The Male Gaze : The Female Gaze Through The Heroine Of Far From The Madding Crowd

As C. Sykes examines Victorian literature in his essay, he recognizes that many authors reveal gender issues. While some define characters by his or “her marital status,” others reveal inequality through “female capabilities” (Sykes). Victorian literature, like Bronte’s Jane Eyre, reveal gender

This gender role construct is what often makes women feel powerless/paralyzed to change their role in the domestic sphere due to overriding authority of the “masculine world.” In a literary point of view, the role of the mediocre woman in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility can describe how women, such as Lady Middleton and Lucy Steel conform to these submissive gender roles in the 19th century patriarchal institution of marriage.

To analyze the impact of women in the picture, one must examine Philip Marlowe, the hero and epitome of masculinity. Throughout the novel, Marlowe displays the admirable qualities of a man: intelligence, strength and justice. Additionally, Marlowe’s role as the hero of the film creates an example to which all men should strive. He represents the goals and desires of men, and as such his behavior helps define the position of women. Women constantly throw themselves at Marlowe, allowing him to pick from a fairly wide selection. His choice of Vivian holds considerable weight in determining the traits that make a woman popular. Marlowe’s interactions with all women help reveal the complexities of 1940s feminine attraction.

Throughout the Victorian Age, male dominance deprived women from freedom of choice. In Charlotte Brontë’s novel, Jane Eyre, Jane Eyre repeatedly struggles to become an independent young lady due to the troublesome men in the story. There are several male characters who control, humiliate, and abuse their power over Jane. The author manages to depict patriarchal dominance through the characterization of John Reed, Mr. Brocklehurst, and Mr. Rochester.

The commandment, “women must submit to the dominance of man,” (Roland de Vaux) counseled many societies, western and abroad. The precedence of a submissive woman has dated back to the most basic societies, however with the evolution of cultures and communities, the idea of male dominance was undoubtedly amended; this is where humanity divides uncovering the struggle between the oppression of women and the precedence that has been set forth for centuries. Khaled Hosseini and Nathaniel Hawthorne both comment on this societal disconnect in their domestic narrations of female characters. In Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns the character Mariam depicts a women who endures rape, abuse, and imprisonment in her own home under the hand of her husband. Similarly Hester in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is prosecuted by the male leaders of the puritan society as she is forced into solitude for the sinful act of adultery. Together these seemly different bodies of work challenge and confront society’s censure of women as shown by the revelation of unrealistic social standards of women through distinct religious historical settings, the development of characterization, and the narrative point of view of both novels.

“Monstrous women do not adhere to standards” (Swartz-Levine). The late Victorian era demonstrates the unfamiliar social shift in society. Depictions of traditional Victorian woman’s standards can be seen as sexist, as the new crowd of feminist emerges. Feminism explores the double standard of projecting sexual desires to society, however, the women who accompanied these uncommon ideas, were often seen as some sort of monster. From this, anxiety was displaced around women who seeked sexuality as it gave them a sense of freedom while breaking the traditional modesty. While these fearful thoughts were not abnormal, discussions surrounding the subject, especially in novels or films were prohibited. Since discussions of sexual desires were not

Women have been the victim of unfair stereotypes and placed at different standards than men since the beginning of time. The Ruined Maid by Thomas Hardy and One Perfect Rose by Dorothy Parker take an in depth look at how women are viewed by the opposite gender. Although they take a different approach and have contrasting poetry styles, the theme that is portrayed is prominent for both. Hardy’s poem portrays a woman living in the Victorian Era where the norm was to be married and faithful. The character ‘Melia lives in an individualistic way and is not only unmarried, but has participated in sexual activities before marriage. With this liveliness comes riches and prosperity, but also social backlash. One Perfect Rose tells the story of a woman who receives a rose as a gift from her love interest. The unnamed persona is displeased with this rose because it is typical and thoughtless. The classic gift that men give to women is a rose, which is looked at as a romantic gesture. This poem’s purpose is to show the audience that not every girl’s dream gift is a “perfect rose.” The Ruined Maid by Thomas Hardy and One Perfect Rose by Dorothy Parker explore how two women break away from typical stereotypes and long for a more unconventional way of life.

Many wifes throughout the years have endured countless amounts of persecution from their husbands, but some men take it to a whole new level. Two male authors, Henrik Ibsen and Robert Browning, brought female hardships to light in the nineteenth century. Ibsen’s 1879 play, A Doll’s House, was so controversial at the time that he was forced to write a more pleasant ending in which Nora returned after having left Torvald. Browning’s poem, “My Last Duchess”, written in 1842, showed the immoral perspective of a Duke who had his wife murdered merely because she did not preserve her pleasant personality singularly for him. It was influential writers such as these who eventually gave feminism a kick start. The two husbands in these stories share a vast amount of similar characteristics. Despite the fact that Torvald loved his wife, and Duke had murdered his, both of them exhibit extreme authoritative and egoistic behaviors.

