The Past and Present: Issues of Male Patriarchy Throughout Historic Literature and Dominance in Media Today

Leah E. MooreFollow

Authors' Affiliations

Leah Moore, Department of Literature and Language, East Tennessee State University

Location

Culp Room 219

Start Date

4-6-2022 11:45 AM

End Date

4-6-2022 12:00 PM

Faculty Sponsor’s Department

Literature and Language

Name of Project's Faculty Sponsor

Josh Reid

Additional Sponsors

Dr. Phyllis Thompson, thompsop@etsu.edu

Classification of First Author

Undergraduate Student

Competition Type

Non-Competitive

Type

Boland Symposium

Project's Category

Language or Literature

Abstract or Artist's Statement

Women’s subjugation to the objectification of men is a traced theme throughout the history of Western culture. In this thesis presentation, the attributes of the male gaze will be explored via the patriarchal pioneers of literature: Dante to Petrarch to Shakespeare. The solidification of the male gaze takes place during the late middle ages as Dante Alighieri writes an infatuated love for Beatrice throughout La Vita Nuova and Inferno, demonstrating the virgin-whore dichotomy between Francesca. Similarly, Francesco Petrarch’s poetry of Rime Sparse describes the objectification and dismantling of woman for erotic pleasure and patriarchal power. The shift from early to late renaissance displays William Shakespeare’s presentation of women in Titus Andronicus, Othello, and Hamlet as a denunciation of women through the male gaze. These themes of patriarchy developed throughout historic literature will help us analyze media advertisements today as women are silenced, dismembered, and exhibited through the male gaze.

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Apr 6th, 11:45 AM Apr 6th, 12:00 PM

The Past and Present: Issues of Male Patriarchy Throughout Historic Literature and Dominance in Media Today

Culp Room 219

Women’s subjugation to the objectification of men is a traced theme throughout the history of Western culture. In this thesis presentation, the attributes of the male gaze will be explored via the patriarchal pioneers of literature: Dante to Petrarch to Shakespeare. The solidification of the male gaze takes place during the late middle ages as Dante Alighieri writes an infatuated love for Beatrice throughout La Vita Nuova and Inferno, demonstrating the virgin-whore dichotomy between Francesca. Similarly, Francesco Petrarch’s poetry of Rime Sparse describes the objectification and dismantling of woman for erotic pleasure and patriarchal power. The shift from early to late renaissance displays William Shakespeare’s presentation of women in Titus Andronicus, Othello, and Hamlet as a denunciation of women through the male gaze. These themes of patriarchy developed throughout historic literature will help us analyze media advertisements today as women are silenced, dismembered, and exhibited through the male gaze.