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  • Essay / Sexuality and Women

    After an overall evaluation of the three texts, we can undoubtedly attest to the fact that one of the primary thematic contexts presented in the text concerns in particular the sexuality of women, especially since they all address this theme. in most sections. The statement could be further clarified by highlighting a book such as Paul et Virginie de Saint Pierre whose central theme focuses on the further elaboration of the sexuality of the female gender through the two main characters, Paul and Virginie. From a different point of view and considering the three identified texts, we can also conclude that individuals of both sexes placed a high value on female sexuality in Antiquity, which changed slightly during the existence of the romantic era. Therefore, this article will focus categorically on how women's sexuality has been a central issue in all three texts in order to understand social regulations. Additionally, the article will also consult the three books to better understand how the Romantic era changed women's sexuality by moving towards natural self-expression and the dynamics of desires in achieving self-knowledge. In summary, the article will focus more on the three identified manuscripts, where it will first summarize each book's view on women's sexuality, presenting specific scenes developing this notion. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The Hidden Force by Louis Couperusden provides a clear depiction of Dutch culture from the colonial era. The book constitutes a critical analysis of the future and the morality of colonialism, expressing the elements of decadence and political control. Additionally, the book also highlights aspects of provocative sensuality and supernatural beliefs during the Dutch colonial era. The books characterize interracial interactions based on the Van Oudijk family; their father is riddled with disappointment and hostility toward the children's racial otherness. Nevertheless, Van Oudijk meets and still lives with a Javanese woman, thus highlighting the precolonial relations between Dutch and native citizens (Couperus 54). The author highlights a colonial power trying to maintain its power, but its previous behavior, which includes illicit relationships, interracial relationships. incestuous sex and relationships indicate a society rife with immorality and transgressions of social norms. The limited breadth of experience punctuates women's role in relationships, as they rarely venture outside, instead focusing on gossiping and criticizing foreign culture (Couperus). Furthermore, to highlight the lack of control of a community, the hidden force highlights the ideas of multiculturalism, social relations and gender. One of the characters highlighting women's sexuality is Léonie, Van Oudijk's second wife. The author describes Léonie as a woman with a voracious sensual appetite, always indifferent to her environment. The author blames the woman and her colonial behavior for introducing immoral behavior into Java's cultural norms. This forces the woman to bear the burden of guilt, even though; other characters like Theo, Van Oudijk's son, are also blameworthy (Couperus 106). The author uses Léonie's complacent sexuality to describe the selfish indulgence of women in this era, motivated by their vanity. The author also highlights the lack of social regulation in Doddy, Van Oudijk's seventeen-year-old daughter, who sees an Indo-European man. The particularity ofthe author's noting the cultural differences between the two highlights a societal representation of women as manipulative and immoral. Doddy marries Addy De Luce, even after becoming immorally involved with Leonie, which portrays women as depraved and desperate. The unfettered sexuality of native women is also a highlight of the authors, particularly Urip the Javanese maid, who is also Leonie's surrogate mother. She advises Léonie on her immoral actions, as the author describes her as humble, patient and resigned to everything in her life. Her acceptance allows her to maintain her social and cultural status, far from the immense vanity of Dutch women. European ideals of virtue and morality have no bearing on the lives of indigenous women, thus preventing them from committing unspeakable and unnatural acts. The role of Dutch women in upholding the morals of their community is also an important part of the colonial era. Eva, for example, helps organize parties based on European values ​​such as clothing. Women were required to uphold European cultural refinement and moral integrity, despite their minimal role in setting the colonies' political agenda. On the other hand, men blamed European women for any loss of status, when they could live with indigenous women and father mixed-race children. Men like Van Oudijk had children with native women, but still vilified a Dutch woman, like Leonie, for initiating sexual relations with native men. The author highlights how, in Dutch and indigenous cultures, men separated women from their economic and political world (Garton). On the other hand, women's private actions defined their behavior, suggesting that female gender had serious public consequences. Additionally, this implies a lack of private space for women of the