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How do gender roles play a part in literature
Gender roles in literature
How do gender roles play a part in literature
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The Normality of ‘Normal’ Throughout various mediums, queer and gender portrayals are not shown in the best light. Majority of media show clear negative connotations of homosexuals and queens while constantly being a target of discrimination and ridicule. Though as time went on many writers decided to speak up and gain awareness for queer and gender biases by incorporating messages of societal discrimination in their plays. Much of their ideals were that of how sexual/gender identity portrayal, lifestyle stigma, and preconceived notions of the homosexual community. These ideals were combined in what is called gender studies and queer literary theory. Some of these concepts and ideas of queer and gender theory can be seen throughout the play …show more content…
Tennessee Williams was known for his work because he openly addressed topics considered taboo for the time and was criticized harshly for it. Later in his life Williams began drinking heavily before beginning to write about his addiction and homosexuality. Due to Williams’s drive for writing against the norm of society, he put various ideas of queer and gender normality within “And Tell Sad Stories of the Death of Queens.” In the play Candy, a transvestite queen looking for companionship, tries to find it in Karl, an ill rooted man looking only for money, and their many exchanges throughout the story ends up leading Candy to his death. A queen being a man who finds comfort and more natural being dressed and acting more feminine. In “And Tell Sad Stories of the Death of Queens” one can see various instances of a queer and gender theory such as gender performance, heteronormativity, gender stereotypes, …show more content…
Throughout the play, Karl is the personification of society and of their reactions of discrimination to that of queens and homosexuals. Karl shows discrimination various times throughout the play, such as when Candy was telling Karl how he should not talk about people behind their back and Karl replied that “There’s no woman as low as a faggot” (Williams 410). Karl’s reaction displays how he thinks lowly of queens and makes an effort to make them feel less worthy than something else. Karl mimics society with this his ideals as socially no matter how low on the social class a women is, a homosexual would always rank lower than them. Karl furthers his discriminatory ideals when he Candy gives him a drink and decides to converse with Karl about the type of person he is. Karl replies with “I recognized your type before I met you…I don’t care what you have besides crabs and cash” (Williams 409). This response by Karl reveals how his pre-connotation of queens impacted his perception of Candy and before even meeting him, already decided his opinions of him while thinking only of his money. Karl’s usage of Candy for money and pre-judgment of him shows how he treats Candy only as an object to be used and not seen as a person of equal value. These ideals mimics societies
Stereotypes are commonly held beliefs that most are all individuals sharing a given trait also should or do share other attributes to be associated with aspects such as race, religion, and physical qualities. In Shakespeare’s “Othello” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, he uses stereotypes to embody the characteristics of the stereotypical female according to society’s liking. The women in both “Othello” and “A Midsummer NIght’s Dream” are loyal and faithful. Women are bound by respect and loyalty to the men they love. Shakespeare has drawn a line concerning gender roles and the consequences of violating these positions (Bevington, 2014). Women seem to be victimized by society’s influence as they yield to these stereotypes that shape the
Furthermore, a few of his plays are written about drag queens and others about being gay. Mr. Fierstein grew up in a time when being gay was a very hard lifestyle to be open about. Over the decades the support group lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community or better known as LGBT, has supported the mass movement worldwide. Mr. Fierstein set out to illustrate to the world that it is ok to be yourself and that the LGBT community will not accept any more bigotry. His plays focus on the hardships faced by the oppressed and the tyrants.
In ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ Tennessee Williams depicts many of the convictions concerning to American society 's mind-set towards men and women 's gender roles in the mid-twentieth century. He deals with both male and female typecasts as well as society 's reaction to those who question these assumptions. In order to shape understanding of gender labels Williams uses a variety of techniques, such as dictions, stage directions, character foils, symbolism, sarcasm, and character. By signifying these truths Williams poses a question to society, as to whether or not these depictions are
In order to climb up the ladder of society, people oppress those characteristics that lead them to failure. During the 1950’s and 1960’s, homosexuality was seeing as a mental disease of the human race. Homosexuals did not fit in the schema of the American family. Tennessee Williams, in his play “The Cat on the Hot Tin Roof”, shows the effects of society´s views on homosexuals through the main character Brick. In addition to Williams´ play, the theatrical work, “Doubt” by John Shanley, also depicts the struggles that an African American kid undergoes in order to suppress his sexuality. Both plays show two characters in different social classes and from different races trying to survive the denial of society towards their sexual orientation. Through their oppression by male hegemony and with the help of the maternal figure in each play, both Brick and Donald struggle to overcome their fear of acceptance.
Throughout the plays, the reader can visualize how men dismiss women as trivial and treat them like property, even though the lifestyles they are living in are very much in contrast. The playwrights, each in their own way, are addressing the issues that have negatively impacted the identity of women in society.
