However, not everyone agrees with the heavy stereotypes laid down by the social order such as male dominance and proper courting. Marie de France is one of these people. She depicts her views of gender expectations through literature. Within the poem Guigemar, Guigemar and his lady fulfill and contradict what would be considered as gender norms within society: female inferiority, traditional courtship, and male dominance. Marie de France does this to criticize and combat the societal expectations and inherent inequalities in Norman England.
Margaret Atwood’s speech “Spotty Handed Villainesses” explores Patriarchy, feminism and “bad” women in literature. She uses wit and humour to disarm the audience and often uses anti-climatic statements to grab the audience’s attention. Margaret Atwood’s speech resonates through time with her critical study of feminism in a social context and the impact that feminism has had on literature. In the speech Atwood explores the moral dichotomy that exists in Women at the time. She shows how women can only be categorised as either an angel or a whore.
Description In Siren Songs: Gender, Audiences, and Narrators in the Odyssey, Lillian Eileen Doherty shows us that the attitude of Odysseus, as well as of the Odyssey, is highly ambivalent toward women. Odysseus rewards supportive female characters by treating them as privileged members of the audience for his own tales. At the same time, dangerous female narrators--who threaten to disrupt or revise the hero's story--are discredited by the narrative framework in which their stories appear. Siren Songs synthesizes audience-oriented and narratological approaches, and examines the relationships among three kinds of audiences: internal, implied, and actual. The author prefaces her own reading of the Odyssey with an analysis of the issues posed by the earlier feminist readings on which she builds.
Annabella’s claim to be a part of ‘a wretched, woeful woman’s tragedy’ offers no solace to the other women in the play as she bought her punishment on herself. To what extent does the play as a whole appear to criticise or endorse the misogynistic attitudes shown by so many of the characters? T’is Pity she’s a Whore is undoubtedly a play that can be characterised by the sexism present in it, particularly in terms of the negativity associated with female sexuality. Ford presents misogyny through women and love, women and sex and the male advancement, but what is unclear is whether or not he endorses such an attitude or criticises it. This is best encapsulated in the debate as to whether Annabella can claim to be part of a “wretched, woeful woman’s tragedy” if her mistreatment was indeed her own fault.
In Katherine Wilson’s “Dude Looks Like a Lady,” she begins with a powerful introduction saying “this is about hair, breasts, and identity” (Wilson 21), insinuating it is going to be a gender identity piece. Reading more of the first page, you assume the thesis is about the common misconceptions of how a woman is supposed to look and how not looking that way could take away from a woman being a woman. Wilson gives the example of her hair being buzzed and people looking at her differently. Although she tries to argue the hardships of not looking like the normal female, Wilson’s argument fails to meet the rest of her story. She claims her argument is about “hair, breasts, and identity,” she is really just ranting and raving her being disrespected and her own issues of being black.
In this novel, Julia Alvarez manages to capture and express the true feelings of women which deconstructs the stereotypes through Yo. Feminism is defined as “a political movement that works to achieve equal rights for women and men” (Hirsch 113). For the past ages, women were seen in the society as inferior to men and were greatly excluded from education and the right to property ownership. A British feminist named Mary Wollstonecraft argues, “educational restrictions keep women in a state of ignorance and slavish dependence” (Blake 117). The shattering of classifications and stereotypes, and the subversion of traditional gender roles, and the concept of sisterhood or unity among women are among the main tenets of feminist criticism.
the laws of man cry out against it. the voice of God cries out against it- and so do I.”(284) This humorous approach of satire to pointing out society's general misconception of females is again present when Howe discusses a woman's viable options to get what they want and how to achieve there desires. She goes on to say “Women, we don't need vote in order to get our own way”(288), but rather cry ,“crying always brings them around. get what you want.”288) “Make a scene.”(288) “That is so much more dignified and refined than walking up to a ballot and dropping in a piece of paper.”(288)
“Well I think Curley’s married…a tart.” Steinbeck used the word tart, as it is an undermining term to say that a woman is promiscuous at that time. Tart also means sour so he could be saying that she is a stingy person. The phrase “I think” shows that they do not know her and that they just assume she is like that without any actual proof. That links in with how people did not think about getting to know women and that they are something by labelling them from their actions and what they look like. Steinbeck saw that this was a double standard as a man could go to a “cat house” and “get it out of his system” and no one would think any different of the man, however if a woman did that they would be labelled as a “tart”.
Contrary to its putatively gender-normalizing conclusion, Eliza Haywood’s Fantomina generates a narrative of sexual subversion and female authority. The repetitive occurrence of female protagonists inverting gender hegemonies from the prostitute to Fantomina’s mother to the convent, produces a ‘gynocratic’, or woman-centered novel. When juxtaposed alongside the nameless, beguiled admirers and the named, yet four-flushed BeauPlaisir, the narrative constructs a hierarchy of female over male, contradicting the possibility of its reinstating archetypal gender roles through its questionable inclusion of assault. While acknowledging seemingly anti-feminist sections, this essay will articulate how Haywood’s text empowers its atypical heroine through Haywood’s syntax and plot, her covert theme of naming and the conclusion itself. Despite her antithetical ideologies, Haywood remains centuries ahead while incorporating the very themes of contemporary pop culture: Woman Power.
The Feminist Approach in Margaret Atwood’s “Siren Song” In Margaret Atwood's “Siren Song”, the feminist analysis is applied in various ways. This poem describes how a woman very cleverly takes advantage of the negative perception that man has compelled on a woman, by using a mental approach to prey on the man’s ego in order to destroy them. It reflects the sexual excitement of man towards woman, thus revealing the prevailing qualities of womanhood that validate the wrong perception of men being greater than women. Atwood integrates the feminist analysis in the “Siren Song” while also making a reference to Greek myths to prove a solid point about the weakness and idiocy of men. The speaker is one of the three sirens, which in this poem points to Greek mythology.