how to write a feminist literary criticism essay

Feminist literary criticism - Free Essay Samples And Topic Ideas

Feminist literary criticism is an approach to literature that seeks to explore and challenge the representation of gender and gendered relations in literary works. Essays on feminist literary criticism might delve into analyses of gender representation in specific texts, the history and evolution of feminist literary theory, or the impact of feminist criticism on literary studies and wider cultural discourses. They might also explore intersectional approaches within feminist literary criticism that consider race, class, sexuality, and other axes of identity. A substantial compilation of free essay instances related to Feminist Literary Criticism you can find in Papersowl database. You can use our samples for inspiration to write your own essay, research paper, or just to explore a new topic for yourself.

Feminist Criticism on Chopin’s the Story of an Hour

  Kate Chopin was a daring woman, who took her writing to a new level. Breaking many conventional social behaviors, she wrote openly about women’s emotions towards their relationships with men, children and sexuality. Kate has written several different pieces expressing her opinion. However, in one of her narratives, The Story of An Hour, she projects her feminist beliefs on marriage and the emotions it entails through the main character, Mrs. Mallard. In the beginning of the story, Mrs. Mallard […]

How Alice Walker Created Womanism

The Color Purple is a novel that traces the suffering of black women from gender, racial domination in patriarchy society. This novel demonstrates the universally prevalent multiple injustices towards women: sexual violence and violation, sexism, political, economic and social domination. Male keeps women oppressed denying equal power. So, females have been prevented from enjoying their basic rights and are totally excluded from the social, political and economic life. The present study attempts to investigate how the color purple of Alice […]

Memory and Past – the Giver

"Lois Lowry’s novel entitled The Giver, takes place against the background of very different times in which it alters from past, present, and future. Nonetheless, it speaks to the concern: the vital need of people to be aware of their interdependence, not only with each other but with the world and its environment where everything is the same – there is no music, no color, no pain. In the eye of a Marxist, The Giver explains the essential and true […]

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Feminism in the Scarlet Letter and Goblin Market: Exploring Female Sexuality

Contextual Background of Desire in 19th-Century Literature Both The Scarlett Letter (1850), a gothic romance by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Goblin Market (1862), a narrative poem by Christina Rossetti, explore the ideas of female desire and sexuality, which would have been a very controversial topic in the mid-19th century due to the religious nature of society at the time. Similarly, both texts feature the dangers of unbridled sexuality and desire through the temptation and consequence the female protagonists face in the […]

The Manic Pixie Dream Girl Trope: an Examination of its Impact and Critique

The term "Manic Pixie Dream Girl" (MPDG) describes a character type that keeps popping up in movies and books. These gals are all about being quirky and bringing spontaneity into the life of a brooding dude who's usually the main character. Coined by film critic Nathan Rabin in 2007, the MPDG thing has sparked both praise and criticism for how it shows female characters. While they might seem charming and full of life, these characters often end up being more […]

Insights into Feminist Language Analysis

Language serves as more than just a medium of communication; it embodies power dynamics, cultural norms, and social hierarchies. Within feminist discourse, language is a central battleground where the struggle for gender equality is waged. Feminist approaches to textual analysis delve deep into the politics of language, aiming to uncover the subtle ways in which language shapes and perpetuates gender inequalities. At the heart of feminist textual analysis lies the recognition that language is not neutral. Rather, it is laden […]

Feminist Rewritings: Challenging Male-Centric Narratives in Literature

Literature has long been dominated by male perspectives, with female characters often relegated to secondary roles or portrayed through a narrow lens. However, in recent years, feminist writers have been reclaiming narratives, subverting traditional tropes, and offering fresh perspectives that challenge the patriarchal status quo. Through the lens of feminist theory, these writers interrogate and deconstruct male-centric narratives, highlighting the complexities of gender, power, and agency. One of the key strategies employed by feminist writers is the practice of rewriting […]

Feminist Mythology: Deconstructing and Reimagining Classic Myths through a Gendered Lens.

