How Does Carol Ann Duffy Challenge the “Familiar Cultural Stereotypes” of Women in ‘Mrs Beast’??

Under my feminist reading, I see the poem as an attempt by the poet to exist as an independent autonomist woman by rejecting the traditional patriarchal ideology that women were subjected to at the time. Plath begins the poem with the line ‘stasis in darkness’, symbolic of the fact that women at the time were trapped in the darkness of patriarchal society. She uses the term ‘God’s lioness’ as a reversal of gender expectations to show her support for the rise of feminism.

One definition of feminist is that “feminists are united by the idea that women‘s position in society is unequal to that of men, and that society is structured in such a way as to benefit men to the political, social, and economic detriment of women.” Even though the concept of feminism did not exist in the Middle Ages, Chaucer had started to

In the opening chapter, there is an immediate foreshadowing of feminism in the novel and what the story is about, “Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men.

Sticking true to the Vicortain setting of his novel, Bram Stoker ensures that gender and gendered behavior is well defined throughout his novel Dracula. He explicitly genders the characterizations of his characters; however, most of them do not portray characteristics exclusively associated with their gender. In order to highlight such complexities, Stoker must acknowledge prevailing thoughts on gendered behavior. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, masculinity is associated with “strength...vigor…[and] power” ("masculine, adj. and n."). Contrastingly, the feminine is seen as “delica[te]” ("feminine, adj. and n.") and emotional. One of the strongest characterististics of either masculine or feminine behavior is that it is “often contrasted with a corresponding object deemed to be” ("feminine, adj. and n.") of the opposite gender. It is this strong contrast that Stoker’s portrayal of characters with a mixture of a traits a bold choice. Stoker’s portrayal of Dracula as the epitome of traditional masculinity casts negative light on the masculine archetype; when this villain is

The injustice in society between gender is shown through the relationship between the narrator and John, her husband. In the story, John never once called her by her name, sometimes “a blessed little goose” or some other animal name, like an adult looking down at a minority. This is a discrimination towards women and clearly represents how unfairly women were treated during those times. They were looked down upon, treated as below human, equalling animals. John expects nothing more

“Beauty and The Beast” is a classic well known romantic Disney movie that depicts the gender role of men and women in society. The film is based upon a smart young female protagonist named Belle who is imprisoned by a self-centered young prince after he has been turned into a beast. They both learn to love each other in the end and throughout the film there are several examples shown portraying the roles of gender. In the film the main characters Gaston and the Beast portray themselves as rude, conceited and more important than the woman even though the main character Belle is a woman whom is considered odd, yet smart, and unrelated to most women in society.

In Angela Carter’s The Courtship of Mr.Lyon, feminist themes are portrayed through the use of symbolism. The symbols are portrayed through the plot reversal of the classic tale, The Beauty and the Beast. By portraying the beauty and the beast opposites, Carter breaks traditional gender roles typically associated with fairy tales. The Beast is fragile, vulnerable, and ultimately ends up being helpless. While Beauty proves herself to be strong willed, confident, and eventually, aware of the oppressive and objectifying society she lives in.

The term ‘feminism’ and ‘feminist’ first started to gain popularity in the 1970s. Starting in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, continued into the 1960s and 1970s, then followed by the 1990s to the twentieth century, feminism and feminist grown across the nation. From clubs and organizations, to readings and speeches, feminist all across the nation, and world, have influenced aspects of our daily lives, including our literature. “Feminist criticism examines the ways in which literature reinforces or undermines the economic, political., social, and psychological oppression of woman” (Tyson 83). In simpler terms, feminist criticism is critiquing literary readings, through the mind of a woman’s opinion of structure and being.

In the 21st century, many women have been successful because of feminism. Women empowerment in our current time is a lot strong than in the Medieval period, but it is still weak. In “The Canterbury Tales” by Chaucer it represents strong feminist characters in, “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale”. The characters such as a Wife of Bath, an old hag, and also a Queen from “Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale,” play a feminist character in the male-dominated society during that time. Through these three characters, we see strong examples of feminism.

