Edna's Theory Of Radical Feminism

967 Words2 Pages

Hunter Kalinofski
Jan/16/2017
Ms.Dodds
Feminist Theory (Revision)

Instead of embodying the earlier wave of Feminism that Edna should represent, by examining her attitude towards her shell of a husband, Leonce, how she speaks about other married men and Edna’s general doom and gloom that leads her feeling sorry for herself, looking at all of this, one could say Edna believes in the radical portion of the third wave movement of Feminism that involves Female dominance in power. (such as Edna’s belief in having multiple male lovers and treating them like gum, chewing their flavor and spitting them out) And hatred instead of prompting social changes. This proves that Edna blames her issues on men instead of herself. Leading to her creating a …show more content…

This contradicts the belief of second and first wave Feminism, while still focusing more on women, the second and first wave draw more from Humanism and Egalitarianism in the sense of complete equality between both sexes. This leaves a juxtaposition between Edna and radical Feminism ideals, as one would presume she would lean towards early Feminism beliefs.

i. “ “What are you doing out here, Edna? I thought I should find you in bed,” said her husband, when he discovered her lying there. He had walked up with Madame Lebrun and left her at the house. His wife did not reply.
“Are you asleep?” he asked, bending down close to look at her.
“No.” Her eyes gleamed bright and intense with no sleepy shadows, as they looked into his.
“Do you know it is past one o’clock? Come on,” and he mounted the steps and went into their …show more content…

She sees herself the only one in the relationship who was unhappy or had no choices, but when she has affairs with other men she sees the same thing. It’s all of the men’s fault that she has affection issues, not only Leonce, but she pushes this onto Arobin, Robert, and Victor.
There is a certain evident ignorance in the radical portion of third wave Feminism, as it serves to only focus and elucidate on women’s struggles, but plays no part into the struggles faced by men. Similar to Edna, she is ignorant in the fact that she blames her problems on men and lovers, but blocks out the thought of her having any part to play in her tangled life. Generalizing men’s description to project her feelings on her husband. Ruining a man’s life by marrying him, Edna is convinced Leonce is the sole perpetrator in their relationship issues. And thinking that all of her anguish is caused by the people around her, Edna creates a victim complex where she villainizes men and cannot see the evil in her actions. If you cloud your judgement by focusing only on others and not yourself, you are doomed to be the end of

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