In the rich tapestry of human storytelling, myths have long woven the fabric of cultural narratives. However, beneath the surface of these timeless tales lies a pervasive undercurrent of gender bias, often relegating female characters to stereotypical roles. This essay embarks on an exploration of feminist mythology, an intriguing lens through which we deconstruct and reimagine classic myths, fostering a deeper understanding of the dynamics between myth and gender. Classic myths, ranging from Greek and Roman to Norse and beyond, […]

Feminist Insights into Classic Literature: a Provocative Exploration

Within the realm of literary analysis lies a transformative lens that has the power to illuminate the shadows of classic texts: feminism. This critical perspective, ever dynamic and potent, challenges traditional readings by unearthing the buried narratives of female characters and questioning the power structures entrenched within the pages of revered works. Feminist literary criticism dismantles the notion of women as passive ornaments within narratives, urging readers to perceive them as agents of change and defiance against patriarchal norms. Consider […]

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How to Write an Essay About Feminist Literary Criticism

Understanding feminist literary criticism.

Before writing an essay about feminist literary criticism, it's essential to understand what this critical approach entails. Feminist literary criticism analyzes literature and literary criticism based on the feminist theory, focusing on how literature reflects or distorts the experiences, status, and roles of women. This approach also explores how literary works contribute to or challenge gender inequalities. Begin your essay by defining feminist literary criticism and its historical development. Discuss the variety of forms it has taken over time, from exploring women's writing as a separate literary tradition to examining gender politics and representation in literature. Understanding the key theorists in the field, such as Simone de Beauvoir, Virginia Woolf, and Elaine Showalter, can provide a solid foundation for your analysis.

Developing a Thesis Statement

A strong essay on feminist literary criticism should be centered around a clear, concise thesis statement. This statement should present a specific viewpoint or argument about feminist literary criticism. For instance, you might examine the role of feminist literary criticism in reshaping the literary canon, analyze how it has changed the interpretation of a particular text, or argue for its relevance in contemporary literary studies. Your thesis will guide the direction of your essay and provide a structured approach to your analysis.

Gathering Textual Evidence

To support your thesis, gather evidence from a range of sources, including feminist literary texts, critical essays, and theoretical works. This might include specific examples of feminist critiques of literary works, discussions of the portrayal of female characters in literature, or analyses of gender dynamics in different literary genres. Use this evidence to support your thesis and build a persuasive argument. Be sure to consider different feminist perspectives and methodologies in your analysis.

Analyzing Key Themes in Feminist Literary Criticism

Dedicate a section of your essay to analyzing key themes and concepts in feminist literary criticism. Discuss issues such as the representation of women in literature, the intersection of gender with other identities like race and class, and the role of language in perpetuating gender stereotypes. Explore how feminist critics have challenged traditional literary criticism and offered new insights and interpretations of texts.

Concluding the Essay

Conclude your essay by summarizing the main points of your discussion and restating your thesis in light of the evidence provided. Your conclusion should tie together your analysis and emphasize the significance of feminist literary criticism in understanding literature and its social implications. You might also want to suggest areas for future research or discuss the potential impact of feminist literary criticism on literary studies and broader cultural discourses.

Reviewing and Refining Your Essay

After completing your essay, review and refine it for clarity and coherence. Ensure that your arguments are well-structured and supported by evidence. Check for grammatical accuracy and ensure that your essay flows logically from one point to the next. Consider seeking feedback from peers, educators, or experts in feminist literary criticism to further improve your essay. A well-written essay on feminist literary criticism will not only demonstrate your understanding of the approach but also your ability to engage critically with literary theory and analysis.

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45 Student Essay Example: Feminist Criticism

The following student essay example of femnist criticism is taken from Beginnings and Endings: A Critical Edition . This is the publication created by students in English 211. This essay discusses Ray Bradbury’s short story ”There Will Come Soft Rains.”

Burning Stereotypes in Ray Bradbury’s “There Will Come Soft Rains”

By Karley McCarthy

Ray Bradbury’s short story “There Will Come Soft Rains” takes place in the fallout of a nuclear war. The author chooses to tell the story though a technologically advanced house and its animatronic inhabitants instead of a traditional protagonist. The house goes about its day-to-day as if no war had struck. It functions as though its deceased family is still residing in its walls, taking care of the maintenance, happiness, and safety of itself and the long dead family. On the surface, Bradbury’s story seems like a clear-cut warning about technology and humanity’s permissiveness. Given that the short story was written in the 1940s, it’s easy to analyze the themes present and how they related to women of the time. Bradbury’s apt precautionary tale can be used as a metaphor for women’s expectations and role in society after World War II and how some women may have dealt with the fallout of their husbands coming back home with psychological trauma.

