King Creon’s attitude on gender ultimately leads to his downfall and his ruin. Antigone’s rebellion against King Creon’s decree challenges both gender influences at the time as well as a sense of hierarchy. The fact that Antigone is woman plays a profound role in the story. Creon admits that he needs to defeat her because of her gender. Antigone’s refusal to lay down and follow the king’s command shows an aggressive side of Antigone.
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.
Overall, the women were upset that their men were never home, thus making an unbalance in their family, leading to an unbalance in society. War not only derives nations, but also the families of the soldiers. Many explanations have raised from the text of Aristophanes play Lysistrata and the theme of Anti-War. “Behind every great man, there is a great woman”, “Brawn vs. Brains”, and “Women, you can’t live with them, and you can’t live without them.” these sayings are loosely based on the play that has occupied our history. The play Lysistrata shows the theme of anti-war through the precise work of symbolism, characters and word choice.
In Lepines’ letter, he sites how feminists had ruined his life and they were the reason he committed this crime. Feminist theory on crime explains this thought clearly. Lepines’ ideas about the roles of women were formed by a patriarchal society leading him to believe in some that women were not equal to men and should not be given all the opportunities of men (Knuttila, 305). These women wanted to be educated and become engineers; Lepine could not cope with this fact and blamed women, namely feminist for his short comings in life. Did Lepine come up with these ideas himself or was he a product of a society that dictated classical roles and oppression of women?
Different from other women, who obey men and follow orders, Shelley represents Safie as a rebellious female figure in an attempt to convey her hostility toward sexism. Safie’s strength is shown when she disregards her father and escape to join Felix instead. Because of Safie’s mutinous characteristic, Safie is able to criticize a male dominant society where women’s rights are often neglected. Furthermore, Shelley argues that confinement is nauseating because it is a form of oppression toward women. Victor’s two years of alienation between himself and society during his process of creating the monster parallel the period of a woman’s confinement before labor.
Novels often present women as constrained by society Explore the presentation of women in the light of this statement Women are presented as being restricted by society in the 18th and 19th century mostly by men ruling the world and women being oppressed, this means that women were meant to manage the household. This is shown in Wuthering heights by Catherine being restrained by Edgar in the Linton’s household. Catherine is the main example of a woman who has different expectations of marriage and social life when having a husband. A woman in that time was meant to be obedient, disciplined and faithful to their husband, Catherine is the complete opposite of this and is not obedient, not disciplined and certainly not faithful ‘It is impossible for you to be my friend, and his at the same time’ This shows that Catherine is having trouble deciding who to care for and between her husband Edgar and Heathcliff. Catherine Forces herself into a fever and hysteria when having to make a choice between the two, this shows her being constrained by her mind because she is mentally unstable.
The Discrimination against Women Identities Throughout history, female were considered lesser beings and nothing more than the property of their husband. In the short story, Blank Spaces by Joanna Cockerline, the acknowledgment of female being inferior creatures in comparison to men is highlighted. Struggle against misfortunes, Elizabeth is oppressed by the social inequality due to the fact that she is a girl. In Blank Spaces, the social inequality implied by the narrative severely impacts Elizabeth’s career hierarchy, character traits, and life experiences. Like many feminist writer, Cockerline focuses her emphasis on how social norm discriminate women by inhibit their job opportunities.
Continuously in literature women take a backseat to the men; women are often portrayed to be incapable of fulfilling the roles “intended” for men by society. Usually in these stories women are illustrated as weaker or inferior to their male counterparts. Often characterized as helpless or as servant to the man, manipulative and untrustworthy, very rarely do we see woman in charge woman and with power like Clytemnestra in Agamemnon or women who are educating the man for a change like we see Shahrazad do with the many woman of her stories in The Thousand and One Nights. In both stories the doing of both women are seen as negative when actually they are trying to fight so that one day woman can be treated equal to men. Agamemnon takes place
Tessie Hutchinson, one of the main characters represents women who are being tyrannized by society because of their gender. Devices such as symbolism and plot illustrate the condemned roles of women in the gender hierarchy. Also, the use of ideas such as betrayal within the strong marriage bond due to the traditional sacrifice, the senior figure of society, and the following of tradition passed down from generation demonstrate the power of females in this generation are brought up to the podium to be arguably conversed. The plot of “The Lottery” is that men had the most dominance over political decisions. This left no room for woman’s input or acknowledgment.
As a result of the fast changes in events, writers’ works of literature were changing. Writers and intellectuals believed it as their obligation to speak out against the injustices of this new and fast changing world. They addressed the social problems that ranged from brutal working conditions and poverty, to the questions of women’s rights. Even the Church came under attack during this time. Scientific advancements and different ideas challenged religious beliefs and weakened the position of the Church.