Feminist Literary Theory
Adapted from
Ms. A. Stephens
Ms. B. McAdam
and Crystal Bernard
Student Quote
“I have a male mind with male experiences. Therefore,
I see things through the perception of a man. I
couldn’t relate to some of Virginia Woolf’s view and I
despised the way she pushed her view on the
reader. This was brought on by my masculinity, I
feel.”
-Bill, Grade 12, after reading A Room of One’s Own
Student Quote
“Being a feminist is not a gender-specific role.”
-Erin, Grade 11
Quotes for comments:
“What enrages me is the way women are used as
extensions of men, mirrors of men, devices for
showing men off, devices for helping men get what
they want. They are never there in their own right, or
rarely. The world of the Western contains no
women. Sometimes I think the world contains no
women.”
-JANE TOMPKINS, “Me and My Shadow”
Feminism Misconstrued
Often confused terms: Gender vs. Sex
What is Gender?
While one’s sex is determined by anatomy, the concept
of gender – the traits that constitute masculinity and
femininity – are largely cultural constructs, affected
by the patriarchal biases of our society. Masculinity is
associated with the following traits: dominant,
adventurous, rational, and active. Femininity, the
opposition, is associated with these traits: passive,
acquiescent, timid, and emotional.
A Definition of Feminist
Criticism
“Feminist criticism is a political act whose
aim is not simply to interpret the world but
to change it, by changing the
consciousness of those who read and their
relation to what they read”
Judith Fetterley, The Resisting Reader
Feminist Criticism




A development and movement in
critical theory and in the
evaluation of literature
Came about during the late
1960s
Has its origins in the struggle for
women’s rights which began in
the late 18th century
An attempt to describe and
interpret women’s experience as
depicted in various kinds of
literature
Feminist Criticism


It questions the longstanding, dominant,
male, phallocentric
ideologies (which add
up to a kind of male
conspiracy), patriarchal
attitudes and male
interpretations in
literature
It attacks male notions
of value in literature


It challenges traditional and
accepted male ideas about
the nature of women and
about how women feel, act
and think, or are supposed
to feel, act and think and
how in general they
respond to life and living
It questions numerous
prejudices and assumptions
about women made by
male writers
Feminism’s Goal





Change the degrading view of women
Help make all women realize that they are
“significant”
Make all women see that each woman is a valuable
person possessing the same privileges and rights as
every man
Women must define their voices
Hope to create a society in which the female voice is
valued equally with the male
What Can You See With Feminist
Theory
1.
2.
3.
You can view female characters and deal with the
author’s treatment of those characters
You can evaluate the significance of the female in
terms of her influence on the literary work
You can decipher and manipulate patterns in text,
especially with the treatment of women
What’s Wrong With This Picture



Feminist critics wish to show society the errors of
ways of thinking concerning women
Literature and society have frequently stereotyped
women as angels, barmaids, bitches, whores,
brainless housewives, or old maids
Women must break free from such oppression and
define themselves
How To Apply


Images of the female body as presented in a
text. This would highlight how various parts
of the body are significant. (uterus and
breasts)
Female language. Look at differences
between male and female language. Do
women speak or write differently from men?
How To Apply


The female psyche and its relationship to
writing. Freud and Lacan are decent
references.(hint, hint)
Culture. Analyzing cultural forces (such as
importance and value of women’s roles in a
given society), critics investigate how society
shapes a woman’s understanding of herself,
her society, and her world.
Dimension 1
View female characters and appraise the
author’s stance towards those characters
and its influence on his/her writing
She seems lonely.
I wonder what the
author thinks of
her?
Dimension 2
Evaluate the significance of the
author’s gender
VS.
Dimension 3
Interpret whole texts within a feminist
framework
Maybe John in
“The Yellow
Wallpaper” isn’t
really helping his
wife get better. It
seems different
after looking
through a feminist
lens.
Help!!!!
Dimension 4
Read the gendered patterns in the
world
Traditional vs.. Feminist

She was a bad girl, a tease,
and a flirt.

She’s just been treated
poorly by her horrible,
selfish, chauvinistic
husband. She is not bad.

She was a “beautiful little
fool” who depended on her
husband to take care of her.

Her husband took control of
her and wouldn’t let her
think for herself. She was
doing her best within the
limits of women’s role in
society.
Traditional vs. Feminist

She is the queen, she
has some power.

She is more of a plot
device than of thematic
importance herself.

Gertrude is simply the
mother of Hamlet and
the queen of the
country.

She’s defined by her
husbands and her son.
Outside the classroom, the feminist
literary theory helps you…




Examine your life and the world from an
informative perspective;
Become politically aware of your society;
Remove constraints society places on
gender roles; and
Analyze mass media.
“Feminist” Texts vs. Traditional Texts?




Feminist criticism can be applied to a
wide range of texts.
“Eureka” moments can occur with texts
that don’t seem “loaded”.
However, “feminist” texts illustrate the
tenets of the theory.
In short, apply feminist theory to both
kinds of texts.
Feminist Texts Continued

Feminist Theory, as do other theories,
provides us with a way of recognizing and
naming other visions while promoting our
own ways of seeing.

It invites us to attend to the cultural
imprint of patriarchy as we read.
Feminism in Interpreting Texts
“As [you] read and interpret literary texts,
feminist theory can help [you] to notice salient
issues of gender – the portrayal of women in the
world of the novel, the gender of the author and
what relevance it may bear to how the work is
both written and received, the ways in which the
text embraces or confronts prevailing ideologies
of how men and women are situated in the ‘real
world’ and the ways our own interpretations as
individual readers are gendered.”
Works Cited
Appleman, Deborah. Critical Encounters In
High School English: Teaching Literary
Theory to Adolescents. Urbana: NCTE,
2000.
Bressler, Charles E. Literary Criticism: An
Introduction to Theory and Practice.
Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1994.