The Feminist Criticism Of Michael Henchard By Thomas Hardy

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adjust herself to them. Irvin Howe, like other male critics of Hardy, easily fails to notice about the novel is that Michael Henchard sells not only his wife but his child, a child who can only be female. Patriarchal and male dominated societies do not willingly and gladly sell their sons, but their daughters are all for sale be it soon or late. Thomas Hardy desires to make the sale of the daughter emphatic, vigorous, essential and innermost as it is worth notifying that in beginning of the novel Michael Henchard has two daughters but he sells only one. Thomas Hardy wants to make it clear that Michael Henchard is representatively selling his whole share in the world of women. Having disengaged his bonds and ties with the female community of love and loyalty, Henchard has preferred to live his life in the male community in order to define his human relationships by the male system .His tragedy, misfortune, calamity and hardship lies in the fact that he fails to realize the insufficiency and meagerness of this system, and in his incapability to reclaim the loving bonds he comes dreadfully and badly to need. One of the problems of the feminist critique is that it is Male-Oriented .If we study and analyse stereotypes of women, and the limited and restricted roles women playing the field of literature then we will come to know that what women have felt and experienced was not given any importance, but importance was only provided to only what men have thought women should be. The feelings of women were completely ignored. Feminist critique as introduced by Showalter in her essay also talks about also concerned with the exploitation, misuse and the manipulation of the female audience and spectators, especially in popular culture. Femini... ... middle of paper ... ...ion and duty of Gynocriticism is to widen and enlarge new models based on the learning of female experience. It doesn’t support the thought of adopting male models and theories. Elaine Showalter notes that Gynocriticism begins at the point when we liberate ourselves from the linear absolutes of male literary theory and stop trying to fit women between the lines of the male tradition. Elaine hopes to institute a visible and detectable world of female culture. Gynocriticism is different from Feminist Critique as Gynocriticism is more Self- Contained and Experimental. One of the basic aims of Gynocriticism was to build a female framework and a structure for the analysis, study and interpretation of women’s literature, to develop new models and ideas on which the study of female experience can be based and not adapting male model, concepts and theory theories.

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