IDEAS OF FEMINISM REFLECTED IN JULIET’S STRUGGLES IN SHAKESPEARE’S ROMEO AND JULIET

  

IDEAS OF FEMINISM REFLECTED IN JULIET’S

STRUGGLES IN SHAKESPEARE’S ROMEO AND JULIET

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

  Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

  By

ELISABETH MARSELLA

  Student Number : 064214025

  

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

  

IDEAS OF FEMINISM REFLECTED IN JULIET’S

STRUGGLES SEEN IN SHAKESPEARE’S ROMEO AND

JULIET

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

  Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

  By

ELISABETH MARSELLA

  Student Number : 064214025

  

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

2010

   

   

  It is better to light one candle than

to curse the darkness

(Chinese Proverb)

  

Optimism is like a vitamin to all your

attempts at success. Make sure you

have your daily dose.

  (Vikas Malkani)  

    For my beloved family and friends

     

  

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  First and foremost, I would like to thank The Almighty God for great blessing in every single day, especially for guiding me in completing this thesis.

  Secondly, I would like to thank my advisor Modesta Luluk Artika Windrasti,

  

S. S., my co-advisor Adventina Putranti, S. S., M. Hum., and Drs. Hirmawan

Wijanarka, M. Hum. for the guidance, patience, advice, and support. Those

  mean a lot to me.

  I owe great gratitude to Urbanus Daruendro and Maria Sunarti for being wonderful parents. I thank them very much for magnificent love, guidance, and prayers. I feel very lucky to have them always beside me. I also would like to thank my brothers Martinus Aryaseta, Mario Puntodewo, Bernardinus

  

Wijanarko, and Michael Wisnu Adi for the love, support, and laughter. How

lucky I am for having precious treasure in life.

  I would like to thank all my best friends: Arum, Marcel, Elok, and Bela. I thank them for great moments, love, laughter, help, and support that are too many to mention. I will never regret all the time we have shared together. I also would like to thank “BFI Footsal team” and my friends of English Letters 2006

  

Class A: Nana, Lusi, Sansan, Yuniar, Vina, Fin, Juli, Denal, and others. I

thank them for cheering up my days. I am so glad to be a part of them.

  For those who always give me support but not mentioned, I would like to give my biggest thanks. God knows all their kindness and, I believe, God will give them greater blessing than my thanks. God bless us all.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE .................................................................................................... i

APPROVAL PAGE .......................................................................................... ii

ACCEPTANCE PAGE..................................................................................... iii

MOTTO PAGE ................................................................................................. iv

DEDICATION PAGE....................................................................................... v

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN

PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS ....... vi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.............................................................................. vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS.................................................................................. viii

ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................... x

ABSTRAK ......................................................................................................... xi

  

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION .................................................................... 1

A. Background of the Study......................................................................... 1 B. Problem Formulation............................................................................... 3 C. Objectives of the Study ........................................................................... 3 D. Definition of Terms................................................................................. 4

CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW ................................................... 5

A. Review of Related Studies ...................................................................... 5 B. Review of Related Theories .................................................................... 8 1. Theories of Characterization ............................................................ 8 2. Theories of Patriarchal Society ........................................................ 11 3. Theory of Feminism......................................................................... 17 C. Theoretical Framework .......................................................................... 20 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ............................................................... 22 A. Object of the Study.................................................................................. 22 B. Approach of the Study............................................................................. 23 C. Method of the Study................................................................................ 24 CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS ............................................................................. 26 A. The Characterization of Female and Male Characters ............................ 26 1. Characterization of Juliet ................................................................. 26 2. Characterization of Nurse ................................................................ 32 3. Characterization of Lady Capulet .................................................... 34 4. Characterization of Lady Montague................................................. 36 5. Characterization of Rosaline ............................................................ 36 6. Characterization of Romeo .............................................................. 37 7. Characterization of Capulet.............................................................. 39 8. Characterization of Friar Lawrence.................................................. 42 9. Characterization of Mercutio ........................................................... 43

  1. Ideology............................................................................................ 46 2.

  Propaganda....................................................................................... 49 3. Indiscriminateness, Unpredictability, Arbitrariness, Ruthless and Destructiveness and Amorality ................................................. 51

  4. Voluntary Compliance ..................................................................... 53 C. The Reflection of Ideas of Feminism in Juliet’s Struggle....................... 56 1.

