No horror novel has achieved the notoriety of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Vampires today would not be so popular in horror if not for Stoker’s revamped version of the classic Eastern European bloodsucker. Having come at a time when xenophobic novels were extremely popular, Dracula has kept its relatability despite the test of time. Aside from its hold as a horror novel, Dracula endures because it serves as a reminder of how society works alongside authority figures and the powerless, and from its definition of human values. The Victorian Era is known for a pious, sexless society where women were considered inferior.
6. Contaminating Sexualities Another group which is often excluded from the action in Dracula are women. Vampiric women, for instance, do not get their own voice but are only talked about by other characters (mostly men). Mina seems to be the only woman with a proper voice in the story. Carol Senf argues in her article "'Dracula': Stoker's Response to the New Woman": "If it were not for Mina Harker, the reader might conclude that Stoker is a repressed Victorian man with an intense hatred of women or at least a pathological aversion to them" (34).
If women’s husband were to die, they certainly must not remarry and instead remain celibate. This attitude is reflected in The Duchess of Malfi, where the protagonist’s brothers shame her for expressing her desire to remarry after her husband dies. Even so, she possesses an extraordinary amount of power in the play that was prodigiously radical during the Renaissance era. Meanwhile, Shakespeare wrote Richard III which, for a play completely dominated by its titular character, has, in my opinion, some outstanding female characters that convey authority over him, however, as I will explain later on in my argument, many critics disagree with this. Throughout this essay, I will aim to express the argument that female power is represented positively in both Richard III and The Duchess of Malfi, despite their male counterparts,
Commencing with, Charlotte Brontё, one of the most important exponents of Victorian literature. She wrote various top hit novels. She became the famous and respectable writer she was because she broke all of the stereotypes of women’s capacity in society. The writing style of this woman was based on criticizing all the aspects of women 's inequality and the role that women were supposed to perform in society. Nevertheless, she was not at all attached to the writing style of that time.
Furthermore, she points out how the many scripts were leaked and how the public scrutinized the writers on their attempts to represent an accurate Wonder Woman character (144-145). Similarly, she discusses how many female directors were afraid to even attempt to direct a Wonder Woman film (149). Altogether, Howell argues many valid points along with examples of the gender bias in popular culture. With her focus on DC Comics and their failed attempts to market and produce a film for a character, such as Wonder Woman, was a solid representation of the gender bias that has and continues to exist in popular culture. Charlotte E. Howell argued many great points in her article, “Tricky” Connotations: Wonder Woman as DC’s Brand Disruptor.” Just as DC Comics had
As, Chaman Nahal Writers about feminism in India: “Both the awareness of woman’s position in society as one of disadvantage or in generally compared with that of man and also a desire to remove those is advantages.” (16) What women write is all about female subjectivity and with feminine perception. They depict their own identity in their novels. However this is the reason why their works are undervalued as they belong to patriarchal world where male experiences are always superior to female assumptions. Indian society gave much priority to men centric works. Male writers always dealt with heavy themes and works of women were not being appreciated.
Men had dominance over the women of medieval period. Certainly, there were some exceptions that protested this system and claimed that feminist groups had to be dominant in that society. That is also an indicator that even in middle ages, women could disobey the rules. On the other side, although women were obedient and biddable, any severity and tyranny were not acceptable, and the behavior of those kinds led to a serious punishment. Geoffrey Chaucer with his poetic style tried to demonstrate the dreams and hopes of women also their desire related with women’s role and position in society.
The message of the story is quite unexpected, but of an extreme importance for an age just trying to erupt from the patriarchal society. This time a female writer depicts not a “mad woman in the attic” as Charlotte Bronte in Jane Eyre or Charlotte Perkins Gilman in “The Yellow Wallpaper” did, but gives an exhibition of the cause why women were constantly going insane. If both Jane Eyre and “The Yellow Wallpaper” detect the justification of madness in the lack of communication or the absence of a male, Kate Chopin proves that the problem indeed is in the presence of a man. Emily Toth wrote a paper on Divine Love and Suicide as a theme used in Chopin’s writings, saying that a front page of the Mirror was dedicated to the subject of “Wives and Husbands” and Kate’s editor-friend William Marion Reedy wrote that “Woman’s latest discovery is that husband is a drag” and “Woman has evolved from a doll into a human being” (117). The exact belief Chopin tries to convey in “The Story of an Hour”, as Mrs. Mallard keep saying “Free, free, free”, “Free!
Wollstonecraft became frustrated and tired of prejudices against women in her time and she was tired of the erroneous laws of the time in which women were deprived of their rights. She raised to show the world that women are not weak and thus she started to write a book for women. She refuses and argue the wrong prejudices of men of the time against women. She claims that women are enough puissant as men are. She brings examples of extraordinary women who have gone out of their orbit prescribed to their sex and they did extraordinary works and she says that I have been led that I should imagine that those were not actually women, but male spirited women mistakenly framed in female shapes.
His reference to her strong opinions as “Garbo routine’ clearly suggests that he does not respect her thoughts and modern world views. All of the above strongly confirms how he sees the female gender as inferior to men and how he uses his gender to dictate what he wants from her. He displays annoyance towards her modern views and also finds it funny that she wishes to become a doctor once again highlighting the stereotypes men has towards women. This clearly suggests that the play was written at a time when women are not very driven into bettering themselves because they are conditioned to thinking that they have no other place in male dominated society other than being wives, home-makers and mothers. All these statements