This poem is in its truest sense a feminist poem, one that laments the historical and mythological scorn of women, and provides a new light in which to view the fairer sex. There are countless juxtapositions throughout Clampitt’s lines, and aided by the reflexive nature of her poem, she presents a work matching the complexity of the mythological Medusa herself. To appreciate Clampitt’s message, one must delve deep into her almost purposeful convolutions, as one must do to understand the true nature of Medusa. Clampitt wrote “Medusa” to provide a commentary on the disparate and often negative light in which women have historically been viewed. To do this, she uses the famous story of Medusa, a figure that has consistently been vilified and relegated to the dark annals of mythology.
All of the monologues shared a common theme of addressing women's issues and celebrating them in all its glory. Eve Ensler created the show based on a series of interviews she had with several types of women. The show's objective is to get rid of the embarrassment that is associated with the vagina as well as to make women feel comfortable talking about issues including rape, sexuality, childbirth, body image and many more. My favorite monologues were Hair, The "Wear and Say" Lists, My Angry Vagina and The Vagina Workshop. Particularly, Hair and My Angry Vagina discussed how society thinks the vagina should be hairless and smell like flowers and should not be left in its natural state.
The reader is encouraged to keep this definition in mind as they read the following pages of this essay. The purpose of this essay is for a comprehensive exploration of oppression that has held our mothers, sisters, grandmothers, aunts, friends, teachers, and anyone known to be of the female sex in degradation throughout history. The essay brings to light a few women who have heard the call for equality and the phenomenology of their fight for the cause. If nothing else, it will educate
Angelou uses many different poetic devices to emphasize her thoughts and feelings. The literary devices used in this poem express the fact that you can overcome anything that life throws at you. Maya Angelou narrates the poem while talking to her opposer which she refers to as “you.” She displays her confidence throughout the reading and says how “you” can try to bring her down and say all of these degrading things but she will still continue to succeed and rise above it. She breaks all of the stereotypes as an African American woman and calls her opposition out, basically saying if they do not like it they can get over it. The theme of conflict is found in Maya Angelou’s famous poem.
Elements of Confucian principles such as women having a lower status within the Patriarchal family structure, and women being self-sacrificial; are reminiscent throughout these early works and in Ban Zhao’s Lessons for Women. Many later works by women writers adopt similar elements found from early texts. Later Women writers draw upon earlier cultural models by writing in the same context. Through the use of their education, wisdom, and religious beliefs, they achieve to write manuals for women that illustrate the proper ways of instilling order, peace with oneself, and the duties of women. An example can be seen from Empress Xu who is the wife of the Yongle Emperor.
Mental illness is a concept that has been manipulated by religious, cultural, social and even scientific aspects and for centuries, the representation of women linked to the struggles and symptoms of mental illness has led to a proposition that women are weak and unstable. As a result of the ‘women’s movement’ of the 1960s, feminist literary criticism is stronger now than ever before. This movement was a retaliation to the idea of a ‘perfect woman’; a woman lacking goals and aspirations who was primarily focused on housework and her husband, that was being promulgated across the globe by literature, thus confronting and annihilating this backwards concept. It can be argued that Sylvia Plath was a feminist writer and this is prominent in ‘The Bell Jar’ as it is a novel that reflects the gender roles in the 1950’s and addresses the feminist issues of power, the search of identity and double standards. As the protagonist was growing up, remaining a virgin until after marriage was a rule that was constantly pushed into Esther’s mind, leaving her convinced that the same rule applied to men.
The yellow wallpaper In the story, wallpaper, a usually feminine, floral decoration on the interior of walls, is a symbol of female imprisonment within the domestic sphere. Over the course of the story, the wallpaper becomes a text of sorts through which the narrator exercises her literary imagination and identifies with a feminist double figure. When John curbs her creativity and writing, the narrator takes it upon herself to make some sense of the wallpaper. She reverses her initial feeling of being watched by the wallpaper and starts actively studying and decoding its meaning. She untangles its chaotic pattern and locates the figure of a woman struggling to break free from the bars in the pattern.
Medusa Carol Ann Duffy was the first female poet laureate who wrote many poems, including Medusa. Medusa is written in first person narrative and as a dramatic monologue. The subject of the poem is a woman who has been turned into a Gorgon, a woman with snakes for her hair, because of her jealousy and suspicion that her husband is cheating on her. Everything that she looks upon is destroyed. In the poem, Duffy uses different themes, structures and writing techniques to convey different emotions and actions.
Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou Maya Angelou is best known for addressing the world through the medium of her own life. Her works are a reflection of the social issues that were prevalent in the second half of the 20th century. “Phenomenal Woman” by Maya Angelou celebrates femininity and highlights the traits necessary for a woman to become ‘phenomenal.’ The poem is structured into four stanzas and the number of lines in each stanza varies from one another. The poem is written in free verse which allows the poet to compose long and short sentences without any interruption. “Phenomenal Woman” begins with a stark comment saying that she is neither cute nor has a great figure to suit a model’s size.
Initially, Little Red Cap takes a domineering role throughout the poem, adopting the cultural stereotype of an 'immoral and dangerous seductress' which successfully reverses the socially constructed gender roles of woman as being 'naturally timid' and subverts the reader's expectations of the typical damsel in distress, 'a pursued maiden'. The stereotypical interpretation of the