Women's Strength

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Women's Strength

An analysis of the failed female power of Elizabeth Gaskell's "The Grey Woman", Edith Wharton's "Kerfol", George Eliot's "The Lifted Veil" and Zora Neale Hurston's "Spunk".

1,303 words () | 4 sources | MLA | 2005 United States

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses the role of women in four short stories: Elizabeth Gaskell's "The Grey Woman", Edith Wharton's "Kerfol", George Eliot's "The Lifted Veil" and Zora Neale Hurston's "Spunk". The paper investigates the failed female ambition to gain power in these short stories. It also contrasts the characters of the women that try to gain power with the successful, submissive woman, Melanie Daniels from Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds".

From the Paper:

"A woman's strength may come from her sense of perseverance, integrity, devotion, or survival. Unfortunately for the women that grace the pages of Elizabeth Gaskell's, Edith Wharton's, George Eliot's, and Zora Neale Hurston's short stories, strength is not enough to save them. In each work, readers encounter strong women who find that being strong will never be enough to contest with the dominant male society. Through one male perspective, Alfred Hitchcock, an audience is able to see this domination and the suggestion that perhaps a woman's submission is the best course of action. It is within this subjugation of each woman's strength that a horror more terrifying than a classic monster can be found."

Sample of Sources Used:

Gaskell, Elizabeth. Gothic Tales. New York: Penguin Books, 2000.
Hurston, Zora Neale. "Spunk." Harlem Renaissance. 08 May. 2005 <http://www.nku.edu/~diesmanj/spunk.html>.
The Birds. Dir. Alfred Hitchcock Perf. Rod Taylor and Tippie Hedren. Universal Studios, 1963
Wharton, Edith . The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1973.