Ida B. Wells November 6, 2009

by Shaley Sanders

Ida B. Wells was born into slavery in Holly Springs, Mississippi in 1862. Her parents, James and Elizabeth, strongly encouraged Ida to pursue an education. Ida attended a school not far from home and enjoyed reading the bible as well as Shakespeare. Her father was actively involved in politics and her mother was known to be very religious and a strict disciplinarian.

When Ida was 16, a yellow fever plague hit Holly Springs, killing both of her parents and her younger brother. Ida decided to care for her five younger siblings; she dressed up to appear older than she truly was and found a job teaching not too far away. She relied on family and friends to take care of brothers and sisters while she was working. Eventually, one of Ida’s family members talked her into moving to Memphis, Tennessee where she continued teaching.

Ida’s involvement in civil rights began when a conductor tried to make her move from a first class car to a smoking car. After quarreling for quite some time, Ida ended up biting the conductor who kicked her off at the next stop. Ida returned to Memphis immediately and sued the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad Company. Although she ultimately ended up losing the case, this unjust treatment sparked her interest in not only civil rights issues, but women’s suffrage as well.

In 1889, Ida became the co-owner and eventually the editor of a Memphis newspaper, Free Speech and Headlight. In 1892 three African-American males were lynched, one of whom was Ida’s dear friend. After researching the lynching, Ida learned the men were murdered because their business was thriving and therefore threatening the business of a white man’s grocery store down the street. Ida wrote about this case as well as other reasons for lynching in her newspaper. When researching lynching history, Ida found that a large majority of black men were accused of raping white women. Ida, who wrote under the pen-name “Iola”, researched these cases and learned that many of the black men who were killed were engaging in consensual interracial relationships, not raping white women. This particular statement enraged many white males who destroyed the Free Speech and Headlight building and searched for “Iola” the “man” who wrote such offensive articles. Eventually, people discovered that Iola was in fact Ida and sent word if she ever returned to Memphis her life would be in great danger.

Taking these threats seriously, as she should, Ida made home in New York where she began investigative reporting for the New York Age. Ida eventually moved to Chicago where she married the attorney and founder of Chicago’s first African-American Newspaper, the Chicago Conservator; by the age of 33, Ida owned the entire newspaper. Ida also founded several organizations and influenced many others who went on to campaign for African-American women’s rights as well as racial equality. Ida took a break from all of her organizations to raise her four children, but eventually became re-involved with her previous campaigns and stayed active until her death in 1931.

Further Reading
1. Great PBS web site offering a wide variety of information-http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_people_wells.html

http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/civilrights/il2.htm

www.galegroup.com/free_resources/bhm/bio/wells_i.htm

2. Ida’s Biography- http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/idabwells.html

3. Interview with Author- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUpWpOnDUqs

4. Ida’s pamphlets- http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/aap/aapmob.html

Elizabeth Cady Stanton: “She” is Not Just a Woman but a WOE-man November 4, 2009

by Sharia de Castro

“Alone [a woman] goes to the gates of death to give life to every man that is born into the world.”

What a risk! What a sacrifice! Yet, what an honor! Shouldn’t honor be given to whom it is rightfully due? I believe that she is not just a woman, but a WOE-man! While risking death, she faces anguish and pain to give life to man. Who is man? He is the offspring of a woman. Yet, where is her authority? Where is her respect? Where is her solitude? These must’ve been some of the questions that lingered through the mind of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a spokesperson for the rights of women.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton was born in Johnstown, New York on November 12^th, 1815. She died on October 26^th, 1902 at age 86 – eighteen years before women would win the right to vote. She was one of the first leaders of the American woman’s rights movement and worked alongside Susan B. Anthony to form the National Woman Suffrage Association in 1869. The following quote from her book Eighty Years and More depicts that in a time when women were silenced, Stanton became their voice.

