Abstract This paper discuses the issue of gender roles in Charlotte Lennox's book "The Female Quixote". It focuses on the main character Arabella and how she manages to make the world revolve around her. It looks at the issue of female empowerment, relationship between the sexes and how these relate to modern day.
From the paper:
"Charlotte Lennox's "The Female Quixote" decries the influence of romantic novels on its main female protagonist, Arabella. Like Cervantes? Don Quixote, a reading of romance novels, tales of beautiful women and their influence on men, and of their being the center of the world they dwell in, with everything seeming to revolve around their person, ostensibly seeks to expose the delusions of such women. By putting the onus of such delusions upon the romance, they decry fictions, or at least the genre of fiction that goes by the name of romances. However, a reading of the novels brings forth the great truth that it is neither the romantic fiction, nor its misreading and misinterpretation by the main protagonists of these two novels and others of their kind, but the entire gamut of gender relations that can be held responsible and that needs to be probed further as the cause of such delusions. "
Abstract This paper compares and contrasts Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech and John Winthrop's sermon "A Model of Christian Charity." King's speech was the keynote address at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. It stressed nonviolence as a tactic to end of racism. Winthrop's sermon was given while en route to the New World on board the Arabella. The speech outlined the purposes of God for New England.
Abstract In Alexander Pope's "The Rape of the Lock", it is the exaggeration of the cutting of a lock of hair from a woman, Arabella Fermor, that incites an argument between two families and results in a petty social quarrel. This paper examines the exaggerated style of the poem for its comical effect, but also as a satire to throw light on 18th century society's obsession with trivial events.
From the Paper "Understating this aspect forms the basis for the heroic significance of the poem and also for understanding the impact of the incongruities and comparisons that Pope makes in the poem. In the poem the order of social life is upset ? but here it is on a trivial and comic scale. The Rape of the Lock places the cutting of a lock of hair against the great heroic and titanic efforts of heroes."
Abstract "The Rape of the Lock" is a brilliant mock-epic poem by Alexander Pope. This paper explains an interpretation of the poem and presents details on the life of Pope, showing how he became a satirist. This paper also goes into the style of Pope's poem and the satire in "The Rape of the Lock."
From the Paper "This poem is done in such a way, however, that is encompasses more than just that mere event of the cutting of a lock of hair; it cuts through to things that really matter.
"Along with 'mighty-trivial' we need other pairs of contraries - for instance, 'heroic-effete,' 'primitive-sophisticated,' 'antique-contemporary,' 'masculine-feminine,' 'principled-opportunistic,' 'dramatic-historic'" (Cunningham 17). These contrasts exist throughout the poem and help to give it more meaning than if it were just about the single incident involving Miss Fermor."
A thesis paper analyzing the female characters in Thomas Hardy's "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" and "Jude the Obscure" in the light of feminist criticism.
Abstract The novels of Thomas Hardy have created intense critical debate and discussion in recent years, especially in terms of post-structuralist and feminist readings and interpretations of the texts. A central focus of this critical and theoretical literary discourse is the apparent ambivalence and ambiguity that many scholars perceive in the works with regard to his attitude towards women and their place in society. This apparent ambiguity in Hardy's presentation of women forms the underlying and central trajectory of thought in this paper and an attempt is made to relate these critical views to the two main texts under discussion; as well as presenting an overall view of the feminist stance as it pertains to the interpretation of the selected texts. A further and equally important dimension of this study is the exploration of the view that Hardy's perception towards women was influenced by the conservative society and times in which he lived. This paper also explores to what extent the writer questioned and opposed the patriarchal views that were dominant in Victorian society at the time. The central core of the present analysis of Hardy's novels is therefore focused on feminist interpretations and critiques of the works in question. More specifically, the feminist critique is involved with the post structuralist and postmodern deconstruction of western society and the interrogation of the constructs and master narratives that inform or create various social attitudes and perceptions of gender. This is an aspect that is developed in the theory section of the present study and is expanded on further in the analysis of the novels. A central fulcrum around which the discussion in this paper revolves is the apparent ambiguities and contradictions in Hardy's works, when seen from a feminist perspective. This paper also attempts to reconcile these two seemingly opposing views of the works to some extent. Another central element in this analysis of Hardy's novels is the focus on the politics of sex and the cultural and social norms and values that played an important part in the view of women and gender discrimination in Victorian society. There is little doubt that Victorian society had a very narrow view of the potential and individuality of women. There are many feminist views, concepts and theoretical constructs that are also incorporated into the analysis of the texts. For example, the importance of the theory that society "politicizes" the female body and the way that the female body is objectified and becomes an "object of desire" rather then a living person. However, throughout this analysis a balance is maintained between the theoretical views and analytical tools that are used by feminist critics and an analysis of the text itself. In other words, the theoretical views are measured against the actual text.
Outline:
1. Introduction
1.2. Thomas hardy and Victorian society: a brief background.
2. Feminist theory and Hardy
2.1. Modern theoretical trajectories and feminism
2.1. 1. A note on post - structuralism and postmodernism
2.2. Feminist theory and literary criticism
2.3. The Social and cultural context
2. 4. The Male Gaze
3. Tess of the d'Urbervilles
3.1. The problem of Hardy as a feminist novel
3.2. Overview
3.3. Tess and traditional feminist interpretations
3.4. Tess of the D'Urbervilles and sexual politics
3.5. Sexual construction
3.6. The development of Tess and the fight against the 'male gaze'
4. Jude the Obscure
4.1. Introduction and overview
4.2. Brief summary of the novel
4.3. The male world divided from nature
4.4. Arabella 4.5. Sue
5. Conclusion and Assessment
6. Bibliography
From the Paper "The most imperative aspect that Mitchell notes is that feminist interpretations are extremely important in an understanding of these works due to the fact that female characters and issues surrounding sexuality and gender form such an important part of almost all of Hardy's novels and cannot be ignored in terms of modern analysis. This may seem like a rather obvious point but in many of Hardy's works the focus is on the female characters as a reflection of and comment on society and the cultural milieu of the novels.
"Sexuality and its ramifications in terms of characters like Tess in Tess of the D'Urbervilles is also an important aspect of contemporary feminist critique that applies to the novels. This is an aspect that is especially important in an analysis of the novels.
"One of the most important early feminist critics of the work of Thomas Hardy is Mary Jacobus (1975). Her work has been focused on the psychological dimensions and representations of Sue Bridehead and the nature of her emancipation, in Jude the Obscure. (Harvey 183)."
