Women were still treated as inferiors in the male-dominated civilization of Early Athens. But Throughout Antigone, there are many references to feminism including: Antigone and Ismene’s relationship, Creon’s anti-feminist remarks, and Antigone’s fearless and valiant assertiveness. In the opening of Antigone, it is revealed that Antigone and Ismene have different ideas when it comes to being women in a patriarchal civilization. Ismene says “We must remember that we two are women, so not to fight with men; and that since...
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Feminism is defined by Webster’s as organized activity on the behalf of women’s rights and interests aiming toward political, economic, and social equality of the sexes (“Feminism”). It would stand to reason an author of feminist works of literature would create characters and storylines based on struggles associated with these ideals. Feminist viewpoints and feminist works are quite common, if not expected, in the 21st century, hardly raising an eyebrow of readers today. Such pieces tell stories of women’s suffrage,...
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In the times when Hamlet was written, women were developing their power. Even though women's behaviors were limited by their power, they were still the major influence in shaping the whole story. The Renaissance ushered in an age of human awakening in Europe. Men find their own individuality and dignity and pursue the happiness of worldly life, while women are not a completely silent class. Although women were still suppressed by the patriarchal consciousness in this period, they were no...
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Introduction Many facts say that humans are the most perfect creatures compared to other living creatures. Developing technology and science at the present time are the result of the minds that exist in human. They are able to develop the world thanks to the intelligence given to them. The development of this world may be based on human thinking that questions the meaning of them in the world, such as the question arises, for what I live or what I...
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The late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries (not to mention the years prior), were times of patriarchal dominance on all fronts, whether it be economic, social, or political. The lives of women were dictated by high social expectations and deeply rooted traditions regarding her role within the family, and how she was to conduct herself around others, particularly when it came to men. Not only did these societal norms hinder women's independence, but they were also oppressive, limiting speech, economic...
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The creation of “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne was written at a time when the advocacy of women's rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes became a huge movement in America. Femenist authors such as Mary Wollstonecraft and Margaret Fuller had circulating works of literature, making women's rights a cultural discussion. Hawthorne had previously been labeled as a misogynist due to sexist comments about Wollstonecraft and Fuller when he called them a “damned mob of scribbling...
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In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne created a story about a woman who was to endure the disgrace of the scarlet letter “A” that sewed on her garments as a symbol of her adultery. This character's name is Hester Prynne. Nathaniel Hawthorne created this story after he was fired from his job working in the Custom House in Salem. Hawthorne is from a strong Puritan background, but some say he is canonized as a feminists writer. Even though Hawthorne originated...
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Over the centuries, women did not have equal rights and privileges as men on many levels. Regarding English literature written by men, women were just objects and no leading roles. However, at the end of the 18th century, women began to write literary works and the female roles became individuals rather than serving as accessories of male roles, as they used to be. On the contrary, they got independent dignity, flesh and blood, and vivid features. Two of the most...
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To describe her globally, Emma Bovary is a bourgeois woman of the 19th century, which suffers from being a woman. Because of this suffering, she questions the gender that is attributed to her. Even if she is reduced to the state of object, victim of patriarchy and dependent on men, she is not passive, she tries to resist against the patriarchal structure. Actually, she seeks to emancipate herself and to get out of the constraints imposed on her, by adopting...
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Introduction: Women in the late 18th early 19th century did not have much choice when it came to their future. They could either get married or become governesses, that if they were educated enough. Their life was shaped mostly by their families whom tried to find them a husband who would support them. Although in her age, women were regarded as emotional, weak, nurturing, and submissive, Jane Austen depicts her heroine Elizabeth as a woman who has her own perspective,...
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Consider a play of Sophocles or Aeschylus or Euripides or Aristophanes. Evaluate the play as a piece of historical evidence for understanding ancient Athens. ‘Tragedy could be said to be a manifestation of the city turning itself into theater, presenting itself on stage before its assembled citizens.’[footnoteRef:1] Literature broadly functions as a nuanced insight into the culture, values and concerns of a society, reflecting the contextual milieu to engage with their contemporary audience. Moreover, Athenian Tragedy stands as one of...
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Specific interpretations in Darwin’s theories of evolution pose challenges to modes of proceeding within feminist critique. Since the conception of his theories of natural and sexual selection in the mid to late 19th century, it has been ‘easier to imagine Darwinism and feminism as adversaries rather than allies’. Women authors in the 19th and early 20th centuries did lots of critical groundwork in revising Darwin’s theories to uncover and challenge the stereotypes that subordinated women, which gained validation under the...
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Feminism is a social movement and ideology that fights for the political, economic and social rights for women. Feminists believe that men and women are equal, and women deserve the same rights as men in society. The feminist movement has fought for many different causes, such as the right for women to vote, the right to work and the right to live free from violence. The theorists I am going to be using are Simone de Beauvior and Betty Friedan....
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Debates have been going over for years for A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen is one of the first feminist works in the 19th-century. Henrik Ibsen himself has been perceived as a social realist by some parts of the society due to referring and raising awareness to socially repressed women. However, the ideology of feminism is not necessarily only about defending women’s rights, the doctrine of this ideology is equality. This written assignment aims to discuss feminism as a theme...
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Introduction Feminism today is a cause that several males and females are trying to champion. This is because they believe that the cause is indeed a noble one. Therefore, they fight for equal right for females, respect for females and above all, a pedestal with equal chances for females, just like the male. On this note, feminists have developed for themselves a “religion” of their own in feminism, leaving behind what religion (Islam) says about females. This is a result...
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A virtue is a character trait of fine character. It's a habit, excellently-rooted in its owner-something that, as we believe, goes all the way around, unlike a behavior like being a addiction to observe, predict, appreciate, consider, need, choose, act and react in some meaningful ways. Simply having a virtue means to become an individual with a certain complex mindset. An important element of this approach is the sincere acceptance of a distinguishing set of causes as explanations for actions....
