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Females in 20th century literature
Gender in us literature 20th century
Females in 20th century literature
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In Christina Rosseti “Goblin Market” and Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla, both authors mythologize homosexuality and the structures which hinder the agency of homoeroticism within the sphere of homosocial women’s relations; and in doing this, Rossetti and Le Fanu symbolize representations of these structures and shed a light on their society’s attitudes towards feminine desire, longing, and, ultimately, lesbianism. Their use of symbolism allegorizes their respective stories so to comment, or illuminate/challenge the realities of the Hellenistic sisterhoods of the Victorian Era, the myth of the female orgasm, and the interior/exterior representations of the patriarchal influence on women’s sexuality; being that Le Fanu’s Carmilla projects a vampiric connotation on female sexuality to its readers perpetuating the patriarchal agenda of demonizing a women’s desire, while Rosetti’s Goblins, as representation of the …show more content…
However, despite it’s popularity female desire was so alien to men the very idea of lesbian sex seemed futile and benign. Ultimately, these attitudes towards feminine desire lead to the creation of Hellenistic relationships between women that was the framework of a thriving homoscoial society. These societies one could easily connect to the “exclusivity of the [vampire] species (Hughes 143),” which was much like a secret contract of romance between lovers. This category of bonds was made up of “sporadic relationships, of temporary and fluid alliances amongst those who travel” (Hughes 144), which according to Hughes very much fit the lifestyle of vampires; and coincidentally, Carmella was a traveler and so was the women, Virginia Wolfe’s, Ms. Dalloway shared a moonlight kiss
In the plays female sexuality is not expressed variously through courtship, pregnancy, childbearing, and remarriage, as it is in the period. Instead it is narrowly defined and contained by the conventions of Petrarchan love and cuckoldry. The first idealizes women as a catalyst to male virtue, insisting on their absolute purity. The second fears and mistrusts them for their (usually fantasized) infidelity, an infidelity that requires their actual or temporary elimination from the world of men, which then re-forms [sic] itself around the certainty of men’s shared victimization (Neely 127).
"Goblin Market" centers around one girl who has a love for the wonderful, but does not realize that the wondrous is often disguised as the wonderful. While these two terms seem the same, wonderful is rooted in naivety and wondrous exposes the ways of the real world in a cruel way. Laura falls prey to the disguise that the wondrous puts on, and at the end of the poem, her entire belief system has been altered for good. Laura's ideas were based on the songs and stories she would have heard when she was younger, which places the goblins in a sense of the wonderful, though they are incredibly dangerous. The reader can see Laura shift from innocence to distrust and brokenness through the similes scattered throughout the poem as she starts out as something out of a romantic tale to a broken shell of a woman. Fairy tales that seem wonderful in the sense of gaiety, like how the goblins seemed at first, are reflected in the fourth stanza, while after the goblins have become more of the wondrousness of monsters, the simile in the third to last stanza shows how Laura has changed from the naive to being harshly reminded of the real world, no matter how fantastic it seems.
By transforming herself to create a new sensory experience for Beauplaisir, Fantomina uses metaphorical sensual capital to confuse Beauplaisir’s literal and sexual capital. Haywood writes, “it must be confessed, indeed, that [Fantomina] preserved an Economy in the management of this Intrigue beyond what almost any Woman but herself ever did” (233). Connecting the two tropes, Fantomina’s sensual identity and its accompanying intrigue is capital to be managed. Because she manages this identity through the manipulation of Beauplaisir’s male gaze, the narrative situates the two characters as trading equally valuable commodities. Upon meeting one another, Beauplaisir “was transported to find so much Beauty and Wit in a woman,” while Fantomina “found a great deal of Pleasure in conversing with him in this free and unrestrained Manner” (228). Notably, “they passed their Time all the Play with an equal Satisfaction” (228). The “equal” satisfaction of their subsequent sexual relationship is ambiguous, but after this episode, but the dynamics of desire are clear: Fantomina wishes to continue the sexual relationship, while Beauplaisir’s passion has cooled.
Christina Rossetti also provides an insightful look into the problem of the “fallen woman,” and of the perception of this kind of woman, in Goblin Market. Unlike Eliot, who uses realistic characterization and carefully detailed prose, Rossetti relates her views through fantastical characters and highly energized poetry. Although they work within different genres, however, Eliot and Rossetti both challenge the stereotypical understanding of what it means for a woman to be “innocent” or “experienced.” Through the contrasting natures of sisters Laura and Lizzie,...
This essay will attempt to discuss the two gothic tales ‘Carmilla’ and ‘Dracula’ in relation to cultural contexts in which they exist as being presented to the reader through the gender behaviour and sexuality that is portrayed through the texts. Vampire stories always seem to involve some aspect of sexuality and power.
Homosexuality has been looked down upon for centuries. Even today, homosexuality is considered a taboo in many societies and religions. What’s even more looked down upon in many societies and religions is lesbianism. In the 19th century, it was unthinkable for women to even work outside of their homes; therefore, women being emotionally and sexually attached to each other were downright ignominy. In the 19th century, what Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu presents in his Victorian gothic story, “Carmilla,” not only challenges typical Victorian gothic, but also breaks the barrier in a society where lesbianism is considered a taboo. Through “Carmilla,” Le Fanu breaks the barrier in society for lesbianism in the 19th century by challenging three important things: traditional vampire traits, role of women, and religion.