To experience “There Will Come Soft Rains” from a feminist perspective, readers must be aware of the societal norms that would have shaped Bradbury’s writing. “Soft Rains” takes place in the year 2026. Yet the house and norms found throughout were, “modeled after concept homes that showed society’s expectations of technological advancement” (Mambrol). This can be seen in the stereotypical nuclear family that once inhabited the house as well as their cliché white home and the hobbies present. According to writer Elaine Tyler May’s book Homeward Bound, America’s view of women’s role in society undertook a massive pendulum swing during the World War II era as the country transitioned through pre-war to post-war life. For example, in a matter of decades support for women joining the workforce shifted from 80% in opposition to only 13% (May 59). Despite this shift, the men coming back from the war still expected women to position themselves as the happy housewife they had left behind, not the newfound career woman architype. Prominent figures of the 40s, such as actress Joan Crawford, portrayed a caricature of womanhood that is subservient to patriarchal gender roles, attempting to abandon the modern idea of a self-sufficient working-class woman (May 62-63). Keeping this in mind, how can this image of the 1940s woman be seen in Bradbury’s work?

Throughout Bradbury’s life he worked towards dismantling clichés in his own writing. A biography titled simply “Ray Bradbury” mentions that even in his earlier work, he was always attempting to “escape the constrictions of stereotypes” found in early science fiction (Seed 13). An example of him breaking constrictions could be his use of a nonhuman protagonist. Instead, Bradbury relies on the personification of the house and its robotic counterparts. Bradbury describes the house as having “electric eyes” and emotions such as a, “preoccupation with self-protection which bordered on a mechanical paranoia,” something that would make the house quiver at the sounds of the outside world (2-3). While these descriptions are interesting, Bradbury’s use of personification here is a thought-provoking choice when one breaks down what exactly the house is meant to personify.

One analysis of this story notes that the house’s personification, “replaces the most human aspects of life,” for its inhabitants (Mambrol). Throughout the story, the house acts as a caretaker, records a schedule, cooks, cleans, and even attempts to extinguish an all-consuming fire. While firefighting is not a traditionally feminine career or expectation from the 1940s (more on that later), most of the house’s daily tasks are replacing jobs that were traditionally held by a household’s matriarch. Expanding further on this dichotomy of male/woman tasks, a chore mentioned in the story that is ‘traditionally’ accepted as a masculine household duty—mowing the law—is still assigned as a male task. This is feels intentional to the house’s design as Bradbury is, “a social critic, and his work is pertinent to real problems on earth” (Dominianni 49). Bradbury’s story is not meant to commentate on just an apocalypse, but society at large.  Bradbury describes the west face of the house as, “black, save for five places” (Bradbury 1-2). These “five places” are the silhouettes of the family who had been incinerated by a nuclear bomb. The family’s two children are included playing with a ball, but the mother and father’s descriptions are most important. The mother is seen in a passive role, picking flowers, while the father mows the lawn. The subtext here is that the man is not replaceable in his mundane and tedious task. Only the woman is replaced. While this is a small flash into the owners’ lives, what “human aspect” or autonomy of the father’s life has been replaced by the house’s actions if the house is mainly personifying only the traditional 1940s female-held positions? The message here is that a man’s position in society is irreplaceable while a woman’s is one of mere support.

While this dynamic of husband vs subordinate is harmful, wives supporting their partners is nothing new. Homeward Bound explains that life after World War II for many women meant a return to their previous position as a housewife while many men came home irreparably damaged by years of warfare. PTSD, known then as shellshock, affected countless men returning from the war. Women were often expected to mend the psychological damage as part of their domestic responsibilities, even if they were unprepared for the realities of the severe trauma their husbands had faced (May 64-65). The psychological effects of the war came crashing into women’s lives the same way that the tree fell into the autonomous house in “Soft Rains”. As mentioned earlier, firefighting is not a task someone from the 40s would expect of women, but the house’s combustion and its scramble to save itself can be seen as a metaphor for women attempting to reverse the cold reality that the war had left them with. The picturesque family they had dreamed of would forever be scarred by the casualties that took place overseas. While Bradbury may not have meant for women to be invoked specifically from this precautionary tale, it’s obvious that him wanting his science fiction to act as, “a cumulative early warning system against unforeseen consequences,” would have impacted women of the time as much as men (Seed 22). The unforeseen consequences here is the trauma the war inflicted on families.

