Margaret Atwood's 'Spotty-Handed Villainesses'

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Speeches are a direct form of communication used to express an individual’s view on an injustice in their world. People insightfully and purposefully respond to events happening in the world through speeches because they are able to directly connect with their audience. The speeches set for study address a range of issues in passionate and perceptive ways, striving to address a problem, rally people together or change a group of minds regarding the topic issue. Many groups of people including leaders of countries, social activists, people dreaming for change or those on opposing sides of a hot topic issue choose to present their ideas in the form of a speech, often reflecting their inner thoughts as they attempt to persuade the audience of …show more content…

“The creation of a bad female character doesn’t mean women should lose the vote. If bad male characters meant that, for men, all men would be disenfranchised immediately.” As she challenges her audience on their views of both women and men in literature, Atwood uses a range of female villainesses from literature to exemplify her love of unconventional and immoral female characters. One of Atwood’s arguments is that literature is limited by real life views, as the second wave of feminism in the 1960’s did not allow authors to create flawed female characters, and previously women were often only ever portrayed as either wholly good or purely evil. Atwood is passionate about both literature and feminism, and is insightful into each, and uses this to skilfully respond to an injustice in the modern world as she knows that fictional characters unknowingly influence readers in real …show more content…

Her speech isn’t about blaming those who have grown up with privilege, but merely identifying the damage that has been caused in the need for education. Lessing wants the privileged to recognise the injustice in the world and hopefully share her dreams for a better future, one where all people can receive a quality education. Lessing knows it is the idealists who change the world and therefore the more people who understand her desire for education in Zimbabwe and other poorer parts of the world, the more likely the current situation will change. As an author from Africa who moved to England, she is passionate and insightful into both worlds and her speech reflects

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