The Life of Muriel, an Anglo-Jewish Woman - Essay Example

Topic:  Historiographical Paper Introduction The article is all about the life of Muriel an Anglo – Jewish women who has been well bred with her husband but was abandoned due to her infertility. Her husband David leaves her for not being able to bear a child to him. In this article the authors are trying to examine the life of Muriel from different historical point of view. The main intention of this article is to observe the views of different historians about the life of Muriel and how she interacted with other Christians in the community. Here the main argument is about the fight of Muriel to survive in everyday life in a Christian and Jewish populated academic town. This event has occurred in the 19th century and shows the cruel and impartial attitude of men towards women. The micro – history of women is being studied here, where the life of Muriel will be analyzed closely. Here Muriel is chosen because she is an apt candidate in the way she has spent her life. The age which she has lived also is appropriate for historians as it is a medieval period when progression is taking place gradually in the society. The event occurred to Muriel is well known to the Jewish community but not to the Christian community and that is why historians are more into examining Muriel’s life. Here also there is a question of impartiality on the gender as women have always been tortured under the cruel hands of men in the early ages. The argument of the paper Here the Jewish women Muriel is not punished for her committing a sin but for a problem she has no control over. Here the wife of David who is Muriel is abandoned by her husband because she is infertile. Is infertility a matter to be punished over? How could women live in a medieval society without the support of a man? Why women always need to be suffering for the faults of nature? Why women always treated as a second citizen in a society? These are the arguments has been raised in this article where Muriel had been enslaved in a medieval Jewish society. Being an Anglo – Jewish women she might have been encountered with various problems. However her situation had been contrasted to her expectation and this might have given many complexities in her life. The examination is done here to understand the situation of a Jewish woman in medieval Europe. Also the cross –religious interaction here like Anglo – Jewish interaction is deemed to be studied. The article demand that even the lives of Christian women along with Jewish women need to be studied to understand the treatment there had been receiving from the community in the medieval ages. Here mainly an Anglo - Jewish woman in a historical period is attempted to be studied. Here the situation which is being studied is a little unique as the neighborhood is having mixed race as Christian English people and Jewish men. The Life of Muriel The article suggests that Muriel was born into a safe world but it is in her adult life she encountered financial and religious problems. It was the time in which Henry III was reigning and there was also present anti - Judaism preaching. As a part of an assault on Jews the taxation upon them increased. According to Article “Meanwhile the frequency and quantity of the tallages on Jews increased, and so did the king’s use of collective punishments on the community to raise the funds, as illustrated in 1236, when ten Jews were imprisoned as security for a major tallage”(pg.133). Moreover, the protestors of Jewish nature were attacked and Jewish books were confiscated. This shows the dangerous and alienated environment in which Muriel was living in. Davis being a man made no consideration of Muriel and asked the royal authority to pass a decree to assist him in his second marriage. Here the disappointing fact is that David did not provide any financial help to Muriel and deserted her in a hostile environment to survive. Such kind of activities would not happen in our society where human rights and women rights are a major priority .The shocking fact is that there was no enquiry from someone as to the life of Muriel in this horrid situation. Muriel and David acted together in the profession and they were economically and financially successful. Only on the matter of infertility Muriel was disregarded by David. David being a major figure in the Anglo- Jewish community did not bother to care takes Muriel at least financially after he disregarded her. The life of Jewish women in medieval times In the medieval times the attitude of men towards women was of a hostile nature. They were not given any freedom to act according to their thinking. However the social well being of Jewish women was well guarded during those times. But the Jewish women were asked to act within the Jewish law boundaries. One cannot find a book written on them hence there is difficulty in analyzing the quality of their life during medieval times. The mentioning of Jewish women can be seen more in legal documents and documents related to betrothal, marriage and divorce. The Rabbis never allowed women to participate in business correspondence nor they were given opportunity to participate in literature understanding. At that time, the Rabbis felt that women being in the jurisdiction of Jewish law have the obligation to protect women. The Jewish women in medieval times were subjected to a restricted social life. The Torah explains what the woman’s entitlement within a marriage is and women were given freedom to practice only those aspects. In those times Jewish women were allowed to go outside but the place she is allowed to go is pinpointed by the Jewish law authorities They were allowed to go into marriages, house of mornings and to parent’s and relative’s places .According to Jewish law every woman had the freedom to go out from house as a wife should not be considered as a prisoner. At the same time, women is restricted from going out frequently and in this case men had right to stop them. Methodology consideration of article The methodological consideration the author used in this article about Jewish women in medieval times is Historical approach methodology. In historical approach methodology, historians use primary evidence and other sources of research on a specific subject. Here the author has used some written story about the real life of Jewish women called Muriel. The study of historical method and writing is called historiography. Here history is used elaborately to discuss the subject and segment of the story. Here the life of Muriel is examined by studying the life of Jewish people written in other historical books and literature. The author here does not have any channel by which the disappearance of Muriel can be detected. The author has also compared Torah and Jewish religious books and literature to understand the kind of life women were subjected to. Sometimes the source can be fake, unrealistic or unreliable. In these cases, the only way to examine a subject is primary evidence and sources which cannot be completely relied upon. Here the life of Muriel can be calculated as disgusting as in those times women’s life is difficult without the support of a man. And the author to understand the condition of her is realistically very difficult as he has no evidence to her after she was disregarded by David. In the end of the article we can make that the author has made every attempt to understand the life of Muriel before and after her husband leaving her. Read More