Household: Authority & Violence

Household: Authority & Violence

Household: Background Info (16th-17th century England) • Household = governments in miniature • (rulers & servants) • Inhabitants: Married couple, children, guests, relatives, servants, frequent visitors (music teachers, tailors) • Not many lived alone. • Household = basic social unit (comfort + commodity) • Laws & punishment enforced to discourage vagrancy & made poverty a crime.

Household: Background Info (16th-17th century England) • Patriarchal & Hierarchical • Wife = governor (over children, servants), subordinate of husband. • Justification- Law’s Resolutions of Women’s Rights • Reference to Genesis • God created humans as lords over all creatures, but made Eve the helper to her husband

Household: Background Info (16th-17th century England) • (2) Household = mini model of larger society • Prepares children & servants for their roles in public life. • Foundation of social order • Most important work site for women • Basic unit of production • Stakes of governing a household = HIGH!

Household: Background Info (16th-17th century England) • How to govern a household? • * Governance – bring good for those who they govern as well. • Violence (when necessary) • To assert & maintain authority- control & discipline their subordinates (wives, children, servants) • BUT! Few laws exist to regulate violence in households. • Conduct books & sermons – convince men to exercise self-control.

Household: Background Info (16th-17th century England) • What happens during domestic disorder? • Killing one’s husband/ master (petty treason) • Crime against authority and hierarchy • Disobedient wife = “graceless traitor”, “rebel” • Punishment: Burned. • In contrast… • Men kills wife/servant (murder) • Punishment for women convicted of murder: Hanged.

Household: Background Info (16th-17th century England) • What if domestic master does not govern? • Disobeying God’s instructions • Hurt to whom they should rule/ Disadvantage themselves • Are all in the family governed alike? • NO! • Different rules to govern wife, children, servant, the old • Likewise in society- e.g. no equality that one is equal with the magistrate

Household: Background Info (16th-17th century England) • Women’s work: Gender & Division of Labor • Within the household (Unpaid) • Cooking/ cleaning/ childcare (if there’s no servant) • Farming, milking cows, etc. • Outside the household (Paid) • - Servants, midwives, nurses, wet nurses (breastfeeding), making clothes, selling food & drinks, taking in lodgers, casual, occasional prostitution.

Household: Background Info (16th-17th century England) • Discussion question • How is governing household at that time similar/different compared to modern days (21st century)?

Household Hierarchies in Co-Texts • A Godly Form of Household Government. • “A Woman’s Work Is Never Done”. • “The Woman to the Plow and The Man to the Hen-Roost”.

From A Godly Form Of Household Government “Therefore, the husband, without any exception, is master over all the house, and hath more to do in his house with his own domestical affairs, than the magistrate. The wife is ruler over all other things, but yet under her husband. There are certain things in the house that only do appertain to the authority of the husband, wherewith it were a reproach for the wife, without the consent of her husband, to meddle: as to receive strangers or to marry her daughter. But there are other things in which the husband giveth over his right unto his wife: as to rule and govern her maidens; to see to those things that belong unto the kitchen and to housewifery, and to their household stuff. Other mean things, as to buy and sell certain necessary things, may be ordered after the wit, wisdom, and fidelity of the woman.”

From the excerpt, it is evident that the ultimate authority in the household is the husband, and the wife, children and maidens are subordinates. • The wife is both a governor, with authority over servants and children, and her husband’s subordinate. Even as a governor over “her maidens” she acts as her husband’s ‘fellow-helper’ and is still “under her husband”. • It is as if the husband “owns” the wife, and the wife is like a pet to her husband. This can be seen from “There are certain things in the house that only do appertain to the authority of the husband” and “But there are other things in which the husband giveth over his right unto his wife”which show that the wife is only allowed to do certain things under the approval and permission of her husband. • For example, she is not allowed to “receive strangers or to marry her daughter” without the consent of her husband but she is given the right to “see to those things that belong unto the kitchen and to housewifery, and to their • household stuff”.

