From the 1600’s, to the 1900’s, to even the present day, there is one issue that has been a point of controversy for centuries. This issue is the case of mainstream patriarchal society systematically oppressing women of all ages and backgrounds. Although The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Trifles by Susan Glaspell are works of fiction, both touch upon society’s common belief that women were distrustful, deceitful, and simple-minded. Despite the fact that the events of each take place hundreds of years apart, both works share one exceedingly important aspect-- the respective societies both are based in cater to men and men only. Both The Scarlet Letter and Trifles feature situations in which conflict occurs, and due to the harmful
Standing in Strand, leaning against the non-fiction bookshelf, I find the first chapter and unwillingly begin to skim the passage. I half expected the first paragraph to be bombarded with words advocating and raging for women’s rights. I expected a war of the sexes because why else would the title of the book be The Woman Warrior? I see the words “said mother” and “China,” a little farther down I see “California” and “village;” I’m thrown off (“No Name Woman” 3).
However, if we approach women’s writing as centrally concerned not strictly with gender but with oppression, we can fully examine the conjuncture and relationship between female and ethnic identity.” Schueller, Malini. “Questioning Race and Gender Definitions: Dialogic Subversions in The Woman Warrior” Volume 31, No. 4 (1989) page. 421-437. Print.
The female role constantly evolves within the changing society and women seek to adapt to the changes. In George Gissing’s The Odd Women and George Bernard Shaw’s Mrs. Warren’s Profession, the main female characters, Monica Madden and Vivie, respectively challenge the tradition female role as from to seek and prove their independence. Both Monica and Vivie demonstrate how women have different perspectives and opinions about their lives. The two women meet men who question the woman’s role in society where men establish control in a relationship.
Women compared to men have been considered less throughout the years. Societal views and norms categorize women as being domestic, gentle and soft-spoken. Rarely, have we seen women portrayed as powerful, outspoken and in control. The use of female subjectivity in works allows the audience to distinguish the author’s point of view on females. Subjectivity refers to how someone’s judgment is shaped by personal opinions and feelings instead of outside influences.
Adeline Virginia Woolf (25 January 1882 –28 March 1941) was an English writer and one of the foremost modernists[ 1] of the twentieth century. During the interwar period[ 2], Woolf was a significant figure in London literary society and a central figure in the influential Bloomsbury[ 3] Group of intellectuals. Her most famous works include the novels Mrs Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927) and Orlando (1928), and the book-length essay A Room of One 's Own (1929), with its famous dictum, "A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction." Woolf suffered from severe bouts of mental illness throughout her life, thought to have been the result of what is now termed bipolar disorder[ 4], and committed suicide by drowning in 1941 at the age of 59. Woolf was educated by her parents in their literate and well-connected household at 22Hyde Park Gate[ 5], Kensington.
Her individuality is explored by the sense of homosexuality and Woolf highlights the modernist context through the unconventional lust for self-identity. The modernism of Virgina Woolf’s novel is highlighted by her exploration of the patriarchal society, through the exploration of the taboo concept of homosexuality and questions the suppression of love within a modern context. Although Clarissa is the embodiment of a perfect woman within the Victorian context, she experiences the desires of her past affections towards Sally Seton. Her struggle reflects, similar to Hurston’s persona of Janie, within the confines of love and follows an unconventional-journey of relationships, such as the exploration of her past homosexual affiliation to Sally Seton. Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway resonates with women in this age and shows a modern perception of love.
Edward Albee’s play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is a powerful yet quite disturbing work. Albee is well known for creating plays in which turbulent marriage seems to be a reoccurring motif; this is demonstrated through many of Albee’s other plays such as The American Dream, A Delicate Balance, Three Tall Women, etc. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf is not just a play about emotionally destructive marriages, but also a fight for power between men and women in a household. One of the main ideas in Edward Albee’s play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf is that power is a fundamental aspect of human nature; this is shown through the constant battle in the characterization of the two couples in the play, and the use of symbolism in reference to pregnancy
Those who want easy or definitive answers will resist, becoming frustrated, but for those who desire understanding, inspiration, or alternate mindsets, this book offers a plethora of paths down which to meander. Like the best books, those that continue to challenge, attracting new and returning readers, When Women Were Birds will persist in breaking the
These moments of non-being, according to examples offered by Woolf herself, seem to refer to the events that occur but are not readily recalled. Woolf describes moments of being by explaining a day when she vividly remembered certain details about her walk along a river and enjoyed books by Chaucer and Madame de la Fayette (Woolf, 1939, p70). On the other hand, Woolf refers to moments of non-being using her example of lunch with her husband, Leonard, of which she could not remember their conversation. “A great part of every day is not lived consciously” she further says (Woolf, 1939, p70). These are unremembered, unconscious events that are part of everyone’s daily life, but are unable to be readily accessed by the mind, and this, of course, happens to all.
Jane Eyre, published in 1847, by focusing on its protagonist’s, Jane’s personality, dependency and self governance. The aim of this study is to look into Jane’s development and analyze her identity with the help of a theoretical framework drawn from psychoanalysis and developmental psychology, and within the context of the Victorian era. The novel focuses on Jane’s experiences and psychological growth from youth to adulthood. Psychoanalytic criticism adopts the methods of "reading" employed by Freud and later theorists to interpret texts or writings.
When reading a novel, the reader’s attention is not always drawn to the concept of time. Usually, time is just presumed or indicated casually, without any particular attention being drawn to it. However, in Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, the theme of time is of primary importance in the novel.
The study is designed to understand the different social issues related to different characters in the novel To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf. It focuses on the Victorian and Modern marriages and highlights how the female characters are different from one another. Similarly, there are a lot of religious doubt, degrading women, and an unclear vision in the novel by one of the characters. However, there are deaths in the novel too. Similarly, it will focus on the two central women in the story.
Woolf through these instances tried to emphasize the necessity of a private room for a woman writer where she can focus all her energies on her writings without any interruptions from the outside world. The essay not only focuses on feminism but also on women who have not been able to realize their true potential because of the lack of money and privacy. In her essay, Virginia Woolf has tried to focus on the need for a woman to have money, a room and privacy just like men at that point of time had, to write fiction. She is, in a way, asking for equal rights for women as men. She also points out that women who write fiction should not copy men’s style because everybody has different style and hence women will not be able to bear the weight of a man’s style of
She finds that women are currently writing nearly as many books as men, on all kinds of subjects, such as economics and philosophy, “which a generation ago no woman could have touched“. So, to explore current novels and to see what kind of changes occurred in
