Patriarchy

The Handmaid’s Tale-a novel written by Margaret Atwood focusing on the dystopian society of Gilead in the near future, where freedom takes on a new meaning. While many feminists and non-feminists alike have branded it a feminist novel, Atwood herself has condemned this, and whenever asked the question she seems to always respond by replying that there are different types of feminism, as if to distance herself from the connotation of the word (Newman, Stephanie). She emphasizes that men and women…

Girls have been put into a stereotypical box called society and have not been given the freedom to escape. From the dawn of time, females were given the submissive role to the man; they were told that their only purpose was to reproduce and then take care of their offspring, but what about themselves? Who takes care of them? As time has progressed, change started to happen and women were breaking out of their submissive roles. Society has recognized that women are growing in power, so they had…

Christopher Marlowe’s Dido, Queen of Carthage is based primarily on Book Four Virgil’s The Aeneid and is an exploration of the dangers of female rule and gender identities. Marlowe’s interpretation of Dido’s character is focused on Dido’s struggle to maintain both her ‘masculine’ nature as a ruler and her ‘feminine’ nature as an individual. Marlowe views female rule bearing too many weaknesses, such as a female ruler requiring a marriage to produce a legitimate heir could place the nation under…

In the play “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell, she uses the literal definition of the word ‘trifle’ and develops the word into a concept of revealing the bigger picture through the women characters in the story. The definition of the word trifle has several different interpretations. As a noun the dictionary says that it can be “a thing of little value or importance” or as a verb in third person says “treat (someone or something) without seriousness or respect” (Webster 1966). Both of these book…

Analyse Lawrence’s vision of female or matriarchal power in Women in Love. Where does Lawrence locate matriarchal power in the novel? Why does the novel portray that power as dangerous and destructive? What does the novel suggest is the appropriate channel for the feminine? This essay will examine feminine and matriarchal power in Women in Love. It will discuss how this sort of power is illustrated in the novel, while aiming to locate a suitable channel for feminine power within the work.…

Nelson Mandela once said, “We pledge ourselves to liberate all our people from the continuing bondage of poverty, deprivation, suffering, gender and other discrimination”. I this quote, he mentioned about gender discrimination, which sometimes happen in literature. In certain works, women are often compared to dirty objects especially in the recent modern literature. So in different books or stories the gender lens plays a very big role in it because of the content it delivers. People read…

sometimes in life we hit hills and the only way to get past them is to go up them and then back down. Much like The American and The Girl who hit trouble and struggle to get through it. In "Hills like White Elephants" by Ernest Hemingway, The 'American' and "the Girl" relationship reveals its complexity through ignorance, selfishness, and not sharing the same vision for the future that eventually leads them to dynamically change. In hills Like White Elephants, hemingway illustrates a…

In the article, Foucault, Femininity, and the Modernization of Patriarchal Power, Sandra Lee Bartky talks about gender and sexuality in today’s society. Throughout the article she talks about the unrealistic scale women are constantly put on and compared to one another. Not only does this happen to women of all ages, but to men too. Women must be small-framed and graceful, and men must be muscular and tough. Beginning when we are students in school, we are trained to appear and act a certain way…

Kate Chopin was an American author who wrote two published novels and several short stories in the 1980s. She was known to writes about the lives of women who strive to be different and distinguish themselves from the rest in order to find peace. Women in the nineteenth century and even in today’s society are condemned when they attempt to go against the grain. Throughout the years most societies are thought to be patriarchal meaning “any culture that privileges men by promoting gender roles”…

the scene. By placing this woman in this position, she is able to adopt a sarcastic voice, as she agrees to be the perfect wife, and to put on her show, despite her obvious disapproval. Through this scenario, and tone, it is possible to view how patriarchy is the driving force behind the poem. The poem begins with an immediate example of a man patronizing a woman with the statement, “What a big book for such a little head!” Such a statement clearly invokes a sense of belittlement towards his…