Beowulf is an excellent piece with a lot for the readers to desire and relate to while reading. This analysis explores different escapades while examining the role of women in the literature. One thing to point out is that female characters have always received very thin attention in different pieces of literature, something that has always made many people think that their role is meager. Every piece of literature has an important message to pass across to its intended audiences. Indeed, this study seeks to demystify the male-centric mindset to promote the visibility of women in the contemporary interpretation of literary works demonstrating that women play a greater role in the literature despite the proximity given to male protagonist.
There were more female characters in the novel than male because she sought to contrast the women to the men’s life. They had various values whose qualities were given from the life of the authoress because she also fought against the issues as the gender equality, women’s equality because she has also experienced the women’s restriction (a woman could not to school, could not publish her works etc.) She unflinchingly fought against the social norms created by men. She was forced to escape into her own imagination and with her novels, he tried to fight against to this issue. The feminism is still an obscure question that influences other writers to deal
Throughout history, women have had to fight against stigma and stereotypes in society. In every era, from the ancient world to present day, females have been persecuted and taken advantage of due to their gender. In our previous set of readings, the female protagonists were strong characters who defied weak stereotypes, but were still viewed as lesser beings than men. In our second group of readings, where were written more recently, women saw a slight increase in their sovereignty. All depict women as powerful figures who use their wits to make a better life for themselves.
Feminism’s continual push for equality for men and women has grown and has become more successful. Women have abandoned the traditional roles of submissive housewives that was prevalent in the early 20th century. Early representations of women in literature were often stereotypical and unjust, but the characterization of women in literature has changed now. However, in the early 1900s that type of writing was predominant, in The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Gilman, A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor and Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway were writers that disregarded feminist concerns in their stories and demonstrated how feministic views affected society as a whole. Gilman utilizes feminist criticism within her story
During the 19th and 20th centuries, women relentlessly faced discrimination throughout most of their lives, and society considered them unequal to men. The authors Kate Chopin, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and Susan Glaspell wrote about the suppression of women during this time, exposing the unequal treatment that they suffered. Their literary works contain common themes of freedom from the discrimination and harsh treatment of male figures that played a prominent role throughout their lives. In these stories, the main characters freed themselves from unhappy marriages, the inability to express ideas and emotions, and abuse. Through the use of symbolism in Chopin’s “Story of an Hour,” Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper,” and Glaspell’s “A Jury of
MARGIT SANDEMO’S CONTRIBUTION TO WOMEN’S WRITING In the history of literature, motif of femininity had always played a significant role, starting from old pagan tales, biblical parables, through medieval stories about princesses in castles, ending on modern literature. However, it always portrayed only a piece of womanhood – feminine figure was often a mother, patroness, a loyal company for man. As seen mainly in poetry, woman was a lover, an object of desire. All this schemes seen in previous literature was not a full representation of femininity, which was caused by lack of female writers. As we can read in Hélène Cixous 1976 work “The laugh of the Medusa” that woman must write herself: must write about woman and bring woman to writing.
However, it is evident from many of the novels published during this period, that such harmonious assimilation, even in fiction was not available to them. Thus, in many novels of this phase, the feminine heroine was seen as growing up in a world without female solidarity, where women in fact police each other on behalf of patriarchal tyranny. Also, the deficiencies of feminine novelists were seen in male portraiture which were attempts to conceal these deficiencies. The model heroes were thus the product of female fantasies about how they would act and feel if they were men. Furthermore, the use of male pseudonyms by women writers is another significant marker of this phase.
There is an interest in literature with well written female characters. Simple readers and well renowned critics alike all seem to greatly enjoy the concept of a well written woman. Modern authors, such as George RR Martin, who write these “interesting women” are still questioned today about where this comes from. People seem to have a fascination with women being written as intelligent beings, with their own important, motives. This fascination is often held mainly around just women characters who are just written as real women.
ABSTRACT: In Indian writing in English there are so many writers who have written a number of novels in the respect of feminine perspective like Anita Desai, Shashi Deshpande, Anita Nair, Arundhati Roy etc. Manju kapur and others have intuitively perceived the gender issues upsetting women and presented women as an individual who fights against suppression and oppression of the patriarchy. Manju Kapur has presented the women of the 1940s when women had no choice to assert their rights. Women were not supposed to raise voices for their rights, protest against injustice. In her novel A Married Woman, Manju Kapur shows the life of Astha, heroine of the novel, who struggles in her whole life and she indulges in lesbian relationship with Peepilika.
Accordingly, feminism has become one of the themes of novels in the society. For instance, Harry Potter, a well-known series written by J.K. Rowling, is considered feminist in nature according to Dresang (2002). Dresang argued that Hermione Granger is a perfect example of possessing knowledge and information leads to power. Furthermore, Mikulan (2009) implied on her analysis of Harry Potter that Rowling put her characters, male or female, in an imaginary equidistant trajectory so they can never nullify each other thus, achieving social respect and equality. This study intends to investigate the feminism present in the Philippine short stories and assess the profile of the authors to identify the reasons why they include feminism in the theme of their literary works.