# Reading > General Literature >  Feminism.

## Shakira

Hey guys I have got my syllabus for M.A. & in the *Gender in Literature* paper I seem to have some problems. Please help me out.

1. There is a mention of *Culleton* and I have no idea who he/she is. Please let me know the first name of this person so that I can search about him/her.

2. Which play by Shakespeare can be read from a Feminist perspective ?

3. Can anyone please let me know the "Gender issues" in _Pygmalion_?

4. There is also the mention of *M.Atwood*.Is this *Margaret Atwood*? Was any of her work feminist in any way ?

I know I'm asking a whole lot of questions but plzzzzzzzz help me out.

Thanks  :Biggrin:

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## genoveva

> Hey guys I have got my syllabus for M.A. & in the *Gender in Literature*
> 
> 2. Which play by Shakespeare can be read from a Feminist perspective ?
> 
> 3. Can anyone please let me know the "Gender issues" in _Pygmalion_?
> 
> 4. There is also the mention of *M.Atwood*.Is this *Margaret Atwood*? Was any of her work feminist in any way ?


All of Shakespeare's plays can be read from a Feminist perspective. If you have not read Pygmalion or Margaret Atwood's Handmaid's Tale, as a M.A. in Gender in Literature candidate, it is imperative that you read them. All have feminist interpretation.

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## Inez

Hi. Could Culleton be Beatrice Culleton Mosionier? A Canadian writer who wrote a powerful book of two native girls called In Search of April Raintree? I have never read it, but I have heard of it.

Margaret Atwood is a Canadian writer famous for her feminist writing. The IPL has some literary criticism and links here that might help you: http://www.ipl.org/div/litcrit/bin/l...t.pl?au=atw-83 (If the link doesn't work, go back to main page http://www.ipl.org/div/litcrit/) Her most well-known book is The Handmaid's Tale, about a dsytopian future set in the United States where women were kept in slavery for breeding purposes. Alias Grace is also critically acclaimed and is set in Canada in the past. It explores the relationship between men and women as the protagonist, accused of murder, is helped to remember her past by a male doctor.

genoveva is right that all Shakespeare's plays can be read from a feminist perspective but if you had to pick a couple, you could try Othello which has three differing types of women in it who actively discuss their treatment at the hands of their men and have interesting similarities and differences to discuss. Also the Taming of the Shrew is a good one as a man actively tries to 'tame' his woman. 

The Taming of the Shrew links nicely with Pygmalion as there a man teaches a young woman how to conform to upper class social expectation. I.e. be 'tamed' and moulded.

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## Shakira

Hey genoveva & Inez,
thanks for all your help. I'm sure it will help me out. 

When I was reading _Pygmalion_ I came across a few points that I thought might be feminist. I have put down some of them. Please let me know if these are proper & if there are some more then please give me hint I'll re-read & try to find them out. 

Act 2 - Eliza refuses to sit down when commanded impolitely by Higgins to do so, but then is convinced to sit by Pickering. 

Act 3 - Mrs. Higgins criticizes her son's vulgar language, but he does not admit he is at fault until Pickering supports her argument. 

Act 4 - Eliza becomes enraged by Higgins careless comments after her performance at the Embassy party. She feels her efforts have been disregarded and that she will now leave and be forgotten by Higgins and Pickering, whom she has become fond of. She expresses her anger by throwing Higgins' slippers at him and coldly giving back all the items he had bought her. She enjoys angering him, and later that evening leaves the house without warning.

Act 5 - Eliza wields her studied grace in an attack on her teacher, Higgins. She subtly insults him with the language and manners that he taught her. She also threatens to use the teaching techniques he used on her to make a living for herself.

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## Psycheinaboat

A book that could be some help to you, especially on the question of Shakespeare, is _Characteristics of women, moral, poetical and historical_ by Anna Brownell Jameson.

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## Danika_Valin

Even though these aren't on your reading list (and my head is all in Greek Tragedies right now after making my book request), check out the works of Euripides. He was considered one of the first feminists. I recommend:

*Electra*- Clytemnestra, the queen with the "male strength of heart" who is looked down upon for acting like a man almost as much as she is for killing her king, finally gets the chance to defend herself.

*Hippolytus*- Hippolytus wants to devote his life entirely to Artemis (coincidentally a fertility goddess as well as goddess of the hunt) and spurns all women. It doesn't end happily. The feminism is symbolic.

*Medea*- CONSIDER READING THIS! After helping Jason get the golden fleece, Medea is taken away from her homeland and gets married to Jason. He has a few children with her, betrays her, becomes engaged to Creon's daughter, then plans to get rid of her and the children. She gets her revenge, and being a witch, her revenge is great! She does a lot of damage, but really, WHO COULD BLAME HER? At the very end of the play, she becomes her own deus ex machina, a goddess. If this play doesn't have feminist themes, I don't know what does! There is a wonderful speech lines 230-259:




> Of all things with life and understanding,
> we women are the most unfortunate.
> First, we need a husband, someone we get
> for an excessive price. He then becomes
> the ruler of our bodies. And this misfortune
> adds still more troubles to the grief we have.
> Then comes the crucial struggle: this husband
> we've selected, is he good or bad?
> For a divorce loses women all respect,
> ...

