Perhaps the most surprising thing about the society of Laputa is how lenient they are socially. As near as I can tell Gulliver does not seem to enticed by these sometimes desperate women.
"The women of the island have abundance of vivacity: they, contemn their husbands, and are exceedingly fond of strangers, whereof there is always a considerable number from the continent below, attending at court, either upon affairs of the several towns and corporations, or their own particular occasions, but are much despised, because they want the same endowments. Among these the ladies choose their gallants: but the vexation is, that they act with too much ease and security; for the husband is always so rapt in speculation, that the mistress and lover may proceed to the greatest familiarities before his face." (122).
It seems that the women of Laputa are rather active as they likely never get a change in scenery, if you know what I mean, on a flying island. Swift seems to be magnifying the errors in European to shed new light on their habits, the fact that the husband essentially turns a blind eye would be very surprising as the man in the relationship is allowed to have a mistress but a woman cannot cheat on her husband. This fact is further expressed when Gulliver goes on to explain when women have the chance to get off Laputa they take it.
Although I see the Laputian women's motives from a slightly different angle, I certainly agree with the viewpoint you have put forward. To me, the men of Laputa are so engrossed in their mathematical and scientific studies that they do not attend to their wives. This fact is exaggerated with the fact that the Laputan men hire servants to let themselves know who is supposed to be talking, hearing, and seeing. The women thus turn to foreigners of the land as their means of escape from Laputa, willing to accept anything to escape the floating fortress.
ReplyDeleteIn a way, this sounds like a reaffirmation of male supremacy - males are allowed to study and pursue knowledge, while women are sequestered to their household duties.
This topic reminds me a lot of what we learned about in Euro. Women did not play much of a role in society in Europe. Women was there mainly to support the family, feeding the family, taking care of the family, but not doing any of the physical labor, as that is for the men. As this is purely a reaffirmation of male supremacy as Cody stated above.
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