Her first and most prominent work, The Book of the City of Ladies, tackles the issues of misogyny and sexism head-on by acknowledging women’s contribution in history, providing an alternative to the dominant narrative (which was largely written by males). In The Book of the City of Ladies, three allegorical figures—Lady Reason, Rectitude, and Justice—appear before Christine, where they discuss the oppression of women and the misogynistic subject matter used by contemporary male writers. Under the guidance of the Ladies, Christine then goes on to construct the City of Ladies, a place of refuge for all good and noble women, impenetrable by the malicious attacks of sexist male writers. Through the celebration of women and their achievements throughout history, de Pizan was able to counter the negative stereotypes associated with the female sex since antiquity. Ultimately, de Pizan argued that women, like men, are capable of adopting virtuous behaviour and following intellectual pursuits.
In the play, “Othello”, the character of Desdemona portrays a modern view of feminist criticism. Most of her words and actions support this view. In the tragedy, Desdemona is one of the most tragic characters. The character of Desdemona is the wife of Othello, daughter of Brabantio, and Emilia’s mistress.
Hook learns to talk back and discover her whole self through a bold stand to examine the way in which she was raise. For example Hook explain how language “carry a scent of the oppressor” can be used as a place of struggle but also as a place of a new start. To conclude, the writing of Bell Hook in “Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black” is an audacious act by underlining the problem of woman and reveal Hooks path of rediscovery. Hook took a stand in revealing the ugly truth as woman struggle to move from object to being subject. Hook not only took a stand for woman but she help to acknowledge that woman of color are simply invisible in some cases in society because they are not representing accurately by
Elizabeth The book Pride and Prejudice is a story of an empowered woman named Elizabeth living in a misogynistic world. The excerpt from A Vindication of the Rights of Women (AVOTROW) focuses on the misogynistic world that Elizabeth lives in and challenges it, much like Elizabeth. During that time, Elizabeth would have been considered a feminist, she did not fit into the social constructs given to her sex.
In his article, Listening to Guinevere: Female Agency and the Politics of Chivalry in Tennyson’s Idylls, Stephen Ahern examines the treatment of women in the poems, specifically the character of Guinevere in relation to her male counterpart Arthur, and provides a complex view of Tennyson’s underlying message as a critique on the Victorian social constructs of his time rather than a simple representation of it. Ahern builds a solid argument for Guinevere’s treatment as the victim in the story ultimately signifying that she was being used as a model of the wrongs of the standard Victorian expectation of femininity. This complex analysis of the text gives a different, more modern perspective of the poems. The key features of his argument cite
The Reality of Edna’s Awakening Kate Chopin’s The Awakening was a dramatic novella that was based on society and how Edna was treated, love and independence of finding her true self. The author inputs the theme in a numerous amount of literary devices that include round character, irony and a metaphor to exaggerate the theme. This shows how Edna has two sides to herself; the one that tries to fit into society and another side that the public can see as a swell mother.
In her essay Adeline Mowbray: Diverting the Libertine Gaze Roxanne Eberle also confirms that the novel is inspired on Wollstonecraft and Godwin’s relationship, but she goes a little further and suggests that more than a replica of the two “Jacobin” philosophers ‘lives the novel is a counteraction to Godwin’s Memoirs of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. As an early admirer of Mary Wollstonecraft Opie could not accept the abhorrent position in which the Memoirs had placed her, so she wrote a novel that “examines the confusion which ensues when a women’s philosophical beliefs conflict with society’s notion about female sexuality”(1994: 123), and how that transgressive women is converted into a sexual object by a conservative society. For Patricia Mathew, more than a critique to Godwin’s concepts, the novel exhibits the impracticalities of those theories when applied to women in the late eighteenth century. Her analysis unfolds around the idea that Adeline Mowbray “takes its central theme from Wollstonecraft’s experiment in marriage with Godwin”(2007: 390) and arguments that Opie sets the basis for her fiction by using Wollstonecraft’s
Through this story, Gilman speaks of the imprisonment and psychological struggles placed on women by society. In her mind, gender roles must be removed from the social order for women to ever be free. By using feminist criticism, readers can analyze stories like Frankenstein and “The Yellow Wallpaper” and many others, both old/forgotten and new, through symbols (the wallpaper) and get a better understanding of the characters on how the women attempt to overpower the men. Women have a tendency to value their lives while, at the same time, find themselves conflicted and driven to insanity by the men around them. Men have always been the dominate gender in the past but as the years go by, women learn to speak up for themselves; to do things in order to break free of their entrapment and live as free and independent
This is very important to how the play is construed because it is practically a show of opposition to this movement. This play is like a warning of what the playwright believed that the 1920s women’s empowerment movement would lead to. Lilith has an interesting mix of ideas and points that seemed both controversial and relevant to the time period. For one thing, in relation to the theme of sexuality, it does not outright say that women's sexuality is bad, however it condones women for being lustful and driven by that lust. It also condones women for tempting men.
