Short Essay Two

Although social movement for women’s right started taking place in nineteenth century, the inequality between men and women were still prevalent. In literature, the characterization of women in the text of male writer was often subjective. The female character in John Keats’ “La Belle Dame sans Mercy” was the object of speech, and the image of the women described by the knight was ambiguous. In “Punishment”, based on his cultural experience in India, Rabindranath Tagore told a story about a family dilemma and the death of two women in patriarchy society. In both of the texts, women are characterized as inferior to man who has no right of self-expression and received little respect from men. This long exploitation of women’s right will eventually lead to women’s resistance.

The title “La Belle Dame sans Mercy” suggests the poem was about the beautiful lady; however, the narrator of the story was the knight. The woman character was never clearly identified. What exactly happened between them? There may be two interpretations of the poem.  A man with aesthetic ideal may interpret the poem as the knight fell in love with fairy-like angel with big beautiful eyes, but sadly she had to leave the knight at the end since they are different kinds after all.  The knight described the lady he met, “her hair was long, her foot was light, and her eyes were wild” (Keats, P828). Noted the word “wild” was repeated many times in the poem, and this alluded to another possible interpretation for the story. The knight met a wild fallen woman in the meadow, she flirted with him and played with him and abandoned him at the end. In either case, the characteristic of women was distorted to meet up men’s expectation of woman. This fairy like lady remained silent for the most part, even when she spoke it was in a language strange to the knight, “in language strange she said ‘I love you true’” (Keats, P828), it was never cleared but he personally assumed that she was saying she really love him. Throughout the poem, the lady never expressed her true emotional feeling. In a sense, the knight resembled men in general. In 19^th century, men’s attitude towards women was disrespectful; without hearing from women, men made assumption about women based on their own will. Women, on the other hand, retreated to lower social status; they lived in the shadow of man and had no right of self-expression.

If one has no knowledge about indian culture. The reading from Tagore’s “Punishment” will provide a very shocking and vivid image of stereotype male and female hierarchy in India. Tagore described the oppression of women through the tragedy of the low-caste Rui family. This aspect of discrimination in Indian culture was evident in the story through many examples. First, Dukhiram came home demand for food and Radha failed to fulfill his request, she was brutally killed. Dukhiram showed no respect for his wife’s service, and when Radha failed to satisfy her husband, she was punished. Second, Ramlochan suggested to turn Dukhiram in, Chidam’s response was that: “if I lose my wife I can get another, but if my brother is hanged, how can I replace him?” (Tagore, P1695). In another word, siblings were valued over wife; if immediate danger presented, men would sacrifice the women. Third, even sharp and proud woman like Chandara accepted her husband’s request to confess the crime; this indicated that women back then viewed themselves as being inferior to men because of the way Indian culture taught them. Neither woman was able to speak their feeling and save themselves. Tagore revealed the extent of the submissiveness of women to their husband which in his view is the characteristic of Indian society.

In a society dominated by men, the rights of women were exploited.  Whether it was the ambiguous and voiceless beautiful lady from Keats’ poem, or the disrespected and obedient Indian women depicted by Tagore, they represented the victims of social oppression for the last few centuries. In my opinion, even though the overall image of women was still perceived as silent and tolerant, the long exploitation of women’s right will eventually lead to women’s resistance. In “Punishment”, last comment Chandara made about her husband is “to hell with him” (Tagore, P1699). At some level, Chandara had obeyed, by sacrificing herself for family honor. However, she showed a silent resistance by disobeying her husband’s instructions, thus Chidam’s goal of saving both his brother and wife was not attained. In a sense, her defiance achieved a little victory. This might be a sign of emerging feminine power. The continuing ignorance of women’s talent and discrimination provoked women to fight for their right in late 19^th century. As we are going from late 19^th century to 20^th century, we will witness the change in characterization of women and the attitude of men in the literature and in our society.