Account for any changes and continuities in the depiction of women in Essay

Account for any changes and continuities in the depiction of women in the political fictions of the US and UK - Essay Example old, at the heart of the family, from which position they gave out a form moral safeguard over public man in his cutthroat domain, liberating him from the polluting effects of the unprincipled marketplace (Fisher & Silber, 2003). Hence, for Ruskin, â€Å"the true nature of home is the place of Peace; the shelter, not only from all injury, but from all terror, doubt and division... so far as the anxieties of the outer life penetrate into it, and the inconsistently minded, unknown, unloved or hostile society of the outer world is allowed either husband or wife to cross the threshold it ceases to be home† (ibid, 54). Basch argues that the moral influence of women in this thought was constructed both quantitatively and qualitatively in straightforward relation to their submissiveness and subordination to masculine influence and authority; and this allusion appears to be established both by the assertion of Ruskin that women must be aware and intelligent not for personal growth but for self-liberation, and Coventry Patmore’s angel, whose strength of character is firmly weak because of mere passiveness to his authority (Michie, 1992). Man’s domain is action whereas emotion for the woman, therefore, as the prologue of the poem proclaims, â€Å"inspiration hers: In his heart, his thoughts were rife/ How for her sake to earn a name† (ibid, 102). Basically, the masculine public domain of action was also the special sphere of politics, which thus were expressed as an entirely male concern: â€Å"man’s duty, as a member of a commonwealth, is to assist in the maintenance, in t he advance, in the defence of the state. The woman’s duty, as a member of the commonwealth, is to assist in the ordering, in the comforting, and in the beautiful adornment of the state† (Fisher & Silber, 2003, 56). Not astonishingly, perhaps, provided with the traditional domain of divided dimensions ideology, particularly in the aspect of political fictions, nineteenth century feminist movement