Misogyny in "A Girl Without a Dowry" Book Review by Babak

This paper discusses how amongst all of the works of Russian literature the one that exhibits the most male dominance over women is "A Girl Without a Dowry" by Ostrovosky. The paper looks at how this fairly short play conveys a multitude of different methods by which women's worth is undermined in a male dominated world. The paper also examines how Ostrovosky depicts a social system where men not only control women's lives, but also a world where a female needs a male to survive and how, through the use of character dynamics, the play conjectures the opinion that male authority is an essential part of life that cannot be abolished. The paper looks at how "A Girl Without a Dowry" exhibits ideas of oppression against women through the frame of male misogyny, which is most strongly conveyed through the character of Paratov, who is rendered as the prototypical alpha-male.