But I suffered with mental hunger, which, like an empty stomach, is very depressing…The general discontent I felt with woman’s portion as wife, mother, housekeeper, physical, and spiritual guide…the wearied, anxious look of the majority of women impressed me with a strong feeling that some measures should be taken to remedy the wrongs of society in general and of women in particular. (Stanton 144)

Her thoughts on women’s issues symbolized seeds that she later planted, allowing her to flourish into the Elizabeth Cady Stanton that we know today. Her ideas were watered and sprang forth beautifully when she became a feminist as a young child. This was due to her early exposure to law, as well as slavery and the abolition movement. She enjoyed spending time in her father’s law library and debating legal issues with his law clerks. This enhanced Stanton’s feminist sentiments. It caused her to realize how the law’s unjustifiable treatment of favoring men over women, particularly married women, condoned inequality among the sexes.

Stanton addressed this inequality in her speech “The Solitude of Self” in order to make a “radical philosophical argument, dramatizing the fundamental existential condition of humanistic values that demand the rights of women as part of their fundamental “natural rights” as human beings” (Richie and Ronald 171). She utilized many rhetorical strategies to effectively appeal to her audience. She presented the personal as political and the political as personal. Her dominant strategy throughout the speech was the use of metaphors to paint a vivid picture on the canvas of the brain for her audience. She even situates metaphors in such a way that they create questions. The key to this strategy was to ask the question but also give the answer to the question. In the following quote she used a metaphor to declare that women should have the right to be captains of their own ships.

To guide our own craft we must be captain, pilot, engineer; with chart and compass to stand at the wheel; to watch winds and waves, and know when to take in the sail, and to read the signs in the firmament over all.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton possessed a persuasive voice that could confidently demand the attention of her audience. She did not proclaim her authority in a blatant way but instead used figurative language to do so. She demanded authority not just for herself but for women as a whole. This takes us back to the opening quote where Stanton drew a metaphorical reference of women in labor and delivery to illustrate the authority, respect and solitude that is rightfully theirs. “She” is not just a woman but a woe-man!

Works Cited & Further Readings:

Jenkins, Coline. “American Woman.” National Parks 83.2 (Spring 2009), 50-52.

Richie, Joy and Kate Ronald. “Elizabeth Cady Stanton.” Available Means: An Anthology of Women’s Rhetoric(s). Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2001. 171-178.

Stanton, Elizabeth Cady. Eighty Years and More: Reminises, 1815-1897. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1991.

“Elizabeth Cady Stanton.”Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.

Failure is Impossible: Susan B. Anthony November 2, 2009

by Jennifer Brown

How would you react if the world around you was saying that your opinions didn’t matter as much as someone else’s simply because of the way you were born? Susan B. Anthony refused to conform to the ideals of her male counterparts for years before defying the law and standing up for her rights.

In November of 1872 she registered to vote and voted in the Presidential election. She was arrested for voting illegally and sentenced to pay a fine of $100 and the cost of prosecution. In her speech “Is it a Crime for a Citizen of the United States to Vote?”, regarding her sentencing she said,

It was we, the people, not we, the white male citizens, nor yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who formed this Union. And we formed it, not to give blessings or liberty, but to secure them; not to the half of ourselves and the half of our posterity, but to the whole people-women as well as men. And it is downright mockery to talk to women of their enjoyment of the blessings of liberty while they are denied the use of the only means of securing them provided by this democratic-republican government-the ballot. (Anthony)

Her trial became infamous being covered by every newspaper.

Throughout her life Susan Anthony made 75-100 speeches per year for 45 consecutive years. She spoke to other women, congress and men, traveling all around to spread the word of “the cause” which was the Women’s Rights Movement. One of her greatest rhetorical choices was starting The Revolution, a weekly journal to help spread the word of the suffrage movement faster. This was the official publication of the National Woman Suffrage Association. Anthony founded this newspaper in January of 1868 and its motto was “The true republic – men, their rights and nothing more; women, their rights and nothing less.” The Revolution’s circulation never exceeded 3,000 but it still managed to play a major part in the progression of Suffragists.

Later, Susan B. Anthony would become the first women ever to appear on currency. The Susan B. Anthony coin was in production for four only four years and didn’t circulate well despite the coins slogan “Carry 3 for Susan B”.

Susan delivered her final, and in some opinions, her most powerful speech at her last convention on her 86th birthday. The speech titled “Failure is Impossible” was an insight to all things she knew would inevitably come for women. She died shortly after in her home in Rochester, New York. At the time of her death only four states allowed women the right to vote. The 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920, fourteen years after her death and gave women the rights she fought so hard for her entire life. With the ratification of the amendment it brought to light Susan’s last public words and reminded us that indeed “Failure is Impossible.”

