The Brute: A Feminist Analysis

Over the course of history, equality for all individuals has been a subject of much debate. There have been a great number of historical events in the fight for equality, from slavery, to African American men and women being given the opportunity to vote, to the abolition of segregation in schools, to the legalization of gay marriage, to the first president of color, down to the first female running for presidency. The fight for equality has managed to significantly improve and drastically change the lives of many individuals. However, prior to these great victories, many individuals were forced to undergo a large amount of criticism and backlash for their desires to participate in what they believed was justified. Stories of these individuals

David Auburn’s play Proof and Anton Chekhov’s play The Brute, similarly touch upon inequality and the social constraints that are placed upon women. Upon close examination through the feminist perspective approach, readers can see how both female characters are depicted as stereotypical figures prior to them proving the falsehood of society’s expectations.
David Auburn, the playwright of the play Proof, shares the battle of a young female character named Catherine who is simultaneously grieving over the loss of her father and battling with inaccurate misconceptions of women within the mathematical field. The loss of a loved one and the grieving process that comes with it is never particularly easy. For Catherine, the loss of her father, Robert, is especially difficult because of the unique relationship they shared. Robert was considered by many of his colleagues to be a genius in the field of mathematics, and it was a very

Over the course of this period, Robert would consistently express his ideas in journals, hoping that something would be of asset to the mathematics department. An obsession grew out of this habit, leaving behind 103 notebooks that filled boxes to the brim, scattered all over his office. All in hopes of creating a possible breakthrough for the mathematics department. In an effort to clean out Robert’s office, Catherine allows for a young man by the name Hale, to look through the boxes and sort out what may be of value. Upon Hale gaining Catherine’s trust, she feels capable of confiding in him something she has been hiding within her father’s desk. She allows for him to view a proof proving a mathematical theorem that she claims wrote by herself. After Hale reads through the proof, he is shocked at the marvelous discovery and questions her involvement in the creation of the proof. Upon doing so, Claire, Catherine’s sister, who is visiting the town for their father’s funeral shows interest in the excitement and also begins to question Catherine. To prove that Catherine really is the creator of the proof, Claire challenges Catherine and demands that she recite the proof from memory. In response, Catherine states, “For God’s sake, it’s forty pages long. I didn’t memorize it. It’s not a muffin recipe…” (1432). Although in the end, it is unknown whether Catherine or