Feminist Criticism Contemporary feminist criticism focuses on various specified topics such as women’s biographical writings, lesbian and literature, and the role of film and the media in portraying feminine gender. It is no longer easily separated into categorical goals by nationalities or land boundaries. Instead, feminist criticism is now characterized according to whether the category of "woman" is the major focus, or whether gender identity is defined by sexual and other identities as well
Socialist Feminist Criticism: You Dropped the Bomb on Me, Baby Feminism and gender studies have been described as having the ability to “challenge literary and culture theory to confront the difficult task of assimilating the findings of an expanding sphere of inquiry” (Contemporary Literary Criticism 567). This area of study has taken center stage during the last fifty years, not only in our society, but also in literary criticism. Although the terrain Feminism traverses can hardly be narrowed
insinuations of homosexuality. Though most such interpretations can be considered true at some level, there seems to be some basic theme - some driving force - that underlies all other interpretations. While most criticisms focus on individual characters, a more insightful criticism of the true nature of Hamlet can be drawn simply by analyzing the key relationships in play. These relationships - especially those dealing with women or issues of femininity - allow a level of interpretation that examines
Feminist Criticism and Wonder Woman Wonder Woman. To get a better picture of just who Wonder Woman is, I checked out some of her many websites last night and found a surprisingly rich archive. Wonder Woman, in fact, has a complicated, even schizophrenic, heritage. She’s been portrayed by such diverse actors as the perky Cathy Lee Crosby and Lynda Carter, who endowed her with both a competent, working woman aura and a dose of eroticism (Lynda Carter, I discovered, is the subject of a lot of Wonder
fact originally led feminist critics to disregard the classical period. In an article titled “Classical Drag: The Greek Creation of Female Parts,” Sue Ellen Case states that because “traditional scholarship has focused on evidence related to written texts, the absence of women playwrights became central to early feminist investigations” (132). Despite this absence of female writers, feminist critics analyze the role of women in ancient Greece in other ways. Recently, feminist writers have been able
was more pervasive and comprehensive in all fields of society, according feminist literary criticism found its way to critical theories. 2. Feminist Criticism Feminist criticism is a study of works written by female writers, describing women's life or representing women's consciousness. Arlyn Diamond and Lee R Edwards, in the foreword to The Authority o Experience: Essays in Feminist Criticism, point out that "feminist critics, obviously, are distinguished by virtue of their particular concern
wrapped in the content. This is why I find the book worth studying. In order to find answers to my questions, I will look to feminist criticism to better understand my topic. Feminist Criticism Feminism has negative connotations in popular culture. When people think about feminism or feminists, they envision angry women who absolutely hate men. This may be true for some feminists, but not all. It may surprise a few people that feminism is integral in all facets of life. Its roots lie in a social and
Although Gilman herself doesn’t class herself as a feminist, there are clear representations of the feminist ideology throughout The Yellow Wallpaper. Gilman may have denied this relation due to similar reasons as the Bronte sisters when they used male pseudonyms to publish their work - as the feminist movement didn’t gain momentum until the 1960’s whilst the Yellow Wallpaper was published in 1891. The main feminist theories in The Yellow Wallpaper this essay focuses on are; male characters relations
Feminist Criticism of The Great Gatsby The pervasive male bias in American literature leads the reader to equate the experience of being American with the experience of being male. In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, the background for the experience of disillusionment and betrayal revealed in the novel is the discovery of America. Daisy's failure of Gatsby is symbolic of the failure of America to live up to the expectations in the imagination of the men who "discovered" it. America is
Perspectives on New Historicism, Feminist Criticism and Deconstruction in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter Introduction Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter has been a highly debatable topic of numerous critical essays, written by scholars who approach the novel from various perspectives of literary criticism. Due to the diversity of perspectives, the questions proposed by these scholars vary and hence the conclusions they arrive at by examining the same literary text may differ
