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Gender in literature
Portrayal of gender issues in literature
Gender in literature
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A stereotype is a trap, a cage, which restricts individuals to one identity. Once a stereotype is created, it is hard to overcome and leaves traces of prejudice. In agreement with Alicia Ostriker’s The Thieves of Language: Women Poets and Revisionist Mythmaking, Margaret Atwood’s poem “Siren Song” is a reach out for women to express feelings on gender discrimination without coming across in a way that would engender negative support. “Siren Song”, is written from the perspective of a siren, in a mythological setting but with a contemporary tone, that is restricted to the stereotype of a seductress who seeks to sing men to their deaths but in reality, she wants to break free and find someone that will not fall for her song. Opening the poem, the siren introduces her song as “the one everyone would like to learn: the song that is irresistible” (Charters 914). Many people, leaders or middle-class, would love to use the song to control over others and defeat their enemies. Grazing the surface of the poem, the siren appears to have a tone that is mocking, sarcastic, and condescending towards her victim as she sings her song. The men know that death awaits them if they fall for the song, “they see the beached skulls, but they still “leap overboard” (Charters 914). The Siren entices her victim by promising to tell them the secret of the song in return for helping her escape from her “bird suit”. There are two version of the siren, one with a mermaid tail and the other with harpy wings (Charters 914). Women are very often associated with birds and their songs. These women, just like pets, are sometimes locked up in a cage made of different stereotypes of what a woman could or should be. It was thought that is women were allowed to do wha... ... middle of paper ... ...ce from men. Atwood is not a lone though, Alicia Ostriker attests to many female writers and poets changing the way language is used. Women are not just defined as weak, vulnerable, conniving, and evil, they can also be strong, intelligent, loving, and fierce. The Siren is a woman stuck in a stereotype but if set free, as contemporary women seek freedom, then she will show everyone a different character that they may have never imagined her to have. Works Cited Charters, Ann, and Samuel B. Charters. "Siren Song." Literature and Its Writers: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. 2nd ed. Boston: Bedford, 1997. 914. Print. Ostriker, Alicia. "The Thieves of Language: Women Poets and Revisionist Mythmaking." The Thieves of Language: Women Poets and Revisionist Mythmaking 8.1 (1982): 68-90. JSTOR. Web. 14 May 2014. .
The female characters in Young Frankenstein and One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest are, stereotypically, satiric and parodic renditions of oppressed or emotionally unstable feminine personalities. The theme of the treatment of women is not only played out in the external relationships the women interact within but also in the basic mentality and roles they embody within their personality. The women of Young Frankenstein add a comical element to the film which a direct contrast to the insignificance of the female in Mary Shelley’s novel. The women of One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest are either almost terrifying when thinking of the potential evil lurking just beneath the surface or effectual props in the healing of those who need it.
In her transformation of the well-known fable "Little Red Riding Hood," Angela Carter plays upon the reader's familiarity. By echoing elements of the allegory intended to scare and thus caution young girls, she evokes preconceptions and stereotypes about gender roles. In the traditional tale, Red sticks to "the path," but needs to be rescued from the threatening wolf by a hunter or "woodsman." Carter retells the story with a modern perspective on women. By using fantasy metaphorically and hyperbolically, she can poignantly convey her unorthodox and underlying messages.
...y sirens represent half-women, half-bird creatures who lived on an island. They used to sing in beautiful voices to lure sailors off their course. When Odysseus was sailing by the siren's island, he made the rest of his men plug up their ears and ties him to the mainmast. This way, he got to hear the beautiful sound of their voice without being driven to suicide. In this story the women weeping over Lautaro were compared to the sirens, and some sailors going to tie themselves to the mainmast in an attempt to mimic Odysseus. There is a contrast of these stories with the quotes from the villagers.
In all, the misogyny presented in these two poems is not restricted to the time period they were written. Just as in medieval literature, it is still common for today's woman to be recognized only for her physical attributes. I believe that in order to have equality of the sexes and to help overcome the objectifying of women, it is necessary for women not to use the misogynistic views placed against them to their advantage.
Sirens are beautiful creatures that lure the sailors with their beautiful voices to their doom. There is one encounter with sirens in The Odyssey where Odysseus, advised by Circe, made his men tie him up to the ship and told his men to plug their ears with wax so they could not hear the “beautiful” song. He told them that no matter how much he begged, they should not untie him, because he wanted to be the first man to hear the sirens and survive. In the painting, Ulysseus and the Sirens, John WIlliam Waterhouse uses the sirens trying to seduce the men to their deaths to show that distractions can lead to destruction, while in the poem “Siren Song”, Margaret Atwood uses the same scenes to show that losing focus can lead to consequences.
