As an example two influential short stories will be discussed in depth in order to shed light into the lives of the two authors and their stories. The short stories by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860–1935) and Angela Carter (1940–1992) both sideway the same idea; the confinement of women in particular roles and positions in both personal and professional lives, posed on them by patriarchal figures. Toril Moi quotes in her examination of feministic criticism, Sexual/Textual Politics (2002), Elaine Showalter’s idea that “women writers should not be studied as a distinct group on the assumption that they write alike, or even display stylistic resemblances distinctively feminine” (Moi, 2002: 49), which comes across when reading the two stories which are stylistically already very different. It might be so that a feminist reader of both times (there’s some 80 years difference between the two stories) did not only want to see her own experiences mirrored in fiction, but strived to identify with strong, impressive female characters (Moi, 2002: 46), and looked for role-models that would instil positive sense of feminine identity by portraying women as self-actualising strong identities who were not dependent on men (Moi, 2002, 46). The two stories bring out two female characters, very different by position and character; the other a new mother, scared and confused of her own role, and the other a young newly-wed girl, still a child, being fouled by a much older man, mainly as a mark of his authority over women in general.
Shahrazad’s wanted to show King Shahriyar’s that not all women are the same, and she’s also to bring the King back into perspective. In Shahrazad's story women to appear authoritarian. For example, the tailor's wife who was crazy enough to stick a bone in the hunchback's mouth and she quickly takes charge of the situation. She says, ‘Your cries are of no avail’, we must do something. The tailor ‘whimpered', while his wife instructs him on her fake plot (Page 24).
By changing the main focus of her paper and making over-generalizations about the way that all women feel, Bennetts takes away from the effectiveness of her argument and weakens her overall credibility. Bennetts starts her article by sympathizing with the struggle women go through while transitioning from working-woman to housewife. She blames the “corporate culture” for not being flexible enough to allow mothers to balance their responsibilities at work with their responsibilities at home (Bennetts 419). Bennetts then goes on to explain the resentment women begin to feel for having to give up their careers to be a homemaker. They begin to harbor anger towards their husbands who “still view child care and household chores as women’s work” (Bennetts 419).
She is to turn her attention to lady-like hobbies. Women are merely objects of display and necessary utilization. Scout is treated as a “girl” not only by society but also by her brother because that is his opinion of females. “I was not so sure, but Jem told me I was being a girl, that girls always imagined things, that is. Why other people hated them so, and if I started behaving like one I could go off and find someone to play with” (Lee, 119).
Compare and contrast the ways in which Atwood in HT and Churchill in TG present the pressures on woman in male dominated societies in the light of the opinion that Atwood focuses on woman as victims whilst Churchill explores the price woman pay for success. The male dominated environment is a force that every woman has to find a way to deal with so it is common for female writers to use it as a key theme when exploring the forces that shape us. There are many similarities in the way Margaret Atwood and Caryl Churchill Portray Male dominance and the way it affects females. In spite of Atwood’s ‘The Handmaids Tale’ being set in a fictional future dystopia the hostile patriarchal environment she describes has many features in common with today’s society. Maya Angelou’s book ‘I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings’ also deals with the problems of being female.
The Role of Women in “The Odyssey” It seems if it weren’t for women in Homer’s The Odyssey all forms of empathy, love, war, or compassion wouldn’t exist. Although women held an entirely different position in society compared to men, they too held influence and power. “The Odyssey” revolves around Odysseus’ quest to return home to Ithaca and back to his wife Penelope, which has been overrun by suitors. Within the poem there are three basic types of women the goddess, the seductress, and the good hostess/wife. Each role adds a different element and is essential to the telling of the story.
The Role of Women in Lanval By: Nikole Smith 5/2/2012 Prof. Howard Canaan. In the story Lanval the author Marie de France’s describes the roles of women to be very stereotypical. These gender stereotypes are actually considered to be harmful, as well as degrading; some example of these gender stereotypes would include: “The fairy appearance in court, the old temptress queen, and Lanval’s lover. According to carlavangrove.com” Women is described as “sexy objects and beautiful maidens in distress, as well as obedient to men and their bodies are their best feature.” (http://carlavangrove.wordpress.com) Some example of this quote would be: “Their clothes were in expensive taste, close-fitting tunics, tightly laced, made up in deep-dyed purple wool.” (Norton P.143) Another example is “My lady, sir Lanval who is so free, beautiful, wise, and praise worthy ordered us to come for you. For she herself has come here too.
Merely Teasing Charlotte Gilman’s story “The Yellow Wallpaper” and Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” both demonstrate how society, at the turn of the century, seemed to make women feel enclosed or trapped. The narrator in “Yellow Wallpaper” and the main character in Chopin’s story, Louise Mallard share many of the same desires and characteristics. Their desire to get out and be independent eventually gets them punished. In both stories, it is clear that the narrator or character is a female. From the way the narrator talks in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” describing her husband and house and the decorations, it is obvious she is a female.
Emilia is Desdemona’s maid and she has a mind of her own. Through discussions she has with Desdemona the reader can concur that she will do anything necessary to get to the top even if that is sleeping around. She also says in one of her and Desdemona’s conversations that women only cheat because men have taught them to do so by neglecting them and fraternizing with other women. Emilia is a woman who although different from Desdemona is not all bad. She is as duped by her husband, Iago, as much as the rest of the cast and she tries to amend her wrongdoings in the end by telling the truth to Othello although she is too late to save her mistress, Desdemona.
One can get that idea, being that in both pieces the woman are having an affair with another man, although Sir Gawain and the Green knight was just a joke, it was mostly trying to “teach a lesson” or make a point to men, why one should not trust a women, because of the trickery and games they hold up their sleeves. And in contrast with that, Beowulf author shows the idea of women are less in control, by the two main women who had to serve their king, but also every other person at the