While men were fighting on the front lines, women back home and in noncombat positions would still feel the war’s ripples. In “Soft Rains” the nuclear tragedy had left, “a radioactive glow which could be seen for miles” (Bradbury 1). Despite the destruction, the house continues its routine as though nothing had happened. This can be seen as a metaphor for how women responded to the trauma their husbands brought back from the war. Women were urged to, “preserve for him the essence of the girl he fell in love with, the girl he longs to come back to. . .The least we can do as women is to try to live up to some of those expectations” (May 64). Following this, many could have put their desires and personal growth to the side to act as a secondary character in their husband’s lives.

The final line can be read as the culmination of similarities between post-war women and Bradbury’s house. The violence and destruction that fell upon the house in its final moments leaves little standing. What’s remarkable is how the house still attempts to continue despite its destruction. The final lines of the short story exemplify this: “Within the wall, a last voice said, over and over again and again, even as the sun rose to shine upon the heaped rubble and steam: ‘Today is August 5, 2026, today is August 5, 2026, today is…’” (Bradbury 5). The house is acting just like the women from the 40s, clinging to their past in an attempt to preserve something that had already been lost, society’s innocence. One analysis points out that, “The house is depicted in this way because it represents both humanity and humanity’s failure to save itself” (Mambrol). While it might be wrong to say that women were unable to save themselves in this situation, this quote does touch on an idea present in the feminist metaphor for “Soft Rains”. The preservation of “the essence of the girl he fell in love with, the girl he longs to come back to” was a failure (May 64). The same way that the house cannot preserve itself from destruction, women cannot preserve an image of themselves that had already dissolved. As mentioned earlier, women had already entered the workforce, a huge step towards removing sexist stereotypes around women’s worth. After garnering work-based independence, it seems impossible that the idea of women solely as men’s support would not immolate.

While Bradbury’s “Soft Rains” can be viewed as an apt precautionary tale with real modern world issues at hand, in many ways it is a period piece. As a writer in the 1940s, it’s hard to imagine that Bradbury’s story would not have been influenced by the framework of a nuclear family and the stereotypical expectations of this time. Bradbury’s use of personification opens dialogue about gender roles in the 1940s and how war had complicated patriarchal expectations. Despite his attempt to bypass science fiction stereotypes, his story is full of metaphor for gender stereotypes. Using a feminist lens to analyze the story allows it to be read as a metaphor for war and its effects on married women. The standard analysis appears to say that, “machine no longer served humanity in “There Will Come Soft Rains”; there humanity is subservient to machinery” (Dominianni 49). From a feminist perspective, instead of machine, the house represents patriarchy and gender norms. While men suffered greatly during World War II, women often put their wants and futures on hold to support their husbands. This is a selfless act that shows the resilience of women despite their society’s wish to downplay their potential and turn them into mere support.

Works Cited

Bradbury, Ray. “August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains.” Broome-Tioga BOCES, 1950, pp. 1-5. btboces.org/Downloads/7_There%20Will%20Come%20Soft%20Rains%20by%20Ray%20Bradbury.pdf.

Dominianni, Robert. “Ray Bradbury’s 2026: A Year with Current Value.” The English Journal , vol. 73, no. 7, 1984, pp. 49–51. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/817806

Mambrol, Nasrullah. “Analysis of Ray Bradbury’s There Will Come Soft Rains.” Literary Theory and Criticism , 17 Jan. 2022.

May, Elaine Tyler. “War and Peace: Fanning the Home Fires.”  Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era.  20th ed., Basic Books, 2008, pp. 58-88.

Seed, David. “Out of the Science Fiction Ghetto.”  Ray Bradbury (Modern Masters of Science Fiction).  University of Illinois, 2015, pp. 1-45.

Critical Worlds Copyright © 2024 by Liza Long is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Feminist approaches to literature.

This essay offers a very basic introduction to feminist literary theory, and a compendium of Great Writers Inspire resources that can be approached from a feminist perspective. It provides suggestions for how material on the Great Writers Inspire site can be used as a starting point for exploration of or classroom discussion about feminist approaches to literature. Questions for reflection or discussion are highlighted in the text. Links in the text point to resources in the Great Writers Inspire site. The resources can also be found via the ' Feminist Approaches to Literature' start page . Further material can be found via our library and via the various authors and theme pages.