Works Cited and Further Reading

Linder, Douglas. “The Susan B. Anthony Trial.” 2001.

See The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, ed. by I. Husted (3 vol., 1908; repr. 1969); biographies by K. S. Anthony (1954) and R. C. Dorr (1928,repr. 1970).

“Susan B. Anthony.” Wikipedia.

Hughes, Deborah L. “The Susan B. Anthony House.”

The Women of the Hall – Susan B. Anthony.

Women in History. Susan B. Anthony biography. Last Updated: 3/9/2009. Lakewood Public Library, Lakewood, OH.

Sojourner Truth—Powerful, Logical, Passionate: Rhetorical October 30, 2009

by Leonor Serrano

Sojourner Truth became the strongest symbol of African American women during an era in which both sexism and racism were prominent sentiments. Her life was anything but easy, as she was born into slavery and sold several times. Her family life as a child and mother was disrupted as her family members were taken away and sold. Her life experiences instigated an urge for her to champion the issues of antislavery and women’s rights. How did this former slave become such an inspiring figure against the odds stacked up against her? The answer may be hidden in the way that we have interpreted her most famous speech, “Aren’t I A Woman?”, recorded by Frances D. Gage. While there is controversy surrounding this version of the speech, due to the differences found in other reports, it is impossible to deny that this account has strongly contributed to the rise of Sojourner Truth as an important African American icon of the women’s movement. Let us look at the rhetorical strategies used by Truth in her most famous speech.

It is hard to talk about rhetoric without bringing in the three major components: ethos, pathos and logos. Truth establishes ethos, or credibility, through her strong presence. She is described as six feet tall with a deep, not loud, but commanding voice. Her posture as described by Gage is with her head erect and eye piercing the air ahead. These descriptions give the reader the impression that Truth is sure of what she has to say. In addition to her physical appearance, Truth speaks from the experience of a former slave woman. It is hard to deny the credibility of someone who has lived through the two worst oppressions of this time period.

Pathos, or emotion, is instilled in the audience through her description of her previous labor and suffering. Describing the past abuses including the whipping that she has endured helps the audience empathize with her suffering. She brings up the fact that her children have been sold from her to further pull the emotional strings of the listener, “I have borne thirteen children and seen them almost all sold off into slavery, and when I cried out with a mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard” (Ritchie and Ronald 145). The emotions evoked by this speech are a sense of empathy, sadness and even a sense of anger at the injustices that she has experienced.

Through the use of logic, Truth expresses her points by comparing her position in society to that of a man. Even though she is a woman, her role as an African American individual has played the most important factor in shaping her position. By repeatedly asking the question, “Aren’t I a woman?”, she allows the reader to explore the logical argument on his or her own, and come to the conclusion that yes, she is a woman, but because of her race, her struggles are not the same as a white woman’s. Furthermore, although she embodies many of the characteristics of a working man, she is distant from that category as well because she is denied the rights of a man.

It is certain that Sojourner Truth was an excellent orator and knew how to move her audience, whether it was in agreement or disagreement. Sojourner Truth was able to accomplish something that was difficult not only during her time period, but even in the present time. She owned herself. Truth championed her cause despite the taboos surrounding public perception of women in the public speaking sphere. Even though Truth passed away in 1883, her words continue to live as many women use them as inspiration today.

Further Reading

Ede, Lisa, Cheryl Glenn and Andrea Lunsford. “Border Crossings: Intersections of Rhetoric
and Feminism.” Rhetorica Vol. 13, No. 4 (Autumn, 1995). 401-441.

Pullon Fitch, Suzanne and Mandziuk, Roseann M. “Sojourner Truth As Orator.” Westport,
Conn: Greenwood Press, 1997.

Ritchie, Joy and Ronald Kate. Available Means: An Anthology of Women’s Rhetoric(s).
Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2001.

Zackodnik, Teresa C. “’I Don’t Know How You Will Feel When I Get Through’: Racial
Difference, Women’s Rights and Sojourner Truth.” Feminist Studies Spring 2004, Vol.
30 Issue 1. 49-73.

