In Gothic fiction we find different kinds of women, which embody the views of society towards women in the late nineteenth-century in England and Ireland. Thus we find strong, innocent and pure women like in Stoker’s Dracula, but also dangerous and powerful ones as we can see in Le Fanu’s “Carmilla”. However, we also could talk about some novels in which the role of women has disappeared completely, as we can appreciate in Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. The aim of this paper is to analyse the role of women in these texts, paying special attention to Stoker’s novel, and to draw an overview of how they were represented in the society of the nineteenth-century. Freeman claims in his essay “E.
The fact that The Handmaid's Tale is based on past events and is still referenceable thirty years later shows the importance of this story. In an piece she wrote on the novel in regard to the current political climate, Atwood stated "In this divisive climate, in which hate for many groups seems on the rise and scorn for democratic institutions is being expressed by extremists of all stripes, it is a certainty that someone, somewhere - many, I would guess - are writing down what is happening as they themselves are experiencing it Or they will remember, and record later, if they can." (atwood on a what it means in age of trump). There might be even more Offreds and books like The Handmaid's Tale in the future. Overall, the themes of segregation, lack of rights, and sexual repression are relatable and can be found frequently in the novel and within the world at
The society is isolated from the outside world and the women reproduce through parthenogenesis, or asexual reproduction (“Feminist Ethics”). The society is an ideal social order for women that was free from the domination of men. The novel explores how women’s morality thrives under the ideal societal conditions for women. The novel is written from the perspective of a male explorer by the name of Vandyck “Van” Jennings. Van is accompanied by two other explorers, Terry O. Nicholson, and Jeff Margrave to find and explore the mysterious society that was rumored to be only inhabited by women.
Women’s Body The Figuration of the female body is well described in both Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El-Saadawi and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. Both novels show that the women bodies are not their own and controlled by others which it turned into an object in order to survive. In this paper, I would like to argue how the objectification of the female bodies in both novels resulted in their oppression and sufferings. Moreover, what is the definition of the figuration of a body to both Offred and Firdaus? And is there a way out to survive this tragedy in both novels?
However, Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel, The Handmaid's Tale, shows how religion is used to create fear in order to control the people of Gilead and maintain order within the society. Nevertheless, most, if not all, characters have been insubordinate towards the laws of Gilead. Through the characterization of both the Serena Joy and The Commander and the brothel in which the Jezebels are in, it proves that rigid influences in society leads to corruption/wrongdoings.
Women authors of the nineteenth century faced a difficult task in getting their work published and acknowledged without harm to their person or reputation. Within the home or out in society, they faced heavy opposition each step of the way. This was not only the problem of female authors; women in general were silenced and oppressed and it is not surprising that many women suffered ill mental health as a result (Sigurthardottir, 27). Focusing on the theme of insanity which constitute a common theme in the Victorian and early twentieth century poetry, "The Farmer 's Bride" is a good example. Combining this with the further themes of fallen woman and woman as poet this poem reflects feminist dilemmas.
‘A person’s intellectual make-up bears the clear imprint of the life of society as a whole’. To what extent does the language and structure in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ and ‘Kindred’ reflect versions of masculinity? Both ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ and ‘Kindred’ explore the psychological destruction of misogyny within their civilisation. This is predominantly seen through the fact that the Republic of Gilead is so ubiquitous that the nation was instituted for the sole purpose of restoring a true theocratic patriarchy which parallels the social hierarchy also apparent in ‘Kindred’. Every aspect of society works not only to gain control over those of low social standing, but also show a significantly great amount of prejudice against women.
The Handmaids Tale portrays that of a totalitarian society, and reflects a dystopia, which goes on to explore the interaction between sexuality and politics. (Conboy 349-362) As the saying goes, 'history repeats itself.' If one of the goals of Margaret Atwood was to prove this particular point, she certainly succeeded in her novel The Handmaid's Tale. In her Note to the Reader, she writes, " The thing to remember is that there is nothing new about the society depicted in The Handmaiden's Tale except the time and place. All of the things I have written about ...have been done before, more than once..." (316).
(Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale, 1998). Through this quote, Offred emphasises the idea of living in a chauvinistic society to men and remarks that even thought it is not a society where women have the same rights and privileges as men, which was her mother’s objective, it is true that Gilead has a “women’s culture” as they are treated as valuable material possessions and are segregated regarding their usefulness within the society. Furthermore, this quote accentuates the presence of a group of women who revelled against Gilead’s government in favour of women’s social, sexual and reproductive rights. Offred’s mother was part of this group and fought for the rights of the women in Gilead before they were deprived of them. Offred makes various references to her mother’s behaviour and to the way the society criticises this group’s conduct, and the way they were repressed by the
Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, argues that women are instruments of the patriarchy, that women know this, and that women allow the system of oppression to live on. Her fictions ask, “What stories do women tell about themselves? What happens when their stories run counter to literary conventions or society’s expectations?” (Lecker 1). The Handmaid’s Tale is told through the protagonist, Offred, and allows readers to follow through her life as a handmaid while looking back on how life used to be prior to the societal changes. The novel is set in a dystopian future that illustrates the collapse of the US government, a new theocracy taking over, and how the theocracy has supposedly solved the problem of fertility with the creation