Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned? Really? How often ...

[rocktivity]

10. "Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, nor hell a fury like a woman scorned"

Last edited Sat Aug 29, 2020, 12:14 PM - Edit history (14)

is a line from a play by William Congreve (not William Shakespeare). First, Congreve draws a parallel between the inherent righteousness of heaven's outrage and the inherent inappropriateness of hell's. Then he goes a step further by assigning hell's fury exclusively to women!

There are, of course, women who have expressed their being scorned with guns and other forms of violence, but their numbers are dwarfed by the number of men who do the same. That's mainly because such behavior is not seen as "ladylike," as opposed to using poison, throwing acid, or revealing their partner's illegalities to the authorities. However, violence can work when the man's strength advantage is neutralized by his being asleep.

So it all comes down to gender-based stereotyping and social acceptability -- scorned men avenge ("'Vengeance is mine!', sayest the Lord"); scorned women sin. While a man's fury is wrong but "only human," a woman's is just a byproduct of her being a female canine.


rocktivity