This implies that women were only allowed to do things that were seen to be less important like housework as compared to more important decisions pertaining to the outside world like receiving strangers and marrying their daughters, which were made by their husbands. It is also suggested that women were meant to stay at home and tend to the house and not go out, as if they were not worthy of seeing the outside world. • The wife being like her husband’s pet is also seen from “Other mean things, as to buy and sell certain necessary things, may be ordered after the wit, wisdom, and fidelity of the woman.” • This shows that the wife has to earn her husband’s approval before being allowed to “buy and sell certain necessary things”. She has to meet her husband’s expectations of the degree of smartness and loyalty before she has the freedom to purchase and sell items that she wants to. • The authority of the husband is clearly shown here: The wife • must seek permission/ approval from her husband before • making “important” decisions. It seems like the wife has no • say/power in what she wants to do.

From “ A Woman’s Work Is Never Done” “When dinnertime is gone and over-past, My husband he runs out o’th’doors in haste. He scarce gives me a kiss for all that I Have dealt and done to him so lovingly, Which sometimes grieves me to the heart, To see him so clownishly depart. But to my first discourse let me go on, To show a woman’s work is never done” “In making of the beds such pains I take, Until my back, and sides and arms do ache. And yet my husband deals so cruelly, That he seldom comes to comfort me. And then at night, when the clock strike nine, My husband he will say, ‘tis supper time.’ Then presently he must be waited upon. And thus a woman’s work is never done.”

This ballad is about the experience of a married woman and is addressed to “maids”. • The excerpts highlight how women, or wives, do all the housework at home and serve their husbands with dinner and supper, waiting on them hand and foot, but they are not given a word of thanks by their husbands. It suggests that women are expected to wait on and serve their husbands, and it is without a doubt their duty and role to do so. • “When dinnertime is gone and over-past, My husband he runs out o’th’doors in haste” show the disrespect that the wife is given, as she has ‘lovingly’ prepared dinner for him, but he does not acknowledge her effort and takes it for granted. “He scarce gives me a kiss” suggests that the wife does not mean much to the husband, and that to him, she is only there to do the housework and wait on him. It is implied that the husband is reluctant to kiss his wife, and does so only because the wife asks him to.

It is also seen that the men treat their wives like servants instead of wives and order them around and expect them to follow their orders. “And then at night, when the clock strike nine, My husband he will say, ‘tis supper time.’ Then presently he must be waited upon.”implies the power that the husband has over the household, seen from the word “presently”. The husband is like the master of the house, and everyone is under his control. It is as if failure to obey him will lead to punishment and severe consequences. • The position of the wife in her marriage as well as in the household is clearly shown to be inferior to that of her husband. It is expected of her to serve her husband and attend to his every request, but she is may not be given acknowledgement by her husband for the effort that she has put in. • It suggests women are worthless, as she is not even given the due respect of a human being for doing something for others, not even a simple “Thank-you”. • The title “A Woman’s Work Is Never Done” suggests how women have to tend to the household endlessly, with so many chores to complete. It also • implies that all women are expected to do is housework and • tending to her husband, and nothing more.

From “ The Woman to the Plow, and the Man to the Hen-Roost” “Nothing that he in hand did take Did come to good. Once he did bake, And burnt the bread as black as a stock. Another time, he went to rock The cradle, and threw the child o’th’floor, And broke his nose, and hurt it sore. He went to milk, one eveningtide, A skittish cow on the wrong side. His pail was full of milk, God wot, She kicked and spilt it every jot. Beside, she hit him a blost o’th’face Which was scant well in six weeks’ space. Thus was he served, and yet too well And more mischances yet befell.”

This ballad presents a housewife’s complaint or lament with the comic tradition of inversion. Humor springs from the overturning of expectations, the reversal of roles, and the incongruities when spouses do one another’s work. • The extract highlights how the reversal of roles can bring about disaster, and it also reiterates the societal expectations of men and women respectively. • “Nothing that he in hand did take Did come to good” implies that the husband underestimates the wife’s duties, and thinks that they are simple tasks. But when he carries out the tasks, all he does is to create a mess. This phrase also seems to be the wife reprimanding the husband, and she is telling him that what she does everyday (household chores) are not easy tasks at all. • “Thus was he served, and yet too well And more mischances yet befell.” suggests that the husband deserved to experience what his wife goes through everyday with disastrous effects. This could be due to his • over-demanding requests and high expectations of his wife.

