The many faces of Beauty and the Beast: A feminist and new historicist approach
- Banks, Monique https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6887-7050
- Authors: Banks, Monique https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6887-7050
- Date: 2020-10
- Subjects: Fairy tales in literature , Women and literature
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/23862 , vital:61068
- Description: The fairy tale tradition is saturated with tales from male writers, and very little attention has been placed on the tales written by women. The tales which have made their way into the public realm and have been shared and passed down for years and identified as ‘classics’ are those which embody patriarchal ideas and expectations of men and women. Seventeenth century France played an integral role in the development of the fairy tale realm. The context of the French Academy and French Salons allowed writers to share their tales. Popular writer, Charles Perrault, published his collection of tales during this time and they became popular throughout France and other parts of the world. His tales were used as educational tools and, hence, they shared particular messages with their readers. More specific to this research are the patriarchal ideas these tales shared with their readers. At the same time, a number of French women, acting in the salons, also penned and shared their unique tales. Unfortunately, these tales and their writers did not receive the same acceptance as Perrault’s tales in the seventeenth century. Furthermore, as time passed, women writers were still not given equal recognition to male writers. As their tales were, for the most part, ignored by the public, their messages and ideas about gender were not shared with readers and the public this made the fairy tale genre overly patriarchal and gendered in nature. Therefore, the study’s primary focus is to analyse the Beauty and the Beast tales written by women writers from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to the twenty-first century. It is important to make these writers’ literature known in order to broaden the understanding of the fairy tale genre as multi-faceted. Studying the characters, their behaviours and the gendered relationships within each tale provides a deeper understanding of women writers throughout the centuries. Analysing the social context in which each tale was written, along with each tale, presents a sense of how each woman writer continued and/or rejected the gendered ideas of her society. It also provides a picture of the timeline of women’s writing from the earlier centuries until today. To conclude, this study reflects an interesting movement in the fairy tale literature published by women. More recent tales produce more dynamic and empowered characters, who act outside of patriarchal limitations. The Beauty character of more recent tales, for instance, is given more of an independent role than her predecessors are. Ritchie’s female character is placed in a realistic setting and lives with both the ‘Beast’ and his mother, with her courage and bravery emphasising a new position for the female character. She becomes more and more aware of her position as an object to be traded in Carter’s tales and Block’s Beauty and craves the freedom and independence she feels outside of her father’s household, flourishing in the life of a beast. Flinn’s female character steps out of the box of physical beauty and represents a more normalised character. In modern times, the developments between each tale reflect that the ideas of gender are becoming more varied and fluid than earlier societies. The feminism and new historicist analysis of the traditional and remake Beauty and the Beast tales, therefore, highlights particular developments in fairy tale literature, together with shedding a brighter light on fairy tales written by women writers. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2020
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020-10
- Authors: Banks, Monique https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6887-7050
- Date: 2020-10
- Subjects: Fairy tales in literature , Women and literature
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/23862 , vital:61068
- Description: The fairy tale tradition is saturated with tales from male writers, and very little attention has been placed on the tales written by women. The tales which have made their way into the public realm and have been shared and passed down for years and identified as ‘classics’ are those which embody patriarchal ideas and expectations of men and women. Seventeenth century France played an integral role in the development of the fairy tale realm. The context of the French Academy and French Salons allowed writers to share their tales. Popular writer, Charles Perrault, published his collection of tales during this time and they became popular throughout France and other parts of the world. His tales were used as educational tools and, hence, they shared particular messages with their readers. More specific to this research are the patriarchal ideas these tales shared with their readers. At the same time, a number of French women, acting in the salons, also penned and shared their unique tales. Unfortunately, these tales and their writers did not receive the same acceptance as Perrault’s tales in the seventeenth century. Furthermore, as time passed, women writers were still not given equal recognition to male writers. As their tales were, for the most part, ignored by the public, their messages and ideas about gender were not shared with readers and the public this made the fairy tale genre overly patriarchal and gendered in nature. Therefore, the study’s primary focus is to analyse the Beauty and the Beast tales written by women writers from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to the twenty-first