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It is arguable that Jane Austen’s very decision to put pen to paper and write Lady Susan was a feminist act. Writing in an epoch prior to the foundations of a female literary canon being established, Austen not only utilised the epistolary form to give her female characters voice and agency, but framed the novel around a central female character who unapologetically contravenes patriarchal social expectations. Lady Susan is a middle-aged and widowed mother and yet eminently desired and overtly...
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The novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood uses the anti-feminist rhetoric of Phyllis Schlafly to create the dystopian society of Gilead, “the logical extension not only of Puritan government but also of the agenda articulated during the 1980s by America’s fundamentalist Christian Right” (Neuman 857). Atwood recognizes that the agreement on the oppressive nature of sex by the feminists and anti-feminists of the 1970s and 1980s was the crux of the feminist movement’s downfall. She uses female characters to...
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In the nineteenth century, the society was patriarchal and controlled by men, women were deprived of all rights. The society was constructed and conducted in a way that women made completely dependent on men in all cultural domains, religious, political, and economic. This is the background in which Henrik Ibsen’s play “A Doll’s House” is written. Ibsen created a female protagonist, Nora, who realizes that her marriage “has been nothing but a playroom.” (114). Nora’s words in the final scene...
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Feminism is mostly considered as a Movement. It helps to recover women’s rights in the society. In the eighteenth century, women had a lot of rules in society. According to the black people, men are always one step ahead of women and believe that they have various privileges. The main theme of feminism is based on women's equality. Mainly, the feminist critic is often focused on gender, race, and sexuality in literature and other aspects of life. Feminism is a...
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Feministic values are very prominent in the play The Merchant of Venice, mostly those involving the radical feminist concept of a patriarchal society. The female personas were able to exploit the activity of cross-dressing to accomplish the business they needed so that their lives might be more tolerable while under the control of men within the society. Not all of the personas felt empowered by their action to become men, Jessica developed a sense of shame during her disguise as...
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Wide Sargasso Sea was written as a metatextual reference to Jane Eyre, through the perspective of Antoinette Cosway, before her psychological dissent within the attic in Jane Eyre. Initially upon reading Wide Sargasso Sea, not being versed in Jane Eyre, it was taken as a tale of imperialism, and the struggle of wealth and class despite the ending of slavery. These struggles still exist, however in different context. If you examine the work through a feminist lense, you see that...
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Daisy Miller, a stepping stone for modern feminism, is about a young American woman traveling in Europe with her mother, who encounters Frederick Winterbourne, an American living abroad. Through his novella, Henry James studies, in detail, his title character. What he discovers is Daisy Miller is unbothered by European preconceptions, whereas Frederick Winterbourne, the protagonist, is consumed by them. The broad distinction between the behaviors of Daisy and Winterbourne is that Winterbourne can act as he wishes and can encompass...
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Senseless, inferior, and sensual are words that describe a woman. Marriage inhibits an individual from becoming an influential figure in feminist society. One may seek marital liberation and individuality in a male dominant society. In the novel The Awakening, Kate Chopin illustrates that a sense of freedom and independence come into realization when weak women confront conformist societies. This symbolizes the societal expectations of a married woman, the conflict with society's oppression on Edna, and the development through the characters...
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Morals are standards people are given by tradition of what is right and what is unacceptable. Great Expectations is a fictional novel that chronicles a young boy named Pip becoming a man to not only gain wealth and a higher social standing but also a partner. As a boy Pip lives with his sister and her husband, and is a normal, kind adolescent, however as the novel progresses and Pip gains more and more wealth and is surrounded by high,...
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Throughout the early history of writing, primarily men were authors and would depict women in the grasp of authority. In the nineteenth century, feminism began to rise: “Since the beginning of the women’s movement, there has been a strong rise in the amount of literature that is self-consciously feminist in tone, clearly espousing the ideals of female equality (Amico 1).” Feminism is the women’s movement that empowers women by striving for equality. Feminist writing expresses the woman’s point of view...
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The feminist perspective argues that the oppression of women is morally wrong and structural changes need to be adopted to stop the oppression of women (Francis, 2000 p. 20). It tries to end oppression through structural reform and challenging unfair social structures (Morley & Macfarlane, 2012, p. 689). Feminist theories have helped identify ways to remove oppressive practices in many female-oriented organizations. This perspective is critical to addressing the power differences between men and women and can be used to...
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The story The Awakening was written by Kate Chopin around 1899 in New Orleans. The main characters in the story are Edna Pontellier, her husband Leonce Pontellier, their two kids, and Robert Lebrun. Edna and her family went on a vacation to Cheniere Caminada Island on a Creole resort. Unlike every other woman of that time she would take care of the kids, be submissive to her husband, and be a homemaker. She began to sort for freedom after she...
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In a society where sex is consistently consumed in our daily media, it’s hard to conceptualize a time period when sex was a taboo conversation spoken only behind closed doors. From the late 1800s until the mid-1900s, sexual promiscuity was a subject not often spoken aloud. It was considered “dirty” and “perverse” to speak of such things, yet, authors, playwrights, and artists continued to use their works to portray sexuality in their own ways. Down south, in the heart of...
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The author of The Awakening was from St. Louis, Missouri. Kate Chopin is known for writing short stories such as “The Storm”, “The Story of an Hour” and “A Pair of Silk Stockings.” She published two novels in addition to her short stories, At Fault and The Awakening. Her first novel, At Fault, went largely unnoticed after its publication in 1890. Her final novel, The Awakening was published in 1899. The critics and public both condemned the novel, calling it...
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