The Princess Bride published in 1973, written by William Goldman, contains misogynistic views of women from Americans’ current view, but not necessarily through the eyes of men and women of the early 1970s. Despite the beginning of the women’s rights movement, the early 1970s was an extremely sexist time period compared to 2016. However, the 1970s, compared to previous decades, showed the beginning of women standing up for themselves and society changing for the better, slowly but surely. It is important to understand the context of women’s rights in the early 1970s to understand how the women are portrayed in Goldman’s book. Specifically, Goldman’s fictionalized character of himself reacting to his overbearing wife and the hot starlet in Hollywood
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The women were not depicted as unique, smart, or suited for the work world. In fact Jonathan Merritt states, “America in the 1950s… accepted that a model family consisted of a breadwinning father, a submissive housewife, and a couple of respectful, biological children.” Because Goldman grew up with these sorts of ideals, it makes sense that his own writings would reflect those sorts of societal views. Though many of these views were changing in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Goldman was already in his 40s, probably already set in his ways, when he wrote The Princess Bride and the feminists or women’s rights movement was definitely a minority in America. According to Ryan Bergerson of Cable News Network (CNN), the Equal Rights Amendment did not pass until 1972 and was not ratified in all 50 states until 1979, after being introduced almost 40 years earlier, just three years after women gained the right to vote. Women’s current view on feminism is empowering, creating a bias when reading The …show more content…
The second line he writes about her is: “If he’d been a girl, he would have been Pamby; can you believe that, a women child psychiatrist who would give her kids such names?” (Goldman, 12). Even though this remark is passive aggressive and backhanded, the reader understands the character’s view of his wife easily. Just a few paragraphs later, immediately after he hangs up with his wife asking her to do him a favor, he sees a hot starlet and wants to have an affair with her. Goldman’s “nagging” wife, calling about being unable to find the book he wanted is the reason he loses the opportunity to cheat, makes him snap at his wife on the phone for no reason. If his wife had been successful in her duties, he would have been happy sleeping with the gorgeous starlet in California. Goldman fights with his wife often about her overfeeding their children, but the one time he describes himself as “safe and secure” is when he’s describing a nuclear family moment of eating dinner together as a family. Soon after, when he is fighting with his wife about his son’s weight, he imagines the hot woman he met in California. He has this ideal view of his family, coming home to food on the table and a submissive wife. Instead, when he comes home he gets an intelligent argumentative wife and an overweight kid, making him
The women were not depicted as unique, smart, or suited for the work world. In fact Jonathan Merritt states, “America in the 1950s… accepted that a model family consisted of a breadwinning father, a submissive housewife, and a couple of respectful, biological children.” Because Goldman grew up with these sorts of ideals, it makes sense that his own writings would reflect those sorts of societal views. Though many of these views were changing in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Goldman was already in his 40s, probably already set in his ways, when he wrote The Princess Bride and the feminists or women’s rights movement was definitely a minority in America. According to Ryan Bergerson of Cable News Network (CNN), the Equal Rights Amendment did not pass until 1972 and was not ratified in all 50 states until 1979, after being introduced almost 40 years earlier, just three years after women gained the right to vote. Women’s current view on feminism is empowering, creating a bias when reading The …show more content…
The second line he writes about her is: “If he’d been a girl, he would have been Pamby; can you believe that, a women child psychiatrist who would give her kids such names?” (Goldman, 12). Even though this remark is passive aggressive and backhanded, the reader understands the character’s view of his wife easily. Just a few paragraphs later, immediately after he hangs up with his wife asking her to do him a favor, he sees a hot starlet and wants to have an affair with her. Goldman’s “nagging” wife, calling about being unable to find the book he wanted is the reason he loses the opportunity to cheat, makes him snap at his wife on the phone for no reason. If his wife had been successful in her duties, he would have been happy sleeping with the gorgeous starlet in California. Goldman fights with his wife often about her overfeeding their children, but the one time he describes himself as “safe and secure” is when he’s describing a nuclear family moment of eating dinner together as a family. Soon after, when he is fighting with his wife about his son’s weight, he imagines the hot woman he met in California. He has this ideal view of his family, coming home to food on the table and a submissive wife. Instead, when he comes home he gets an intelligent argumentative wife and an overweight kid, making him