century. It is important to make these writers’ literature known in order to broaden the understanding of the fairy tale genre as multi-faceted. Studying the characters, their behaviours and the gendered relationships within each tale provides a deeper understanding of women writers throughout the centuries. Analysing the social context in which each tale was written, along with each tale, presents a sense of how each woman writer continued and/or rejected the gendered ideas of her society. It also provides a picture of the timeline of women’s writing from the earlier centuries until today. To conclude, this study reflects an interesting movement in the fairy tale literature published by women. More recent tales produce more dynamic and empowered characters, who act outside of patriarchal limitations. The Beauty character of more recent tales, for instance, is given more of an independent role than her predecessors are. Ritchie’s female character is placed in a realistic setting and lives with both the ‘Beast’ and his mother, with her courage and bravery emphasising a new position for the female character. She becomes more and more aware of her position as an object to be traded in Carter’s tales and Block’s Beauty and craves the freedom and independence she feels outside of her father’s household, flourishing in the life of a beast. Flinn’s female character steps out of the box of physical beauty and represents a more normalised character. In modern times, the developments between each tale reflect that the ideas of gender are becoming more varied and fluid than earlier societies. The feminism and new historicist analysis of the traditional and remake Beauty and the Beast tales, therefore, highlights particular developments in fairy tale literature, together with shedding a brighter light on fairy tales written by women writers. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2020
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020-10
The haunted bedroom: female sexual identity in Gothic literature, 1790-1820
- Authors: Rae, Angela Lynn
- Date: 1999
- Subjects: Wollstonecraft, Mary, 1759-1797 -- Criticism and interpretation , Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, 1797-1851 -- Criticism and interpretation , Gothic literature , Women and literature , Feminism and literature , Radcliffe, Ann Ward, 1764-1823 Criticism and interpretation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2251 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002294 , Wollstonecraft, Mary, 1759-1797 -- Criticism and interpretation , Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, 1797-1851 -- Criticism and interpretation , Gothic literature , Women and literature , Feminism and literature , Radcliffe, Ann Ward, 1764-1823 Criticism and interpretation
- Description: This thesis explores the relationship between the Female Gothic novel of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century and the social context of women at that time. In the examination of the primary works of Ann Radcliffe, Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley, this study investigates how these female writers work within the Gothic genre to explore issues related to the role of women in their society, in particular those concerned with sexual identity. It is contended that the Gothic genre provides these authors with the ideal vehicle through which to critique the patriarchal definition of the female, a definition which confines and marginalizes women, denying the female any sexual autonomy. The Introduction defines the scope of the thesis by delineating the differences between the Female Gothic and the Male Gothic. Arguing that the Female Gothic shuns the voyeuristic victimisation of women which characterizes much of the Male Gothic, it is contended that the Female Gothic is defined by its interest in, and exploration of, issues which concern the status of women in a patriarchy. It is asserted that it is this concern with female gender roles that connects the overtly radical work of Mary Wollstonecraft with the oblique critique evident in her contemporary, Ann Radcliffe’s, novels. It is these concerns too, which haunt Mary Shelley’s texts, published two decades later. Chapter One outlines the status of women in the patriarchal society of the late eighteenth century, a period marked by political and social upheaval. This period saw the increasing division of men and women into the “separate spheres” of the public and domestic worlds, and the consequent birth of the ideal of “Angel in the House” which became entrenched in the nineteenth century. The chapter examines how women writers were influenced by this social context and what effect it had on the presentation of female characters in their work, in particular in terms of their depiction of motherhood. Working from the premise that, in order to fully understand the portrayal of female sexuality in the texts, the depiction of the male must be examined, Chapter Two analyses the male characters in terms of their relationship to the heroines and/or the concept of the “feminine”. Although the male characters differ from text to text and author to author, it is argued that in their portrayal of “heroes and villains” the authors were providing a critique of the patriarchal system. While some of the texts depict male characters that challenge traditional stereotypes concerning masculinity, others outline the disastrous and sometimes fatal consequences for both men and women of the rigid gender divisions which disallow the male access to the emotional realm restricted by social prescriptions to the private, domestic world of the female. It is contended that, as such, all of the texts assert the necessity for male and female, masculine and feminine to be united on equal terms. Chapter Three interprets the heroine’s journey through sublime landscapes and mysterious buildings