John Keats, Isabella is perfect example of women’s rights being dismissed. In the time period of the poem women were seen as property and a means to trade with. Isabella is treated by her brothers with the same disdain and lack of respect. She is given a life of privilege and comfort but is not given any real love or concern.
When she falls for the servant Lorenzo she is finally allowed to understand love and care. The life Isabella lived was sadly common through out her time, whether poor or wealthy. Her dismay was one many women could empathize with. Isabella’s brother had planned to wed her to a wealthy man who could supply them with more to make their profits increase.
Women did not marry for love but for the financial or social gain of their families. The trading of women to be successful was so crucial to wealthy families many would hide their daughters away to insure they would not run off. Women lived a very dreary and sometimes dreadful life.
Isabella and Lorenzo’s romance was such a threat to the brother’s they felt it justified his murder. This poem shows so clearly the consequences of treating women so poorly. After the murder of Lorenzo Isabella goes mad, she begins to see Lorenzo when she shouldn’t. She seeks his body out and cuts off his head in an act of complete insanity.
She puts his head in a pot and starts to grow basil from it. She tends to the pot like her own child and becomes attached to it. The lack of respect given to her from her brothers pushed her to the mental break down she experienced.
History shows that this is a common theme between women throughout time. No, not all of them went to the extent that Isabella did but many did simply go crazy. One can only withstand so many years of being treated as nothing. Being seen as just something you can trade and give away for your own person gain, or to simply use for ones own pleasure can and will break someone down.
When she falls for the servant Lorenzo she is finally allowed to understand love and care. The life Isabella lived was sadly common through out her time, whether poor or wealthy. Her dismay was one many women could empathize with. Isabella’s brother had planned to wed her to a wealthy man who could supply them with more to make their profits increase.
Women did not marry for love but for the financial or social gain of their families. The trading of women to be successful was so crucial to wealthy families many would hide their daughters away to insure they would not run off. Women lived a very dreary and sometimes dreadful life.
Isabella and Lorenzo’s romance was such a threat to the brother’s they felt it justified his murder. This poem shows so clearly the consequences of treating women so poorly. After the murder of Lorenzo Isabella goes mad, she begins to see Lorenzo when she shouldn’t. She seeks his body out and cuts off his head in an act of complete insanity.
She puts his head in a pot and starts to grow basil from it. She tends to the pot like her own child and becomes attached to it. The lack of respect given to her from her brothers pushed her to the mental break down she experienced.
History shows that this is a common theme between women throughout time. No, not all of them went to the extent that Isabella did but many did simply go crazy. One can only withstand so many years of being treated as nothing. Being seen as just something you can trade and give away for your own person gain, or to simply use for ones own pleasure can and will break someone down.
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