Did Women Have a Renaissance?

The question of Renaissance for the Women Society at the age of renaissance is always controversial. In fact, did women have renaissance during the age of Renaissance in medieval England prolonging 3 centuries under Shakespeare, Jacob, and Milton? Did they play any role in the upliftment of Women society? The right answer is not yet, because there is not found any feminist touch in their writings as well as it is very rare to find any towering figurine in medieval history except the presence of Elizabeth Queen. In the literary circle, only a handful of women were found out who by far, survived the social inequality, becoming a victim of several tortures and brutal attacks. Then, why do women submergence take place? Why they were marginalized from the social, political and literary circles? Let us examine...

Obviously, very few of the male writers took an effort to study this topic until the advent of Feminist thoughts during the 1970s, which is marked as a great milestone in women history. in 1997, the first article concerning their issues and challenges in social circumstances was written by John Kelly, titled ‘Did Women Have a Renaissance’. This article embarked on a new literary revolution and a public tendency towards the study of women issues and unearthed the forgotten women writers of England throughout history.

According to medieval history, the right to read, to write is only limited to men Society, while the women were obliged to live, to serve the men, as a domesticated weapon even today, some of the writers define WIFE as ‘ Wonderful Instrument For Entertainment. No political rights were permitted for them. That is the first reason for their submergence in those days while politics is the best way to prove their literal ability. Then, how can they write on a topic that is thoroughly blind to their eyes?

Secondly, they have mandatory marriages and regulated sexuality; they should live under the dependence of their husband which makes her caged within the four walls of their home, destined to be a domestic servant throughout her life. In this dark life, they hardly get any chance or freedom to write independently.’

Thirdly, in contrast to the males, if she performed any disobedient acts, she would face severe punishment or torture on the behalf of the prevalent social constraints. That is why about 30,000 witches have been executed during the span of 1560-1770 on the accusation of disobedience. In terms of education, they are restricted, by far, to primary education even the women from noble families have only access to primary education, denied the university education. Totally, the age of Renaissance is only of men society, never attributed to women society.

Nevertheless, some women writers overcame these challenges and became the igniting star of history, but neglected from the mainstream of literal upheavals like Horatius, the first women writer in Europe and Margaret Kempe, the first woman who clamoured for women freedom, the one who expressed the feminist anticipation publicly through her famous book, ‘The city of the Ladies”. It gives a fantasy of creating a city that is built only for women.

Anne Askew, one of the few brave writers, courageous women of the 15th century, suffered a lot due to her outnumbering protests against the existing situation even she was finally condemned to be burnt at stake in her younger age. So, she lived only 25 years (1521 – 1542), which emulates the hundred years of other dump Women. She is a protestant poet, thrown out of her by her Catholic husband as well as takes the credit of the first recorded women poet in English literature. Her writing ‘The Examination’ is questioning the Church hegemony at all.

Another woman Margret Tyler also defended on ‘Why Women should write about Equality’. Her biography remains speculative on Women Suffrage. here, I have only given some examples of Women Warrior and, historically, there have risen several women brave writers to question the male domination but ignored from history like Isabel Whitney, one of the earliest secular poets, Elizabeth Cary and Lary Mary Worth, both were written collectively, etc... As a result of their insomniac efforts, the 19th century was an exuberant time for women writers due to the constraints on the social hierarchy that touched its feet and emerged several women writers during this age. Jane Austen, the author of Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, is one of the famous products of this age. 

Apparently, there are some male writers on feminism in history like Geoffrey Chaucer, whose Canterbury tales exposes a simple inclination towards feminist approaches. In this book, Chaucer uses satire to undermine the strength and individuality of women in the middle ages. Although, some critics pointed out that the depiction of the wife of bath as a feminist is a negative behaviour of women individuality. Another one Thomas Wentworth Higginson, one of the extreme activists in American Social Reformer, supported the Woman’s suffrage movement. He also edited Emily Dickinson’s first two collections of poetry. So, he spent most of his time for social equality, to see men and women equal. John Stoltenberg, Françoise Paullina De la Barre are also some of the male writers on feminism, clamoured for the equality of men and women.  

In total, the women society has got less consideration throughout history until their faculty has been only realized in recent decades. In those eras, the Dramas were held too without the representation of women while their role is done by the teenagers. But, nowadays, the situation is changed completely except for some rare incidents reported over the relegation of women, too less compared to the medieval world. There is no doubt that the advent of feminism and liberalism has almost brought the concept of equality in both social and political spheres. They both tried to prove the liberal entity of men and women society. Finally, let me thank the medieval women writers for showing the female potential in literary circles to the entire world.