Role of American Woman In a Puritan Society Essays -

Derek Borgsteede AML 2010 Benton Role of Women in a Puritan Society Women have long been thought as inferior to men. Some see this as a problem, some don?t. In a puritan society, women are looked upon as not as servants but something not far from it. The same purpose is disposed upon them as any other woman in the society. Their sole purpose is to serve their husbands and bear children. In Hawthorn?s journal and the transcript of Ann Hutchinson?s trial, this is the sole guideline everyone uses against women. Not a very exciting life it would seem, and to some women it was absolutely preposterous. Unfortunately women were not allowed to really ?think outside the box.? This has always been the reason that women were never used for anything outside their expertise. Most women lived happy and content lives running a household with their husbands handling everything else. The thought to rebel against these principles did not occur to most, but there were a few who decided to overstep their bounds and push for new rights in this society. Ann Hutchinson was one of these few. She was, for her time and place, canny and dicey in a way which allowed her to challenge men in a way they are not used to. Her replies to every accusation Hawthorn throws her way would have humbled any modern judge. How does this not completely countermand what he says when Hutchinson states, ?What law have I broken (Winthrop and Hutchinson. p30) Winthrop naively replies, ?Why the Fifth Amendment.?(Winthrop and Hutchinson. p30) This could not possibly be true when she is being charged with crimes under the church not the state and Hawthorn has no right to deal punishment for that cause. This all comes down to Hawthorn?s prejudice view of women not being credible so he just decides to make up his own rules to make sure Hutchinson is found guilty. Despite her shrewdness and her ability to countermand all accusations against her, she was still denied any right to truly defend herself all because of the fact that she was a woman and to most men, not credible to anything she said. Winthrop, who was governor of her colony at the time, would not listen to the true and crafty defense she set before them in court only because the simple fact that, again she was a woman and not to be deemed accountable for anything she said. Had she had been a man in that courtroom and said the same defense, she would have been most likely judged innocent even though the reason she was in that courtroom was the fact that she was a woman! Some women were not bothered by the daily ordeal of serving their husbands and bearing his children. They understood that men should be held on a higher stage because a woman could not accomplish the things that men do. Little did they know is the fact that woman are actually capable of many things that men would have almost no chance at accomplishing. Yet they did live happy enough lives, it?s not that woman were treating horribly, it?s just the fact that they had no right to an opinion and most of their judgment was not seen as accurate. To say that women were not as intelligent as men would be a jest. Franklin?s story of ?The Speech of Miss Polly Baker? clearly proves that women could easily outsmart men when pressed. She makes vital points to the court that precisely supports her cause though it has already been lost. She sarcastically states, ?But take it into your wise consideration, the great and growing number of bachelors in the country.? She really strikes a nerve with ever ything she refers to with this statement. She lays it down for the court that she should be seen as doing a great service for supplying this new country with new sons and daughters. This brilliant piece of work may not have been true but it definitely struck the core of the stupidity of men back then. Most women did not strive to gain freedoms they were long denied. They knew that women deserved to have more rights but did not openly