In the 17th century a writer named Aphra Behn emerged as leader in English literature. With a shaky beginning, Behn persevered to become the first female professional writer. With her feminist opinions, she revolutionized writing and her impacts in the 17th century would change modern day writing. Behn was a clever writer who wrote lively, vibrant plays and poetry. Behn impacted the world, not only with her writing, but also with her determination and voice about her feminist opinions. Behn showed strength and courage by persevering through her struggles and tragedies.
Aphra, a skilled writer, demonstrated her strong views that distinguished her from other writers. Aphra did not attend school, but she gained her education through various contacts that taught her both literature and music (Brackett). Due to Behn’s debt she started writing to earn a source of income. (“Aphra Behn is baptized”). Behn’s writing skills were very different form the average male and female writes. Her writings differed in that Behn received attention for her upfront views of female sexuality. (Van Renen). Behn lived during the Restoration, which accepted more sexual allusions in literature than the decades immediately following. With the rise of feminism during her century, Behn's works reemerged through feminist criticism to a generation of readers who explore them as examinations of gender, race, and class, which illustrates her contribution to history (Brackett).
Behn impacted English literature by not being afraid to voice her feminist opinions. Her writing style was different from other writers at the time because regardless of the genre, she would use a very distinct voice. Behn was inspired by certain people’s attitude and characteristics that s...
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Partnow, Elaine T. "Behn, Aphra." Bloom's Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 14 Oct. 2013 .
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“ Susan B. Anthony.
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Women have faced oppression in the literary community throughout history. Whether they are seen as hysterical or unreliable, women writers seem to be faulted no matter the topics of their literature. However, Anne Bradstreet and Margaret Fuller faced their critics head-on. Whether it was Bradstreet questioning her religion or Fuller discussing gender fluidity, these two women did not water down their opinions to please others. Through their writings, Bradstreet and Fuller made great strides for not just women writers, but all women.
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...Own: Attitudes Toward Women in Willa Cather's Short Fiction." Modern Fiction Studies 36:1 (Spring 1990): 81-89.
Through the thirty four page analysis, Lanser invokes her audience to consider the influences of gender practices taken into account by writing styles, sexual oppression, the feminine consciousness, and political privileges.
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Aphra Behn, a remarkable author who “‘…earned… [women]…the right to speak their minds’”, who was not afraid to speak her mind herself as evident in her works, and was a writer that aided in paving the way for women’s rights through the literature world (The Norton Anthology 2308). A majority of Behn’s works serve to further the voice of women in the oppressed society in which they were living in and this work being examined is no exception to this. The Disappointment serves as a perfect satiric companion to John Wilmot’s satire The Imperfect Enjoyment, in which instead of the sympathy being placed on the “unfortunate” man who cannot perform, the consideration is retained on the woman’s feelings during this situation instead. This may not seem awe-inspiring, but for a time period when a gender whose side in not often portrayed, this is very significant. In the text, Behn is acting as a voice for the women of that era. She is giving women a platform to stand on to push against this male dominated society; thus providing power for the unheard. By using specific diction, meter, and so forth Behn’s work, The Disappointment, is a vessel in which she demonstrates and satires the patriarchal dominance over women in society.
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There is no doubt that the literary written by men and women is different. One source of difference is the sex. A woman is born a woman in the same sense as a man is born a man. Certainly one source of difference is biological, by virtue of which we are male and female. “A woman´s writing is always femenine” says Virginia Woolf
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Throughout Aphra Behn’s short novel, her interest in the abolitionist agenda comes off as tepid at best. While reading Oroonoko, it is difficult to say if the author is against the institution of slavery as a whole, or just against the enslavement of a specimen as beautiful and noble as Oroonoko. Much of the slave’s eponymous story is spent waxing poetic about Oroonoko’s appearance and dignity instead of demonstrating the inherent evils of the inhumane commodification of other human beings.
Feminism today remains prominent because even while women’s rights are very strong, women are still fighting for equality every day. In the time of Anne Bradstreet, women had few rights and they were seen as inferior to men. Anne lived among the puritans whom ruled her everyday life. Although it was against the puritan code for women to receive an education, Bradstreet’s father, Thomas Dudley, loved his daughter dearly and made sure that she was well educated which shows in her works. Anne Bradstreet’s literature became well known only because her family published her works under a male name. This was done because writing poetry was a serious offense to the puritans since poetry was considered creative and the only creating that was done was by God. In the works of Anne Bradstreet, she conveys a feminist attitude, and could very well be one of the first American Feminists.
In the beginning, Mills discusses theoretical elements and has labeled this section as “General Theoretical Issues” and the second part is comprised of analysis having three sub chapters. The main section of the book examines feminist models of the text and investigates language typologies. According to Sara Mills, language is a form of social communication, a tool to transfer information and a set of mutually decided linguistic choices in any system (Crystal: 1995, 18). Language functions as sharing of thoughts in a framework where options are equally exclusive. Mills criticizes the traditional method to deal with legendary writings which often neglect the fact that the writer has no command over the stuff, being delivered by him or her. Another drawback of this conventional approach is that only the texts which have literary worth are selected for analysis (e.g. the works of Shakespeare, D.H. Lawrence, Beckett and so on) and women’s writings for stylistic analysis are often overlooked. TorilMoi (1985) and Elaine Showalter (1978) are of the view that “women’s writings have frequently been barred from standard status, by the procedure named phallocentric