  Woman can become Intellectuals, Members of Vanguard of Change for Women ....................................................................................... 58

  2. Woman can Work toward a Socialist Transformation of the Society 62 3.

  Woman can Refuse to Internalize her Otherness ............................. 65

  

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION........................................................................ 68

BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................. 71

APPENDICES ................................................................................................... 73

Appendix 1: The Summary of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet .................. 73 Appendix 2: About the Author...................................................................... 75

  

ABSTRACT

  ELISABETH MARSELLA (2010). Ideas of Feminism Reflected in Juliet’s

  

Struggles in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Yogyakarta: Department of

English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University.

  Shakespeare’s work is always interesting to analyze, not only because of his great name but also because of the content of the work itself. Besides, Shakespeare usually describes the female characters in his works as a strong character that has lively minds. One of them is Juliet in his Romeo and Juliet. She fulfils the quality because she is aware of the discrimination over women and reacts against it. Although feminism has not emerged yet at her time, she reflects the ideas of feminism by struggling to determine her destiny.

  There are three objectives of analyzing this thesis. First, the writer intends to reveal the characterization of female and male characters. The second objective is to see how patriarchal society is depicted in the play. The third objective is to see how Juliet reflects the idea of feminism in her struggle.

  The object of the study is Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The play is taken from William Shakespeare: Complete Works that is edited by Peter Alexander and published by Random House in 1952. The play is divided into five acts, which each act consists of three to six acts. To show Juliet’s feminist struggle, the approach used to analyze is feminist approach. The method used in the study is library-research method by employing the play as the primary source and books related to the theory, approach, related studies and criticisms, and internet source as secondary sources. After reading the play for several times and understanding the points of the story, the writer focuses on the female and male characters. Then, the writer uses secondary sources and formulates the problems. The last step is to apply the secondary source to the primary source to answer the problem formulation.

  From the analysis, the thesis reveals: 1) the characterization of the characters in the play. Juliet is described as a persistent, brave tricky, clever, critical, and active woman. The other woman characters are described as obedient, passive, loyal, quiet women, although Nurse in the end of the story shows her bravery to against Old Capulet. Romeo is a beauty admirer, a brave man, but he easily gets desparate. Old Capulet, Mercutio, and County Paris are respected people who are authoritarian, arrogant, bad-tempered, rough, and selfish, while Friar Lawrence is described as reliable and helpful person. 2) the structure of the society and four components depicting patriarchy in the society, those are ideology, propaganda, political terrorisms (indiscriminateness, unpredictability, arbitrariness, ruthless destructiveness, and immorality), and voluntary compliance. 3) the ideas of feminism reflected in Juliet’s struggles. The ideas are to be an intellectual, to work toward a socialist transformation of the society, and to refuse to internalize her otherness.

  

ABSTRAK

  ELISABETH MARSELLA (2010). Ideas of Feminism Reflected in Juliet’s

  

Struggles in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra

Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma.

  Karya Shakespeare selalu menarik untuk dianalisis, bukan hanya karena nama besar Shakespeare tetapi juga karena isi karya itu sendiri. Selain itu, Shakespeare sering menggambarkan karater wanita dalam karyanya sebagai karakter yang kuat yang memiliki pikiran yang hidup. Salah satunya adalah Juliet dalam Romeo and Juliet. Ia memenuhi kualitas tersebeut karena ia menyadari penindasan terhadap wanita dan bereaksi melawan penindasan itu. Walaupun feminisme belum muncul pada jamannya, ia merefleksikan pemikiran feminisme dengan berusaha menentukan jalan hidupnya.

  Terdapat tiga tujuan analisis skripsi ini. Pertama, penulis bermaksud untuk menunjukkan penokohan karakter wanita dan pria. Tujuan yang kedua adalah untuk melihat penggambaran masyarakat yang patriarkal. Tujuan yang ketiga adalah untuk melihat cara Juliet merefleksikan perjuangannya yang feminis.

  Objek penelitian ini adalah drama Romeo and Juliet karya Shakespeare. Drama ini diambil dari buku William Shakespeare: Complete Works yang diedit oleh Peter Alexander dan diterbitkan oleh Random House pada tahun 1952.