New York Tribune’s first woman correspondent: Margaret Fuller October 28, 2009

by Laura Hamilton

A “cougar” long before society had any use for such a label, Margaret Fuller bore a child out of wedlock and only later married the father, a man half her age. These actions sure don’t sound like the ones of a woman following societies norm in the early 1800’s, and these choices were not the only evidence of Fuller’s rebellious attitude to surface before she died tragically in a shipwreck at age 40.

Margaret Fuller was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1810. She was the first-born child and the only child for the first 5 years of her life because a sibling died in infancy. Her father was determined to have an educated and intellectual daughter. She was force fed the Latin and Greek languages, which she read by age 6. She had been able to read and write English by age 3 and translating Virgil by age 5. Margaret was banned from reading Shakespeare and all other “girly” literature for pleasure.

At an early age, Fuller began to rebel against her father because of the “masculine schooling” he put her through. She was an outcast at school. She soon joined the Transcendentalists, where she became great friends with Horace Greeley and Ralph Waldo Emerson. It was here that Fuller began to appreciate her intellectual background. This was a group of well-educated men that were determined to move away from the norm and bring in new literature to America. This group also believed in reaching the human potential and educating all citizens.

Soon after Fuller met Emerson, the two of them went into business together and co-founded The Dial. Fuller also wrote for the magazine and there published, “The Great lawsuit: Man vs. Men and Woman vs. Women” in 1843. This paper called for women’s equality and was expanded in 1845 when Fuller published “Women in the Nineteenth Century.” This new publication went into more detail and Fuller established her views on many topics. Including: Incompatible marriages, the double standard, Amelia Norman’s trial, property rights to married women, rehabilitation homes for prostitutes, life cycle of women, inspiring women, and the strengths and weaknesses of public women. This publication led to the Seneca Falls convention just 3 years later.

In 1846 Horace Greeley hired Fuller to become the first women’s correspondent for the New York Tribune. Greeley had Fuller travel transatlantic to discover new European culture, politics, and literature. It was during these adventures that Fuller met her husband, a man 10 years younger and without an education. Before marrying him she bore his child out of wedlock. Fuller, her husband, and their young child were all to die tragically in a shipwreck off the coast of New York when traveling for the Tribune. Many letters and writing of Fuller’s were left behind. Letters were found upon the ship, many of which were ruined. Her friends later published those that were still legible.

Margaret Fuller also wrote the first book advocating equality between men and woman. She fought to end slavery and also for many urban culture needs, including half way homes for prostitutes and the insane. She also became a New York journalist at a time when this job was deemed unfit for a woman.

Today, Margaret Fuller is known for not conforming to the accepted standard of womanhood during her period. All of her actions had an underlying commonality of the growth of literature in America. Her job and travel were unheard for a woman during the time period in which she lived. One determined woman she was; which is why she is remembered and currently studied.

Further reading

James, Laurie. Men, Women, and Margaret Fuller. New York: Golden Heritage, Inc., 1990.

Johnson Lewis, Jone. “What is Transcendentalism?” (1995): 1-4. www.transcendentalists.com.

Kornfield, Eve. Margaret Fuller: A Brief Biography with Documents. Boston: Bedford Books, 1997.

Myerson, Joel. Critical Essays on Margaret Fuller. Boston: G.K. Hall & Co., 1990.

Ritchie, Joy, and Kate Ronald, eds. Available Means: An Anthology of Women’s Rhetorics. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh, 2001.

Mothers Know Best: Cherokee Women October 26, 2009

by Melissa Rhodes

Some voice their opinions quite frequently. Others do so only when they feel they absolutely cannot keep quiet any longer. A group that could not stay quiet was the Cherokee women. During the turbulent time following the Indian Removal Act of 1830, the Cherokee were being pressured by the government to sell their land, which once extended over parts of North and South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee. The loss of land was terrible for the Cherokee women, who used a range of rhetorical strategies in their attempts to persuade other Cherokee not to continue to sell.

Before colonization of North America by the Europeans, Cherokee women were powerful and influential. They fought alongside the men in battle, were responsible for the farming and were given a vote in council. Families even followed a matrilineal family line, which meant that their children were related only to their mother’s family and joined their mother’s group. It was from this position that Cherokee women addressed their Cherokee nation about the selling of land. They did so even though they had never before “thought it [their] duty to interfere” (Ritchie 107). In the speech “Cherokee Women Address their Nation” the Cherokee women and their leader, Beloved Woman Nancy Ward, used their maternal positions as a strong rhetorical method.

