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Comparing Gender Roles In Twelfth Night And The Sun Also Rises

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Within various great works, there is always this emphasis on the difference between genders; whether the male is seen as superior, or the female character is the one that prevails, there is always a sort of power conflict demonstrated between the two genders. With the texts of this course all written by men for a predominately male audience, there is, nevertheless, still a focus on the female counterparts of the main male characters. Concentrating upon gender roles and the position of women in male-dominated societies, female characters in literature do play an important role as they add indescribable value to a work; this holds true especially in regards to William Shakespeare’s play, Twelfth Night, and Ernest Hemmingway’s novel, The Sun Also Rises with a focus upon the notion of gender equality. …show more content…

What is interesting to note, nonetheless, is that although there is a different significance behind each heroine that relates to the writer’s own time and experience, there are certain similarities between all the female characters; each author is unique, as is each situation in every literary work and that is something that should be taken into account. Thus, before one can proceed to delve into the works, one must try to understand a little bit more about each author’s background in hopes of making better sense of the female characters and the importance of their

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