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Gender Roles In Feminist Literature

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All throughout modern literature many different types of critical perspectives can be found while reading. Of the different critical perspectives (such as; Cultural, Feminist, Historical, and Marxist) the Feminist critical perspective provides society with the most compelling view when reading literature. Through the Feminist perspective displayed in literature we are able to see things such as the discrimination and exclusion of women solely based on their gender, the objectification of women, the power and oppression that others hold over them, as well as the different gender roles and stereotypes that women face. In the play, “Othello” written by William Shakespeare as well as the book “Frankenstein” written by Mary Shelley, we are able to see the way the Feminist perspective is displayed, the way it allows readers to have a basic understanding of the struggles of being a woman, and why it provides the most compelling view when reading literature. In “Othello” the Feminist perspective is very clear and appears a lot, one of …show more content…

The book perfectly displays the objectification of women. This objectification can be seen in the book whenever Victor regards Elizabeth as “his” and claims ownership of her as someone would to a piece of land. He goes as far as comparing his need to care for her to the way he cares for all of his other animals. Lastly we can see these gender roles and stereotypes in the book yet again with Elizabeth. She is stuck at home helping the Frankenstein family in place of Victor’s mother that passed away. She is denied the right to travel to Europe with Victor essentially turning her into a house wife who has to follow the rules of her husband even though she is not married. These are just two of the ways that the Feminist perspective can be seen in the book “Frankenstein” and how it adds to the point that it provides the most compelling view when reading

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Gender roles are timeless stereotypes that belong in the 1950s, yet sixty years later they still exist. Even today, gender roles are still prevalent and simply change to fit new adaptations of society, but have become less stressed over time. In the two literary pieces, In the Time of the Butterflies and Othello, men control women in some way whether it be as their father, husband, or a man of acquaintance. Both pieces illustrate that a woman's place in society is thought of as being subordinate to a man’s, which causes women to feel inferior to men, and also to seek their approval.

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INTRO - "An Act of Vengeance" by Isabel Allende is a latin-american piece of literature. - According to feminists critics, literature adapted to this patriarchal society we have, and the feminist author, Isabel Allende, has exposed how men and women are in the society through her characters Dulce Rosa Orellano and Tadeo Cespedes. - The feminism theory is the outgrowth of the general movement to empower women worldwide. It recognizes and critiques male supremacy combined with the efforts to change this patriarchic view.

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In doing so, examine the feminist lens’s interpretation of the text. How are gender roles defined? Where to women fit into the text’s plot line. What do you notice about the women in this text? Is this congruent (similar) to society’s view of women, by today’s standards?

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Brave New World serves to affirm traditional views of women by going to opposite extremes of his time, yet still making women seem inferior. Frankenstein in a way affirms traditional views of women by keeping female characters hidden in the novel. However, this does challenge traditional views because usually if there 's no female roles, there isn 't enough presence to be feminine. Nevertheless, Brave New World and Frankenstein, used the limiting role of women challenges the traditional views of them in the novel 's publishing period of time by mocking the absence of women 's roles and indepence in everyday life.

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Guilty Until Proven Innocent: An Analysis of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein “Justine died, I rested” (111), were the words of the male protagonist, Victor, in Mary Shelley’s original 1818 text of Frankenstein. In Frankenstein, Shelley depicts a flawed legal system as it favors men and leads to women’s destruction in three trials: Justine’s, Victor’s, and the De Lacey families’ trial. The justice system in the novel is sexist as there are moments where male characters shirk responsibility at the expense of women. This paper will unpack each ordeal to further argue the sexist law system, such as Justine’s death penalty, including the De Lacey’s trial and Victor’s dismissal. Justine Moritz suffered from Victor Frankenstein’s responsibility, the

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“As a young girl it was thrilling to see a pretty woman capable of crafting something horrfying and challenging” Mary says. Mary went into a deep depression after she was widowed at the age of 24 she struggled to support herself and her son. She wrote Frankenstein and the monster represented the suppression of women. The women in the book are represented as the treatment of women in the early 1800s which means they were treated as if they were nothing and like property. The death and suffering of the female characters portrays that in the 1800s it was acceptable because they were treated like property.