The story of Odysseus and The Sirens has been the subject of many renditions including both textual and visual. One example of a Visual rendition is the painting Ulysses and The Sirens by John William Waterhouse. In this painting Waterhouse is showing the point of view of the men and how the Sirens are trying to attack them. An example of a Textual rendition is the poem “Siren Song” written by Margaret Atwood. She took a different approach in her rendition by giving us the point of view of the one of the Sirens. In the painting Ulysses and the Sirens, John William Waterhouse uses the Sirens with the body of a bird to lure sailors to their death to show that the sirens use their temptation to appear more beautiful than they really are, while
One element Atwood utilizes throughout this poem is allusion to Greek mythology. The siren is a mythological creature that was half woman and half bird. The sirens were beautiful but deadly, as they “forces
A siren is a hideous beast, yet their voice is so overpowering that it distracts from their looks and intentions. The men who are attracted to the sirens are not attracted to the looks of the creatures, but rather the voices. Clearly, if it has the power to override any logical decisions in a sailor's head, the content of the song must be very appealing and melodic. “This is the one song everyone would like to learn. The song that is irresistible. The song that forces men to leap overboard in squadrons, even though they see the beached skulls” (Atwood 1-6). All men have heard of this song, and they know the affects it can have. Yet the temptation blinding their mind allows them to indulge in their desire to hear more. Despite the fact that they can see the bones of former sailors, the men allow themselves to be swept away by the sirens’ melody, without thinking of the consequences. “I will tell the secret to you, only to you. Come closer” (Atwood 19-20). The sirens obviously use persuasion in their songs to lure the men. They make the men feel special, and entrance them in their words. If the men believe that the siren is the proverbial damsel in distress, how can they resist jumping overboard to save her? There is no logic involved in their decision, only the thought, of getting closer to the
In Homer's Odyssey and Margaret Atwood's Siren Song, Sirens are portrayed as creatures that trick men. Homer and Atwood use imagery, point of view, and diction to convey the image of the deceitful Sirens.
Like the Good Other Woman, the Evil Other Woman often spends much of her life hidden away in the castle, secret room, or whatever, a fact suggesting that even a virtuous woman’s lot is the same she would have merited had she been the worst of criminals. The heroine’s discovery of such Other Women is in the one case an encounter with women’s oppression-their confinement as wives, mothers, and daughters-and in the other with a related repression: the confinement of a Hidden Woman inside those genteel writers and readers who, in the idealization of the heroine’s virtues, displace their own rebellious
...present powerful characters, while females represent unimportant characters. Unaware of the influence of society’s perception of the importance of sexes, literature and culture go unchanged. Although fairytales such as Sleeping Beauty produce charming entertainment for children, their remains a didactic message that lays hidden beneath the surface; teaching future generations to be submissive to the inequalities of their gender. Feminist critic the works of former literature, highlighting sexual discriminations, and broadcasting their own versions of former works, that paints a composite image of women’s oppression (Feminist Theory and Criticism). Women of the twenty-first century serge forward investigating, and highlighting the inequalities of their race in effort to organize a better social life for women of the future (Feminist Theory and Criticism).
The Sirens’ cunningness and scheming qualities are shown through Margaret Atwood’s Siren Song. Written from the perspective of a Siren, she is portrayed as bored and lonely. The poem starts out, “This is the one song everyone would like to learn: the song that is irresistible.” She is playing the role of damsel in distress, wanting a man to play the hero. Seductive and manipulative, the Siren maunders on
In the poems “My Last Duchess” and “To His Coy Mistress”, several poetic and literary devices are utilized to create each speaker’s attitude toward women in different ways . Most readers will realize that in both poems, the orators view women in a pessimistic and sexist way. Imagery, figurative language, tone shifts, and words with negative connotations assist the speaker in creating this perspective. Similarly, different characteristics of the women from each poem are revealed, as well as each speaker’s negative opinions on these traits.
Throughout American Literature, women have been depicted in many different ways. The portrayal of women in American Literature is often influenced by an author's personal experience or a frequent societal stereotype of women and their position. Often times, male authors interpret society’s views of women in a completely different nature than a female author would. While F. Scott Fitzgerald may represent his main female character as a victim in the 1920’s, Zora Neale Hurston portrays hers as a strong, free-spirited, and independent woman only a decade later in the 1930’s.
At the beginning of the chapter entitled, "Sirens," Joyce refers to the female characters by diminutives, makes their occupations subservient to men, and formulates the writing so that it appears to be a confusing poem so that readers will think the women have no agency, but they do; Joyce tries to trick the reader