Male Dominance

Throughout many literary works male dominance plays an underlying role. In Andrew Marvel’s To His Coy Mistress, Edna St. Vincent Millay’s I Being Born a Woman and Distressed, and Zora Hurston’s The Gilded Six-Bits, male dominance plays a significant role whether subtly or more obvious.
In Andrew Marvel’s To His Coy Mistress the speaker of the poem makes it obvious of his dominance or attempted dominance over his mistress. The speaker is trying to convince his mistress, or whom the poem is directed to, to lose her virginity to him before it is too late, and the end comes upon them with death. Marvell attempts to present the dominant role he partakes in subtly, but it becomes more apparent through reading the poem and looking at the structure. Marvell sets up his poem as many do an argument, containing three parts, a question, the situation, and a possible resolution. Through the first two parts of the poem the speaker is trying to convince his mistress to have sex with him. The first part of his poem he asks a question regarding time limits, and only if he had more time to show his mistress the undying love he had for her. The second part of the poem consists of the situation at hand: they did not have enough time, for death as in any situation is a concern. In the second part the speaker argues that in the end his mistress’s virginity will be lost either with one man, or with death, so he suggests to his mistress that she should just give in to him because she can not hold on to it forever. Here Marvell makes apparent the dominance of the speaker through the suggestion he prompts. The speaker ends the poem with a possible resolution, saying that while he can not make time stand still he can fight time, waiting for his mistress who eventually will give into temptation and his dominate nature.
In Edna St Vincent Millay’s I Being Born a Woman and Distressed, the title alone suggests the woman’s submissive role in not only the poem, but society as well. It is important that Millay chooses a female speaker to present the poem, showing male dominance in a different light as Marvell did. The speaker first suggest the idea of male dominance as something needed, stating that women depend and rely on men to address the needs of their life. But this is suggested in a sarcastic way. The speaker then goes on to say that this in fact not so, and that as a woman she does not need to have a male counterpart to attain her every need. The speaker ends the poem exclaiming that relationships are worthless in the sense what many women value them for, to have a male to be dependant on, because for her personally relationships have only resulted in a waste of time.
Zora Hurston shows the idea of male dominance more actively in a fictional account of a husband and wife in The Gilded Six-Bits. In the story the main character Missy Mae is succumbed to her husbands dominance, which she cannot see because she does so willingly. She does everything for her husband, showing her love to him though scouring her house until it is spotless and having dinner ready on the table for him. One day Missy Mae is caught having an affair with another man Slemmons, and her husband Joe walks in on them. Joe responds to such a situation with staying with Missy Mae who continues to be at his beck and call every hour of the day. While eventually once Missy Mae bears Joe’s child, he then starts showing her love and affection again, Missy still remains under Joe’s subtly dominate hand. After the affair Missy Mae thinks of leaving Joe, but is unable to do so because of what she feels is love for him, but actually is her unwillingness to leave her routine at home with Joe providing for her and in return her taking care of the home. She is unaware of her dependence on Joe, so she stays and feels much better when he finally shows some love for her after her affair.
In all three literary works a common thread is the idea of male dominance being and import concern in society. While both poems deal with such a concern in different ways, coming from a female and male view, the story shows male dominance as a much more subtle theme that can be uncovered with careful analysis of the c