  Drama ini terbagi dalam lima babak, yang tiap babaknya terdiri dari tiga hingga enam adegan. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah metode penelitian pustaka dengan menggunakan drama sebagai sumber utama, dan buku- buku yang berkaitan dengan teori, pendekatan, kajian dan kritik yang berhubungan, serta internet sebagai sumber pendukung. Setelah beberapa kali membaca drama ini dan mengerti inti ceritanya, penulis fokus pada karakter- karakter wanita dan pria. Setelah itu, penulis menggunakan sumber-sumber pendukung dan merumuskan masalah-masalah yang akan dibahas dalam analisis. Langkah terakhir adalah menerapkan sumber pendukung pada sumber utama untuk menjawab rumusan masalah.

  Analisis dalam skripsi ini mengungkap bahwa: 1) perwatakan karakter- karakter dalam drama ini. Juliet ditokohkan sebagai orang wanita yang gigih, berani, cerdik, cerdas, kritis, dan aktif. Karakter wanita lainnya digambarkan sebagai wanita yang penurut, pasif, setia, dan pendiam, walaupun di akhir cerita Nurse menunjukkan keberaniannya untuk menentang Old Capulet. Romeo adalah seorang pecinta kecantikan, orang yang berani, tetapi mudah putus asa. Old Capulet, Mercutio, dan Paris digambarkan sebagai orang terhormat yang otoriter, sombong, pemarah, kasar,dan egois, sedangkan Friar Lawrence digambarkan sebagai orang yang dapat dipercaya dan penolong. 2) struktur dalam masyarakat dan empat komponen yang menunjukan adanya patriarki dalam masyarakat, yaitu ideologi, propaganda, terorisme politik (yang tidak pandang bulu, tidak pasti, arbitrari, merusak, dan amoral), dan kepatuhan secara suka rela. 3) pemikiran feminisme yang terlihat dari perjuangan Juliet untuk menjadi intelektual, bekerja

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study Romeo and Juliet is one of Shakespeare’s popular plays, not only for those

  who learn literature but also for people who do not deal with literature. This play is popularly known as a romantic story of star-crossed lovers namely Romeo and Juliet. They cannot unite their love since their families are deadly feuds. Reaske and Knott, Jr say that this play is one of Shakespeare’s popular plays that forms part of daily vocabulary, and a reference, for thinking about men and women (1988:59).

  Although this play was written years ago, euphoria of this play can still be felt in the recent time. This play has been filmed for several times. It also has become an inspirational love story like the creation of Best Picture Oscar winner

  

Shakespeare’s in Love . Bernard Weinraub’s cynical statement about the reason of

  the winning was because “‘Shakespeare’ perhaps was able to convince women voters to vote for it.” Then, Warner says that this film is a woman’s film (Werner 2001,10). Although Shakespeare’s in Love is not straightforward performance of

  

Romeo and Juliet , but what Warner said that this is a woman’s film directs us to

  claim that Romeo and Juliet is also a woman’s drama. What Weinraub said implies that nothing related to woman deserves to get appreciation.

  There might be a reason why Shakespeare can win women to vote for the of their own, lively minds, and strong characters such as Portia, Rosalind, etc (Boulton, 1968: 166). In this play, the character who possesses those characteristics is Juliet. She bravely takes decision of what she is going to do although it might risk her life. Degradation is one that always shadows her. How great courage that she has, people always doubt her endurance. Therefore, she tries hard to against the underestimation and people’s thought about being a woman.

  When this play was written, feminism had not appeared yet. Feminism emerged in early 1900s although a faint voice against the patriarchy had arisen in the early 1700s (Bressler, 1999:181). However, the patriarchy had been established since centuries ago before the time of Shakespeare. Before the feminism emerges, many feminist agents must have struggled to get equality. What makes it different is that the struggles have not yet known as feminism.

  In this play, Juliet bears the spirit of feminism because she is different from other female characters in the play that are very passive and obedient to men.