As heads of household with primary authority over their children, the women address the group as their “Beloved children” and discuss how they have “raised all of [them] on the land” (Ritchie 107). This helps them establish ethos by reminding the Cherokee that they are their mothers and should be respected. The Cherokee women are also able to establish pathos through their feminine strength. They ask their children not to sell their land because doing so “would be like destroying [their] mothers” (Ritchie 107).

The women’s approach to logos however, was different than their motherly arguments used for ethos and pathos. They presented logos first in the form of a religious argument, which stated that the land their children were selling was “[Land] God gave [them] to inhabit” (Ritchie 107). The women also use logos when they make the argument that “it would be impossible to remove” (Ritchie 107) all of them. This appeal addresses the fact that by selling their land, they were willingly handing over their sacred, motherly land because they thought nothing could be done. By arguing that they could not lose all their land, the women encouraged their fellow Cherokee not to give up.

The Cherokee women made several addresses to the Cherokee and they even addressed American government. They did so peacefully and used similar rhetorical methods in all of their speeches. Despite their best efforts, they lost much of their land and had to endure the Trail of Tears. The women were further injured when the Americans learned more about the Cherokee culture. After seeing the respect and high positions Cherokee women were given, they “properly” educated the Cherokee, teaching them that women should not get to fight alongside men or vote in council. The merging of cultures caused the Cherokee women to lose much of the respect they were accustomed to.

The ending for the Cherokee was not a happy one. The women used rhetoric very effectively, yet were unable to change the overall outcome of forced removal from their land. Even the best rhetoric cannot guarantee that the goal will be achieved, but that did not stop the Cherokee women from doing what they felt was their duty.

Works Cited and Further Reading

Kidwell, Clara Sue “Indian women as cultural mediators.” Ethnohistory 39.2 (1992): 97.

Kilcup, Karen L., ed. “Nancy Ward and Cherokee Women.” Native American Women’s Writing c. 1800-1924: an anthology. Oxford: Blackwell Ltd, 2000. 27-30.

Kowalski, Kathiann M. “Leading their Tribes.” Cobblestone 24.7 (2003): 26.

Ritchie, Joy, and Kate Ronald, eds. “Cherokee Women.” Available Means: An Anthology of Women’s Rhetoric(s). Pittsburg, 2001. 106-07.

Perdu, Theda. Cherokee Women: Gender and Culture. University of Nebraska, 1998.

Feminist Friendly Halloween Costume? HELP! October 23, 2009

Ok… I’ve got like a week to think of a costume. And I am so over the “sexy (insert costume name here).” I’ve been googling feminist costumes but all that comes up are blogs about how they are so over the sexy costumes. I was Sarah Palin for a Heros and Villains party (can you guess which I came as?). So I can’t do that again… But I’ve been so busy I haven’t had time to think of something creative or make something really cool. I want to be something feminist or female friendly but still recognizable to the general public (I don’t want to go around explaining my costume the whole night…). Last year I was Miley Cyrus (and my blonde friend was Hannah Montana.) And the year before that I was Themis, an ancient goddess. In my google search the only cool idea I saw was Carmen Sandiego. Do you think people would be able to recognize that? What are some good costumes you know of?? Help me, please!

The Nun Who Lived a Feminist & Died a Hero: Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz October 23, 2009

by Sierra Metcalfe

“The first feminist of the new world,” Sor Juana both strategically adapted to and blatantly defied society’s gender norms (Ritchie and Ronald 71).

Juana Ramirez was born around 1648 in New Spain (now part of Mexico), a time and place of rampant immorality and female oppression.  Women were viewed as lowly objects of temptation and passion, fearfully avoided by some men, raped by others (including clergymen), and repeatedly ignored by the civil government.  They were allowed with the general choices of either living in a convent or the recogimientos (shelters to keep women out of general society) or marrying into a life of submission and procreation.

As early as age three, Sor Juana was defying society by sneaking out of her home for secret reading lessons.  At an age when we would be playing dress-up, she was begging her mother (unsuccessfully) to let her cross-dress and attend a University that forbid the attendance of women.  Sor Juana instead began a long and dedicated journey of being self-taught.