Discussion Question Are men and women equal today in terms of household? Or do men still hold the ultimate power in making decisions?

Household Hierarchies in ‘The Taming Of The Shrew’ pg 211 line 268 - 271 "For I am he am born to tame you, Kate, And bring you from a wild Kate to a Kate Conformable as other household Kates.“ -Petruchio

1. This shows that Petruchio planned to make Katherina become a submissive wife and as "conformable as other household Kates". At the same time, it is evident that the common wife in Petruchio's eyes are the ones who will obey and submit to their husband. This also shows that women in the Elizabethan England had little say in their households as they are expected to be obedient to their husbands.

pg 215 - 216, line 340 - 354 2. Gremio was talking about all the possessions that he owns to show that he is the better man to marry Bianca, but the last sentence in line 354 "If whilst I live she will only be mine" suggests that if Bianca marry Gremio and during his lifetime Bianca will only be his possession. This means that women's role in the household are to be the possessions of the men and expected to be taken care of by their husband.

Pg 250, line 178 – 181 “And till she stoop she must not be full gorg’d, For then she never looks upon her lure. Another way I have to man my haggard, To make her come and know her keeper’s call” -Petruchio

3. Petruchio wants to let Katherina “know her keeper’s call”, which shows that in a marriage during the time of Elizabethan England, the women must know their place in the household, that they are under their husbands. The imagery used of the falcon stooping, which assembles the bowing action of a human, shows that women are expected to submit to their husband in marriage.

Pg 295, line 145 to 155 4. Katherina explains why Petruchio is so important to her and how he works so hard to keep the family alive, but Petruchio actually lives off the dowry she brought This suggests that women do the most work in the household but yet are still under the men even though they may not be the most capable people.

Comparing The Taming Of The Shrew to other contextual evidence A Godly Form Of Household Government suggests that the wife is in charge of many things such as cooking and child care but yet still under her husband. This is similar to Taming of the Shrew as Petruchio was referred to as Katherina’s “Keeper” (pg 250) which shows the wife must be under the husband as he “keeps and own” the wife.

A Woman’s Work Is Never Done “In making of the beds such pains I take, Until my back, and sides and arms do ache. And yet my husband deals so cruelly, That he seldom comes to comfort me. And then at night, when the clock strike nine, My husband he will say, ‘tis supper time.’ Then presently he must be waited upon. And thus a woman’s work is never done.”

This shows that the wife is expected to serve the husband no matter how tired she is, and this is similar to The Taming Of The Shrew, whereby Katherina is expected to obey Petruchio as he aims to tame her into the conformable wife. Both incidents show that the women had little say in the household it is their duty to serve their husband.

The Woman to the Plow, and the Man to the Hen-Roost Nothing that he in hand did take Did come to good. Once he did bake, And burnt the bread as black as a stock. Another time, he went to rock The cradle, and threw the child o’th’floor, And broke his nose, and hurt it sore. He went to milk, one eveningtide, A skittish cow on the wrong side. His pail was full of milk, God wot, She kicked and spilt it every jot. Beside, she hit him a blost o’th’face Which was scant well in six weeks’ space. Thus was he served, and yet too well And more mischances yet befell.

This shows that the men are incapable of the household chores and yet they are supposed to be served by their wife who does all these chores all the time. This is proof that women are actually the ones who maintain the household just like how Katherina’s dowry in The Taming Of The Shrew is Petruchio’s source of money and livelihood. But yet the wives are still expected to serve their husbands like they are inferior to them in the household.

And now for the question…I thereby command you that… thou shalt copy it down!!! And there’s ain’t no excuses because there’s ain’t no mountain high enough~

TA-DA!!! Do household hierarchies still exist in today’s context? Is it still limiting the power and roles of women in marriage especially in the household?

THE END

Household: Authority & Violence