Comparative Essay Essay, Research Paper

From the works that we have studied in class, one can not help but notice the role of women in these works. In Voltaire s Candide, the reader clearly sees that he is trying to evoke sympathy from the reader towards women. Voltaire depicts this image with two main characters, Cunegund and the old woman. Ford Madox Ford s The Good Soldier, represent women in a different light unlike that of Voltaire. Ford depicts women as taking advantage of men for their own benefit. This is clearly seen when Florence seduces Edward because he is rich and is English. In Ted Hughes poem Her Husband, he depicts women as slave to the man and it is her duty to serve him. Through this image Hughes is evoking sympathy towards women because of what they must endure. The role of women is key to understanding the works and the authors intentions.

Voltaire clearly depicts women when he introduces Cunegund and later the old woman. Voltaire is able to portray a gruesome detail of women s life and their role in society through Cunegund and the old woman. In Voltaire s novel he gives the reader many images to state the fact that being a woman was not pleasant. Through Cunegund life and the story of the old the woman, the reader receives a sense of what they had to live through. After Candide is banished from the castle the reader learns later that the Bulgarians attacked it and destroyed it. This is the first time that the reader receives information about how Cunegund is treated. Voltaire gives the reader a taste of Cunegund s experience when he writes,

I was in bed, and fast asleep, when it pleased Heaven to send the Bulgarians to our delightful castle of Thunder-ten-tronckh, where they murdered my father and brother, and cut my mother in pieces. A tall Bulgarian soldier, six feet high, perceiving that I had fainted away at this sight, attempted to ravish me; the operation brought me to my senses. I cried, I struggled, I bit, I scratched, I would have torn the tall Bulgarian’s eyes out, not knowing that what had happened at my father’s castle was a customary thing. The brutal soldier, enraged at my resistance, gave me a wound in my left leg with his hanger, the mark of which I still carry.

This is the first time that Cunegund is treated that way, but it was certainly not the last. The other aspect that Voltaire attempts to introduce the reader to about women is that they are treated as slaves by men. This is evident as we follow Cunegund s life, she encounters the Grand Inquisitor and a Jew who share her several days a week. That is to say that the two men split the week up to share Cunegund for pleasure and she must accept this because otherwise she would be homeless and penniless. Voltaire further depicts the life of woman when he introduces the old woman who is Cunegund s helper. The old woman explains her story to Cunegund and Candide in chapters eleven and twelve. The most horrific part of the story is when she was captured by Moors who did as they wished with them.

As to myself, I was enchanting; I was beauty itself, and then I had my virginity. But, alas! I did not retain it long; this precious flower, which had been reserved for the lovely Prince of Massa Carrara, was cropped by the captain of the Moorish vessel, who was a hideous Negro, and thought he did me infinite honor. Indeed, both the Princess of Palestrina and myself must have had very strong constitutions to undergo all the hardships and violence s we suffered before our arrival at Morocco.

Although Voltaire does not explicitly give detail of how the old woman was treated, the underlying meaning is that she was treated violently and without respect. Not only Cunegund but her mother and all her maids of honor as well. Voltaire clearly emphasis the fact that being a woman was a pleasant life. Through this image the reader feels a sense of sympathy towards the women because they are helpless and must endure the hardships else they would be killed.

In The Good Soldier, Ford strongly suggests that women are independent and are able to do as they wish. Women have the power to take advantage of whomever and whatever lies in their paths that they want. Ford clearly displays this through Florence s character and with Leonora s to an extent. It is quite obvious that Florence has not respect for John her husband nor is there any love between them. Florence is merely using him to get what she really wants, and that is an Englishman with money. Conveniently Edward is that man, who just happens to be their friend. Florence takes advantage of her sexuality and seduced Edward in hopes that she will get the little home in England that she always wanted and a husband that is English. Florence uses her power as a woman to take advantage of Edward who is vulnerable when it comes to women. With that one move she destroys the marriage that she had with John and the marriage that Edward had with Leonora. Leonora could be seen in the same light. Through her education she able to manipulate Edward into doing what she wants so that it would be to her advantage. Leonora changes her role as a wife to a mother so that she has more control over Edward. Ford clearly shows this when Leonora takes control of Edwards s finances.

Ted Hughes poem called Her Husband, depicts women as slaves and who really have no purpose on earth except to serve and provide for their counterpart, males. It can be argued that in the poem Hughes is trying to justify why men have the right to do what they like and why women should obey them. Hughes give the reader an image that it is the man who does the hard work and earns the money to pay for all that is in the house. Hughes states that since the man gets up early in the morning to work and he does not come home till night he has the right to treat his wife any way he wishes. The woman of course has no say and she is left helpless, and must withstand his rage. The man further uses his power, as a male, when he states that the food his wife has prepared is stale because it has been in the oven to long. If this is the case then women are left helpless to the rage that the man goes through because he believes he has earned the right to do as he pleases because he has worked sot hard. Hughes provides many textual references to support the fact that women are treated unfairly by their husband, but they can not do anything about it. The tone of the poem seems to say that this sort of thing happens every couple of nights when the man goes through this rage and then calms down. The fact that it happens every several days gives the reader a sympathetic feeling because the woman must endure this behavior more than once. The repetition of this evokes even more sympathetic feelings towards the woman and the reader disregards the fact that man has worked so hard and deserves to do as he wishes because he has earned the money.