Misogyny In Alias Grace

The character of James McDermott in Alias Grace, makes him another member of this patriarchal society who believes that women need to conform certain gender roles and it should not be the other way around. McDermott is a misogynist towards women and an extremist in this patriarchal society as he expresses a lot of hatred towards women, as he thinks women should not exist in society. He shows this after he decides to quit working for Mr. Kinnear as he hates being ordered around by Nancy. “Nancy had given him his notice, and he was to leave at the end of the month. He said he was just as glad, as he did not like being ordered about by a women, and had never been thus while in the army or on the boats…And he did not care to stay any longer with

Misogynist such as McDermott are powerful in patriarchal societies and they have many extremist views that they believe must be enforced. In the essay, Misogyny and Homicide of Women, Jacquelyn Campbell, Instructor at the Wayne State University applies the Psychoanalytic theory on misogyny. “Psychoanalytic theory, starting with Freud, has strengthened misogyny by accepting the idea that women are naturally defective and postulating that any woman who rebels against a stereotyped role is mentally ill and needs to be cast out by society or ‘cured’ by the patriarchal figure of the psychiatrist.” (Misogyny and Homicide of Women). By applying Freud’s theory to the idea of misogyny, men see women who perform new roles in a patriarchal society are infected by a mental illness and express their hatred towards them. They make sure they get help so women can be manipulated to follow their own roles. Nancy goes against stereotypical roles as she decides to become a leader and order McDermott around but McDermott does not believe he should be ordered around by a woman and he believes a patriarchal figure should help cure her mental illness before she infects other