In Atwood’s ‘Villainesses’, aims to captivate audiences and arguably has the most textual integrity of all the prescribed speeches. The composer challenges society’s attitudes towards women and urges social reform. Atwood was an illustrious novelist and poet, renown for the complexity of her work. Her speech was delivered during the rise of the third wave of feminism and she ensured to distance herself from this ideology, hence her epideictic speech is not bound by context, emphasised by the polyvocality of the speech. If she had embraced the dogmatic feminism she dissociated with, the speech would be far more context dependent and the textual integrity of the speech would have been lessened. Atwood challenges the representation of women in literature, arguing that lack of evil women in literature is suppressive to women in society, while Suu Kyi argues that the lack of women in politics is suppressive to women. The title of Atwood’s speech alludes to Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth, emphasising that women are multidimensional and capable of evil. Atwood attempts to create a middle-ground between the patriarchal and ideological feminist representations of women. The recurring motif of the ‘eternal breakfast’ acts as a symbol of the static state of which she is critiquing. Atwood argues that a…
In the first three princess movie, feminist elements appear as villains: Snow White’s Evil Queen, Cinderella’s metamorphosis stepmother, Sleeping Beauty’s devil godmother (also may turned into a fire-breathing dragon), that women are either full of desire to rights and policies, or full of jealousy to beauty and wealth, or purely abstract devils. Their unrealistic evil, is another extreme far from princesses’ unrealistic kindness. As what people think of Lilith’s demonization, these female villains are the widespread prejudices from patriarchal society, that whenever women desire power, they turn into devil.…
Atwood begins her speech with an anecdote and quotes this famous nursery rhyme to gain a personal connection with her audience and to introduce the subject of her speech – women in literature. Atwood established herself as a controversial writer, bringing her radical views such as feminism to the centre of political discussion. Throughout the speech Atwood explores the changing role of women in society through their portrayal in literature and how these roles have changed through time.…
In the author's article he presents the idea that girls should follow a more independent manner rather than the stereotype of princess who needs saving in modern films. With evidence from movies like Ella Enchanted where the princess is escaping the binds of having to marry her prince, rather than wait to be saved by her prince it is clear the author supports more feminist themes for modern fairytales.…
Envision you are walking home and you see a rally of feminists storming through the city. You shake your head at them, puzzled as to why they are causing chaos once again. However, you hear one woman scream, “I will not leave until I gain equal pay as the rest of my male coworkers! I will not keep quiet any longer!” According to The Washington Post, “the Census Bureau calculates that the median woman in the United States makes 79 cents for every buck paid to the median man.” (Paquette) Women have always been underprivileged compared to men. Zora Neal Hurston effectively used setting, figurative language, characterization, and the manipulation of plot in Their Eyes Were Watching God to inform the audience how feminism has always been present and plays a big role in our lives, whether we are aware of it or not.…
Feminism. Arguably one of the most misunderstood terms to date. In order to move forward and grow as a society, feminism is vital. Of course, sexism still exists and I doubt, there will ever be a time in history where it does not; much like racism- but generally, we have come a long way. The road for equal rights has been a long and sometimes, dangerous one as can be observed through texts such as Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, Robert Browning's My Last Duchess Sarah Gavron’s Suffragette and Charlotte Perkins-Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper. This idea of gender inequality can be readily observed through the aforementioned texts and in fact, many others, regardless of the era in which they were first written. Women being treated as possessions,…
The female perspective is a critical element that has been persistently neglected throughout cultures due to the prevalence of the patriarchy. This has meant that literature itself manifests as a male institution, shaped by men 's minds and voices who view the female experience as trivial and unworthy of consideration. Therefore, being unable to express their own perspectives and discriminated against in their writings, women are a marginalized group. But, in their portrayal, are they truly victims of a patriarchal society? Certainly Sylvia Plath 's Daddy (1962) paints a despairing picture of suppression and inner anguish, a woman driven mad by the men in her life - though is this really the case? For Ania Walwicz challenges this concept of a helpless damsel in distress by subverting the traditional fairytale in Little Red Riding Hood (1982), thus undermining masculine values about women and their sexuality. Through the examination of these two texts, the extent of women 's victimization by a patriarchal society can be determined.…
Quinn, Laura. Moby Dick vs. Big Nurse: A Feminist Defense of a Misogynist Text: One Flew Over the Cuckoo 's Nest. Censored Books: Critical Viewpoints. Ed. Nicholas J. Karolides. Lee Burress. John M. Kean. Scarecrow Press, 1993: 398-413. Rpt. in Novels for Students. Vol. 2.…
Cited: Kinsella, Kate. Prentice Hall Literature: Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. 2002. Print. Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, Inc. 2001. Print. LaFontaine, David. "Shakespeare in (same-sex) love." The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide 19.4 (2012): 19+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 27 Mar. 2013. Ioannou, Maria. " '[S]imply because I found her irresistible ': female erotic power and feminism in Great Expectations." Dickens Quarterly 29.2 (2012): 142+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 28 Mar. 2013.…
• The purpose of this essay was to convey to the reader that tales of the old are all feminist. The author uses three main points throughout the essay: Eve's apples, Pandora's Box, and Bluebeard's wives. • The target audience of this essay was somebody who understood the tales, because the author doesn't retell them throughout the essay. • This essay is written in a first person point of view, evident by Mary Meigs's multiple uses of the word I, and its variations (I'm, etc).…
That all social interaction is gendered and guided by status, positions, and roles. I have also learned that when the status and role of male and female become stereotyped it could result in sexism or discrimination. In order to prevent such, feminism is a worldwide movement to end sexism by empowering women. They include: liberal feminism, cultural feminism, socialist feminism, radical feminism, etc.…
Feminist are troubled with literature under representing women. In the early 20th century, women were seen as inferior to men in society, and feminist want to step out and…
Feminism is a body of social theory and political movement primarily based on and motivated by the experiences of women. While generally providing a critique of social relations, many proponents of feminism also focus on analyzing gender inequality and the promotion of women's rights, interests, and issues.…
Feminism is the movement that aims to gain a better understanding of gender inequality, politically and sexually. Feminist fight on issues such as domestic violence, sexual harassment, and discrimination. Feminist also argues that they are treated unequally with issues that include stereotyping, oppression and patriarchy. When looking at pieces of literature such as Chopin “Story of an Hour,” Gilman “Yellow Wallpaper,” Williams “Streetcar Named Desire,” Henderson “Trifles,” and Mina Loy “Feminist Manifesto you see the actuality of how poorly women and even married women were treated throughout the years. Feminism represents the next step in the evolution of the feminist movement.…
The text holds valid forms of characteristics of feminist literature such as an attempt in change of gender norms, a protagonist female lead character, and a…