  Juliet prefers to fight for her right and refuse to be controlled by her father. Although the situation hampers her struggle, she finally proves that woman has an important role. The play is not simply a love story. Patriarchal system and rebellions lie in this play. Therefore, perspective of feminism is needed in order to strengthen Juliet character as a feminist agent. She bravely rebels against her family and breaks the rule to determine her own life. Her struggle, which in her time had not been considered as a feminism idea, proves that she bears the idea of

B. Problem Formulation 1.

  How are female and male characters characterized in the play? 2. How is the patriarchal society depicted in the story? 3. How do Juliet’s struggles reflect the ideas of feminism? C.

   Objective of the Study

  The first objective of this study is to see the characterization of the female and male characters in this play. By analyzing the characterization, it can be seen the role of female and male characters in this play and how they face their lives. From the characterization, it can be seen which characters bear the idea of feminism and which one is not. Besides, it will reveal how the male characters treat and view the female characters.

  The second objective is to see the patriarchal society depicted in the play. From this part, how the female characters are treated or how they view themselves as the result of social construction can be seen. As the idea of feminism is to fight the discrimination of society towards women, the patriarchal society is described in order to see how the female characters face the subordination in their society.

  The third objective is to see how Juliet’s struggle reflects the idea of feminism in the play. The other characters will show the view of being a woman in that society. This is what Juliet disagrees. She thinks that society should not pattern what a woman should be, because woman has rights, as man does, to determine how she will be.

D. Definition of Terms 1.

  Feminism According to Maggie Humm, feminism is generally the ideology of women’s liberation since intrinsic in all its approaches is the belief that woman suffers injustice because of the sex (1995:94).

2. Struggle

  According to Dictionary of Sociology, struggle is effort to secure advantage for one’s self by matching one’s strength with another’s. It is synonymous with opposition, and including competition, contravention, and conflict. (1975:310).

CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW A. Review of Related Studies In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet love is never easy for Romeo and Juliet. These star-crossed lovers face big obstacles in their relationship, primary is due to

  the deadly feud between their parents, between Capulet and Montague. However, the obstacles cannot stop their passion to be together. They do many efforts that are hidden from their parents. They even endanger their own lives and in the end, they decide to commit suicide.

  In the era of Shakespeare, feminism had not emerged yet but the history says that the oppression toward women has lasted since long time ago. Therefore, it is true that women have tried to liberate themselves before the feminism itself emerges. Women have actually tried to stand on their own feet. Unfortunately, the root of patriarchy has planted in society.

  This condition can be seen from the classic Greek play, Antigone. From the studies done by Setyarini Santosa Putri in her thesis The Emergence of Feminist

  

Ideas In Sophocles’s Antigone , woman inferiority is described thoroughly.

  Antigone, the agent of feminism in the play, shows how she should fight against the law in order to bury her brother. She insists to bury her brother properly although she knows that she will face the final punishment if she does it.

  Antigone cannot accept the new law of improper burial of her brother made by Creon... She has two reasons for this. First, Polyneices is her brother care of her brother’s corpse to be buried properly. ... Second, Creon’s mew law about the improper burial defies the law of the gods. (2002:54-55) For those reasons, Antigone bravely faces the risk that Creon will punish her. However, she has set her mind that she will not let her brother’s body unburied properly.

  Antigone’s actions influence the people to view the rule differently. Her suicide influences many characters in the play and convinces them to defend the truth. She leads the men and women to react differently toward injustice made by Creon (Putri,2002:79). In other words, Antigone brings the feminist’s idea that is to influence women, and even men, to react against social injustice that is controlled by the patriarchal power.

  Juliet in the Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet also brings the similar idea. The spirit of feminism has encouraged women to rebel against the patriarchal society which tends to discriminate women. Yayoi Miyashita in her Juliet’s

  

Acquisition of Independence and Patriarchy in Romeo and Juliet , an annual report

  on cultural science, says that It is Juliet not Romeo who shows conspicuous development from the first step of adolescence to the young adult who can act out her own decision. It is accepted idea that in this play gender roles changes between Romeo and Juliet, and the Juliet shows masculine decisive power when she receives the sleeping potion and when she stabs herself with Romeo’s dagger, whereas Romeo condemns his own effeminacy at Mercutio’s death, and remains effeminate when he commits suicide by taking poison. (2002:19) Juliet, therefore, holds an important role in determining the story. She takes an action in her struggle to be with Romeo. She shows it by deciding to drink the

  She also prepares a dagger and ready to stab it, if the potion does not work as she expects.