Beauty’s role in beauty and the beast glorifies her as a sweet girl who can find light in any darkness. She prefers to move forward in life rather than sulk in misery. Being such a positive female character allows her to fall in love with a man who is not of the society standards of handsome, name Beast. She was more intent on focusing on what he had to offer as a person. Karen Rowe states in “Feminism and Fairy Tales” “such alluring fantasies gloss the heroine's inability to act self-assertively, total reliance on external rescues, willing bondage to father and prince, and her restriction to hearth and nursery” (Rowe). The heroine being beauty in this case, doesn't have opinions or rights because her character wasn't created to. Rowe believes that fairytales have paved the way for our expectations towards what women and men should be doing and what romance is. Rowe argues that “These "domestic fictions" reduce fairy tales to sentimental clichés, while they continue to glamorize a heroine's traditional yearning for romantic love which culminates in marriage” (Rowe). Beauty’s character found herself in these “sentimental cliches” with her

All over the world Feminism is a current topic of concern and there are very few advocates who are currently fighting for gender equality. In the media men and women are attempting to use their voices to fight for equal rights and get the message across to all generations. In this paper, I will be analyzing the movie Beauty and the Beast (2017) by drawing upon the feminist theory, which will demonstrate how the main female character, Belle challenges the modern-day system of inequality and the socially constructed gender roles. I will do so by examining why Emma Watson was chosen as the leading actress, how Belle is different than the other women in her town, the modifications from the original movie, and how Belle ultimately gets to decide her destiny. I will also consider why some people may view the film as anti-feminist, which will allow for me to understand a different perspective. It is my thesis that socially constructed gender identities are negatively presented in popular culture, however actors and actresses are attempting to use their influence to make an impact and move towards equality.

In Christina Rossetti’s poem Goblin Market, Laura is saved from death through the bond of Sisterhood: a female power that embodies both traditionally feminine and masculine characteristics and values. Ross Murfin’s essay “What is Feminist Criticism?” feminist criticism, in the study of literature, is described as a criticism that examines how the values and attitudes of patriarchal societies affect the portrayal and expression of women in text (186-194). French feminists have focused on analyzing the way meaning is produced and have concluded that a gender binary is formed by language (186-187). Meaning is created by what a thing is not; for example, men are men because they are not women. The gender binary determines what things are masculine and what are feminine. This essay will adopt a feminist perspective and examine the gender roles (the behaviours, expectations, characteristics and values assigned to each gender by a society’s gender binary) depicted in Goblin Market. The primary focus will be on how gender roles affect the actions and decisions made by Laura and Lizzie throughout the poem and how sisterhood, a construct that blurs the gender binary, is the means that saves Laura’s life.

The poem ‘Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers’ by Adrienne Rich was written in 1951 while she was struggling to establish herself as a female poet in a male-dominated artistic sphere. The poem focuses on Aunt Jennifer’s role as a wife in the patriarchy of mid-twentieth century society, and how she, like many women, had little of her own. Their lives were defined by the marriage, and as few women had their own income most were completely dependent on their husbands. The poem focuses on the physical lack of power Aunt Jennifer has over her own body and her choices, which is juxtaposed with her ownership of her mind and personality.

Mrs Beast is the penultimate poem of the collection. It helps to sum up Duffy’s aim of The World’s Wife: to highlight the female voice by looking at human history. The entire poem is a retelling of the fable of ‘The Beauty and the Beast’ by Jean-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont. Beauty sees past the Beast's outward appearance, bringing the feminist rejection of objectification to the fore. However, Beaumont's portrayal of Beauty as a submissive, obedient daughter to her father and servant to the Beast is anything but feminist. Duffy re-works the tale to explore her thoughts about feminism and feminist

For the poem “Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers” by Adrienne Rich, I choose the feminist approach for several reasons. The first reason is that the poem shows how many women were prevented of achieving more than just a “good wife” (which is not bad if the woman wants so). For example, the speaker says, “The massive weight of Uncle’s wedding band/ Sits heavily upon Aunt Jennifer’s hand” (7-8). This show how she is restrained in this marriage which is a load in her life. The next reason is the marriage is not how it appears to be on many circumstance. For instance, the speaker notes, “When Aunt is dead, her terrified hands will lie” (9). The idea of beautiful hands is a sign that a man or woman does need to work under extreme conditions, and thus, that person has a good life; however, the lie is that that person does not have that good life that others might perceive. The last reason is that the tigers in the poem play an important role because they are a symbolism of how women should be. In the line 3 and 12, the raconteur states “They do not fear the men beneath the tree” and “Will go on prancing, proud and unafraid”. It shows the idea that women should not be fear of men and they are also as capable as men to do whatever they propose to do. The question I hope to answer is why the author wrote the poem, and what was her purpose in doing so (what she wanted to change).