Certain aspects of lifestyle have an everyday impact on a person's thoughts and behaviors. This essay describes an analogous instance of how an author's background and personal life can influence their creative works. To see this in action, the work will look at Emily Dickinson's works. The world's environment has an impact on people. In a similar manner, a writer's works may be influenced by their past. Emily Dickinson's writing was significantly influenced by concerns about female inequality. Hence, the more one becomes aware of the writer's background, the more one can comprehend the information key to the author's body of work. Most of Emily Dickenson's poetry reflects directly on experiences and roles of women within a patriarchal society, and various aspects that feed into her work indicate that the author's work was influenced by the gender inequalities that exist in the community.
Emily Dickinson's Poetry: The Influence of Female Inequality
It is not surprising that most of Dickinson's poetry was created between 1858 and 1866.It was an era of full consciousness concerning the spread of multiple roles of women in the Culture of America (Walton, 2014 p 29). It was a time when women were vigorously seeking for further literary approaches to express themselves. Dickinson's humility even while it corresponds to many angles with prescribed and expected female characteristics, does so with such intensity as to reveal and change gender standards. The underlying significance of gender roles within marriage is crucial to understand Emily Dickinson's work entirely. The author lived during a period when women were majorly brought up to become accommodating housewives, forced to perform household obligations of daily life and social arrangements formed by a society of patriarchy (Walton, 2014 p 25). This form of perception towards women continued to divide genders into separate levels in the community and encouraged inequalities between the two sexes. However, Emily Dickinson succeeded to separate herself from these social arrangements mainly through her poetry and writing. Through writing, women managed to express themselves.
The Oppression of Women in Marriage: Emily Dickinson's Perspective
"I gave myself to him," is one of Emily Dickinson's poem which demonstrates marriage as a formal contract in which a woman is exchanged for financial security, portraying her husband as a mere customer. Similarly, the poem 'Title Divine is mine", condemns the presence of love within a marriage as portrayed by the line in the poem, that women are "Betrothed-without the swoon."(Dickinson, 1999 p 37) The two poems show marriage as a practice of ill-treatment towards women who were oppressed by efforts of men to preserve control over the female gender through domestic labor and social relations.
The Impact of Patriarchy on Women's Social and Economic Status
Correspondingly, this oppression of the opposite gender mainly occupies the female social, morality, sexual obligations, and household duties imposed by their male counterparts. This overpowering was initially created with social expectations related to female reproductive morality. Women were expected to preserve their virginity until they were ready for marriage. Sexual purity was the significant value of the female gender. No matter whether a woman held a high economic status, she was nevertheless expected to maintain her virginity until marriage. A married woman was still supposed to remain faithful to her partner.
The Role of Loyalty in Women's Obligations
Loyalty was, fundamentally, the second stage of a woman to accomplish her duties. The first lines of the poem "I gave myself to him," highlights this expectation. They read "I gave myself to Him/and took Himself, for Pay."(Dickinson, 1999 p 57) These words come from a newly married woman. She has offered herself fully to a man who is currently her husband. She has executed her first stage as a wife. However, a similar commitment is not required of her partner who merely "took himself, for pay."(Dickinson, 1999 p 57) It implies that the society did not give the man similar obligations as the woman. By remaining faithful to her partner and accomplishing her domestic duties, she proceeds to fulfill her part of the agreement, even though it will probably not be adequate to pay for the role of her husband. Although she offers herself wholly, she is still depicted as lesser due to her financial dependency and position in society. Her subordination as a woman occurred due to a patriarchal society that is dominated by men. A woman who was an unable to own property or support herself could not be considered equal to a man. Consequently, men formed an economic society that could only benefit men.