  There might be a question whether feminists agree with suicide. This notion may lead readers to a question toward Juliet’s decision to suicide because it can be seen as a frustration because of the oppression. Lisa Hopkins, as Molly Cooper wrote in her thesis Bad Girls: Romantic Feminine Rebellion in Renaissance

  Drama , sees the suicide in different way. She says in her thesis that

  She[Lisa Hopkins] sees suicide, such as that found in Romeo and

  Juliet and The Spanish Tragedy, as a result of the mechanism in which the

  dominant power structure acts upon powerless women. She writes, “In sharp contrast to this passivity and victimhood, the majority of the female characters in the plays (that she examines) neither seek nor welcome death” and of the ones who do meet their end in her selected plays, they “eventually accept death, but only on their own terms and only because this is clearly a more dignified attitude than continuing to resist”

  (Cooper, 2006) From the passage above, the female characters do not intentionally seek nor welcome death. Rather than being passive, they struggle to overcome their problems. Indeed, their struggles are ended by death by committing suicide, but it does not mean that they give up to the condition. The patriarchal oppression is greatly depicted in the play. Therefore, they do the last way, committing suicide, which is more dignified to hold their ideas than continuing their resist. How hard they try to show their ideas, people around them will not accept it because the patriarchy has been pinned into the people’s mindset. To make the people accept the ideals means to change their mindset which is impossible to do in a very short time. Thus, no wonder that the female characters decide to do an extreme action to The writer agrees with Miyashita’s statements because Juliet does more things for their love rather than Romeo. Juliet is not depicted as passive character who is waiting for her destiny, but she actively finds a way to get her rights. The image that women are passive is not suitable for Juliet. She acts contrarily to the patriarchal construction of women.

  Since the patriarchy oppression is very great, not all female characters do or agree to what Juliet is doing. Other female characters in this play are Nurse, Lady Capulet, and Lady Montague. Women around her, the Nurse and her mother often obstruct Juliet’s struggle. They actually do not understand Juliet, because they have different ideas of being women. Lady Capulet and Nurse can be said as the product of patriarchy. This can be seen from the way their obedience to the social construction. As woman, some of them are trying to get their independence, while others are choosing to be good women that will lead them to peace and prosperity.

B. Review on Related Theories 1.

  Theory of Characterization Characterization can be seen from several ways. According to Murphy in

  

Understanding Unseens , there are nine ways to see the characterization of

  characters in literary works. Among the nine, seven are used in the analysis of the play. Those are as follows a.

  Character as seen by another. Instead of describing character directly, the author can describe him through the eyes and opinions of another. The reader gets, as it were, a reflected image.

  b.

  Speech. The author can give us an insight into the character of one on the c.

  Conversation of others. The author can also give us clues to a person’s character through the conversations of other people and the things they say about him. People do talk about other people and things they say of often give as a clue to the character of the person spoken about.

  d.

  Reactions. The author can also give us a clue to a person’s character by letting us know how that person reacts to various situations and events.

  e.

  Direct comment. The author can describe or comment on person’s character directly.

  f.

  Thoughts. The author can give us direct knowledge of what person is thinking about. In this respect he is able to do what we cannot do in real life. He can tell us what different people are thinking.

  g.

  Mannerisms. The author can describe a person’s mannerisms, habit or idiosyncrastes which may also tell us something about his character.

  (Murphy, 1972: 161-173) In play, the characterization mostly reveals from the dialogues. From the dialogues, the characteristic of the characters in the play can be derived. Readers can draw several ideas from short dialogues since the playwright usually has certain purpose in employing certain dialogues. The dialogues may be in the form of speech, conversation of others, reactions, direct comment. Of course, other points may also be used to see the characterization but the characterization formed in dialogues is the easiest way.

  Character seen by another must be in the form of speech because in play usually the playwright does not put the characterization on the stage direction.

