Gender Roles In Mrs. Warren's Profession

In terms of women’s rights, male privilege, women’s ideals, and gender roles, Victorian society was a patriarchal society. A patriarchal society was described as a society where men have control over women in all aspects. The Victorian culture was patriarchal because women were objectified and treated as a weaker gender. As presented in Shaw’s Mrs. Warren’s Profession, women are objectified and must adhere to the ideals of men. Shaw draws out Kitty and Vivie Warren, mother and daughter, and depicts them as two women who act against these ideals. Although Kitty and Vivie share different views, they have both found themselves under the pressure of patriarchal and Victorian ideals and gender roles. Shaw also shows how male privilege can impact a woman’s life and how a woman has to change her lifestyle because of these privileges given to men. Shaw also undermines gender roles in the sense that he weakens these gender roles, and tries to strengthen equality between men and women.
Women presented in the play are shown to be “new women” because they don’t follow the ideals and gender roles. Shaw’s play depicts two different feminine roles: the first being Kitty Warren’s role which can be seen as a woman who was forced to change because of patriarchy at the time; and, the second being …show more content…
Kitty Warren and Vivie Warren both exhibit traits which make them different from the common women. These specific traits set them as transitional feminists in the sense that they show the early transition stage of the common woman who cannot succeed without a man, to the stronger woman who can succeed and live independently. Women such as Kitty and Vivie Warren were based on real women who played a crucial role in Victorian culture, women who are now classified as first wave feminists. Pushing and striving to balance out the genders and give women the rights they have always