American History

Today for many a women of the world life is so comfortable, as per todays standards, that we fail to admire the amount of hardships and social inhibitions that our fellow women in the past have adhered to. Or may be what we look upon as their hardships, many of them at that time chose to live under those circumstances.

Although it is difficult to find an unbiased historical narrative, it is trusted that renaissance brought a new life for the women of that era. It brought about a change in the general thinking. The respect and protection that they received from the men folk of the time was far better than what they were used to or would get in the days to come, so as to say. As the coin would have its two sides, so was the state of women at that time. While there were certain restrictions and pre-pondered code of conduct for them, they were also considered fragile and treated with love and care by the men in the family.

The renaissance women had very few roles to play in the society. The society followed patriarchal hierarchy the men were considered the head of the family, the breadwinners while the women who were regarded as the weaker sex not just physically but emotionally too, took great pride in being housewives and mothers. Most men and women preferred to marry. Chastity held extreme importance. Single women were looked down upon and on more than one occasion looked upon with suspicion and considered witches by their peers. It is not that a girl child was not loved or desired, but they did not carry with them their fathers name or estate or his wealth nor were they allowed to take up any profession which took them to the public world and away from the safe vicinity of their homes. Women were expected to keep to their traditional role of being in the house.

Even the mother of the God was not spared. Speaking of the Virgin Mary this is one subject which has held great charm during the 3rd Century AD, by the Christian Art, which prevailed in the west. It is said that she was a virgin even after she gave birth to Jesus Christ. This leads us to believe the importance of chastity amongst women, as per mentioned above. In most of the paintings of that time, she is shown holding the baby Christ, which strengthens our aspect that it was considered a matter of pride by women to bear and rear children.

Many a paintings of the renaissance period can be found depicting a nude woman  Venus. According to the Roman mythology and religion, Venus is the goddess of love and sexual healing. In terms of classical art she represents any woman nude. This makes us to think whether women of that time were considered desirable only in such a term or did she hold greater importance in the life of her man. Although, later a cult was formed in the name of Venus but the art after that came up with more of nude woman figures.

At that time women from elite families were not allowed to learn music. It were the infamous courtesans or the female musicians who kept classical music alive. They were also the one to be acting in films and theatre. Due to such an anointment, in Shakespeares most plays it was men who had dressed and played the role of a lady. Women were not even allowed to write any sort of literature other than doing translations of religious books.

From the examples above we can gather that the role of a woman in social, political, economic and cultural aspects was highly constrained. Whereas, it was also the time to hold great virtues for women.