  However, stage director may also give information about the characters. It may show character’s manner and personal description. From the manner, the characteristic of a character can be found. Because play does not describe everything in details like prose, the personal description is usually in the stage direction. It may be from the detailed clothes the characters wear, the detailed setting around the character, or the expression of the character whether he/she

  Character in drama is little bit different with character in the prose. Unlike prose that is possible to describe the characters in detail, character in drama is limited by the dialogues. Description like in the prose may be still found in the drama, but it is not as detailed as in the prose. What drama has as the substitution of the description is the stage director. However, there are still other clues in order to understand the character in the drama.

  According to Barranger’s Understanding Drama, there are several ways in understanding the characters. They are as follows First, we observe what playwrights say about them [characters] in the stage directions and, second, we hear or read what characters say about one another in dialogue. Third, we note general types – physical and psychological. Fourth, we construe the moral and ethical choices that determine their destinies. (1994:339) Robert Stanton in his An Introduction to Fiction says that character is usually used in two ways. First, it shows the individuals who appear in the story.

  Second, “... it refers to the mixture of interest, desires, emotions, and moral principles that makes up each of these individuals (1965:17).” He then continues Most of stories contain a central character, who is relevant to every event in the story; usually the events cause some change either in him or in our attitude toward him. ... A character’s reason for behaving as he does is his motivation. His specific motivation is his immediate reason, perhaps unconscious, for any particular speech or act. His basic motivation is an aspect of his general character; it is the continuing desire or intention that governs him throughout the story, the direction toward which almost of his specific motivation. (1965:17) From the passage above, it is clear is an important element of the action done by the characters. It will tell the readers what kind of characteristics that the characters have. Therefore, Stanton suggests reader to see all the evidence in the misinterpretation. It is due to the condition that there might be changes in the development of the character. Stanton (1965:17-18) proposes the evidence may include the characters’ name, the author’s description of and comment upon the character, the evidence provided by other character, and the character’s own dialogue and action.

  Based on his description, Stanton thinks that the most important evidence is the last evidence he has mentioned. That is the character’s own dialogue. He says that the dialogue and action are “a manifestation of character (1965:18)”. From the dialogue and action, reader will know exactly the implied meaning that lies in the story. In other words, to know the character in the play, the readers need to understand the action.

2. Theories on Patriarchal Society

  There are two definitions of patriarchy used in this study. First, based on

  

Cultural Theory: The Key Concept , patriarchy is a literary term that means ‘the

  rule of the father’. It is used in the feminist theory to refer the way in which societies are structured through male domination over, and oppression, women (1999:270). Second, Johnson says in his Human Arrangements: An Introduction

  

to Sociology that “a patriarchy is a society that in which power resides in the

  eldest male in the family, who passes it on through his eldest son (1986:409).” From the two definitions, it can be seen that “male” and “father” are the people who have power. When people are holding power over others, they tend to also be applied to the relation between men and women in the society. Since men are the people who have power to rule, they tend to see women as being less value. Therefore, men tend to dominate the society and control the society based on their preference, although it causes oppression for women.

  Tong says in her Feminist Thought that “the men named ‘man’ the self and ‘woman’ the other. If the other is threat to the self, then woman is threat to a man (1998:179).” If man refers to be free, he must subordinate the woman. By doing this, woman will not be threat to him because they can control the woman. Since man holds the control over woman, man becomes superior while woman inferior.

  In her The Second Sex, Simone de Beauvoir includes two figures who say that women are inferior to men. They are Aristotle and St Thomas.

  He [man] thinks of his body as a direct and normal connection with the world, which he believes he apprehends objectively, whereas he regards the body of woman as a hindrance, a prison, weighed down by everything peculiar to it. ‘The female is a female by virtue of a certain lack of qualities,’ said Aristotle; ‘we should regard the female nature as afflicted with a natural defectiveness.’ And St Thomas for his part pronounced woman to be an ‘imperfect man’, an ‘incidental’ being. This is symbolized in Genesis where Eve is depicted as made from what Bossuet called ‘a supernumerary bone’ of Adam.

  (de Beauvoir, 1953 : xxii) From the passage above, it is clear that the distinction is based on the anatomy of woman and man. Man often thinks that his body is the normal, while woman’s body is abnormal. Aristotle says that woman is lack of certain qualities caused by natural defectiveness, while St Thomas calls woman as “imperfect man”. The nature of woman, Aristotle says, is defected. There is a mistake in the body of woman that makes her different from man. Moreover, this difference is inferiority from his ideology. According to the Genesis, Eve, believed as the first woman, is made from a bone of Adam who believed as the first man made by God. St Thomas simply interprets Genesis as the basis to distinguish the position of woman and man.

