Speeches are useful tools utilised by orators in their attempt to put forth their values and views, enforcing them upon their audiences and depict how knowledge in their context is as important in the present in order for the central concerns established throughout to mould their audiences view. This idea is explored in speeches such as Margaret Atwood’s ‘The spotty handed villainesses’ which provide the audience with an entertaining insight into the portrayal of villainesses in novels, also Aung San Suu Kyi’s ‘Keynote Address to the Beijing World Conference’, highlights the international purpose of campaigning for the liberation of women and Anwar Sadat’s ‘Statement to the Knesset” which shows his repercussions in peace-making between countries. …show more content…
Atwood refers to the representation of females in literature in comparison to reality. She uses humour such as ‘snow white is a vampire’, as she introduces her characters as being powerful and with ‘untold possibilities’. Also, Atwood calls to her audience for “Women characters to arise!” This alludes to William Blake’s ‘Jerusalem’ where he states ‘Rouse up, O Young Men of the New Age!’ This suggests that she is creating an uprising for women for their beliefs and fights for their rights in her current society. The signification of her values and views empower the speech, allowing it to resonate amongst the audience, which included well-educated fiction readers who would be able to respond to the many literary allusions. She further endeavours with rhetorical questions, “women too have multi-dimensions, why doesn’t literature portray this?” Her implication of logos enhances her argument and makes the audience ponder on the question, whilst the linguistic of the text furthers her point that literature must portray women to be as prevalent as men. She concludes that the ‘many-dimensionality’ of women needs to be given literary expression and repeats a quote by a feminist Rebecca West ‘In us’ to reinforce and add credibility to her argument. The speech prospers in the fight for writer’s freedom of expression from criticism of extremist …show more content…
The largely female audience is acknowledged by her humorous aside "joined by a few brave men!" Her inclusion of political statistics adds credibility to her argument. The speaker mockingly counters male superiority idealism by using a reference to the "scientific reason", whereby the coming of the dawn precedes the crowing of the rooster. This 'rooster' is a trans-cultural metaphor that links symbolically to her culture. As a symbol of the patriarchal beliefs, the rooster extends into a representation of her male-dominated society, effectively allowing her to criticise issues that remain to be prevalent today as it “is not the prerogative of men alone to bring light to this world". The antithesis of the current darkness is a result of women not having a role in the government due to inequality in their society. Zoomorphism is used to define the resilience and inner strength of women by describing them as being "tender as mothers nursing their newly born" as well as "brave as lionesses defending their young." This emphasises the duality of strength and tenderness and resolve that makes women "magnificent human beings". Kyi’s political fame and international recognition allowed her speech to be well
Margaret Atwood’s speech ‘Spotty-Handed Villainesses’ is an epideictic text, which explores the significance of having a multi-faceted depiction of female characters within literature as a means of achieving gender equity, centring on the fictional presentation of women as either virtuous or villainess. The title of the speech
People started to open their ears and their hearts. Her overall purpose is to show that there is a gap between men and women that cannot be overlooked and sidestepped for any longer. Women don't only deserve the right to vote, but they deserve the same rights as men. Applying logos, juxtaposition, and strong use of diction to her speech, she connects to her audience and reveals to them the reasons why what she is saying is crucial to the country.
Society continually places specific and often restrictive standards on the female gender. While modern women have overcome many unfair prejudices, late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century women were forced to deal with a less than understanding culture. Different people had various ways of voicing their opinions concerning gender inequalities, including expressing themselves through literature. By writing a fictional story, authors like Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Henry James were given the opportunity to let readers understand and develop their own ideas on such a serious topic.
Hillary Clinton’s speech “Women Rights” transmitted a crucial message to the world and that was to do something about gender inequality. Pathos helped transmit an emotional appeal to the audience and make them see the soft side of Clinton.
However, as time has progressed literature has finally come to terms with the feminism theory within literature and its ideologies. In this specific story, we are able to identify the traits of feminism theory with ease; Hurston allowed the world to finally accept the new dominant roles of women, while also allowing the female character to simultaneously possess every innate feminine trait along with those usually associated with the male
What is Feminism? How does feminism affect the world we live in today? Was feminism always present in history, and if so why was it such a struggle for women to gain the respect they rightly deserve? Many authors are able to express their feelings and passions about this subject within their writing. When reading literary works, one can sense the different feminist stages depending on the timeframe that the writing takes place. Two such works are ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ by, Charlotte Gilman and ‘Everyday Use’ by, Alice Walker; the feminist views within each story are very apparent by the era each author lives in. It is evident that a matter of fifty years can change the stance of an author’s writing; in one story the main character is a confident and strong willed young woman looking to voice her feminist views on the world, while the other story’s main character is a woman trying to hold on to her voice in a man’s world which is driving her insane.
