Dead White Males Feminism Analysis

An example of feminism in the play is evident through Sarah 's comment after Monica enden up a love affair with a married man:

SARAH: „We don 't pity you, Monica. I just think it 's sad that thirty years after the birth of the women 's movement we are still allowing ourselves to believe that happiness requires us to have a man.“ (1,p 9 ).

On the contrary, it is important to mention a dialogue between Angela and Shakespeare about issues of 'victim feminism ' and patriarchy:

ANGELA: „Ok, it 's a little more complicated than I though, but don 't try and tell me patriarchal power is a myth!
SHAKES: Thy grandfather did not seem to hold much of that patriarchal power. TO me it doth seem to me he held absolutely none.
ANGELA: OK, some men don

„GUIDE ON THE SIDE“

The title of the play „Dead White Males“ itself is also significant. It represents a sociological term of „a man whose importance and talents may have been exaggerated because he belonged to a historically dominant gender and ethnic group“ (Giddens 2009 : 89). In the context of the play it is evident that the title not only refers to Shakespeare as the dead white male of the literary canon but also Swain and his ideology, since he also fits the criteria of a white male and, in the context of his personality, of the ultimate dead one, as well. Dr Swain and Shakespeare are presented as binary oppositions. Shakespeare believes that male and female natures are biologically different whereas Dr Swain believes biology plays no part but culture and society. Swain is a passionate post-structuralist and his main role in the play is to persuade Angela to agree with post-structuralist ideas. By influencing the main character, the audience is led to accept post-structuralism just as Angela has. The fact that he is a charismatic, articulate man makes him a convincing representative of post-structuralism, as he is able to influence Angela quite comfortably. He is also a university professor which gives him power or, he believes, the absolute duty to indoctrinate the students with his own personal ideology. He believes that there are no absolute truths in the world and that identity itself is based primarily on ideology of any kind which is evident from