  These two important figures may influence in viewing woman in the society. Genesis is a part of Christianity, a religion that many Europeans hold.

  Although, this is not the root of patriarchy itself, but this belief seems to justify the inferiority of woman and strengthen the patriarchy in the society.

  Woman is degraded by employing binary opposition. To compare the masculinity and femininity de Beauvoir says that the distinction is like “Good and evil, lucky and unlucky auspices, right and left, God and Lucifer (de Beauvoir, 1989: xxiii)”. Masculinity is used to evoke positive connotation, while femininity is to evoke negative connotation. Therefore, man believes that he is in the right in being a man and woman is in the wrong.

  Since masculinity is more highly valued than feminity, and masculinity is expected to be men’s characteristic, men feel that they have higher status and are privileged to control society. It is not only because men are masculine so that they are more capable to control society, but also because they have greater access to powerful achieved statuses. “They [men] control legislatures, governments, courts, labor unions, corporations, religious organizations ... (Johnson, 1986:400).” Since men have greater power, they can control the society including the women. This condition makes women to live for fulfilling social expectation, such as marrying, having children, devoting themselves to being wives and mothers (Johnson, 1986:411).

  In the Shakespearean era, the patriarchy can be seen through the structure of the society; men are the breadwinners and women have to be obedient housewives and mothers (Ekici, 2009). In order to make the role allocation, women are supposed to represent values like obedience, silence, sexual chastity, piety, humility, constancy, and patience. (Almasy, 1996). Because they are expected to be obedient, they have to accept what the authority says.

  In a family, father or husband is the ‘head’. He is the decision maker that must be obeyed by the wife and children. He can control his wife and children without considering their opinion.

  Individual families were normally set up on a patriarchal basis, with the husband and father determining fundamental conditions and making the key decisions, and with humble obedience owed to this male authority. Patriarchal family structure rested on men's control of most or all property, starting with land itself; marriage was based on property relationships and it was assumed that marriage, and therefore subordination to men, was the normal condition for the vast majority of women. ...

  Characteristic patriarchal conditions developed in Mesopotamian civilization. Marriages were arranged for women by their parents, with a formal contract being drawn up. The husband served as authority over his wife and children just as he did over his slaves.

  (Ferrel, 1992) He can also arrange a marriage for his children and they must obey any decision he makes. Unfortunately, the marriage is usually based on the property relationship. The consideration is more about property. The children cannot choose with whom they will marry. Therefore, he will be more interesting to For the case of marriage and motherhood, de Beauvoir has her own opinion. de Beauvoir says “the otherness of woman is cemented in institution of marriage and motherhood (Tong, 1998:183).” She believes that the role of wife and mother robs woman’s freedom. If she should play the role of wife and mother, she will be a passive, lacking of ambition and passion. She will undergo aimless days indefinitely repeated and like waiting for the death coming without having any life purposes, doing the same activities all day until she gets old (Tong, 1998: 184).

  Woman’s otherness has pervaded in the society not only in the family. According to Sandra Bartky, woman’s otherness in the society can be seen through the catcalling or whistle. This behaviour shows that woman is seen as object. Wherever she goes, man will always watch her so she cannot escape from man’s eyes. This creates the idea of fashion-beauty complex (Tong, 1998: 188).

  Woman will be regarded as beauty if the society says that she is beautiful, she is fulfilling the fashion in the society. How she looks will always be observed by man, even into detailed of her body (Tong: 1998, 186).

  Sheffield proposes a different terms to figure out patriarchy, that is sexual

  

terrorism . She calls it so “because it is a system by which males frighten and, by

  frightening, control and dominates females” (1984:3). She explains further that there are some components of sexual terrorism (1984:5-6), as the following a.

  Ideology; it is an integrated set of believes about the world that explain the way things are and provides vision of how they ought to be. Patriarchy is the masculine/warrior ideal. Masculinity must include not only a proclivity for violence but all those characteristics necessary for survival: aggression, control, emotional reverse, rationality, sexual potency, etc.

  b.

