The Cult of Domesticity free essay sample

According to the ideals of the Cult of of True Womanhood which was also called the The Cult of Domesticity women were supposed to hold to perfect virtue in all senses. The women who followed these standards tended to be generally literate and lived in the northeast, particularly New York and Massachusetts. Women were put in the center of the domestic living and were expected to fulfill the roles of a calm and nurturing and supportive mother, a loving and faithful wife, and a passive, delicate, and virtuous creature.They women were also expected to be pious and religious, and expected to unfailingly inspire and support their husbands. True Women were to hold the four virtues: 1. Piety- believed to be more religious and spiritual than men 2. Purity pure in heart, mind, and body 3. Submission held in perpetual childhood where men dictated all actions and decisions 4. Domesticity -a division of work and home. We will write a custom essay sample on The Cult of Domesticity or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Home became the womans domain where a wife created a Haverford her husband and children.The Cult of Domesticity identified the home as the separate, proper sphere for women, who were seen as better suited to parenting. Or maybe not parenting, but certainly child caretakers. Also, because of the expected behaviors woman were assumed to make better teachers and thus en of the first out of home jobs for women was teaching. People of the nineteenth century, both men and women, did not consider what women did as wives and mothers as work but as an expression of their feminine natures.After the rise of feminism and the fight for womens rights, the cult of domesticity arose again in the 1 sass when TV began to present shows that depicted fictional families where the mother would stay at home and care for the house and children while the man went to work. It was as though the media was participating in the brainwashing to keep women in their place. They would certainly try to guilt them into it at every turn. Womens bodies did not belong to them. Contraception, and abortion were both illegal.An unmarried woman could own property, make a contract, or sue and be sued. But a married woman, gave up her name, and virtually all her property came under her husbands control. Many days when I look at how it is now, to compare it to how it was then, sadly dont see much change. We on paper have more rights, but how its implemented seems to still be colored by old rules. Women are still considered to be the primary caregivers of the children, even if they hold full time jobs, just as their husbands do.Women are still called whores if they assert their sexuality, while men are ladies men. Women may own property now, but still when divorcing it is common for women to have to fight for their fair share if they were housewives and mothers burning their marriage. The one notable difference is that it used to be that if a woman divorced the kids automatically went to the husband and the woman was likely to not be allowed to see them. The Cult of Domesticity free essay sample The Cult of Domesticity was a guideline that required women to be inferior and submissive compared to men. Many of Emily Dickinson poems were written in secret because of the treatment of women in her time period. The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Gillian and The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin were written from their position of male dominance and domesticated women. Many of the ideals specifically submissiveness, domesticity and piety present in the Cult of Domesticity, are represented in these stories and poems. These are the days when the birds come back and l heard a fly buzz when I died by Emily Dickinson display the ideals of submissiveness and piety in women Of the time period. When Dickinson writes, Oh the last Communion in the Haze. (Dickinson, 6) it represents the religious necessities of piety that were supposed to be in women. Here she wants the children and future generation to believe in Christianity. We will write a custom essay sample on The Cult of Domesticity or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Piety is also shown when Dickinson adds, When the king be witnessed in his power she is referring to the king as god. She is describing his power and people having to worship him.Submissiveness is also show in many other poems. When she writes,willed my keepsakes signed away, what portion of me I could make assignable this shows they were not in control of their life and men were control them to their will. Submissiveness is also shown in The Story of an Hour In The Story of an Hour, Mrs.. Mallard experienced a myriad of conflicting emotions throughout an hour because of the loss Of her husband. When Chopin says, She wept at once with sudden wild abandonment and She sank, pressed down by physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul. both represent her domesticity.She was reliant on her husband for life before. He was her main driving force of her life before his supposed death and was her only reason of living. Until that point she lived only for his purposes and was now her own person. Mrs.. Mallard also is now happier that her husband is gone when she breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday had she thought with a shudder that life might be long. (2, Chopin). When she was living with her husband it is clear that hoping her life would be short, that he had always made her unhappy usually by keeping her submissive. Its shown from Free!Body and soul free! (2, Chopin) that her husband was constantly in control. She would always have to be submissive to him and nobody cared about what she wanted. The same argument could be made for when she says, There would be no powerful will bending hers (2, Chopin). It shows that her husband would always take control and she would have no power in the household. Both statements display her submissiveness which also has a heavy presence in The Yellow Wallpaper Submissiveness is also represented in The Yellow Wallpaper. When Gillian writes John laughs ate, of course, but one expects that in a marriage. 1, Gillian) Here it is displayed his dominance over her and his opinion overrides hers. Additionally it also reveals how society finds that normal and no womans opinions matter. Submissiveness is also shown when the narrator says But what is one to do? (1 , Gillian). As a part of being submissive, she cannot resist and is forced to doe everything he says without question. Domesticity is also shown when she says, He hate me to write a word. (3, Gillian. This shows how women were supposed to be viewed as in the house hold. Writing is an intellectual work that a woman could not possibly do.Domesticity requires them to be focused on the house because they are not intelligent enough to write. In all of the stories and poems the ideals of submissiveness, piety, and domesticity are present and express the Cult of domesticity. Emily Dickinson poetry expresses submissiveness and piety in women of her time period. In The Yellow Wallpaper, submissiveness and domesticity are present as well as in The Story of an Hour although both emphasize more heavily on submissiveness. All these stories and pop ms represent how women Were treated in a largely patriarchal society where the Cult of Domesticity rule over women.