Gender Criticism In Harry Potter

Three plays, five movies, and two television shows. The story of Peter Pan has lived on for over one hundred years, dating back to the original play in 1906. Filled with mythical fairies, mermaids, and pirates, J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan is a beloved story centering around the adventures of Peter Pan, and the Darling Children. Wendy Darling, along with her two brothers fly to the island of Neverland, a place that had lived in their imagination for years, but the true story is unbenounced to most everyone who has read the text or seen the movie. How could such an innocent story have such a dark background?

The American literary canon presents a one sided view of women, due to the dominance of male authors. Classic American books generally present images of women in a male-centered viewpoint, creating a biased representation of women in literature. In “Feminist Literary Criticism: From Anti-Patriarchy to Decadence,” Anne Barbeau Gardiner states that the American literary canon is “strikingly narrow…prepared by white men whose judgment was prejudiced and whose language was full of gendered meanings.” (Gardiner 395). Gardiner

“A man’s heart is a wretched, wretched thing, Mariam. It isn’t like a mother’s womb. It won’t bleed, it won’t stretch to make room for you.”

As stated by Tim Gillespie in his text Doing Literary Criticism, the concept of literary criticism is the field of “interpreting, analyzing, and evaluating” literary works. Thus, literary criticism is not objective; rather, it varies subjectively depending on the critic and the lens, or school, they choose to view the work of literature through. Though the actual content of literature is of extreme importance, the way it is approached is of nearly equal magnitude, as varying approaches open new and insightful views texts previously regarded as static. The feminist lens is one major school of literary criticism.

Gender has been described as masculine or feminine characteristics that encompass gender identity sex as well as social roles (Nobelius 2004). According to sexologist John Money, there is a difference between gender as a role and the biologically of differences in sex (Udry 1994). Within scholarly disciplines, cultures and contexts, gender frequently has its own mean, contextual frame of reference and the manner in which it is used to describe a variety of issues and characteristics. The sociocultural codes, conventions and the suggested and literal rules that accompany the notion of gender are vast and diverse. There has been and continues to be much scholarly debate regarding the idea of gender and how it has been viewed historically; as well as changes in the grammatical use of the

Sexuality has an inherent connection to human nature. Yet, even in regards to something so natural, societies throughout times have imposed expectations and gender roles upon it. Ultimately, these come to oppress women, and confine them within the limits that the world has set for them. However, society is constantly evolving, and within the past 200 years, the role of women has changed. These changes in society can be seen within the intricacies of literature in each era. Specifically, through analyzing The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, one can observe the dynamics of society in regards to the role of women through the lens of the theme of sexuality. In both novels, the confinement and oppression of women can be visibly seen as a result of these gender roles. Yet, from the time The Scarlet Letter was published to the time The Bell Jar was written, the place of women in society ultimately changed as well. Hence when evaluating the gender roles that are derived from sexuality, the difference between the portrayals of women’s oppression in each novel becomes apparent, and shows how the subjugation of women has evolved. The guiding question of this investigation is to what extent does the theme of sexuality reflect the expectations for women in society at the time each novel was written. The essay will explore how the literary elements that form each novel demonstrate each author’s independent vision which questions the

Men and women and their actions, thoughts, and behaviours have been at the centre and focal point in several types of literature. The relationships between one another have been portrayed in various ways, each one representing each gender differently. The representation of women has been a common and controversial subject. The female gender roles depicted in each time period have always been present in literature throughout history. These traditional female roles that society has placed on women have not always been evident. Even with different time periods, there has always been a break in the traditional female roles. Traditional female roles have

As a result of the abuse female characters have faced, it has become an objective for authors to prevent this. There have been clear strides recently, putting women as the protagonists, and not in a manner that has them dealing with persecution. The amount of strong, female characters is a large stride in the right direction to end the conflict regarding women’s roles in literature. However, this sudden influx of women in literature may lead to the reversal of the issue; the absence or abuse of men. While certainly literary equality is the end goal, to flip the issue would be just as bad and lead to sexism on the opposite spectrum. To truly mend the rift between genders, there must be no discrimination, the idea that an author is trying to use sexist undertones by not writing the lead as a female should not have to be an idea that readers think about when analyzing modern books. While even still there are issues of gender inequality in literature, there must be moderation from both ends for a resolution to be possible. The only way for equality to be achieved is with the absence of sexist ideals from all

Margaret Atwood's novel, Oryx and Crake, centers on the life of Jimmy who grows up in a futuristic dystopia defined by extreme wealth disparity, misogyny, and the consolidation of state order under multinational scientific corporations. The novel unfolds non-linearly, as Jimmy's future self, Snowman, reflects on the consequences of genetic modification and unattainable love from his earlier life. The overarching presence of misogyny, as illustrated through virtual and online violence, the gendering of STEM research, and the beauty industry, influence Jimmy's personal relationships, especially with Oryx, the enigmatic girl he believes he loves. Unfortunately, by the end of the novel, these gender frameworks color his failing relationship

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, misogyny is defined as a dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against women. It is no secret that this was very evident in medieval societies, where males held the authority over women. Even in renowned works of literature sexism occurs. It is found in none other than The Canterbury Tales and in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Chaucer is the first to describe The Wife of Bath in an unflattering way.

The 18th century was a time where there were very strong gender norms that were strictly followed. But in Eliza Haywood's Fantomina, those gender norms are challenged with the creation of a cunning, and manipulative female protagonist. We are given a text that empowers the main character, Fantomina, throughout the story and shows us a woman's power to exercise their control over men. As a women of a higher class, Fantomina would have been expected to follow a certain code of conduct and uphold a good reputation. However, her ability to deceive Beauplaisir shows her power over him, as well as her skill and intelligence.

American Literature has always been about men and for men. In this essay, we are going to analyze the women’s role in the book, as inferior and weaker gender.

I chose gender criticism this theory to analyze the gender roles and the gender expectations displayed in “Lady Susan”. I chose this theory because “Lady Susan” mainly discussed the relationship between males and females, and the interesting gender roles the characters played. Thus, gender criticism theory can help me to understand and comprehend the underlying meanings of different characters’ conducts and personalities as females.

Feminist Criticism is described as literary criticism to presents different perspectives on how literature discusses issues of gender, focusing on education, financial and social difference in a male dominated society. Critics revolve around power relation between the two genders. They also review how females are represented in different texts and literature and how such representation is sufficient. In addition, feminist critics in politics present literature that seeks to raise consciousness about the important role of women and highlight how language is misused to marginalize women. Influential figures of this form of criticism are George Eliot and Margaret Fuller. They are two who mainly came up with the idea of Feminist Criticism and the basic principles followed by others today. Some famous authors who wrote through the lens of Feminist Criticism are Ellen Moers, Alice Walker, and Tillie Olsen... These writer’s focus on inequality between women and men. Many stories have been written using this thought process as the catalysts for the work.

The feminist criticism approach evaluates how sexual identity impacts the creation and perception of literary pieces of art. It was originally an offshoot of the feminist movements but has currently employed certain approaches, such as the Masculinity approach, which is advocated by Robert Bly. Feminist criticism takes a primary role in articulating the patriarchal perceptions that have dominated the Western thought. The perceptions have consciously or unconsciously resulted in literature which is full of raw male-advocated assumptions. The current analysis aims at providing a feminist criticism of Sophocles "Antigone", with an objective to achieve an informed position.