Women In Mrs Warren's Profession

Female voices are also oppressed by other women as seen in Mrs Warren’s Profession through a tension between generations. Mrs Warren and Vivie represent two starkly different ideas of femininity since Vivie portrays the ‘new woman,’ whilst Mrs Warren is conservative and conforms to societal expectations of gender. The ‘new woman’ ‘[is] never aggressive, never argumentative; but she understands the art of self-defence, and reads what she pleases’ states Sarah Grand which is an increase in independence, and a rebelling against gender norms. Vivie reading a book and has a ‘resolute and hearty grip’ (p.214) for a handshake at the beginning which seems minor yet define Vivie as a strong and independent character. Whereas Mrs Warren lacks the rebellious nature of her daughter and believes that ‘people arrange the world that way for women, there’s no good pretending it’s arranged the other way’ (p.251) which highlights her conforming and pessimistic nature. This lack of revolt and …show more content…
Both are extreme levels of representation with the villainous cult being generalised as a symbol for all men, and the idea that all women go into prostitution because they must instead of a desire to. Grand explains that being at the swing of the pendulum means it is an unfair representation of women that makes men inferior thus not equal which can be applied to these texts. It is unfair to put every man into the category of ritualistic murderers, as mentioned above, therefore whilst the female voices in the text may be prominent it does not necessarily mean it is a positive portrayal. This is important because in a twisted method the females in the text are becoming the males they are set against which is representing women as thriving for a dominating power rather than