"I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free."
Michelangelo
Welcome! This blog is about my random thoughts, colourful pictures and paintings, some of my pencil drawings, reflections on things I feel strongly about and my experiences as I journey through life. Hope you enjoy it. Feel free to add your comments and suggestions, but please refrain from spam, racist or uncomfortable comments. Thanks for visiting!

Tuesday 6 September 2011

Who is an Accomplished Woman? - Then and Now

If you have read Pride and Prejudice, you would never forget the "accomplished woman" scene. This was the general idea of an accomplished woman in 1800s.

'It is amazing to me,' said Bingley, "how young ladies can have patience to be so very accomplished, as they all are."

'All young ladies accomplished! My dear Charles, what do you mean?' (says his sister.)

'Yes all of them, I think. They all paint tables, cover skreens and net purses. I scarcely know any one who cannot do all this and I am sure I never heard a young lady spoken of for the first time, without being informed that she was very accomplished.'

'Then,' observed Elizabeth, 'you must comprehend a great deal in your idea of an accomplished woman.'

Oh! certainly,' cried his faithful assistant, 'no one can really esteemed accomplished, who does not greatly surpass what is usually met with. A woman must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing and the modern languages to deserve the word; and besides all this, she must possess a certain something in her air and manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions, or the word will be but half deserved.'

'All this she must possess,' added Darcy, 'and to all this she must yet add something more substantial, in the improvement of her mind by extensive reading.'

In India, in the 1800s an accomplished woman, in general was someone who sang songs in praise of God in her pooja room, who cooked delicious meals, took care of the house and her kids/siblings (if she was unmarried). She was supposed and expected only to be devoted to God and her family.

In 2011,  you have the "top ten list" of powerful women (doesn't matter if you are corrupt!) in the world, sports athletes, science, literature, music and every other field imaginable. I don't know about the accomplished woman, or whether there is such a generalized term.But the first word to describe a "modern woman", (in any continent) as any website would tell you is "Beautiful", glamorous, who always looks like she is in her twenties. She is also expected to have an education, comfortable income, do/handle household work/staff, cook meals, take care of kids and a million other things. More like a multi-tasking Barbie!

This is definitely not my definition of an accomplished woman, just what women are expected to be today and what they are forced to become - although, one could argue that they themselves are not objecting much to this idea.

What do you think?

2 comments:

  1. I think a woman should be encouraged to be anything she wants to be. I know of a young woman who has achieved a good education and gone on to hold an important job in a big company. It is well paid and her skills are recognised and respected - Dave

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, Dave. True, be what you want to be and always do what you want to do.

    ReplyDelete

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