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## PeterL

> Hey guys I have got my syllabus for M.A. & in the *Gender in Literature* paper I seem to have some problems. Please help me out.
> 
> 1. There is a mention of *Culleton* and I have no idea who he/she is. Please let me know the first name of this person so that I can search about him/her.
> 
> 2. Which play by Shakespeare can be read from a Feminist perspective ?
> 
> 3. Can anyone please let me know the "Gender issues" in _Pygmalion_?


Google for "Culleton feminism" and you will get a great many results. 

Anything can be "read from a Feminist perspective."

I never went along with the redefinition of "gender" to mean anything other than word forms, so for me there are no "gender issues", except whether to use a masculine, feminine, or neuter form.

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## Shakira

Thanks to all for your help.

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## SleepyWitch

> Hey genoveva & Inez,
> thanks for all your help. I'm sure it will help me out. 
> 
> When I was reading _Pygmalion_ I came across a few points that I thought might be feminist. I have put down some of them. Please let me know if these are proper & if there are some more then please give me hint I'll re-read & try to find them out. 
> 
> Act 2 - Eliza refuses to sit down when commanded impolitely by Higgins to do so, but then is convinced to sit by Pickering. 
> 
> Act 3 - Mrs. Higgins criticizes her son's vulgar language, but he does not admit he is at fault until Pickering supports her argument. 
> 
> ...


i think the play as a whole can be interpreted from a feminist perspective, not only those details...
e.g. there's the idea that a lower class woman (class+ gender) needs to be taught how to speak by a middle/upper class man... she isn't even allowed to use her own language, which is regarded as inferior to the man's language... but in the end she finds a surprising solution... she is supposed to marry her teacher out of gratitude (because he taught her 'proper' pronunciation) but instead she marries the other guy. it says in Shaw's epilogue that the reason she marries the other guy is because he needs her, whereas the professor is proud of his success but doesn't really need her....
read the play again....

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## Shakira

Can anyone tell me who is Marquez ? I have just this name & no other information. If anyone can let me know his/her first name I'll try searching on Google.

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## SleepyWitch

Gabriel Garcia Marquez? although i wouldn't know what he's got to do with feminism

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## Inez

Wasn't there a male critic for the feminists called Marquez way back when? Or a male writer that the feminists revered? I can't recall if it was Gabriel Garcia though.

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## Shakira

Hey guys I'm sorry but my ques on Marquez was not for the Feminism paper. I have the book _100 Years of Solitude_ for another paper. Sorry for the confusion  :Biggrin:

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## Scheherazade

I want to read _100 Years of Solitude_  as well. The Book Club read _Love in the Time of Cholera_ last year. Although the style was nice, the story was boring. Maybe we would read the _100_ this year in Marquez month as well.

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## SleepyWitch

it was? i didn't find the story boring at all.. well it certainly wasn't very innovative... but for me the way it was told made up for that

Shakira, do they teach any Indian Literature at your univ at all?

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## Shakira

Hey guys I'm back agin in need of some help. 

I have to do a Research Paper on any text from the Gender point of view. The protagonists can be both - male or female. Situations can include - Societal pressure, Conformity to rigid rules, etc. I'm not too inclined on taking up a classic since already so much has been written on them. 

Can someone suggest me a not too new & not too old book.

I'll be highly thankful.

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## Scheherazade

Have a look at _Middlesex_. It is a recent Pulitzer winner and has a very interesting approach to sexual identity both from individual's point of view and as society shapes it.

You can read a summary here: http://www.amazon.com/Middlesex-A-No...e=UTF8&s=books

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## mono

> Hey guys I'm back agin in need of some help. 
> 
> I have to do a Research Paper on any text from the Gender point of view. The protagonists can be both - male or female. Situations can include - Societal pressure, Conformity to rigid rules, etc. I'm not too inclined on taking up a classic since already so much has been written on them. 
> 
> Can someone suggest me a not too new & not too old book.
> 
> I'll be highly thankful.


For what you search, indeed, as Scheherazade recommended, _Middlesex_ by Jeffrey Eugenides (sp?) would probably interest you. I would also look into _Orlando_ (fiction) and _A Room Of One's Own_ (nonfiction) by Virginia Woolf. In more peculiar, obscure ways, _Death Of A Salesman_ by Arthur Miller and _Metamorphosis_ by Franz Kafka may also help - concepts of individuals pressured to productivity and work, lest their replacement or disposal.
Good luck!

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## byucougs

I wrote a paper in college on Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris. I guess if you like that genre of book.

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## bazarov

> For what you search, indeed, as Scheherazade recommended, _Middlesex_ by Jeffrey Eugenides (sp?) would probably interest you. I would also look into _Orlando_ (fiction) and _A Room Of One's Own_ (nonfiction) by Virginia Woolf. In more peculiar, obscure ways, _Death Of A Salesman_ by Arthur Miller and _Metamorphosis_ by Franz Kafka may also help - concepts of individuals pressured to productivity and work, lest their replacement or disposal.
> Good luck!


Kafka is a very good choice.

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## Shakira

> Shakira, do they teach any Indian Literature at your univ at all?


Yes, we are taught both Colonial & Post Colonial Indian Literature at our University. The syllabus is fairly interesting.

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