The Shrouded Life of Women: The Final Phase
In "The divine is mine," a woman's life is demonstrated in three phases, namely "Born, Bridled and Shrouded." (Dickinson,1999 p 45).The term shrouded is applied as the final phase in a woman's life and means being concealed from that day henceforth, "shrouded" from the society. Her obligation becomes both her home and her husband. She is attached to the world of domestic work away from the public world where only men act. "Tri Victory," in the poem is for men who have constructed the society to function this way. If a woman has accomplished the steps arranged by them, then the men have successfully proceeded to oppress women. However, a majority of women did not object this, before the 19th century due to limitations and because women believed and valued what their culture and society taught (Walton, 2014 p 41). Majority of women would get married to men from their backgrounds, would reside in their home communities near their parents, and would derive pleasure in preserving their households and satisfaction in submitting to their husbands while caring for their children. Within Emily Dickinson's community, just a small fraction would support their living due to the limited opportunities available. In the absence of a husband, financial security was fundamental, and it became challenging with the limitations presented to them. Economically, men had formed a constant cycle of empowering only their gender. They created and preserved an economy that was beneficial to their status, while denying the women similar economic advantages.
The Role of Religious Beliefs in Reinforcing Gender Inequality
If the belief that encircled women had been something else, their social and economic status would have been different. However, most of the women were convinced by this illusion constructed by men, this façade that women required to serve their husbands and their position was in the lower social class. Men used religion to support this belief and women were regarded physically weaker than men but spiritually stronger. Hence, faith turned out to be an understandable instrument of support. In the poem "Title Divine is mine," the customary duty of a wife is first defined as a duty provided by God to the women when actually, it was a duty constructed by men disguised to suit the resemblance required to satisfy women. By focusing on the religious elements of marriage, the men were reducing the reality of marriage. Therefore, the obligation of women becomes moral at birth and when she gets married a "Tri Victory"(Dickinson, 1999 p 53), however, for men is that a woman is born successfully, enters marriage, and is shrouded from society, thinking that this is what God intended for her.
Emily Dickinson's Poetry: A Rebellion Against Marriage
In 'Title Divine is mine", the speaker disregards the belief encouraged by men. She knows that it is an instrument applied by men to keep on suppressing women. Emily Dickinson deliberately generated a female voice which firmly objected the marriage validated by the conventional religious teaching due to her perceptions of customary teachings encouraged by her society. Dickinson's dismissal of the conventional teachings influenced her negative perception of customary marriage which subordinated the woman to the will of her husband. In the poem, the female voice dismisses customary union because she has observed through the aspect of holy matrimony, but she upholds her trust in God. She chose to profess the "Title Divine" rather than get married to a man. This way, she has achieved a higher position over a wife as she has refused to belittle herself by submitting to her husband's will.
Breaking Gender Norms through Poetry: Emily Dickinson's Unmatched Creativity
Emily Dickinson's poetry demonstrated dissatisfaction with the suggestion of marriage. She managed to witness how marriage caged women to their domestic duties directly. Through poetry, she expressed her creativity and thoughts. Her poetry carries several references to issues of gender. Her attitude towards issues of gender did not merely represent the tough female character, the struggling woman or the classic victim, but included a broader range of women. Her actual representativeness is found in her unmatched flexibility and her capability to be erotic, prudish, anti-feminist, pro-feminist, romantic, domestic, and coy fierce. She escaped the society's gendered norms by constructing a literary sphere that did not have gendered norms.
Conclusion: The Influence of Gender Inequality on Emily Dickinson's Poetry
Gender inequality and patriarchy in the society had a considerable influence on Emily Dickinson's poetry. Becoming aware of the writers' background provides one with the opportunity to comprehend the information key to the author's body of work. Most of Emily Dickenson's work reflects directly on experiences and roles of imposed on women by men in the society, and various aspects that feed into her work indicate that the author's work was influenced by the gender inequalities that existed during her time.
Works Cited
Dickinson, Emily et al. Emily Dickinson's Collected Poems. [Place Of Publication Not Identified], Gradesaver, 1999,
Walton, Heather. Literature, Theology And Feminism. Manchester [U.A.], Manchester University Press, 2014,.