In an effort to legitimize all subcategories of sexuality considered deviant of heterosexual normatively, queer theory acknowledges nontraditional sexual identities by rejecting the rigid notion of stabilized sexuality. It shares the ideals of gender theory, applying to sexuality the idea that gender is a performative adherence to capitalist structures that inform society of what it means to be male, female, gay, and straight. An individual’s conformity to sexual or gendered expectations indicates both perpetration and victimization of the systemic oppression laid down by patriarchal foundations in the interest of maintaining power within a small group of people. Seeking to deconstruct the absolute nature of binary opposition, queer theory highlights and celebrates literary examples of gray areas specifically regarding sexual orientation, and questions those which solidify heterosexuality as the “norm”, and anything outside of it as the “other”.
Tennessee Williams was a well renowned playwright, who highlighted his personal experiences in his plays and stories. He had a colorful life and he enjoyed writing about what was considered taboo subjects in the 1940's, 1950's and the 1960's. Williams explored homosexuality, alcoholism, violence, greed and sex.
Blackwell, Louise. “Tennessee Williams and the Predicament of Women”. Tennessee Williams. A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Stephen S. Stanton. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice – Hall, Inc., 1977. 100-106
...the female and male gender across cultures. This role can cause problems when mistaking a male for a female much like Gallimard did in the play. Everyone from children, to the media, creates stereotypes. Stereotypes corrupt members of society, compelling them to view cultures and gender unfairly. Societies must eliminate the amount of stereotypes that are being distributed to various cultural around the world. Stereotypes are powerful, limiting, and discriminatory, and they prevent people from understanding other cultures fully. Without the demolition of stereotypical ideas, cultures that stereotype others will not see the differences between the stereotypical ideas and the real ideas of a culture.
Tennessee Williams was one of the greatest American dramatists of the 20th century. Most of his plays take us to the southern states and show a confused society. In his works he exposes the degeneration of human feelings and relationships. His heroes suffer from broken families and they do not find their place in the society. They tend to be lonely and afraid of much that surrounds them. Among the major themes of his plays are racism, sexism, homophobia and realistic settings filled with loneliness and pain.1 Tennessee Williams characters showed us extremes of human brutality and sexual behavior.2 One of his most popular dramas was written in 1947, and it is called A Streetcar Named Desire.
Many television shows have transgender characters portrayed offensively, which clearly demonstrates a widespread problem. Transgender characters are being portrayed as “victims”, cast as killers, and working as sexual workers. The first thing that writers in the media think of when using a transgender character is prostitution. This is the immediate preconception because in reality sometimes the only job a trans person can get is in sex work. As we saw in Screaming Queens, the transgender community was forced into prostitution, among many other degrading consequences of being trans.
Kushner describes a society, not unlike our own society today, that looks down upon gay men and other minorities. By setting the play in the mid 80's, a time when gay-bashing was at its zenith, he is able to capture the prejudice towards homosexuals and all that surrounds it. The early 80's was also the time when AIDS was a new disease being made aware to the mass public for the first time. By setting the story in New York City, a melting pot of different cultures and people, Kushner proves that not just one group of people come in contact with homosexuals. All of these geographical and atmosphirical forces aid in setting the mood of the play. These surroundings drive the characters to act the way they do and make the choices they make.
The play connects to Williams’s life and his struggle to find satisfaction in his sexual relationships. “Throughout his life Tennessee Williams was driven from one sexual encounter to another, exactly like Blanche, and like B...
Tennessee Williams was known as one of the greatest and most controversial playwrights in American history. He once said “I believe that writing or any form of creative work was never meant by nature to be a man’s way of making a living, that when it becomes one it almost certainly loses a measure of purity” (Lewis 54). This statement shows that Williams was a genuine writer who used his plays and poems to express his own thoughts. Williams was known for his Southern Gothic writing style. This is “a style of writing practiced by many writers of the American South whose stories set in that region are characterized by grotesque, macabre, or fantastic incidents” (“Southern gothic”). Some critics believe that Williams had sacrificed his talent for fame and fortune; however, other critics believe his writings were original works of art. When Williams’ lover, Frank Merlo, died he went into a deep depression and his writing began to suffer. His plays were becoming less and less desirable and the amount of time each was on Broadway was slimming down little by little. Williams’ beginning writings were works of art, but they became predictable as time went on. Although he did use a lot of recurring themes and symbols, each individual piece had a life and moral value of its’ own.
It suggests that it is meaningless to talk in general about 'women' or any other group, as identities consist of so many elements that to assume that people can be seen collectively on the basis of one shared characteristic is wrong. Indeed, it proposes that we deliberately challenge all notions of fixed identity, in varied and non-predictable ways. Moreover, Queer theory is a rapidly growing field in the critical theory tradition. Often examining the intersection of capitalism, gender, heterosexism and the state, queer theory is constantly seeking to break down norms and question the status quo. It is in the realm of male homoeroticism that we may see the potentially reactionary and/or misogynist implications of queer texts and queer reception: non-straightness does not necessarily embrace liberation. Perhaps the most prominent examples of this are the straight male-oriented genres such as gangster films, the Western, action films, and buddy films, which position male homoeroticism as a means to create and defend a “world of men” and buttress “hard” masculinity against the softening effects of domesticity and heterosexual commitment. There may be readers, including those who have not encountered such ideas before, who are dismayed to find in the pages of a socialist publication a word which they had previously taken to be a gross homophobic insult. For most,