Compare and contrast Atwood, Carter and Duffy's presentation of the ways their female characters adhere or rebel against constrictions that society places upon them.
Female characters and speakers in The Handmaid's Tale, Nights at the Circus and The World's Wife, all adhere to social expectations as their sexuality, gender and individual identities are taken into question constantly by the people around them. The character's gender is the reason that they are subjected to being constricted due to patriarchal attempts to stop women’s liberty and freedom. In The Handmaid's Tale constrictions are placed on the women by sex being used as a method of control. This differs in Nights at the Circus as wider controls of gender existed at the time such as the lack of rights (to vote to own their own property and so on) but sex is not restricted. Duffy’s poetry shows strong women that are overshadowed by the males in their life and are made to be insignificant due to their gender. Carter’s novel explores the flexibility of gender identity and how perception in particular of Fevvers, where to some she is just a woman but to others she is the epitome of a strong …show more content…
When exploring the texts it could be seen as fictional women equating to real women, as women in the texts are given more realistic attributes than those in texts pre 1950's. This differs in Nights at the Circus as gender exists under control of the women themselves and not the men.
The convention, magical realism in Nights at the Circus attempts to blur the line of how people, mainly men are able to control or are unable to control the behaviour of women. Fevvers’ feathers cloud the judgment of the readers and of the characters were and so she becomes subject to criticism from the very beginning of the novel. Sceptics suggest that ‘by
Female characters and speakers in The Handmaid's Tale, Nights at the Circus and The World's Wife, all adhere to social expectations as their sexuality, gender and individual identities are taken into question constantly by the people around them. The character's gender is the reason that they are subjected to being constricted due to patriarchal attempts to stop women’s liberty and freedom. In The Handmaid's Tale constrictions are placed on the women by sex being used as a method of control. This differs in Nights at the Circus as wider controls of gender existed at the time such as the lack of rights (to vote to own their own property and so on) but sex is not restricted. Duffy’s poetry shows strong women that are overshadowed by the males in their life and are made to be insignificant due to their gender. Carter’s novel explores the flexibility of gender identity and how perception in particular of Fevvers, where to some she is just a woman but to others she is the epitome of a strong …show more content…
When exploring the texts it could be seen as fictional women equating to real women, as women in the texts are given more realistic attributes than those in texts pre 1950's. This differs in Nights at the Circus as gender exists under control of the women themselves and not the men.
The convention, magical realism in Nights at the Circus attempts to blur the line of how people, mainly men are able to control or are unable to control the behaviour of women. Fevvers’ feathers cloud the judgment of the readers and of the characters were and so she becomes subject to criticism from the very beginning of the novel. Sceptics suggest that ‘by