Cixous's The Laugh of the Medusa Critiqued Against Showalter's Essay Feminist Criticism in the Wilderness In learning about feminist theory this semester, one idea that arose from class discussions was the notion of essentialism. Essentialism, a theory that stresses essence as opposed to existence, was discussed at length and while some classmates found it to reductionary and cliché, it is a question that I assume must be asked of ecriture feminine writing. Does ecriture feminine writing
A Feminist Alternative to Fetterley's Criticism of A Farewell to Arms After finishing A Farewell to Arms, I found it difficult to reconcile Judith Fetterley's feminist attack of the novel with my own personal opinions. I agree that Hemingway does kick women to the curb in his portrayal of Catherine, but my reasons for pinning this crime on Hemingway are different from hers'. Although she means well, Fetterley makes the ridiculous claim that by portraying Catherine as an angelic, selflessly loving
dreadfully and badly to need. One of the problems of the feminist critique is that it is Male-Oriented .If we study and analyse stereotypes of women, and the limited and restricted roles women playing the field of literature then we will come to know that what women have felt and experienced was not given any importance, but importance was only provided to only what men have thought women should be. The feelings of women were completely ignored. Feminist critique as introduced by Showalter in her essay also
equal to the rights men. Feminists are involved in literary criticizing texts and depict the power of women. Through feminist criticisms from different authors, a certain degree of respect is developed for both women and men. As “Hamlet” is critically analyzed through Gertrude and Ophelia who are the only women in the play, some differences can be drawn from the way they interact with men in speech and actions. Various authors have published their views on feminism criticism. Callaghan(15-18),uses
Feminist criticism is a method of analyzing literature to exhibit how women are oppressed in society. “Feminist Criticism” written by Lois Tyson, explains the terminology and ideas associated with a feminist lens. One of the common terms is the patriarchy, which is “any culture that privileges men by promoting traditional gender roles” (Tyson 1). A patriarchy is a male-dominated society, which automatically sets women below men. Also, traditional gender roles “cast men as rational, strong, protective
In the section, Words of Honor: Contributions of a Feminist Art Critic, Arlene Raven outlines the events in her life that have led her to be an art critic for artists who were not as “bankable” as other artists. In this excerpt, she discusses how her experiences of being raped exposed her to a cruel reality about the oppression women faced despite equal education acquirement. Consequently, she increasingly got more involved in the feminist/political work, creating iconic associations like the Women’s
Feminist literary criticism is a type of literary criticism that “is concerned with ‘…the ways in which literature (and other cultural productions) reinforce or undermine the economic, political, social, and psychological oppression of women” (Purdue OWL: Literary Theory and Schools of Criticism). This criticism goes into our culture and looks at how certain aspects are male dominated. It is also concerned with the marginalization in our culture. Most theorists believe that there were waves of feminist
Feminist Criticism: George Eliot’s Middlemarch focuses on relationships within the town of Middlemarch. As restated by David Kurnick, Virgina Woolf proclaimed that Middlemarch is “one of the few English novels written for grown-up people” (583). The complexity of this novel provides an insight into the treatment of female identity during the mid to late 1800s, the time period in which Eliot wrote the novel. The issues presented within this novel include: “social and scientific reform, the law-governed
When exploring deeply constructed ideologies and movements one must rely on the words and the events of the past. Feminist philosophy or moreover feminism is a movement that has always existed in a number of forms. Any feminine or masculine figure who clearly denounces separatism among the sexes, whether they claim or not, is a feminist. What is feminism and why is it a massive and powerful concept? It is a movement, movements are meant to shape and create a new way of thinking and a new way of life
Emily Brontë’s novel, Wuthering Heights, demonstrates a social criticism on women’s power to control their own fate and the ideal women in the nineteenth century. Specifically in Lyn Pykett’s, Changing the Names: The Two Catherines, a strong feminist perspective is explored. In her criticism she goes through many different analyses of Catherine Earnshaw-Linton and her daughter Cathy and what they represent in regard to a women’s power and social expectations in the nineteenth century. Pykett says