The New Woman in the Theatre
Essay Topics
1. What was the New Woman and why, on the evidence of texts we have studied, was she
perceived in some quarters as a threat And/OR a source of ridicule, and, in others, as a
source of inspiration and of hope?
2. Illustrating your argument through an analysis of at least two texts, examine the view that
the New Woman was a focal point for late-nineteenth-century confusion over gender roles
and characteristics.
3. ‘She has no story of her own but gives advice and consolation to others, listens, smiles,
sympathizes.’ (Gilbert and Gubar writing about the ‘angel in the house’ in The Madwoman in
the Attic, p.22)
With close reference to at least two texts we have studied, analyse the female characters’
attempts to claim the right to their own stories, AND/OR to escape the role of the ‘angel in
the house’.
4. ‘Until we can see what we are, we cannot take steps to become what we should be.’
(Charlotte Perkins Gilman)
Identify and discuss key moments in at least two texts we have studied when female
characters reach an understanding of ‘what they are’. Then analyse the steps they take
(whether successful or unsuccessful) to become ‘what they should be’.
5. ‘In the light of earlier new-woman plays, one of the most powerful aspects of the suffrage
plays is the spectacle of women publicly finding a voice.’
Discuss the above statement and establish the key arguments female characters put forward
regarding their right to vote.