Consequently, he refers to her as “frail” (Act 1, Scene 2, line 146). It is apparent that Hamlet would have preferred to make decisions for his mother just because she is a woman. He does not trust her mother to make wise decisions even though she has been queen for quite some time. Ophelia, on the other hand, bears the brunt of male chauvinism as she is not allowed to choose for herself who she should love. Her father prohibits her from having a love relationship with Hamlet.
The women are casualties of a domestic prison, a prison for the mind, created by society and their husbands, who are victims themselves in their own way, of a Gilded Age mindset. The women have no voice and no authority. Their intellect and creativity is considered a frivolous obstacle and a distraction from their jobs as homemakers. There is irony in the endings of these stories in that the victims, the women, adjust to their lot and turn the tables on their oppressors. In Trifles, the women come to a realization that they must bond together against their clueless husbands to see justice done.
Women were seen as mortal, yet at the same time they were seducers and manipulators. The novels main idea is about the conflicts that women, who were influenced by the Victorian Age, suffered. Grace’s identity is confusing, as it is made complex by her either trying to protect her innocence or by hiding her guilt. Atwood does an excellent job getting the reader to question this, but her main issue focuses on survival, and how the search for Grace’s true identity is symbolically the search that all women living in a suppressed environment are involved in. This theme is very true to Atwood’s feminist pursuit, which is seen in her other novels as well.
The dynamic verb of “watch” shows to the reader that Manon feels a little bit of pain towards the slaves and that she feels that they are only being used for torture. This tells us that Manon hates the sight of violence and torture, making us believe that she is a woman of peace. However, because of her restricted viewpoint this may make us to believe that she is exaggerating at bit because it is only from her point of view but also because she will want to make her husband look and sound bad, possibly because
In The Yellow Wallpaper, a short story by Charlotte Gilman, the symbol of the yellow wallpaper itself portrays a role into the main characters spiral into madness. To the main character, Jane, the wallpaper is at first a nuisance, then an obsession, and finally salvation. Jane becomes overwhelmed from the confided space with the wallpaper and begins to spiral into a deeper depression than what she started with and eventually loses her mind. The material of the paper itself represents Jane's everyday life, the illogical pattern that comes about in it, reflects the absence of logic in her mind and the very colour of the paper depicts the illness that yellows her sight and imprisons her within an unpredictable life, these things all playing a role in Jane's insanity. The wallpaper is at first a great annoyance to Jane as she claims that it is confusing and contradicting.
However the traditional role of femininity that was enforced upon women by a stringent and somewhat vigorous society was changing and these two texts challenge the traditional role of femininity both directly and indirectly throughout. The lack of communication and action of characters in As I Lay Dying is often conspicuous. As one would expect, this often leads to an obscuring of identity for both the female protagonists alongside males. Addie is scathing of words in particular. For her, they are just a “shape to fill a lack”.
What is love? People say that you cannot judge a book by its cover, if so, then why did Wang Lung felt guilty for not loving O-lan? The perceptions of a man by cataloging a woman are in very high standards, depending on the class of the male. It would be irrational to think that a man wants a woman to betrothed with, only because his desire is someone to do his household tasks and to bear him descendants. Bound feet are another fine example of how women must suffer anguish since the moment of development and growth to serve a man’s view as cultural and racial believes.
The repression of women and the suspicions of a patriarchal society lead to rebellion and hysteria. Suppression prevents female character developing. Miller portrays women as weak, it seems that he uses his own view of women and presents it in the crucible. Hale shows authority over Abigail: ‘You can not evade me Abigail’ here he expresses his control and power, Hale puts pressure onto Abigail to tell the truth; is she lies he knows that she will be believe over him because of his male dominance. The use of ‘evade’ tells Abigail that he cannot be overcome and therefore she cannot overcome god like she has taken control of the Girls.
The connecting elements between Hedda and Medea are the way they were both raised and forced to live in a world designed to be controlled by men. While Hedda is often referred to as the “modern” Medea, the concept of the role of women in society was hardly adequate to satisfy the needs of each woman, during either time. On the other hand, Hedda Gabbler points to the subject of individualism, especially towards women and their petty role in society. Medea is the victim of a more traditional suffering experienced by women that of being dependent on the extreme love felt towards a man that ironically, in the end, was not mutual. Another coinciding element found in Medea was vengeance.
Examine the ways in which feminism has contributed to our understanding of families Feminists take critical views of the family as they argue it oppresses women and therefore creates issues such as unequal divisions of domestic labour and domestic violence against women. Feminists believe that there is a ‘triple burden’ of paid work, domestic labour and emotional work. Also gender inequality is not regarded as natural or inevitable, but something that has been created by society. Feminists also argue that the oppression of women is due to patriarchy. The New Right has been criticised by feminists such as Ann Oakley (1997) as it has a conservative and anti-feminist perspective on the family.