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Re: Women's Roles

Posted: 12 Oct 2018, 01:50
by Uche B
The Celtic women were more powerful than the Roman women; they had more influence in society than their Roman counterparts, though I wouldn't say they were seen as equal to their men.

Re: Women's Roles

Posted: 18 Oct 2018, 20:51
by A G Darr
The Celtic women seemed to have it better off than Roman women, at least in certain Celtic tribes. Though it wasn't perfect for Celtic women. It was unfair that King Amren offered his daughters the ability to choose their own spouses, then took the choice away. It was kind of like just saying they had a choice to pacify them so they wouldn't complain, then last minute making the women someone else's problem.

Re: Women's Roles

Posted: 18 Oct 2018, 23:00
by Vitter Krane
Unlike the oppressive Roman laws, equality was could be seen in the Ceultian laws. Women were not treated as second class citizens, a factor which enabled them to stand up for themselves. There women were empowered and strong.

Re: Women's Roles

Posted: 19 Oct 2018, 10:06
by Browlyns
The fact that this book is of historical fiction genre, the author had no choice but to portray women strongly since in Celt history, women were powerful members of society and even ruled as queens.

Re: Women's Roles

Posted: 22 Oct 2018, 04:27
by JHuschle519
I haven't finished this book yet, but I think you can see the difference in how the two cultures treat women right from the start. Senator Lucius Antonius clearly shows his disdain for women being treated as equals multiple times during his meetings with King Amren. The two genders may not always hold have equal footing in the Celt culture, but it is a lot closer than the Roman culture.

Re: Women's Roles

Posted: 22 Oct 2018, 15:17
by meadhbh
I think there's kind of a romantic idea that Celtic society was incredibly non-biased against women, although I don't think this is necessarily true.

Re: Women's Roles

Posted: 24 Oct 2018, 15:27
by evan1995muniz
As a woman, I am always drawn to other strong women. You can learn from them. I have always loved strong important female characters.

Re: Women's Roles

Posted: 13 Nov 2018, 16:17
by Theresa Moffitt
I loved that there were strong women characters in the book. They were well defined and powerful characters that really propelled the story.

Re: Women's Roles

Posted: 13 Nov 2018, 21:39
by GretchenLee
This was actually one of the first things I noticed when reading the novel. The first time we meet the king and queen, the king speaks very highly of his wife and daughters, as if their virtues and successes were as important as his own. I liked this--and I felt it was pretty ahead-of-their-time. When I realized the Romans were judgmental of the women and "did not recognize them" (or something along those lines) as possible heirs, I figured -this- was much more accurate to the time/setting of the novel. I felt as though the Celtic system was pretty nice. The king looked to his wife, and taught his daughters to fight for themselves.

Re: Women's Roles

Posted: 14 Nov 2018, 09:00
by ochiengjr01
In the story i think the Celts tried to understand the role of women in the society not just for sex and other irritating roles. Unlike the Romans who undermined the efforts of women in achieving what they wished.

Re: Women's Roles

Posted: 17 Nov 2018, 14:26
by CBCollinsReview
I agree that there were several strong and well-established women characters in this book. Indeed, it appeared that the Celtics encouraged woman leadership, while the Roman's did not. This was suggested multiple times when Catrin's mother told her she would be nothing but a common whore if she went to Rome with Marcellus. It would have been interesting to know how the Celtic's viewed Vala's preference towards women. This would have not only showed insight into the society of Catrin's people but could have possibly established Vala as a more prominent character in the novel.

Re: Women's Roles

Posted: 19 Nov 2018, 07:04
by Franc93
There is a great difference in the way these two civilizations treated the fairer sex. I think most of it had to do with old age traditions and customs. The Celts women played a much bigger role in society almost with equal footing as men. The Romans were the exact opposite. Believing that females should be submissive.

Re: Women's Roles

Posted: 02 Dec 2018, 20:00
by Sweetp120
I think it accurately showed that Celtic women were more respected than the Roman women.

Re: Women's Roles

Posted: 02 Jan 2019, 18:19
by rubinelli
I had mixed feelings about the portrayal of strong women in this novel. At the beginning of the book, I was so happy that it featured strong, independent, warrior women. I liked that Catrin undertook weapon training. I cheered when I read that Queen Rhiannon had the same political power as the king in their society. However, as I read more of the book, I started to feel that these women were not being given the respect that they deserved. Queen Rhiannon clearly did not share the same power as the king except when dealing with knights and servants. Catrin constantly tried to go past her mother and told the queen that she had to listen to the king who ordered her to watch Marcellus. The king didn't treat Rhiannon with much respect. He won her after he invaded her homeland and stole her away from Trystan and drugged her, which resulted in the birth of Catrin. Trystan shows more respect for Rhiannon but still treats her as a prize to be won in some ways. Marcellus was no better. In the beginning chapters, he leered at Catrin commenting on her appearance through his thoughts. He even caressed her butt against her consent. When Catrin glares at him to stop, he treats it as a joke, laughing and continues to think about how "cute" she is. I find this behavior repulsive and I think Catrin should have stabbed him for such behavior.

Re: Women's Roles

Posted: 06 Mar 2019, 15:15
by mamilla93
Yes, her portrayal of strong female characters like Queen Rhiannon and Catrina is very good. Romans did treat women as their inferiors. Clearly, in comparison, Celtic women had more freedom and power