Summary Of The Tale Of Kieu By Nguyeu And Separate Roles

Our world has been a male dominated society from the beginning of time. In most cultures, especially in ancient times, women were thought of as secondary to their male counterparts. Women were considered a possession just as a house or piece of property is considered a possession. The role of women in these early societies did not receive an education but was to take care of the household and have children. The women of the Minoan and Mycenaean ancient Greece cultures held much more roles than homemakers and mothers; they were allowed more freedoms and rights also oracles, priestesses, and political advisors yet they are also seen by men as nothing more than a mere possession.

In the modern world women work, vote, run for office and the list goes on. In most aspects, women are equal to men. However, this was not always the case. In centuries past, women were not viewed as being equal to men socially, intellectually, or politically and were thought incapable of accomplishing anything of value. Consequently, many cultures held the view that women were possessions whose only purpose was to be subservient to men. The view of women as mere objects is evident in various works of literature throughout the ages. Two classic works of literature that exemplify this are The Thousand and One Nights and Murasaki Shikibu’s The Tale of

In the traditional culture, women’s education was limited to learning domestic skills, they used to be in charge of the house, their job was to keep clean the house, take care of the children, prepare the food, and many other things. Also they were subordinate to the authority of their parents first, and their husbands later, so for example women could not go out of the house without their concern. Their difference was huge, as we can see in “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” when the knight rapped that woman. In like manner we observe men superiority in Mallam Sile’s story

As civilizations grew and morphed into the international superpowers of today, they also gave rise to vast seas of inequalities. Inequalities between those of different social rankings, inequalities in the workplace, and, most importantly, inequalities between genders were just a few of the looming stratifications accompanying the rise of society. However, these inequalities were expressed differently by different peoples and societies. Although patriarchies were the social norm of the time, the patriarchies of Han Dynasty China, Tang Dynasty China, and Song Dynasty China each had small nuances that made their patriarchies positively peculiar. These nuances include, but are not limited to the level of social and economic freedom afforded to women, the powers women held, and the level of brutality women experienced.

During the eastern and western eras, women and men had different roles and views in society, and although time has passed over the years the gender roles have not had much progress today. The three areas of comparison between the Oriental and Occidental ancient literatures are gender roles within the character's, loyalty examples, and historic/modern heroism. The historic/ modern heroism roles represent the characterisation of the contrast within the character. It defines the hero and what helps support the theme of heroism. The gender roles contrasting over the two eras help us understand the differentiation between women and men who are seen and treated in a different manner. Lastly, the loyalty examples within all the stories and different

Stories reflect and mirror culture. Some writers write about how things currently are in their own society and the position that certain people hold in that society. It is because of that kind of thought and style of writing that a reader can learn and in some ways better understand the hierarchical position of peoples in a society at a particular time in history. In ancient Mesopotamia, women had fewer privileges and rights then the men. Despite their lack of rights and privileges, women in high position were viewed as temptresses, tamers, and a essential part of Mesopotamian culture.

Women's lives, roles, and statuses changed over various early world history eras and culture areas in many ways. Ancient Persia, Paleolithic, Athens, Mesopotamian and Roman eras were all different in very unique ways. The Paleolithic era treated women fairly and were treated equally. During the Neolithic era women were not treated fairly. She was the daughter of her father or the wife of her husband. Women rarely acted as individuals outside the context of their families. Those who did so were usually royalty or the wives of men who had power and status.” (oi.uchicago.edu, 2010) Athenian women were not treated fairly

Throughout history every civilization has looked to the stars and pondered their existence. While never truly reaching an understanding of their purpose on this lonely blue planet we call earth, they have constantly strived to further their understanding of the world and it’s mysteries. This thirst for knowledge has evolved with humans for a millennia and has changed as we have. One question that teased the mind of man for centuries was the quandary of sexes. Both a sociological and physical conundrum, the true station of a man or women in society has always been an important issue in any developing nation. Historically men have always been tasked with the more socially demanding tasks in their community while women are assigned the menial

Throughout history, the roles of women and men have always differed to some degree. In ancient Greece, the traditional roles were clear-cut and defined. Women stayed home to care for children and do housework while men left to work. This system of society was not too far off the hunter gatherer concept where women cared for the house and the men hunted. Intriguingly enough, despite the customary submissive role, women had a more multifaceted role and image in society as juxtaposed with the rather simple role men played. Morals for the two were also different. Men obviously had the upper hand with women being the traditional passive.

Then in society, men were portrayed as “dominant figures” and women were the “nurturers”. Men not only filled the fatherly role but they also usually earned the “breadwinning”, went to work all day, and financially provided for the wives and

Women are perceived as the gender, that in which is not superior. In the epic, tributed to Homer, The Odyssey, traditional gender stereotypes of a patriarchal society are enforced. Men dominate women in a sense of roles, influence, power and relationships. In ancient Greece, the dominant role was played by men. The society, culture, government and occupations was organized and driven by men, women having little to no role in how to society functioned. Generations adapted these ways and depicted myths that in which represented this type of society, as seen in the Odyssey.

Henrik Ibsen once said, “A woman cannot be herself in the society of the present day, which is an exclusively masculine society, with laws framed by men and with a judicial system that judges feminine conduct from a masculine point of view.”(Notable Quotes) Ibsen’s statement exemplifies what life was like for women during ancient times. In many of the organized ancient civilizations, it was very common to find a primarily patriarchal civilization in government as well as in society. The causing factors can be attributed to different reasons, the main being the Neolithic Revolution and the new found dependence on manpower it caused. As a result of this, a woman found herself to be placed into an entirely different view in the eye of

Greek and Roman women lived in a world where strict gender roles were given; where each person was judged in terms of compliance with gender-specific standards of conduct. Generally, men were placed above women in terms of independence, control and overall freedom. Whereas men lived in the world at large, active in public life and free to come and go as they willed, women's lives were sheltered. Most women were assigned the role of a homemaker, where they were anticipated to be good wives and mothers, but not much of anything else. The roles of women are thoroughly discussed in readings such as The Aeneid, Iliad, Sappho poetry, and Semonides' essay.

During the Song Dynasty (960–1279) in Ancient China, the gender in which a person was born as, changed their whole path of life. Their role in society, their education, their power in the household were very different depending on if they were male or female. A typical female had much less power compared to a man; they were considered the inferior gender. It was unfair, and to an extend, cruel, the way that women were treated compared to a man, but during that time in China, it was so normal that no one questioned it. The roles that each gender held were rigid, quite different, and clearly not equal. As China gained power during this time and became more powerful, women were greatly downgraded by men because men were thought to be the ones

In The Tale of Kieu a young woman is forced into a lifetime of immorality and subservience to the dominant male culture of her community. The young woman at the heart of the story is not moral. However, her morality or not is really not what the story is about at all. Instead, it is the patriarchal society within Vietnam that is the true central character of the piece. In the history of Vietnam, members of the female gender have had a history of ostracism and oppression by the males of that society. Masculinity itself is found in the poem through the minor male characters of the piece. The character of Kieu is immoral because she is forced into actions against her own set of ethics by the society in which she lives. Morality is judged by the sociology of the surrounding culture. Under the moral rules of Vietnamese society, Kieu is immoral and the men around her who sexualize her and force her into immoral acts are in the moral right.