Create a new account

It's simple, and free.

View of Females in Two Novels

Women are viewed chiefly in terms of their sexuality in both Aphra Behn's Oroonoko and Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, Book IV. Women are considered pure in their chastity, yet polluted in their sexual maturity. The narrators in both Behn and Swift's stories hold similar views of females regardless of the societies in which they live.

In Oroonoko, women are divided into two categories, the pure and the polluted. Women who are pure and physically desirable are useful to men. If, however, a woman becomes defiled, even through no fault of her own, she ceases to be of value and can be disposed of by death or sale into slavery.

In Oroonoko, the narrator first describes the innocent state of the native women in terms of their nudity and modesty: "And though they are all naked, if one lives forever among 'em there is not to be seen an indecent action or glance . . . " (Behn 1868). The narrator compares the innocence of the natives to Adam and Eve, " . . . our first parents before the Fall . . . " (Behn 1868). The narrator seems to condemn the romantic practices and rituals in his own civilized world, where people hide their nudity with garments and exhibit shame in certain types of sexual intimacy. However, in the civilized world, at least, women have some degree of control over their own bodies; this is not the case in the land of Coramantien.

The narrator fails to condemn the actions of the King of Coramantien, who keeps a harem of beautiful wives and concubines. Despite his assortment of women, the old king desires young Imoinda, who has betrothed herself to Oroonoko as wife. The king brings Imoinda to his court against her will: " . . . the obedience the people pay their king was not at all inferior to what they paid their gods; and what love would not oblige Imoinda to do, duty would compel her to do" (Behn 1873). Thus in the land of natives, women are considered chattel, and they are obliged to bestow the...

Page 1 of 7 Next >

More on View of Females in Two Novels...

Loading...
APA     MLA     Chicago
View of Females in Two Novels. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 17:46, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1682891.html