if not for the advances of a lusty woman. A woman’s lust was commonly portrayed in the literature in the thirteenth and fourteenth century and is most likely the inspiration of the witch-hunt writings during the fifteenth century. This changed during the eighteenth century, when the image of the wild seductress was replaced with a chaste maiden and obedient wife. No longer was the young, vivacious woman the villain in popular literature, but rather, was now the heroine.

With the new image of women came a reassessment of marriage. Religious teachings of the importance of spiritual compatibility of spouses was taken up by non-religious writers in the eighteenth century, stressing greater freedom in the selection of partners and the importance of love as an attraction prior to marriage. Many critics attribute this change of ideas on women, marriage, and family to an increase of humanitarianism. Others claim it is the effect of capitalism, in that as industrialization took hold in Europe, women who were once part of the work-force were now at home, having been replaced by machines.

Industrialization, even in its early form, created a new class of people, the bourgeois or middle-class. The bourgeois created a larger gap between the aristocrats and the lower class and was the cause for much of the social change that took place in eighteenth century Europe. This was seen in literature (Pamela by Samuel Richardson) with the loss of innocence of a poor village woman to a sexually aggressive male member of the aristocracy.

The new identification of female innocence now placed women in various religious and communal positions. The new role of women was seen more in France than England, where it was viewed that women would always be subject to a man. Even with the new views of women, many Enlightenment writers felt that women were sexually unstable; they, however, did not receive the negative connotations as before.

Marlene LeGates did an excellent job in discussing the role of women in the eighteenth century. Her use of Medieval and Renaissance texts provides good examples of not only the views society held toward women, but also the viewpoints of the women themselves. The alteration in the purpose of marriage from one of political or social gain to one of love and friendship shows the change that took place in societal views of marriage. It was this new view of marriage that helped transform the image of women. This is a fact that many historians overlook, yet was a common theme in LeGates writing.

The one thing I disliked about the article was that if the reader does not have prior knowledge of texts or books that LeGates made reference to, the reader can lose their train of thought and not fully appreciate her usage of the references. She did, however, make enough of her own points that the reader can have a general concept of the subject. This article was useful to me in my understanding of the role and views of women from the thirteenth to eighteenth century. It allowed me the opportunity to fully comprehend how the view on women shaped the political and social scenes from the Medieval to Enlightenment periods.

A Thread by Alana Norris

June 15, 2009

The author of this article compares the role of women from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries through literature. The relationships between men and women were complex. Many marriages were set up for the exchange of material possessions. Most people did not marry the person they were in love with. This was sometimes seen as a devotion to their parents. A man’s view was that if he were not married he would not be taken care of or have any heirs.

Marriage was almost a necessary evil. It was widely thought in earlier times that women had “an inclination to sexuality and disobedience.” Men were supposedly able to control their sexual urges. Women were known for being manipulative and susceptive to the reproductive organs.

In the eighteenth century, the role of the obedient wife began to emerge. Their best fate was to surrender to the man they loved. “…chastity and obedience had always been the twin virtues of the ideal women.” Women were held to the one virtue of chastity. Some say that the women were well aware of their power and sexuality and that they were not as defenseless as they were made out to be. Still, women were to be under the man’s control or else they were outcasts. Later in the eighteenth century, the focus shifted to the family structure. At last men saw potential in women, but the men thought that the women needed guidance for that potential to be realized.

It was interesting to read about a subject from a literature perspective. I did not like how the article seemed to jump around the timeline. Sometimes it got messy between actual fact and fiction from a book. I hate that there were such odd assumptions or judgments placed on women. I suppose you live and learn. It is just strange how all of these qualities were placed on women. I was very intrigued when a woman said that marriage was not about love and that there could be no love in marriage. What an interesting perspective. I like that this article brings reality to light and that it can clear up common misconceptions and misinformation. I learned that the role of women has had many changes over time and some conceptions have been around for hundreds of years.