Feminism has been a cornerstone of literature for over a hundred years. Women in the world and in literature prior to late 19th century were portrayed as secondary citizens at best. In the late 19th century, a new movement was formed that took the ideals of the woman’s role in society and marriage and transformed them. Authors from the first and second wave of feminism have now created true portraits of women and their views on marriage. Generally speaking, the first and second waves of feminism are most recognized for their contributions to social and cultural equality.
Jill Tweedy 1932- 1993 was also an influential feminist writer. Wollstonecraft’s polemic, ‘A Vindication of the Rights of Women’ and Tweedy’s ‘In the Name of Love’. Both these extracts show how these female writers can write from both genders; female and male. They can bring across different views and thoughts throughout their extracts. A Vindication of the Rights of Women’ is an early example of a feminist outlook; Wollstonecraft aims to define, establish and defend equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women.
In The Power of the Positive Woman, Schlafly explains that there is indeed a difference, besides the obvious physicality, between men and woman that cause them to play different roles in society. She in no ways demoralizes the role of either men or women, but instead explains how each gender has an equally important role to play in society. She explains the ideals of liberationists by saying, “The second dogma of the women’s liberationists is that, of all the injustices perpetrated upon women through the centuries, the most oppressive is the cruel fact that women have babies and men do not” (Schlafly 296). This puts the blame of female anatomy on the males instead of on the Divine Creator of human lives. Although this seems to be a ridiculous reason to hate the male population, it is Schlafly’s way of making their movement seem ridiculous.
In addition, her novel Herland depicts women at their true, full potential in roles equal to men. There are many hidden meanings in Gilman’s Herland that can be found in the characters and setting. I will explore the two themes, independence and evolution, which are central to Gilman’s works, Women and Economics and Herland. In Women and Economics, Gilman stresses the theory that women need to become independent and stop depending on men in order to achieve their true human potential. She points out that women depend on men for survival and that is only seen in the human species.
I think Chaucer was trying to voice his opinion about feministic ways through a female speaker, hence Alisoun (the Wife), though contradicted his ideas in both the Prologue and Tale. In my opinion this lead to both feminist and anti-feminist thing about the text. Some essayist also address the anti-feminist views present in” The Canterbury Tales” and that maybe Chaucer’s use of the character Alisoun was meant to overthrow these views or possibly reinforce them (Trudeau). Chaucer begins the Prologue with Alisoun, the Wife of Bath, described as bawdy, lusty, strong-willed and one of the most fully developmentally discussed women in medieval literature (Trudeau). Viewed as an early precursor of feminist thought, some scholars argue that the majority of her Prologue can be seem as anti-feminist rhetoric (Trudeau).
women's lives are individually trivial, and their only strength and/or success can come from banding together" (1). Such assertion construes women through male social law and endorses the masculine value system. But, as illustrated in the ironically-named Trifles, where male calumny proved misfortune as the women used domestic intuition and invisibility to supersede the law in the name of justice, Susan Glaspell shows that during this time period, women held a kind of power. This “power” is delicate and one of the key themes in Trifles. Although critics disagree on how the vastly different gender perceptions within the play are used to portray the theme of women’s power within law and justice, all of their arguments tie back to the fact that the women in the story act as a surrogate for the female society of that time, showing them that they have more power than they realize.
For example, there are many cases in the first several stories of Arabian Nights when women are disloyal and evil, but there are also stories about the wrong of men. This is because Shahrazad wanted to balance human wrong and she attempts to expose the wrongs of both sexes equally. According to feminism, the women's and men's rights are equal. So, she tried to explain that women can also make mistakes as men and it is not right that they take into account only women's mistakes (Smith, 1).
A Vindication of the Rights of Women Essay A Vindication of the Rights of Women by Mary Wollstonecraft is one of the earliest works of feminist ideals. In the text, Wollstonecraft deeply responds and criticizes many influential political theoreticians from the 18th century who did not believe that women should have the same basic rights as men. Her arguments vary from how women should contribute to society to how women should be treated in a relationship. All of her viewpoints not only played a crucial role in the feminist movement of her time, but also helped pave the way for modern feminist movements. One of the main points that Wollstonecraft touches upon in A Vindication of the Rights of Women is the issue regarding women and education.
Woolf interprets the contrast between the women in fiction and the real women of the period as evidence that the famous characters are nothing but impossibilities imagined upon by men. She argues that only a female writer could have created characters endowed with women’s hindered possibilities. But perhaps the women portrayed in Elizabethan fiction weren’t just men being conveniently portrayed as women like Woolf claims. Perhaps Shakespeare and other authors created these strong characters as symbols of what women could’ve been, barring the legal and social injustices they faced. Lady Macbeth is undoubtedly Shakespeare’s most vicious and cunning female character.
Whilst any gender can be subjected to sexist behaviour, it is most commonly women who tend to be on the receiving end of it`. Functionalist and right wing sociologists might argue that sexism hardly exists in society today. Feminists would argue against this. Feminists have fought against the injustices endured by women, they do not believe in male supremacy. The fundamental principles that have existed in a western patriarchal society made women second-class citizens in comparison to men.