  Propaganda; it is the methodical dissemination of information for the purpose of promoting a particular ideology. Its purpose is to present one point of view on a subject and to discredit opposing point of view.

  c.

  Indiscriminateness, unpredictability, arbitrariness, ruthless destructiveness and amorality.

  d.

  Voluntary compliance; the institutionalization of a system of terror requires the development of mechanisms other than sustained violence to achieve its goal. The strategy to develop it is to maintain the sexual terrorism largely. This will be done by an elaborate system of sex-role socialization that in effect instructs men to be terrorists in the name of masculinity and women to be victims in the name of femininity.   Sheffield adds that, unlike political terrorism, the victim of the sexual terrorism is blamed, and society excuses the offender. It is due to the belief “that the offender is either ‘sick’ and therefore in need of our compassion or is acting out normal male impulses.” The citation seems to justify everything that man done, even their male nature. Nothing is wrong with their physical condition, it comes naturally, but it is contrary to the nature of woman. What man does is excusable, while the victim should responsible for the inconvenience she suffers.

3. Theories on Feminism

  According to Maggie Humm, feminism is generally the ideology of women’s liberation since intrinsic in all its approaches is the belief that woman suffers injustice because of the sex (1995:94). There are some important figures in the development of feminism. One of them is Simone de Beauvoir, who is known as the architect of second-wave feminist criticism.

  In The Second Sex, de Beauvoir says that society sets up man as the positive and woman as the negative, second sex or ‘Other’ (Humm, 1994:36). In order to find the answer of the claim that women are the other, she explains the relation of woman and man from several points of view. She describes the nature of human biologically, psychologically, and historically. However, the biological point of view fails to explain the inferiority of women. By taking de Beauvoir’s idea, Humm says that

  “...utilising autobiographies as well as psychological The Second

  Sex begins with the facts and the myths drawn from psychosocial studies

  to focus on how women themselves experience social ‘reality’. De Beauvoir concludes that woman is constructed ‘differently’, by man, history and biology as well as from the literature. For de Beauvoir, physical distinctions between women and men have meaning only in social arrangements, so that biological characteristics can explain, but never determine, differences between women and men.” (1994:37)

  Psychological point of view also fails to explain the inferiority of women Therefore, de Beauvoir states in her The Second Sex that Woman is shown to us as enticed by two modes of alienation.

  Evidently to play at being a man will be for her a source of frustration; but to play at being a woman is also a delusion: to be a woman would mean to be the object, the Other – and the Other nevertheless remains subject in the midst of her resignation. possibilities are opened up for her through what are called the virile and the feminine attitudes. ... To paint, to write, to engage in politics – these are not merely ‘sublimations’; here we have aims that are willed for their own sakes. To deny it is to falsify all human history.

  (1953: 51) It is not easy for women to liberate themselves from the oppression of men because of the condition in the society. From the passage above, women face a dilemma. They cannot play the role of a man, and they cannot be a ‘woman’. There is no place for them in the group of the two sexes, that is why they are called as The Other.

  Therefore, de Beauvoir says that the true problem of women is that they are seemingly to escape from such condition which then perpetuates their inferiority. This attitude will not overcome their problem. What they need to do is to find any possibilities to liberate themselves. They should break the idea of woman’s inferiority by being active in devaluing themselves as equal human to men. She, then, affirms her idea by saying “It is useless to apportion blame and excuses justice can never be done in the midst of injustice (de Beauvoir, 1989: 723)”. It is not blaming that is expected to liberate themselves, but valuing themselves based on what they believe.

  There are four things, according to de Beauvoir, to escape from the otherness.

  a.

  Woman should go to work in order to regain her transcendence, so she can concretely affirm her status as a subject, as someone who is charting the course of her destiny. b.

  Woman can become intellectuals, members of the vanguard of change for women. Intellectual activity is to think, look, and define. It means that woman should actively think, look, and define herself according to her own. They should not depend on what men are thinking, looking, or defining.

  c.

  Woman can work toward a socialist transformation of society. If woman wants to be everything she wants, she must help create the kind of society that will provide her with the material support to transcend her present limits.

  d.

  Woman can refuse to internalize her otherness–that is, to identify themselves through the eyes of the dominant group in the society.