To say that gender is performative is to argue that gender is “real only to the extent that it is performed” - Judith Butler, Gender Trouble
To what extent do the characters in Glengarry Glen Ross and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, conform to or challenge their socially constructed gender roles?
In her seminal work of cultural theory Gender Trouble, Judith Butler regards gender identity as a social and cultural construction, ‘supported by a masculine heterosexual hierarchy within society’ . Butler discusses how ‘subjects play their genders’ and in the process ‘repress, reject, or subvert themselves to fit in with society’ . Within Glengarry Glen Ross and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? this theme is explored, as gender identity is formed by social norms of the respective time periods (the late 1950s and 1980s). Characters in the plays both conform to and challenge their socially constructed gender roles.
In Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? the pervasive literary theme of gender conflict- what it is to be ‘men’ and ‘women’- is explored, working with the crushing social conformity of the 1950s, after the …show more content…
Martha is obsessed with the ‘figure of masculinity’, to the extent that she imitates it herself. Martha’s identity is established through men which results in this imitation, and anger as she blames her dissatisfaction on them as well. As Butler argues, it is ‘the masculine point of view which governs our lives, which sets the standard’ . One thought is that Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? should be viewed as an early feminist text, ‘portray[ing] and analys[ing] the damaging effects of traditional, stereotypical gender roles’ , highlighting how damaging these expectations are. Martha, for example, through her somewhat masculine ‘performance’, challenges the ‘widely accepted patriarchal values by theatricalizing them’
To what extent do the characters in Glengarry Glen Ross and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, conform to or challenge their socially constructed gender roles?
In her seminal work of cultural theory Gender Trouble, Judith Butler regards gender identity as a social and cultural construction, ‘supported by a masculine heterosexual hierarchy within society’ . Butler discusses how ‘subjects play their genders’ and in the process ‘repress, reject, or subvert themselves to fit in with society’ . Within Glengarry Glen Ross and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? this theme is explored, as gender identity is formed by social norms of the respective time periods (the late 1950s and 1980s). Characters in the plays both conform to and challenge their socially constructed gender roles.
In Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? the pervasive literary theme of gender conflict- what it is to be ‘men’ and ‘women’- is explored, working with the crushing social conformity of the 1950s, after the …show more content…
Martha is obsessed with the ‘figure of masculinity’, to the extent that she imitates it herself. Martha’s identity is established through men which results in this imitation, and anger as she blames her dissatisfaction on them as well. As Butler argues, it is ‘the masculine point of view which governs our lives, which sets the standard’ . One thought is that Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? should be viewed as an early feminist text, ‘portray[ing] and analys[ing] the damaging effects of traditional, stereotypical gender roles’ , highlighting how damaging these expectations are. Martha, for example, through her somewhat masculine ‘performance’, challenges the ‘widely accepted patriarchal values by theatricalizing them’