Relationships between men and women

The topic we had been given were the Relationship between men & women- taboos, rules surrounding marriage, courtship...

"The connection between men and women in Othello is the hub of poignant celebration and variance, of pleasure and envy, of eventual destruction. If we were to approach the play's characters with the question "How do you love?" we would discover a diversity of answers."
http://www.gradingrocket.com/essays/English+Literature/Relationship+between+Men+and+Women+in+Othello/



In the Elizabethan period, it was a Patriarchal society, as men were thought to be somehow superior to women, who were supposed to need a man by their side to protect them both physically and emotionally but also economiaclly. If they were married, their husbands took care of them and if they wee single, their fathers and brothers looked after them.


Marriage
Marriages were arranged by families in order to bring prestige or wealth to the families involved, which was why some poor women could choose their spouses. Many young women didn't meet their spouses until their wedding day. Marriage was more like a business arrangement between families rather than a relationship between a man and a woman.
The Elizabethan law gave men full control over their wives and were basically the property of men. They were to learn housekeeping and give her husband children.
It was necessary to get married in the Elizabethan times otherwise, women would be considered as witches for their neighbours and lower class women.
Marriage allowed women to gain social status and children, even if they became a widow, they were allowed to run s business and wn property. Marriage were held in churches and couples were required by law to follow the religion dictated by the queen at that time. All ceromonies were held in the Queen's churches.
Marriage was legal for girls at the age twelve and boys at fourteen but the average age was between twenty and twenty nine.
Women were to be obediant housewife and motherand their aim in fact was to bear as much women as possible. With children regarded as "Blessings from God"







Rebecca, Helen, Nancy, Shannon, Catherine