Vampires have long been an icon that challenges the idea of ‘myth’ while also being a perfect example of the term itself. Long before Bram Stokers Dracula, there was Carmella, the lesbian vampire. Before this there were the ancient Greek tales of the Lamia, who are best described by Lawson "....the chief characteristics of the Lamiae, apart from their thirst for blood, are their uncleanliness, their gluttony, and their stupidity" (LAWSON) that would suck the life essence of children. The difference with the vampire, however, is that while other monstrosities of literature and entertainment are considered mostly a natural evil, that is, in and of themselves capable of harm to general human interest, vampires are a commentary of relationships through a sort of
Vampires have been a popular figure in literary works for almost 200 years; from John Polidori’s The Vampyre (1819) to Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight (2005), the figure of the vampire has changed and developed over time but still remains popular and recognisable throughout literary history. The figure of the vampire is often used to represent ‘the other’, or as a manifestation of social anxieties at the time of writing. This is why it is interesting to study the how the tropes found within vampire fiction differ between texts, and the reasons behind these differences or transformations in the figure of the vampire. I will look at a range of texts to study how sexuality
Details of Rossetti’s life were a vast contrast to how Victorian women were ‘supposed’ to act in those times. Women were not supposed to be precocious or adulterated, however, Rossetti and her beliefs challenged the traditional Victorian ‘dream’, therefore resulting in her involvement with prostitutes at the St. Mary Magdalene “house of charity” in Highgate.
In the 1930s, who would have perpetrated violent acts against women in the name of sexual gratification yet still hold expectations that women take care of them? By making men in general the placeholder for “you” in the poem, it creates a much stronger and universal statement about the sexual inequality women face. She relates to women who have had “a god for [a] guest” yet it seems ironic because she is criticising the way these women have been treated (10). It could be argued, instead, that it is not that she sees men as gods, but that it is the way they see themselves. Zeus was a god who ruled Olympus and felt entitled to any woman he wanted, immortal or otherwise.
...sitive depiction of their sexual relationship. For Mina, however, renunciation of Dracula's evil must include the renunciation of her own physical needs and desires. The roles played by social mores and conceptions of gender and sexuality are, in the end, more than incidental. Indeed, the difference between Victorian England and 1990s America causes the subtle -- but significant -- valuation of the connections between good and evil and women and sexuality in two in many ways similar texts.
Carmilla, the title character and the vampire of the work, is especially important to the definition of vampirism in literature, not only because she threatens to take young women from their religious societies, but also because her victims are all women. A vampire’s victim is often synonymous with his or her lover. Both sex and homosexuality are considered taboo in Western society, because it presents both of these topics, the work is especially deviant from the time in which it was written. Le Fanu in particular was inspired by the near obsession the British Empire had with morality in the 17th century. While sex and sexuality was not necessarily suppressed during the time, and most of society was beginning to come to terms with their own agreement the topic was still banned from polite conversation. Homosexual acts, like those depicted in Carmilla were still considered extremely taboo, and often times illegal, as homosexuality was a crime punishable by death up to ten years before the work was written. Carmilla, like most of the other works in the time it was written is the product of strictly religious society and represents the amoral. Carmilla however was exceptional in the fact that the vampire is female, rather than a male vampire that has remained present throughout most vampire-centered work since their creation. Women were
Bram Stoker's novel Dracula, published in 1897, explores various sexual erotic possibilities in the vampire's embrace, as discussed by Leonard Wolf. The novel confronts Victorian fears of homosexuality; that were current at the time due to the trial of playwright Oscar Wilde. The vampire's embrace could also be interpreted as an illustration of Victorian fears of the changing role of women. Therefore it is important to consider: the historical context of the novel; the Victorian notion of the `New Woman' specifically the character of Lucy Westenra; the inversion of gender roles; notions of sexuality; and the emasculation of men, by lessening their power over women; in the novel Dracula. In doing this I will be able to explore the effects of the vampire's embrace in depth, and achieve a wider understanding of the variety of erotic undercurrents Stoker incorporated into the novel.
As the practice of homosexual love became more widespread, poetry became more erotic, celebrating beautiful boys. A similar erotic theme was then seen in the homoerotic “friendships” developed between mal...
In Aphra Behn’s “The Rover”, between the categories of virgin and whore lies a void rather than a spectrum. The three leading ladies of the play Hellena, Florinda and Angellica most certainly fall into these categories; Hellena and Florinda being virginal ladies of quality and Angellica being a famous courtesan. These three women attempt to challenge these roles throughout the play. Aphra Behn uses the domination of the men over the women, the objectification of the women and the double standards that exist between men and women to illustrate the impossibility of taking one’s sexuality into one’s own hands, and challenging the assigned roles of the patriarchal society for the female characters in the play.