Both The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter and Persuasion by Jane Austen are constructed as love stories, although not conventional love stories. Austen's novel is part of the cultural movement of Romanticism as, although in earlier novels she satires Romanticism, Persuasion does bear some of the hallmarks of the Romantic period. Carter's novel however, can be seen as an ironic look at the Romantic novel. Therefore both novels provide an interesting viewpoint on their male characters, due not only to their style of writing but also to the novelists' gender and their obvious ideologies.
Jane Austen was an early standpoint feminist1 and so it is perhaps surprising to find her writing in the Romantic genre as it was "historically a male phenomenon"2 which not only objectified women but also "subjected them... in order to appropiate the feminine for male subjectivity"3. Female Romantic writers such as Austen "critique the dominant gender ideology of their time... present(ing) a more complex concept of female experience and capacities"4. In other words Austen's feminist viewpoint allows us to see a more realistic view of the world allowing Austen to provide a less sympathetic view of males and male behaviour then her male counterparts. Carter, however, uses a post-feminist view and so allows an ironical viewpoint on female Romantic writers' feminism, while taking further the critical look at the patriarchal male and the cycle of dominance and subsequent repression of women by males in general within the novel.
The main way in which the feminist standpoint is shown within both novels is through the use of free indirect style, a technique of narrating a character's thoughts, decisions and feelings through a combination of first- and t...
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...(London, Routledge (2nd ed.), 1997)
Jane Austen, Emma, (Norton, 1993)
Jane Austen, Persuasion, (Penguin, 1998)
Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, (Oxford University Press, 1987)
Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility, (Oxford University Press, 1933)
Angela Carter, Black Venus, (Vintage Press, 1995)
Angela Carter, The Bloody Chamber, (Vintage Press, 1995)
Angela Carter, The Magic Toyshop, (Virago Press, 2000)
Angela Carter, Wise Children, (Vintage Press, 1992)
J. Cowely, Persuasion, (York Press, 1999)
Sarah Gamble (ed.), The Fiction of Angela Carter, (Icon Books LTD., 2001)
C.L. Johnson, Jane Austen: Women, Politics and the Novel, (University of Chicago Press, 1988)
A.K. Mellor (ed.), Romanticism and Feminism, (Indiana Press, 1988)
A.K. Mellor, Romanticism and Gender, (Routledge, 1993)
In this dissertation, ideological systems considered to limit the creation of Western female identity were explored through feminist discourse: Angela Carter’s The Passion of New Eve (1977) and Kathy Acker’s Don Quixote (1986). The former discussed the extent to which gendered identities are founded on biological difference and binary structures, looking at how these dichotomies work to confine female identity to a concept of fixed ideals. With reference to the work of Butler, Carter undermines essentialist views which limit identity, demonstrating through multifaceted and changeable characters that identity is constructed as opposed to determined. By engaging in multiple discourses, Carter’s characters reject conforming to regulatory norms, and are consequently revealed to be living out simulacrums, as Butler suggests all people do. The motif of the mirror was explored with reference to the work of Lacan and Mulvey, looking at how the novel presents female identity as contingent upon male desires due to society’s preoccupation with the phallus. Female identity is therefore constructed to appease masculine appetites, with the mirror revealing the discord between unified appearance and incoherent inner identity. The lack of female representation was discussed with reference to speech and narrative structure, with patriarchal systems of communication shown to exclude women from representation. Carter uses the dual perspective of Eve(lyn)’s narration to destabilize gender identity, revealing it as cleft and uncertain. Lee suggests that the incongruity of the narration also works to mount a critique of the role of the gaze, with the fact that Eve(lyn) narrates in retrospect hindering the reader’s ability to know whether the narrator ...
For readers who observe literature through a feminist lens, they will notice the depiction of female characters, and this makes a large statement on the author’s perception of feminism. Through portraying these women as specific female archetypes, the author creates sense of what roles women play in both their families and in society. In books such as The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the roles that the main female characters play are, in different instances, both comparable and dissimilar.
After Finn explains Philip Flowers’ attempt to corrupt Melanie, she asks herself, “What if Uncle Philip of the iron fists is not my mother’s brother at all?” Here, she questions not only Uncle Philip, but also the integrity of the entirety of The Magic Toyshop. In doing so, Angela Carter highlights the boundary between reality, defined as “the quality of being real or having an actual existence,” and fantasy, defined as “a product of imagination, fiction, figment.” Throughout the novel, Carter explores the various, intertwined layers of reality and fantasy until the two become indistinguishable. First, Carter exposes multiple characters’ individual, frequently escapist, fantasies. Then, she presents collective reality and fantasy, exemplified by her metaphoric, uncanny prose and the fantastical world of Philip’s toyshop. Furthermore, she subverts the classic fairytale through grotesque, hyperbolic descriptions of Philip and allusions to the aforementioned fairytales and other works. By the end of the novel, both Melanie and the reader are unable to distinguish between fantasy and reality.
In the opening of both the play and the novel we are introduced to the two main female characters which we see throughout both texts. The authors’ styles of writing effectively compare and contrast with one another, which enables the reader to see a distinct difference in characters, showing the constrictions that society has placed upon them.
