Throughout all of history, every single human being has tried to find their own utopia. They want life to be perfect in every way, shape, and form. The problem is, the structure in which a society functions is not determined by every human being. To refer to Charles Darwin's concept of Social Darwinism, it is the "survival of the fittest." The strongest and most fit members of the society decide what is ideal and what is not. Most of the time, those who are the fittest to write history are the men of the time.
Beginning with the Nineteenth Century, the ideal lifestyle for a man was to have a respectable job that earns him a lot of money and status, a respectable wife, and a male heir to take his fortune when he passed away. However, this social goal was hard to achieve. As demonstrated in Jane Austen's, Pride and Prejudice (1813), in the eyes of man, women are a nuisance and their only goal in life is to marry and reproduce. Mrs. Bennet is the mother of five daughters, and she so obnoxiously points out that their only function is to marry a man with money so that they are kept in the higher society. Even more so, men are going to want to marry a woman who is perfect. Mrs. Bennet shows this by obsessing over the idea of her 'perfect' daughter, Jane, should marry the rich Mr. Bingley. Another example of a perfect woman, such like Jane, is the Prioress, or Nun, from Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. In the prologue of this novel, Chaucer introduces us to a number of different people who are going on a pilgrimage, each with their own flaws and perfections. The men, such as the the Summoner, have obvious traits which show their misfortunes, but they are still accepted by society. However, women, such as the Prioress, must show they are perfect in order to be accepted. Even the Woman from Bath hides her misfortunes in order to be accepted by this group of people they will be travelling with. To describe the Prioress, Chaucer writes, "Pleasant and friendly in her ways, and straining To counterfeit a courtly kind of grace," and with the Woman from Bath he says, "In making cloth she showed so great a bent She bettered those of Ypres and of Ghent." These women are ideally perfect. The Woman from Bath is skilled in sewing and the Prioress strives for kindness. The men accept these women into the group because of their perfections. For what is written in the lines of history, women must accomplish the ideals men set for them. For most women, that would include being skilled in cooking, sewing, music, and art. Even though the role of women in society has changed, how they are seen does not change. A woman who is educated or kind is more pleasing to the eye than a woman who is unskilled in any way. A woman who can sew is more impressive than one who cannot. Naturally, men learn about the standards set by men before them, and they feel they need to achieve those goals. Even if women do not want to be a part of those goals, men have the upper hand. They are the stronger of the species. They are the ones that write history.
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