Men Vs. Women -- The Rant Revisited

The Ramayana

One the oldest text in Idia--Valmiki's Sanskrit people, a heroic epic seeking to convey the perfect society.
Quick Summery

~Shakespear Vs. Valmiki~

How do these two view the differences between man and women?

Shakespeare-> The Winter's Tale (Florizel and Perdita)

and

Valmiki-> Ramayana (Rama and Sita)

In the winter's tale Shakespeare creates the picture of women analyzing and logically overturning the moment in which Florzel confesses the perfect truth of his love.  He is solid and fixed on this undiying truth, come hell itself he declares his love.  Peridia can't quite admit, she questions his love: 

O, but, sir,
Your resolution cannot hold, when 'tis
Opposed, as it must be, by the power of the king:
One of these two must be necessities,
Which then will speak, that you must
change this purpose,
Or I my life.

She turns and looks at every reason why it cannot work--her life(she's a commoner), the Kings will...

He is jumping in and she is thinking about it. "We[women] kill things with our thoughts! Overanalyze everything to death! But when guys know or decide something, they know it and go for it."(1) 

So how does this idea compare with that of early Hindu culture?

Here is a fascinating twist!  It is the men that are intellectuals and thinking things through and the women who are fickle and prone to rash decisions.  Here sita captivated by a beautiful deer requests to have it. While her husband, Rama, is gone after the deer Sita and Laksmana, Rama's brother, hear a cry for help.  This cry is a demon striving to lure Laksmana away from Sita.  Sita upon hearing the cry looses control and goes into a rage.  Laksmana tries to calm her he knows that it was not Rama and if he leaves he knows that no good will come.  Sita upon trying to get him to leave accuses him of the worst crime ever:

Surely, you are the worst enemy that Rama could have had.  I know now that you have been following us, cleverly pretending to be Rama's brother and friend. For I know now that your real motive for doing so is either to get me or you are Bharata's accomplice.  Ah, but you will not succeed. Presently, I shall give up my life.  For i cannot live without Rama.

Utterly disturbed and cut to the quick by this accusation  Laksmana responds back, revealing their view of women's nature:

You are worshipful to me: hence I cannot answer back.  It is not surprising that women should behave in this manner: for they are easily led away from dharma; they are fickle and sharp-tongued.  I cannot endure what you said just now.  I shall go.  The gods are witness to what took place here.  May those gods protect you.  But I doubt if when Rama and i return, we shall find you.

Sita is then captured by Rhamana  the demon king.

It struck me how different these two views of women are, but then again how alike.  In a Winter's Tale Perdita is over thinking the situation trying to avoid a decision and in Rhamayana Sita is over thinking the situation driving an action.  Either way over thinking a situation can lead to tainted view of reality and therefore a poor decision or lack thereof.

So maybe this is a true stereotype?

The Original Rant

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