Hamlet Essay Feminist theory by definition is the extension of feminism into theoretical or philosophical discourse, aiming to understand the nature of gender inequality. It examines women 's social roles, experiences, interests, and feminist politics in a variety of fields. Shakespeare criticizes misogyny within the play Hamlet by using the monarchy to emotionally strip the female characters of their power; this lack of voice ties directly to sanity and stability, or lack thereof. Laertes is instructing his sister, Ophelia, to be wary of Hamlet because he may not have the best intentions when it comes to her well being. Instead of Laertes treating his sister with the familial geniality that can often be found between siblings, he views
Medea: Questions About Women and Femininity Euripides’ play, Medea, is an ambiguous narrative relating to feminism. Depending on one’s viewpoint, the eponymous character can either be one of the most unconventional delegates of women’s rights or an oblivious saboteur willing to undermine the cause. I believe the former, holding the opinion that Medea was a pioneer for feminism, being the original driving force behind breaking the stereotypes assigned to women. Although I also hold the stance that her impact is short-term due to the fact that her surrounding actions have overshadowed her ambitious acts.
First Generations: Women of Colonial America, written by Carol Berkin, is a novel that took ten years to make. Carol Berkin received her B.A. from Barnard College and her M.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia University. She has worked as a consultant on PBS and History Channel documentaries. Berkin has written several books on the topic of women in America. Some of her publications include: Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for America's Independence (2004) and Civil War Wives: The Life and Times of Angelina Grimke Weld, Varina Howell Davis, and Julia Dent Grant (2009).
Throughout the play Hamlet, we raise our eyebrows to every character because each leaves us in such suspense before dying. Gertrude becomes a central figure right from the beginning as her son, Hamlet, tries to avenge his father’s death by killing Claudius without hurting her. Hamlet contemplates the wicked and vile marriage that truly resulted in the fall of Denmark numerous times. Though she might not have physically changed anything within the play, Gertrude affected all of her surroundings through her mysterious acts, her selfishness, and through the lack of properly mourning over her dead husband. All this shows that she was aware of Old Hamlet’s death and allowed it to happen.
Feminism is the philosophy, found in both literature and society, that the Western world is fundamentally patriarchal. Throughout the play, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, there are several examples of women being oppressed, as seen through the feminist critical lens. Miller uses male characters to reference to women objectively to help demonstrate this. This teaches that women are oppressed not just in literature, but in life. The female characters gain power in a male-dominated society through an elaborate plot of accusations and executions.
In chapter three of The Hypersexulaity of Race: Performing Asian/ American Women on Screen and Scene, Celine Parreñas Shimizu explains the historical and performative impacts of stereotypical oriental femininity in Hollywood. She presents her argument by analyzing the movie stars, Anna May Wong, Nancy Kwan, and Lucy Liu. Importantly, Shimizu goes beyond simply pointing out the issue of stereotypical representations and delves into analyzing the roles and responsibilities of the viewers and performers within representation. To begin, Shimizu directly addresses how hyper-sexuality has been tied to Asian/ American women with countless examples from the acting careers of Wong, Kwan, and Liu. An example is The World of Suzie Wong (1960).