While there is no shortage of male opinions concerning the role of females, which usually approve of male dominance, there is a lack of women expressing views on their forced subservience to men. This past subordination is the very reason there were so few females who plainly spoke out against their position, and the search for females expressing the desire for independence necessarily extends to the few historical works by women that do exist. Jane Austen is a well-known female author, and it is natural that her novels would be studied in an attempt to find a covert feminist voice. However, though certain feminist elements may exist, one common theme found throughout the novels Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, and Emma, makes it impossible to label these works as completely supporting feminism. The idea that women should not be allowed to have power, should be controlled by men, and that males should use their power to the fullest extent is inescapable. This idea is raised repeatedly throughout these novels.
...re many similarities when it comes to technique, characterization, themes, and ideologies based on the author's own beliefs and life experiences. However, we also see that it appears the author herself often struggles with the issue of being herself and expressing her own individuality, or obeying the rules, regulations and mores of a society into which she was born an innocent child, one who by nature of her sex was deemed inferior to men who controlled the definition of the norms. We see this kind of environment as repressive and responsible for abnormal psyches in the plots of many of her works.
This idea exemplifies the reason that contemporary fiction is one of the most popular literary styles within a novel. Abbe Wright, conducted an interview with the author of Jane Steele, over the importance of including “feminism” in her controversial novel. “giving something back to women that was taken away, the right to make our own decisions, and live without the fear that we will be punished somehow”(Wright 2). The use of feminist literary criticism is used to explore the inequalities, social injustices and abusive messages directed toward women within cultures. Lyndsay Faye's, says that the importance of having a female narrator, was simply sought out to go against the norm.
With more and more women taking ownership of their lives (and our hearts) onscreen and in pages, we ought to do a throwback to our foremothers, who helped to make it a thing to talk about women in the first place. Long before female characters became trapped as tropes, flattened and insignificant in today’s media, they were written in all their glory by women like Austen and Woolf, as well as many others. Here are three famous ones, who, when compared to three infamous tropes, illustrate the complexity of women as born at the pens of equally excellent women.
Through her writing, she acted as a precursor to the first wave of present day feminism that still shakes the flaw social constructs of our patriarchal system. She uses metaphors to illustrate allegorical imagery that when analyzed is rooted into the problems that women faced of the 1900s. And a thorough investigation and criticism of the bias that still holds true to today involving narrative constructs and their character gives readers the boons of an objective view of literary work. Women have experienced the worst that men have to offer and through their obstinance of the past, have become stronger and stand taller today than ever
Moglen, Helene. The Trauma of Gender: A Feminist Theory of the English Novel. Los Angeles, CA: U of California P, 2001.
Women play a key role in this novel in many ways. In the case of...
In the Eighteenth and Nineteenth centuries, the idea of patriarchy ruled the many societies all over the world. Particularly in Britain, its “overarching patriarchal model” (Marsh) had “reserved power and privilege for men” (Marsh). Also during this time period feminist literature began to arise and was invaded by, “the complex social, ethical, and economic roots of sexual politics… as testimony to gender bias and the double standard” (“Sexual Politics and Feminist Literature”). In Jane Austen’s writing, readers have been aware of her constant themes of female independence and gender equality. However, many have criticized the author for the fact that many of her “individualistic” female characters have ended up
In conclusion the three themes of Freedom, Oppression and Repression are major factors in the two stories, all three of the themes appearing in distinct ways. By comparing the position of both Jane and Mrs. Mallard in the two stories both in their own particular way are oppressed or subjugated by other males, in this case their husbands, even though their husbands often want to do what they feel is best for them. This leaves both tales open to examination in terms of the issue of patriarchy and how often women are its victims. It is also sure to say that Freedom, Oppression and Repression were very much commonly seen in the 19th century since both stories were written in about that time and both share these
Jane Austen’s works are characterized by their classic portrayals of love among the gentry of England. Most of Austen’s novels use the lens of romance in order to provide social commentary through both realism and irony. Austen’s first published bookThe central conflicts in both of Jane Austen’s novels Emma and Persuasion are founded on the structure of class systems and the ensuing societal differences between the gentry and the proletariat. Although Emma and Persuasion were written only a year apart, Austen’s treatment of social class systems differs greatly between the two novels, thus allowing us to trace the development of her beliefs regarding the gentry and their role in society through the analysis of Austen’s differing treatment of class systems in the Emma and Persuasion. The society depicted in Emma is based on a far more rigid social structure than that of the naval society of Persuasion, which Austen embodies through her strikingly different female protagonists, Emma Woodhouse and Anne Eliot, and their respective conflicts. In her final novel, Persuasion, Austen explores the emerging idea of a meritocracy through her portrayal of the male protagonist, Captain Wentworth. The evolution from a traditional aristocracy-based society in Emma to that of a contemporary meritocracy-based society in Persuasion embodies Austen’s own development and illustrates her subversion of almost all the social attitudes and institutions that were central to her initial novels.
However, even though a feminist view helps to encourage certain views in the text, it can be restrictive. This is because it does not allow the reader to discover other potential meanings such as a Marxist or a Psychoanalytical perceptive. For instance, in Salome a Marxist critic may be interested in the sexual power that the woman misuses. In addition, a psychoanalytic perspective allows us to see that it is the unconscious mind that is driving Salome to do such acts. This idea is reinforced through the Lois Tysons idea that “we unconsciously behave in ways that allow us to “play out”…our conflicted feelings about the painful experiences we repress”.