Gender Roles In John Fowles 'Woman'

Though Michael makes valid points, the fact that it fails as a feminist novel is still quite irrelevant because as stated, it is meant to depict Sarah as a woman from the 1960s in the 1860s. Despite the fact that Michael is correct in saying that Sarah is represented through male voices, the fact is, the novel was written by a man, the other main character Charles, must be a man, or the story would not be the same. Though these things appear to keep Sarah 's identity viewed through a masculine lens, Fowles is still able to create Sarah 's character into one who ultimately holds the power and is an independent woman. Evidence of those can be found in what Michael says next. She says: "It could be argued that, by describing Sarah from a purely external position, the novel is presenting an honest view of male perspectives of women and not falling into the trap of projecting male thinking into Sarah 's mind" (Michael …show more content…
However, upon examination, it is evident that Charles ' gender role is that of a standard man in Victorian society and Sarah is a woman with ideas that only sprouted about a century later in the 1960s. Sarah appears to be weak, mischievous, cold and an outcast, and though she is the latter, it is simply because she believes in ideas that are ahead of her time. The idea that she could be in control of a relationship with a man and then ultimately not marry him and be an independent woman, was not of Victorian society. Fowles brilliantly presented a female character that appeared to be weak and feeble, but was actually an intellectual ahead of her time. She is a woman of power, of direction and she knew where she was headed all along. Not only did she embrace her difficulties or shortcomings, but she made the best of them and ended up