time, since their husbands and children could access it whenever they wanted. This is highlighted by Léonie's relationship with her stepson. Also critical in the analysis is the antagonistic relationship between Van Oudijck and his Javanese regent, Sunario. It arises from elements of jealousy and the reactions of the natives to Dutch immorality (Couperus 107). The climax of the confrontation is the meeting between the resident and Sunario's mother when he acts like a pleading son. This highlights the respected role of older women in indigenous culture, reinforced by the fact that the grandmother heads the De Luce household. The dominant female is an element of indigenous society, which allows her to maintain ethical social relationships and self-knowledge. Furthermore, the author suggests that Addy inherited her grace and elegance from her mother, thus emphasizing the role of women with their children. Bernardin's text of Saint Peter, Paul and Virginia could be redefined as one of the well-contextualized manuscripts that precisely presents the theme of female sexuality in a completely new perspective. The book notably highlights the value of female sexuality, particularly in characters like Virginie during the sinking boat scene (Saint-Pierre 110). The attestation could be well understood with a summary of the storyline of the book. In summary, the story of the book features two women from Ile de France, today's Mauritius. The author describes both women as single after they eventually separated from their husbands, with the husband of one of them dying while the other woman was abandoned by her lover. According to the book, the two women each have a young child, Paul and Virginia, where they decide to raise the two children together withtheir faithful slaves Domingue and Marie who learn to love each other and later marry. With this attestation, one can also identify the theme of slavery as one of the main themes of the text. The two beautiful children, Paul and Virginia, learn to love each other where they are raised in contact with the natural world and free. of a civilization that corrupts their morals. According to the author, the world provides for all their needs where they take care of their land, making it beautiful and flowery (St. Peter 6). As the two grow up, they begin to fall in love with each other, which upsets Virginia's mother. Even though both their parents had planned to get married, Virginia's mother fears that her child would become pregnant at an early age and that the two would not have money to support themselves if they took that route. Consequently, Virginie's mother is forced to send Virginie to Paris where her aunt offers to make Virginie her heir. Virginia is then put on a boat where things take a wrong turn leading to her death. Virginia is caught in a storm off the coast where she ends up drowning after refusing to undress in the presence of Paul and the sailors who try to rescue her. Virginie prefers to stay on the sinking boat instead of showing her nudity in front of these individuals. Consumed by grief and regret, Paul dies shortly after both characters' parents mourn the deaths of their children. Regarding the summary articulated above, one can undoubtedly attest to the fact that women's sexuality is one of the main themes. presented by the author who is precisely depicted mainly in the last scenes of the book. The value of female sexuality is represented in the sinking boat scene, where Virginie refuses to undress in front of the sailors, claiming that doing so would undermine or criticize her dignity as a woman (Saint-Pierre 110). According to the author, Paul and Virginia both grew up in a natural world in which no civilization could corrupt their morals. Therefore, they both had an upbringing based on valuing sexuality, and it should therefore not be devalued whatever the situation. In this scenario, Virginia was more willing to die rather than demean her dignity as a woman by showing her nudity. During this period, sexuality was considered the most valuable aspect of both genders which redefined the dignity of an individual. By reading the book by Jacques-Henri de Saint-Pierre, we can see that it revolves around the praise of virginity and modesty until death. Additionally, the scene of Virginia while she was on the sinking boat supports this argument. Similar to Saint-Pierre's book, The Marquise of O, a short story by Heinrich von Kleist is also considered one of the most featured manuscripts with its main thematic context centered. about women's sexuality through characters like Julieta. From a different perspective, one can attest to the fact that the book is somewhat imbued with different concepts, including erotic passion, impulsivity, paradox, irony, and ambiguity. However, Heinrich von Kleist uses characters such as Julieta to further develop the idea of ​​women's sexuality and how women's dignity was devalued at the time (Kleist). In summary, the book introduces Julieta as the main character who the author describes as a young single widow who finds herself mysteriously and inexplicably pregnant. The scene occurs after Julieta has been saved from a group of Russian soldiers who were planning to kill her. Julieta, who is also described as a mother of two, decides to appeal in a newspaper ad for the father of.