The wife of bath her beliefs and feeling about marriage are unusual for a woman of her time. She has a different point of view of marriage, and beliefs about it also. To defend her position her marriages and lusty lifestyle, while at the same time speaking of the "Wo that is in marriage". She was a different type of woman of her times she was married more than four times. She shaped up her four first husbands and getting the upper hand sovereignty over the old husband, where they gave the power of the marriage. She was very smart to make her first four husbands to get what she wanted by sex and her beautiful because the first 4 was older than she and they all leave everything to her. She was never really in love until the firth husband that she was truth

An inference that can be made about the Wife of Bath is that she is confident in herself and even her past. The Wife of Bath seems very knowledgeable in love and confident in her beliefs. In “The Tale of the Wife of Bath” she says “If anyone should rub us on a gall, That will not kick because he tells the truth.” This sentence shows how the Wife of Bath is unapologetic when it comes to love and who she is. At the end of her story, she takes the time to ask God to send women a particular type of husband. She says “and Jesus to use send meek husbands, and young ones, and fresh in bed, And good luck to outlive them that we wed.” This quote shows the Wife of Bath is confident in her knowledge of men and love because she believes every woman wants

A bold and "worthy woman" is the Wife of Bath who considers herself the expert in marriage. Considering that she has been married more than once, her technique for maintaining the marriage has been successful. As long as she has full control, she is completely satisfied. Believing that this is the only way her marriage will be happy, she gains control over her husband. The Wife of Bath's belief that a good marriage is one in which the wife has power over the husband; a trait that she describes in her prologue and clarifies the point she made in The Wife of Bath's Tale.

A subtopic worth further exploration within The Inferno is the depiction and representation of women. The Inferno mentions very few women throughout, and that makes it all the more salient to analyze the presence of these feminine characters for the fact that they are female carries more weight within the context of the poem than what they say alone. Dante lived in an era when women did not occupy influential roles in the public realm, and were actually discouraged from engaging in intellectual or philosophical debate. Women were not allowed to take part in political discourse nor communicate through the medium of poetry. For the exclusion of women from the historical and literary western canon, Dante’s perception of women in The Divine Comedy can be seen as an underlying framework for further discussion about the consideration of women. What makes Dante’s dialogue even more germane is his use of women from both pagan and Christian epochs, endowed with key virtues of salvation, but closely linked to secular goals (Glenn, xiii-xiv).

The Wife of Bath's greedy need for complete control over men reflects in most of her actions. She seems proud of this, and constantly describes women as cruel creatures that bring great sorrow to men. When talking about her first three husbands, she says that she "governed them" (193), and "chided them cruelly" (193). She makes life for her husbands a living hell, having no respect for their feelings. Just like the women questioned in her story, she cares only for "riches...amusement...rich apparel...," to be "flattered and pampered," and for "pleasure in bed" (225). When talking of her first three marriages, she says: "Since they had given me all their land, why should I take pains to please them, unless it be for my own profit and pleasure" (192). In her story, the moral is that all women want to hold the whip in a relationship, and it is in the man's best interest to let them do so. The Wife of Bath is not a woman to be admired and, worst of all, she insists all

Living almost a century apart, Jane Austen and Thomas Hardy each explore similar themes of love through strong female characters. While society strove to keep women’s value directly tied to their marital status, Austen and Hardy wrote the stories of characters who defied these expectations. Bathsheba Everdene of Thomas Hardy’s Far From the Madding Crowd is a fiery young woman who inherits a farm, and Elizabeth Bennet of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is an educated woman who prides herself on speaking her mind regardless of the consequences. Both women are of marrying age, and both novels feature their romantic exploits. Besides their differing socio-economic and temporal settings, Bathsheba’s and Elizabeth’s behaviors indicate that they are facing similar feelings and conflicts when it comes to issues of love and marriage. Bathsheba goes to greater lengths to defy societal pressures than Elizabeth does, but Bathsheba’s circumstances warrant the effort. The real difference between these characters is the way in which they are written. One could not know how similar Bathsheba’s thoughts and feelings are to Elizabeth’s, because the reader rarely sees through Ms. Everdene’s eyes. Bathsheba Everdene is the greater feminist heroine when taken alongside Elizabeth Bennet; however, Hardy writes her story almost exclusively from the perspective of his male characters, leaving her represented as two-dimensional in comparison to

Through the Victorian Age, male dominance deprived women from a certain freedom. In Charlotte Brontë’s novel, Jane Eyre, Jane Eyre repeatedly struggles to become an independent young lady due to the troublesome men in the story. John Reed controls Jane, Mr. Brocklehurst humiliates Jane, and Mr. Rochester sees women, in general, as objects. The author manages to depict patriarchal dominance through the characterization of John Reed, Mr. Brocklehurst, and Mr. Rochester.