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William Blake Research Paper

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The 18th and 19th century saw the beginnings of a shift in the position towards gender, as roles for women in public and professional life broadened. However, at the same time, prostitution, illegitimacy and same-sex relationships were increasingly characterized. Ideas about gender difference were consequential from classical thought, Christian ideology, and contemporary science. Men and women were thought to dwell bodies with different physical make-ups and to retain profoundly different qualities and advantages. Men, as the stronger sex, were thought to be intelligent, bold, and strong-minded. Women, on the other hand, were more overseen by their emotions, and their qualities were expected to be continence, unpretentiousness, compassion, …show more content…

Blake believes that anything which prevents an individual from reaching his or her potential is evil. He also recognized that most political, religious, and social customs have a particularly negative effect on women. He creates the image of societies negative effect on Ootoon. “Then Oothoon pluck’d the flower saying, I pluck thee from thy bed Sweet flower. And put thee here to glow between my breasts” (Blake 30). By doing so, Ootoon tries to make herself look more sexually attractive. In that society during that era, women who appear to make themselves look more sexually attractive are considered to be “bad”, or sometimes categorized as being whores. They are seen as women who deserve to be raped considering the way they portray themselves physically. The men are seen as the ones who do not do bad but follow their instincts on how the women present themselves to them, like Bromion, Oothoon’s rapist. In order to alleviate his predominant authority over Oothoon, Bromion starts stereotyping, accusing Oothoon of being a harlot multiple times: “Bromion spoke. behold this harlot here on Bromions bed…”; “Then is Oothoon a whore indeed! And all the virgin joys of life are harlots…” (Blake 31). Women such as Oothoon who are considered whores are not protected by other men once they are raped. For she is depicted as a harlot by one male individual, other males see her as a whore and someone who is …show more content…

This job is physically demanding lifting buckets of water, being in dangerous environments, and not being allowed to take breaks even when they have been working all day. The women are treated to be the same as men. They are seen as having the same physical strengths and hardships like men do. They were not free so therefore they are all at equal or lesser value. In Bermuda Prince as well as the other women in that society are the ones who are treated as caregivers. “All my employment at this time was nursing a sweet baby, little Master Daniel; and I grew so fond of my nursling…” (Prince 8). The women in that society did not have to do the hard labor men had to do. The different societies and environments give different gender roles to females. The role of a female in one society can be the norm while in another society it is seen as

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