warren as an evil whore

1950 Words4 Pages

In Mrs. Warren’s Profession by George Bernard Shaw, the female protagonists are developed to rebel and challenge the patriarchal and the stereotypical cultural views they live in. Mrs. Warren’s Profession can be viewed as a 19th century feminist piece because it represents its female protagonists: Vivie and Mrs. Kitty Warren as being empowered by their sexuality and their intellectual, this went against the ideal women of the time known as the angel of the house. Although, second wave and third wave feminism ideas were developed in the late 20th century, Mrs. Warren’s Profession had these ideas already implemented in its characters. The text highlights the full potential of women by enabling their rebellious actions inside and outside the male dominated social frame. Mrs. Warren’s Profession problematizes the expected female agency through the indirect and direct characterization of Mrs. Warren and Vivie while characterizing the male characters as passive, nonchalant, and seeking power through women, therefore fragmenting their patriarchal roles. The female characters in this text rebel and display the same potential expected from men at the time, therefore it showed these females characters working outside the social frame to display empowerment. This is significant to notice because we realize how this text defuses the stereotypical labels placed on women in the 19th century. Both Mrs. Warren and Vivie display their full potential by stepping outside the male social frame. This text intentionally places these two female characters as the focal point of power. Shaw’s attempt to create revolutionary female characters succeeds when the text enables these female characters to display their full potential and to fully rebel and cha... ... middle of paper ... ...selves] and get all the profits instead of starvation wages? Not likely.” (Shaw) In this quote we see how Mrs. Warren is using the notion of third wave feminism of using sexuality as an empowerment tool. Her approach of making sexuality empowering went against the angel of the house notion and completely stepped out of the male social frame. Mrs. Warren was able to use her sexuality as a tool to climb the social latter as well as manipulate men. These two female characters are successful heroines for the 19th century because they completely rebel and step out of the social frame of the angel of the house. The text was able to successfully highlight the full potential of woman as well as prove that women can be much more than simply an angel of the house. At the end Mrs. Warren’s Profession becomes a defense for the Female Agency in the 19th century

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