Another poem by Philips called, “To the truly competent Judge of Honour”, genuinely goes in-depth in the trials and tribulations of the abuse of a women’s honor in everyday situations. The whole reason Philips wrote this poem was to provide damage control to her friends on a rumor that J. J. started. Philips begins by explaining how honor differs from man to man, and how all things good are more than likely doomed and will be misunderstood by someone. (Lines 1-4) She continues, explaining how humans attempt to use symbolism for God, but instead end up worshiping idols.
Receiving rights that weren’t good enough for men. Women must deal with false honor, rumors and whispers all from men if they feel like starting them. As a sacrifice, men make have the ability to make women disguise their true self, and imprison the women to not even have an opinion. (Line 8-11) Men were fully aware that they had complete control to build a woman up, or to completely destroy her, with just one breath. (Line 13) Women also understood that their true honor wasn’t very important, it’s the honor that others believe they have that can harm them.
Even in today’s society, the effect of a single rumor can be catastrophic; the damage it could cause in the 18th century is unimaginable. Phillips describes how women often “prostitute themselves to sordid Fate” (line 17), in an attempt to keep their honor in tact. Many women had no say so in what they wanted, which caused them to be more concerned with hiding their sin than holding it, if it meant protecting their honorable state of mind. Women were seen merely as an object, or a stepping-stone to help a man progress in life, but not as another human being.
Having honor is an extremely important status for women in the 18th century; men only wanted a woman who was truly honorable, even though men attempted time and time again to ruin that honor. Phillips still understands the true meaning of honor and believes it is greater than the “Fate of Time” (line 24). Beauty and honor go hand in hand, but Philips states, “were there no tongue to praise, no Eye to see ‘t”(line 34), meaning that beauty may not always be acknowledged, but society will know about a woman’s honor whether it is good or bad. Honor explains our actions and thoughts, but beauty has just been experienced through someone’s senses.
Phillips begins to change her state of mind around line 38, explaining how if a woman has real honor, people talking about her will not hurt her. A woman should do good things, even if no one can see them. If a woman disregards wrong virtues, she is brave, and overall as the ultimate satisfaction. (Line 41-42) Phillips is saying that men are negative towards women and hold no virtue because they are not brave, whereas women deal with negative attention daily and still are able to hold their heads high. Men are supposed to be seen as a courageous figure, and Phillips does not see much courage in men who purposely trash someone’s honor.
I believe she tries to empower women in one line, stating “And satisfied within, cannot descend, to beg the suffrage of a vulgar Tongue” (line 38-39). This can be interpreted as a means to let women know that if you have honor, then no one can take that away from you by a rumor or mouthing negative statements. Phillips states another flaw in the relationship between men and women, we place crowns on the male species, but to place a crown on one’s head, means there will be people below the crown holder in a social standing.
Proving that even the person who possesses the crown is a clown. (Line 43-44) Phillips believes in herself and that she is a good person due to the fact that she is able to stay true to herself, even with the male counterpart oppressing her. To the truly competent Judge of Honour, Lucasia” displays the harsh reality of how women are treated as something to play with. Phillips continues, explaining that she does not care what the world thinks, as long as she accepts herself, but it still hurts her feelings. She only cares about those who are close to her, nd hopes that they will stay with her. (Line 65)
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu wrote “The Reasons that Induced Dr. S[wift] to Write a Poem Called the Lady’s Dressing Room” as a reply to Jonathan Swift’s “The Lady’s Dressing Room”, in which he describes a man’s first experience inside of a Lady’s dressing room. Swift describes in detail, the gross and embarrassing products, dirty clothes, and even the water closet of the lady’s room. The end result being the man, who once thought women to be goddesses, now finds them so disgusting that it ruined women for him entirely.
Swift’s writing in The Lady’s Dressing Room is incredibly cruel. He even states, “such gaudy tulips raised from Dung” (line 145), explaining that he cannot believe something so disgusting came from something that is believed to be beautiful. Swift’s writing caused uproar among women, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu being one of them. She wrote a response to Swift’s story called “The Reasons that Induced Dr. S[wift] to Write a Poem Called the Lady’s Dressing Room”. Starting by specifically describing Swift, mentioning his snuff box and diamond rings.
Montagu jumps right in by insulting swift, writing that no one would want him except for a prostitute, meaning the only way a woman would consider sleeping with him is due to the fact that he is paying her in gold. (Line 25) Since Montagu is a female writer, she cannot write about anything sexual without being reprimanded by her male peers. (Line 35) However, that does not affect her ability to insult Swift. Montagu writes how even though Swift is full of wisdom, he failed at writing The Lady’s Dressing Room and he fails with women. (line 62).
With a final blow, Montagu makes fun of Swift’s manhood, saying he could not “get it up” because he is old and women are not that interested in him, even though Swift blames the woman. (Line 73) Montagu’s views on men were incredibly interesting, she gave several examples of how men always want what they cannot have, and if they do not have a goddess type of woman, men are not interested in them. She shows a side of relationships that not many see. A man could be fat, old, incapable, and mean and still expect the best of the best when it comes to a woman, but then a man finds out a woman poops and is all of a sudden disgusting.
There is such a strong double standard that is impossible to change because of men like Swift. He showed the general opinion men had of women during the 18th century, and then purposefully showed the ugliness of women, which is not even ugliness. Men expected women to look flawless at all times, that sort of thing does not magically happen. Swift commented on the very processes that he anticipated of women. Men had no respect or no decency towards women and their private matters. Swift made it his goal to make a joke out of natural human characteristics of women. Montagu wrote her poem in retaliation to swift.
She made it clear that a woman is not an object to constantly judge and inspect. One can only imagine the bravery that must have taken for women to begin writing, expressing their views, and fighting unfair treatment. Laws during the 18th century did not help gender discrimination at all. As Estelle Freedman explains in her book, “Redefining Rape”, women were hesitant to bring up rape charges because of how hard it was to convict the assaulter. The book explains one instance where a woman was pushed into a brothel and raped, but the man was not convicted because the female technically consented by agreeing to go on a walk with the man. Freedman, 5)
In other cases, a woman would have to prove her chastity when against a white male during a rape case in the 18th century (Freedman, 17). It wasn’t until the 20th century that it became illegal for a husband to rape his wife. Sadly, in today’s society, some states believe that not all forms of forced sexual activity are considered rape. Gender discrimination and rape culture are still a major concern today. We as a society have made great strides in stopping gender discrimination.
Women’s suffrage, attempted equal right opportunities in work environments, and even females running for the President of the United States are all massive steps in the right direction. As for other demographic areas in the world, women live in fear every day, all because of their upbringing or cultural traditions. Hopefully one day all humans can be seen as equals, instead of by their gender. These incredible women broke so many boundaries that began to push society in the direction of granting women the rights they deserved instead of pushing them in a corner for decoration.
The amount of respect that is now expected in marriages compared to Katherine Philips time is truly amazing. All of the wrongful treatment of females in the 18th century would take hours to truly explain, but hopefully the works of Fell Fox, Philips, and Montagu have helped give a general idea. Mother Teresa once said, “I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; Together, we can do great things”. This quote is great for putting together men and women. We do not all have the same talents and abilities, but together we could form something great.