Reading literature, at first, might seem like simple stories. However, in works like William Faulkner's “A Rose for Emily,” Katherine Mansfield's “Miss Brill,” and Kate Chopin's “The Storm,” the female protagonists are examples of how society has oppressive expectations of women simply because of their gender.
There are many female writers, some known better than other. Female writes most of the time focused their stories in experiences or personal point of view on what is going on around them. Other women write fiction of unusual worlds and character that people can relate to with the struggle or experiences. Margaret Atwood the “Canadian nationalist poetess is a prominebt figure concerned with the need for a new language to explore relations between subjects and society“ (Omid, Pyeaam 1). Atwood wrote her first novel called, “The Edible Woman”; this first novel categorized her as feminist, based on the main character of a strong woman. In an interview with Emma Brockes, Atwood affirms, "First of all, what is feminism? Second, which branch of it? Am I against women having rights? Actually, no. Am I really a puppet of the women's movement? No, I'm too old for that. I've been writing since 1956 and there was no women's movement in sight at the time”. Atwood does stands for women’s right but she never thought of being feminist while writing her stories. Atwood writes about strong women because just like any other female they are tired of reading about weak and submissive woman in books. Is clear that Atwood began writing before the woman movement started and that means she was ahead of her time. Atwood’s works is not just feminist her works represents her art and the way she feel about the world. Margaret Atwood is a poet, critic, novelist, and activist. Atwood’s stands for issues that trouble her and that she sees that are obstacles for her community. Through her entire writing career peoples can see that culture, science, feminism, and environment is reflected in her words and her expression to tell a story the only way she can. Her sho...
The feminist perspective of looking at a work of literature includes examining how both sexes are portrayed
Throughout literature’s history, female authors have been hardly recognized for their groundbreaking and eye-opening accounts of what it means to be a woman of society. In most cases of early literature, women are portrayed as weak and unintelligent characters who rely solely on their male counterparts. Also during this time period, it would be shocking to have women character in some stories, especially since their purpose is only secondary to that of the male protagonist. But, in the late 17th to early 18th century, a crop of courageous women began publishing their works, beginning the literary feminist movement. Together, Aphra Behn, Charlotte Smith, Fanny Burney, and Mary Wollstonecraft challenge the status quo of what it means to be a
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.
...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).
These highly regarded and well-respected female authors are showing that women can and do hold power in our society. These authors send the message to readers that women throughout time have been and still are fully capable of thinking for themselves. They can hold their own ground without having to subject themselves to the dominance of the males, be it in writing novels, raising a family, working in a factory, or pursuing a singing career. Thus, they as all women, deserve to be held in respect for their achievements and deserve equality.
feminism is in actuality quite limited in tha t she only applies it to British, upper middleclass women writers. Virginia Woolf’s essay-which to Bennett seemed non- feminist and to Daiches seemed feminist- universalist-is, by our modern definition, feminist; however, the borders of culture, class, and profession that composed her frame of reference drastically limit the scope of Woolf’s feminism.
Throughout history, women writers used pen names and pseudonyms to avoid the eyes of the patriarchal society. The female writers were no strangers to harsh criticism from the gender-biased readers regarding their artistic works. However such emphasis on gender discrimination coined the words, feminism and sexism, which now reflect on the past and the present conflicts. In the book A Room Of One’s Own, Virginia Woolf tracks down the history of women and fiction to find the answer. She argues, “A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction”. She chants on and on about the topic of “women and fiction”, contemplating the role of women in the traditional domain and the virtues of women writers. Although, Woolf may have contemplated over such awareness that a woman needs an atmosphere of her own in which nobody can intrude, the modern world has prevailed over such hindrances throughout technological innovations that offer freedom of speech. Also, economical affluence is not a necessity for women to engage in the fictional world but rather a sufficient condition in the modern world. Thus Virginia Woolf’s predictions failed to represent the current vantage point revolving around women and fiction.