Although this in itself was defying society, she did adapt to the popular study strategy of her time, which was the highly esteemed goal of mastering numerous subjects and arts.  This excellence gave her significant validity regardless of her gender, equipping her with an impressive collection of knowledge to express her feminist viewpoints.  She also conformed to the popular literature forms of her time period, such as poetry, religious dramas, cloak-and-dagger plays, carols, and fiction, which allowed her to reach a wide audience.

Once, a Peruvian gentleman mockingly told Sor Juana to switch sexes if she desired to continue writing poetry.  In a witty response (ironically in poetic form) entitled “Poema 48,” she explained that she could not change her sex—because a magical sex-changing river simply does not exist!  Sor Juana referred to herself with the neuter Spanish pronoun “lo,” and, in the following portion of the poem (presented in original form), she also declared that her soul held no confines of gender:

“y sólo sé que mi cuerpo,
sin que a uno u otro se incline,
es neutro, o abstracto, cuanto
sólo el alma deposite.”
(“Poema 48″)

After about three years as a lady-in-waiting, Sor Juana became a nun—not out of religious fervor, but out of the desire for a quiet place of study with little obligations or distractions.  She offered the following explanation of her decision:

“…I entered the religious order, knowing that life there entailed certain conditions…        most repugnant to my nature; but given the total antipathy I felt for marriage, I deemed          convent life the least unsuitable and the most honorable I could elect…” (“La Respuesta”)

While studying, writing, and furthering the feminist cause, Sor Juana was certainly not without enemies, including a deceptive Bishop who sent her a letter of rebuke under the female name Sor Filotea de la Cruz, telling Sor Juana to focus her energies on more spiritual matters.  Such relentless pressure from others, as well as national turmoil and a plague, led her to abandon her pen in 1693.  “Her penitence reached the heights of the heroic when, during the plague…  Juana labored night and day nursing the sick, comforting the dying, and laying out the dead.  Her fragile spirit, broken by the storms that had beaten around her, gave up the unequal struggle, and she who had once been the object of hatred and jealousy died in the odor of sanctity, revered and loved by all” (Schones 13).

For further reading on this unorthodox nun who repeatedly chopped off her hair as a self-inflicted punishment for learning too slowly, check out the sources below!

Works Cited and Further Reading

Ritchie, Joy S., and Kate Ronald. “Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.” Available Means: An Anthology of Women’s Rhetoric(s). Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2001. 71-78.

“Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.” Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.

“Juana Inés de La Cruz, Sor: Introduction.” Feminism in Literature: A Gale Critical Companion. Ed. Jessica Bomarito and Jeffrey W. Hunter. Vol. 1: Antiquity-18th Century, Topics & Authors. Detroit: Gale, 2005. 321-322. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale.

“Juana Inés de La Cruz, Sor: General Commentary.” Feminism in Literature: A Gale Critical Companion. Ed. Jessica Bomarito and Jeffrey W. Hunter. Vol. 1: Antiquity-18th Century, Topics & Authors. Detroit: Gale, 2005. 326-349. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale.

“Juana Inés de La Cruz, Sor: Primary Sources.” Feminism in Literature: A Gale Critical Companion. Ed. Jessica Bomarito and Jeffrey W. Hunter. Vol. 1: Antiquity-18th Century, Topics & Authors. Detroit: Gale, 2005. 323-326. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale.

King of Queens: Elizabeth I October 21, 2009

by Charmaine Voorhees

Who ever thought a perpetually virgin daughter could be produced from womanizing, power-hungry father who beheaded her mother? Before she ruled the world, Elizabeth I was born as an immediate disappointment to her father, Tudor King Henry VIII, who wanted a male heir with his second wife, Anne Boleyn, whom he soon after got rid of on convenient “adultery and treason” charges (“Elizabeth I” 1). The only good quality Elizabeth I inherited from her father was the attitude that she would not be bullied by anyone, though she sometimes had to tone down her powerful “wrath” (“Elizabeth I” 6). Though she did not live under the same roof as her father, Elizabeth was still treated to a privileged education that was normal for male heirs at the time and was invited to attend royal ceremonies. This education in “classical languages, history, rhetoric, and moral philosophy” (“Elizabeth I” 2) would prove to be to her advantage and made her an exceptional woman in her own right.