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One character, Justine, is very passive and used as a device to make Victor feel guilty for creating The Creature; as her major contribution to the plot was The Creature framing her for her brothers death and shortly after, being sentenced to death. Another female character, Safie, is used to teach The Creature how to speak: “My days were spent in close attention…and I may boast that I improved more rapidly than the Arabian…I could imitate almost every word that was spoken… I also learned the science of letters” (Shelley 106). Even the most prominent female character in the book, Frankenstein's lover and wife, Elizabeth, is killed by The Creature on their wedding night, in order to again make Victor regret creating The Creature, and eventually die of his unhappiness. Mary Shelley's depiction of women might be her indicating the roles of women at the time as inferior, a similar thesis brought about by Mary Wollstonecraft in A Vindication on the Rights of Women.

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In James Davis’ literary essay “Frankenstein and the Subversion of the Masculine Voice,” he discusses the oppression of women and the minor roles of females in Mary Shelly’s novel Frankenstein. With a feminist perspective, Davis claims, “He [Victor Frankenstein] oppresses female generation of life and of text; he rends apart both the physical and the rhetorical ‘form’ of female creativity. In fact, all three male narrators attempt to subvert the feminine voice, even in those brief moments when they tell the women’s stories” (307). Throughout his essay, Davis demonstrates the underlying message of Shelly’s subversion towards men and the social consequences of misogyny. Davis draws parallels between the three men, Robert Walton, Victor Frankenstein, and Victor’s creation, Frankenstein, in which they

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Victims. Time and time again women have been victims of misogyny, commodification, and social obligation. Women are forced to squeeze into an idealistic mold and confrom to society’s standards. They have been stripped of their right to have a say in what is being done to them, and are sold off as property to their husbands who treat them as inferior. These husbands seem to have no regard for the opinion of their wives; as if being male brings superiority.

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Interestingly enough, the novel resembles Shelley’s own life and can be interpreted as a reflection of her perception of families. Shelley shares many of the same characteristics with most of her characters. As the main character in the novel, Frankenstein’s creature is depicted as “a motherless orphan” who had an “unnatural birth” (Griffith). This correlates with Shelley’s own childhood as she was raised without a mother and her birth was in some ways “unnatural” as mothers are not naturally made to die during childbirth.

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When reading Frankenstein people would not typically finish it and say this text has a good sense of feminism that comes along with it. Feminism in Frankenstein is very hard to distinguish, the reader just has to look in the right places. The audience has to really pay attention to the underlying concept that the female gender is important to the overall text of the story. Most people would argue that there really is not an underlying concept of feminism, but the book in itself is a statement of feminism. Even though the book says for Mary from Percy the fact that A women wrote a book back then and it was enjoyed widely and still is today is a shout out to feminism.

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Romeo and Juliet Essay “Shakespeare and Misogyny” A world where men dominate women. This idea was the basis of many Renaissance era dramas. Writers always used to perceive certain genders as having distinctive qualities and traits. Men were held up to a higher respect and given more violent roles than women.

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Because of this, Elizabeth had to play all feminine roles towards Victor: mother figure, sister, and wife. While Elizabeth becomes like a mother, Victor had already formed a friendly bond with her. Victor describes Elizabeth as “gentile and affectionate” (20), motherly characteristics, but Victor would never be able to see Elizabeth as a mother. Elizabeth and Victor had grown up together since the age of four. She was the only one who could make him forget his troubles, and he was the only one who could console her after the death of William and Justine.

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For Shakespeare’s plays to contain enduring ideas, it must illustrate concepts that still remain relevant today, in modern society. Shakespeare utilises his tragic play Othello, to make an important social commentary on the common gender stereotypes. During early modern England, Shakespeare had to comply to the strict social expectations where women were viewed as tools, platonic and mellow, and where men were displayed as masculine, powerful, tempered, violent and manipulative. As distinct as this context is to the 21st century, the play exposes how women were victimised by the men who hold primary power in the community in which they compelled women to conform to the ideal world of a perfect wife or confront an appalling destiny for challenging the system. Moreover, Shakespeare utilises the main antagonist, Iago, to portray how men are desperate to achieve what they want and to indirectly fulfil the stereotype of masculinity and power through manipulation.

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I believe that the critical lens that provides modern society with the most compelling view of literature is Feminist Criticism because it analyzes distrust and disloyalty among relationships, women being treated as possessions and shows the representation of powerful women. Modern society would analyze literature using a feminist perspective because most literature analyzes the relationship between genders and the powerful influence and meaning it has to the readers life. Othello is a great play to analyze with many different types of literature criticisms, but Feminist Criticism analyzes the plot and the main characters situation most. It is still so common to see many of the points presented in the book till this day, men believing that they are stronger than women and treating them as inferior. Even so women are trying to make their voice be heard and demonstrating everyday the vital impact they have in society.

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