as a journey from childhood innocence to sexual maturity, illustrating the intrinsic link that exists between the settings of Gothic novels and female sexuality. The chapter first examines the authors’ use of the Burkean concept of the sublime and contends that the texts offer a significant revision of the concept. In contrast to Burke’s overtly masculinist definition of the sublime, the texts assert that the female can and does have access to it, and that this access can be used to overcome patriarchal oppression. Secondly, an analysis of the image of the castle and related structures reveals that they can symbolise both the patriarchy and the feminine body. Contending that the heroine’s experiences within these structures enable her to move from innocence to experience, it is asserted that the knowledge that she gains, during her journeys, of herself and of society allows her to assert her independence as a sexually adult woman.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1999
- Authors: Rae, Angela Lynn
- Date: 1999
- Subjects: Wollstonecraft, Mary, 1759-1797 -- Criticism and interpretation , Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, 1797-1851 -- Criticism and interpretation , Gothic literature , Women and literature , Feminism and literature , Radcliffe, Ann Ward, 1764-1823 Criticism and interpretation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2251 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002294 , Wollstonecraft, Mary, 1759-1797 -- Criticism and interpretation , Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, 1797-1851 -- Criticism and interpretation , Gothic literature , Women and literature , Feminism and literature , Radcliffe, Ann Ward, 1764-1823 Criticism and interpretation
- Description: This thesis explores the relationship between the Female Gothic novel of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century and the social context of women at that time. In the examination of the primary works of Ann Radcliffe, Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley, this study investigates how these female writers work within the Gothic genre to explore issues related to the role of women in their society, in particular those concerned with sexual identity. It is contended that the Gothic genre provides these authors with the ideal vehicle through which to critique the patriarchal definition of the female, a definition which confines and marginalizes women, denying the female any sexual autonomy. The Introduction defines the scope of the thesis by delineating the differences between the Female Gothic and the Male Gothic. Arguing that the Female Gothic shuns the voyeuristic victimisation of women which characterizes much of the Male Gothic, it is contended that the Female Gothic is defined by its interest in, and exploration of, issues which concern the status of women in a patriarchy. It is asserted that it is this concern with female gender roles that connects the overtly radical work of Mary Wollstonecraft with the oblique critique evident in her contemporary, Ann Radcliffe’s, novels. It is these concerns too, which haunt Mary Shelley’s texts, published two decades later. Chapter One outlines the status of women in the patriarchal society of the late eighteenth century, a period marked by political and social upheaval. This period saw the increasing division of men and women into the “separate spheres” of the public and domestic worlds, and the consequent birth of the ideal of “Angel in the House” which became entrenched in the nineteenth century. The chapter examines how women writers were influenced by this social context and what effect it had on the presentation of female characters in their work, in particular in terms of their depiction of motherhood. Working from the premise that, in order to fully understand the portrayal of female sexuality in the texts, the depiction of the male must be examined, Chapter Two analyses the male characters in terms of their relationship to the heroines and/or the concept of the “feminine”. Although the male characters differ from text to text and author to author, it is argued that in their portrayal of “heroes and villains” the authors were providing a critique of the patriarchal system. While some of the texts depict male characters that challenge traditional stereotypes concerning masculinity, others outline the disastrous and sometimes fatal consequences for both men and women of the rigid gender divisions which disallow the male access to the emotional realm restricted by social prescriptions to the private, domestic world of the female. It is contended that, as such, all of the texts assert the necessity for male and female, masculine and feminine to be united on equal terms. Chapter Three interprets the heroine’s journey through sublime landscapes and mysterious buildings as a journey from childhood innocence to sexual maturity, illustrating the intrinsic link that exists between the settings of Gothic novels and female sexuality. The chapter first examines the authors’ use of the Burkean concept of the sublime and contends that the texts offer a significant revision of the concept. In contrast to Burke’s overtly masculinist definition of the sublime, the texts assert that the female can and does have access to it, and that this access can be used to overcome patriarchal oppression. Secondly, an analysis of the image of the castle and related structures reveals that they can symbolise both the patriarchy and the feminine body. Contending that the heroine’s experiences within these structures enable her to move from innocence to experience, it is asserted that the knowledge that she gains, during her journeys, of herself and of society allows her to assert her independence as a sexually adult woman.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1999
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