One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Feminist Analysis

Some of these methods include destroying identity through classification, objectification, and indoctrination. Most women of Gilead are sufficiently repressed that they seem to accept their assigned roles, at least outwardly resigned to their fate. Atwood uses gender roles in The Handmaid’s Tale to show the lengths to which misogynistic totalitarian governments will go, to protect their dictatorships. The Republic of Gilead is a hierarchical society which requires complete submission of women to men. By taking away women’s paid jobs, confiscating their property, draining their bank accounts, and giving them no recourse, the male leadership leaves women in a fully dependent and subservient position.

Femme fatales are usually destroyed in the end, either by being killed or being domesticated, as though they are being punished thinking they can compete with men. Male dominance is always restored by the end of the film. In established film noir, the new economic, social, and sexual freedom that women experienced during the war years as they joined the workplace was quite unsettling to many American men. This fear of strong, independent women and the need to show the danger of this independence was shown, whether consciously or not, in most film noir. The Maltese Falcon, like many films of its era, joins in the distrust of all things foreign.

Sanger was a feminist who believed women would never be equal to men until women were able to decide when they would become a mother. Because of her feminist views, she put a lot of blame on men in her essay for unwanted and failing pregnancies, arguing that women are enslaved by men's desires because the women are left on their own once they are pregnant and have a child. With pregnancy, Sanger argues that the women suffer more greatly than the men. Sanger says that, “In an ideal society, no doubt, birth control would become the concern of the man as well as the woman.” Throughout her entire essay she constantly portrays women as the victims, because their feminine spirits are “bondaged” by men’s desires.

He establishes the connection between masculinity and by emphasizing the effort Nurse Ratched puts forth to hide her feminine features. This connection is again highlighted after Billy performs a masculine act and is able to resist the Nurse’s control. In society, women are routinely placed in submissive roles while men get to enjoy the positions of power. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest furthers this idea by stressing the necessity to hide all femininity in order to gain a position of power not traditionally held by women. Nurse Ratched is only able to gain such an iron grip over the patients by taking away from the masculinity of them.

This quotation illuminates Gertrude’s act of incest which can be classified as an aspect of adultery. Hamlet’s views of marriage are potentially destroyed because of Gertrude’s remarriage and women in general as he states to Ophelia: “Of if thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool; for wise men know well enough what monsters you make of them” (3.1.138-140). Although Gertrude is to blame for Hamlet’s negative outlook on marriage, his misogynistic attitude comes to light as he classifies all women (including Ophelia) as cheaters and liars. Moreover, Hamlet confronts Gertrude for her incestuous and adulterous crimes and speaks: “Nay, but to live / In the rank sweat of an enseamèd bed, / Stewed in corruption, honeying and making love” (3.4.91-94).

Is precisely expressed through Nurse Ratched and McMurphy’s relationship and their effect on the patients in the ward. Nurse Ratched is the antagonist in the book, she is the authoritative figure to the men in the institution and she is determined to continue to abuse her power over the men and remain in control. She emasculates the men in different ways to rid any chance of rebellion, Harding, remarks, “we are victims of a matriarchy here” (Kesey, 16). A few ways she emasculates men are by using public humiliation and embarrassment against the patients to exposes their greatest insecurities, controlling the direction of the conversation and the questions asked throughout a therapy session, but by also manipulating the patients to turn on each other so they remain occupied rather than work together to rebel against her.

In 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified in the United States of America and developed the women’s suffrage. Slowly, women are receiving the freedoms of being their own person rather than this stereotypical woman figure that has been long awaited for because they should already be treated equal among men. The key features that women have been viewed as stereotypical is femininity, care, nurture, maternity, and dependent upon men. Society expects women to have the ideal feminine characteristics; however, women do not always generally have those types of traits and can have some just like men.

This statement of women fully cements the fear of women and their portrayal as deceitful tricksters that is consistent throughout Nevskii prospekt. The narrator refers to the women in a bitter tone, warning the reader against them. The women are portrayed in a dehumanised manner. Keeping in mind the female characters until now have also served as instruments of deception, leading Piskaryov and Pirogov into their traps, women continue to be reduced to a collective symbol for the traps bringing men to their downfall through manipulating their sexual desires. The betrayal present throughout the story has not only come from Nevskii prospekt itself, but also from women.

Based on what I’ve read so far, Kate is a selfish woman who has a despicable reputation within Padua. Through her anger tantrums, degradation of men, and her desire for the world to revolve around her, this portrays a conflicting character in my mind who is contaminated with an overload of unhappiness and jealousy. As I was reading, there were many scenarios in which the personality of Kate was deliberately exhibited. For example, when Kate had Bianca’s hands tied and was questioning her and then Baptista entered and ended the harassment. Kate mentioned: “What, will you not suffer me?

The first wife holding power over the other wives. The wives holding and fighting for power amongst themselves. And the power being held over the servants heads by some of the mistresses. The movie also deals with the feelings of women who are the victims of men, tradition, and money. All the mistresses second-guess orders that they do not like, asking if that was the masters idea or command.

Within Woman at Point

She challenges men and their attempt to shut down women with her lines “Does my sexiness upset you?/does it come as a surprise/ that I dance like I’ve got diamonds/ at the meeting of my thighs?” (Angelou, Lines 25-28). Angelou uses her great writing techniques to place women upon a pedestal too great for men to obtain. She pours her struggles into her writings which produces a strong attitude and flow of emotions. “I planned to put all the things bothering me--my heavy load--in that book, and let them pass.”

They used their social skills to get all the women included in on the plan. Lysistrata is suppose to be the leader and at the beginning of the she curses the weakness of the women because most of them were late. The rest of the women in the play were obsessed with sex just like the men so it took a lot of persuading to get them to get lysistrata to agree. Men love sex there is no other way to put it. So when women refuse to give it up it mess with their head.

For decades the nursing industry has been stereotyped as a woman’s place. In 1975, the movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest displayed this in full force. In the movie, Randle McMurphy is sent from prison to a mental institution for evaluation. McMurphy has repeated problems with Nurse Ratched, the Head Nurse. This movie is a prime example of the stereotypical view of the nursing industry at that time because all the nurses are women and the orderlies are men.

Everyone Agree? Perfect. "Nothing builds authority up like silence, splendor of the strong and shelter of the weak" (Charles de Gaulle). This idea is reflected in Ken Kesey’s novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, where it is shown how authority becomes more powerful by abusing the silence of the people.