Although Elizabeth I was not the first queen ever, her courage to create a “new model for female authority” (“Elizabeth I” 4) stood out once she took over the throne after her sister Mary’s death. Elizabeth differentiated herself from others before her by the way she firmly spoke out to Parliament and presenting herself to have the “Divine Right” to rule over men as “God’s anointed” (Heisch 35). Many times, Elizabeth instilled this in the minds of men through speeches by first stating “what all men believed” to catch their attention, and then declaring that “God had made an exception in her case” (Heisch 35). She was capable of this as Elizabeth always knew how she “ought to be regarded” (Heisch 34) and had an education that allowed her to see new ways she could regard herself.

Being a woman allowed men of lesser status to perceive her as somewhat of a loving mother and, much to their disappointment, a virginal one. Her flexibility as a woman, in contrast to her father Henry when he ruled, allowed men to “present her with unwelcome advice without risking their necks” (Doran 32) as invited in the way she addresses an opposing Parliament in the Golden Speech:

“I do assure you, there is no prince that loveth his subjects better, or whose love can countervail our love.” (“Elizabeth I” 6)

Her transforming the “language of politics into the language of love” (“Elizabeth I” 6) goes hand in hand with the way she insisted she was married to England only and did not desire an earthly husband. However, at one point while under pressure of society to marry, she considered many different men and even had a favorite but ended up rejecting all of them. In addition to this, men also criticized her “female fickleness” (Doran 32) when she frequently used her rhetorical strategy of “promising an answer” then choosing “carefully both the moment and style of the response” (Heisch 32).

On the other hand, it was her physical, female being that allowed her to gain credibility with men. Elizabeth acknowledged herself as having “the body but of a weak and feeble woman” (Ritchie and Ronald 49) in the example of her speech to the troops at Tilbury. This statement acts as a confession of being imperfect in nature, which sat well with the men who believed Elizabeth, nor any woman, had any business being involved with the military—much less, speaking to the military. Also, her physical body being virginal, or free of foreign invasion, was thought to be a “safe and effective way of depicting an elderly woman as a credible military and political leader of a country at war” (Doran 34). However, the decision to not wed posed many problems for Elizabeth as the people expected an heir and England “was sorely in need of the major alliances that an advantageous marriage could forge” (“Elizabeth I” 5).

Was it Elizabeth’s will to never compromise her power? Who knows why Elizabeth never married. All that is known is the way in which she kept her grace during times when it seemed that it was her against the world and how she used her power to control her exceptional image, up until the end of her rule.

Works Cited

Doran, Susan. “Elizabeth I Gender, Power & Politics.” History Today 53.5 (2003): 29-36.

“Elizabeth I.” Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.

Heisch, Allison. “Queen Elizabeth I: Parliamentary Rhetoric and the Exercise of Power.” University of Chicago Press 1.1 (1975): 31-55.

Ritchie, Joy, and Kate Ronald. Available Means: An Anthology of Women’s Rhetoric(s). Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2001.

Further Reading
Cooper, Tarnya. “Queen Elizabeth’s Public Face.” History Today 53.5 (2003): 38-42.

Green, Janet M. “I My Self: Queen Elizabeth I’s Oration at Tilbury Camp.” The Sixteenth Century Journal 28.2 (1997): 421-445.

Hammer, Paul E. J. “Sex and the Virgin Queen: Aristocratic Concupiscence and the Court of Elizabeth I.” The Sixteenth Century Journal 31.1 (2000): 77-97.

Announcing the Women Rhetors Series October 21, 2009

If I asked you to list some of the most powerful rhetors in history, how many women would come quickly to mind? Women have not always had access to the ways and means of writing and public speaking, but those who did have played fascinating and important roles in their historical moments. Over the next several weeks, students in TCU’s first offering of ENGL 30663: Women’s Rhetorics will be guest blogging on major women rhetors through the centuries, beginning with Queen Elizabeth I, the so-called “Virgin Queen” who ruled England from 1558-1603, and wrapping up with Minnie Bruce Pratt, a contemporary American poet-activist.

Watch for new posts each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday!