the final essay is exactly the same concept as the first two, though slightly longer. You will have approximately 1000 words to answer one of the questions on the assignment sheet about Thomas Middlet

Alam

Ameera Alam)

ENG102C

Prof. Haylee Pescod

27 November 2022

Women and the Market in “The roaring girl” review

MILLER, JO E. “Women and the Market in ‘The Roaring Girl.’” Renaissance and Reformation / Renaissance et Réforme, vol. 14, no. 1, 1990, pp. 11–23.

This paper argues that, because moll decided to help (2 people) get married she degraded herself as a woman “Moll has decreased her value as an exchange object; by becoming a subject who speaks for herself in the masculine realm, she has made herself ineligible as a marriage partner.” (Joe 45).

Moll is a woman who is very strong and powerful and stands for her legal rights in an extremely unique way. As a woman in the 60s life was very tough for moll, Males were known to be more dominant, and Females usually didn’t have a say in anything. Her views on marriage were different than what the social norm was; Females should obey their husbands and women are only made to settle with a guy whereas the guy preys for the girl. She found this concept very unsatisfying and sexist. She found “Tradition” unfair. In act III even though moll dressed up as a man as a defence against sexual attention she noticed that the gallan was trying to seduce her, so she physically assaulted him. She conveyed that men think that women who are involved in public conversations are seen as easy ‘prey’ she mentions how women who sell their bodies usually do it because they’re hungry, poor, distressed or “tradefallen” whereas men take advantage of that. This article talks about how moll dressed as a man to prove her point, is degrading herself as a female.

When Sebastian told his father that he is going to marry moll, He did not react well, He called her a “whore” and mentions how she is not fit for any man, How she speaks publicly, and women aren’t supposed to act like that. He started explaining what the consequences of marrying a “girl like that” would be. In their minds, their ideal woman was someone who stayed at home in silence and only wakes up to obey her husband. That’s the opposite of moll. She was open to speaking, she was masculine and even though she did that to get the male gaze off her, she attracted even more sexual tension from them. Sabastian pretended to marry mole so he could marry THE GIRL that he actually liked by thinking if he does that, his father would want anyone else but her even if it’s a poor girl who can’t pay her dowry. He would rather have that as his in-law than having moll. This article talks about how mole decreased her worth by agreeing to do that, she made herself look like someone who is never going to be fit for marriage because of her masculinity and personally, I think Moll did not mean to portray that message, Instead, she was just being kind-hearted and help someone out. She did not care about what society thought of her and how to impress the male gaze since apparently, she was born to do that as a female.

In this play, the sentence “As her, thy folly dotes on” (II.ii.136-40) is what I can’t understand but I want to because this particular part of the play is very interesting to me. Moreover, In conclusion, this article basically talks about how moll sold herself to a situation like she was on the market for sale, How Sebastian degraded her and she was okay with it but In my opinion, She did not care about what society thought of her and I can prove this by mentioning how she kept interfering with the rules of the society and she even went to jail multiple times but to only get her point across, In the current century, whatever moll did back then would not be a criminal offence so I don’t think she did anything wrong she just stood up for what is right and in my eyes, She is a strong lady who had the guts to do what she wanted in a society that was ruled by men and their masculine energy.

MILLER, JO E. “Women and the Market in ‘The Roaring Girl.’” Renaissance and Reformation / Renaissance et Réforme, vol. 14, no. 1, 1990, pp. 11–23.