Rachael’s Blog

       While reading and interpreting the actions in Aphra Behn’s The History of the Nun , the role and stance of the woman was represented differently than we have looked at in other texts. The first quote that stood out to me was when she stated, “...but considering, she knew not how to conceal the Blood, should she cut his Throat, she resolves to Strangle him, or Smother him with a Pillow; that last Thought was no sooner borne, but put in Execution; and, as he soundly slept, she smother'd him without any Noise, or so much as his Strugling.” Isabelle had so much power at this point against a man, which we have not seen yet. She did not even hesitate to strangle him; she strangled him because she didn’t know how else to handle knowing that she had just remarried to Villenoy after already being married to Hanault. Even though it wasn’t her fault that she was either told or inferred that he had died in the war, she still seemed to feel bad and her go-to solution was t...

     While reading Lanyer’s Eve’s Apology in Defense of Women , there is a clear explanation of how women as a whole are profiled as sinful. The first quote that represents this idea from the excerpt states, “Yet Men will boast of Knowledge, which he took From Eve's fair hand, as from a learned Book.” Adam, representing men as a whole, acts like he knows more when in reality, what he knows he learned from Eve. The idea that women take on more of a challenge in their everyday life because men act as though they are better is represented through this quote. Not only does this make women look non-intelligent, but it relates back to how they are depicted as more sinful than men.       The second quote that represented the idea of women’s overall standing stated, “And then to lay the fault on Patience' back, That we (poor women) must endure it all.” Women as a whole took the fault for things even when they did nothing wrong. People, specifically women, just...

       When reading Julian of Norwich, from Revelations of Divine Love , many interesting ideas were touched on regarding God’s influence on man.       The first quote that stood out to me stated, “He made us all at once; and in our making He knit us and oned us to Himself: by which oneing we are kept as clear and as noble as we were made. By the virtue of the same precious oneing, we love our Maker and seek Him, praise Him and thank Him, and endlessly enjoy Him.” I pulled this quote because I thought it was very interesting how it explains how God made us but also kept a part of Him in us, along with a part of us in Him. Whether or not the author meant this literally or figuratively, it sparked thought in my head about why so many people are religious and how they believe that God is with them at all times.       The second quote that I thought was interesting from this reading stated, “The Mother may lay the child tenderly to...

       After reading Lanval by Marie de France, I have a few questions revolving around the level of power women had at this time. So far, in class we have discussed how women were borderline unappreciated because they were supposedly only good for raising children and keeping up with household chores. In this reading, we see a different perspective.       Towards the beginning of the reading, the text states, “No King under heaven, with all his wealth, Could ever buy any of this for himself.” At this point, the Queen was being described. It was shocking to me that she was described as so much wealthier than any King, which is not what I expected considering women barely had jobs and if they did, they were paid much less than men. This quotation and explanation makes me think that maybe women had more power than we think they did, unless this was just during medieval times.       In addition, later in the text, it stated, “The...

       Chapter Four of Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own introduces some food for thought revolving around the idea of women’s liberation and how it has evolved over the last few centuries. The ideas discussed in the chapter highlighted how radical it was for women to have the desire to write, which is something people today don’t even think about because it is so normal for newer generations. This excerpt from Woolf amplifies this idea of women drifting away from their household “roles” of staying home, raising the children, cooking, sewing, etc., and wanting to become educated writers.  While reading, it was hard to imagine and relate to the life the women were living in the  seventeenth and early eighteenth century. Today, many people dread writing for school because it is something women take for granted now. In the reading, there was an example of an uneducated woman attempting to write a letter, but it was one run-on sentence with misspelled wor...

 My favorite thing I did over break was taking a trip to the beach with my friends.