The Traditions of Feminist Criticism

According to Yale Professor Paul Fry in his lecture The Classical Feminist Tradition from 25:07, there have been several prominent schools of thought in modern feminist literary criticism:

• First Wave Feminism: Men's Treatment of Women In this early stage of feminist criticism, critics consider male novelists' demeaning treatment or marginalisation of female characters. First wave feminist criticism includes books like Marry Ellman's Thinking About Women (1968) Kate Millet's Sexual Politics (1969), and Germaine Greer's The Female Eunuch (1970). An example of first wave feminist literary analysis would be a critique of William Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew for Petruchio's abuse of Katherina.
• The 'Feminine' Phase - in the feminine phase, female writers tried to adhere to male values, writing as men, and usually did not enter into debate regarding women's place in society. Female writers often employed male pseudonyms during this period.
• The 'Feminist' Phase - in the feminist phase, the central theme of works by female writers was the criticism of the role of women in society and the oppression of women.
• The 'Female' Phase - during the 'female' phase, women writers were no longer trying to prove the legitimacy of a woman's perspective. Rather, it was assumed that the works of a women writer were authentic and valid. The female phase lacked the anger and combative consciousness of the feminist phase.

Do you agree with Showalter's 'phases'? How does your favourite female writer fit into these phases?

Read Jane Eyre with the madwoman thesis in mind. Are there connections between Jane's subversive thoughts and Bertha's appearances in the text? How does it change your view of the novel to consider Bertha as an alter ego for Jane, unencumbered by societal norms? Look closely at Rochester's explanation of the early symptoms of Bertha's madness. How do they differ from his licentious behaviour?

How does Jane Austen fit into French Feminism? She uses very concise language, yet speaks from a woman's perspective with confidence. Can she be placed in Showalter's phases of women's writing?

Dr. Simon Swift of the University of Leeds gives a podcast titled 'How Words, Form, and Structure Create Meaning: Women and Writing' that uses the works of Virginia Woolf and Silvia Plath to analyse the form and structural aspects of texts to ask whether or not women writers have a voice inherently different from that of men (podcast part 1 and part 2 ).

In Professor Deborah Cameron's podcast English and Gender , Cameron discusses the differences and similarities in use of the English language between men and women.

In another of Professor Paul Fry's podcasts, Queer Theory and Gender Performativity , Fry discusses sexuality, the nature of performing gender (14:53), and gendered reading (46:20).

How do more modern A-level set texts, like those of Margaret Atwood, Zora Neale Hurston, or Maya Angelou, fit into any of these traditions of criticism?

Depictions of Women by Men

Students could begin approaching Great Writers Inspire by considering the range of women depicted in early English literature: from Chaucer's bawdy 'Wife of Bath' in The Canterbury Tales to Spenser's interminably pure Una in The Faerie Queene .

How might the reign of Queen Elizabeth I have dictated the way Elizabethan writers were permitted to present women? How did each male poet handle the challenge of depicting women?

By 1610 Thomas Middleton and Thomas Dekker's The Roaring Girl presented at The Fortune a play based on the life of Mary Firth. The heroine was a man playing a woman dressed as a man. In Dr. Emma Smith's podcast on The Roaring Girl , Smith breaks down both the gender issues of the play and of the real life accusations against Mary Frith.

In Dr. Emma Smith's podcast on John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi , a frequent A-level set text, Smith discusses Webster's treatment of female autonomy. Placing Middleton or Webster's female characters against those of Shakespeare could be brought to bear on A-level Paper 4 on Drama or Paper 5 on Shakespeare and other pre-20th Century Texts.

Smith's podcast on The Comedy of Errors from 11:21 alludes to the valuation of Elizabethan comedy as a commentary on gender and sexuality, and how The Comedy of Errors at first seems to defy this tradition.

What are the differences between depictions of women written by male and female novelists?

Students can compare the works of Charlotte and Emily Brontë or Jane Austen with, for example, Hardy's Tess of the d'Ubervilles or D. H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover or Women in Love .

How do Lawrence's sexually charged novels compare with what Emma Smith said about Webster's treatment of women's sexuality in The Duchess of Malfi ?

Dr. Abigail Williams' podcast on Jonathan Swift's The Lady's Dressing-Room discusses the ways in which Swift uses and complicates contemporary stereotypes about the vanity of women.

Rise of the Woman Writer

With the movement from Renaissance to Restoration theatre, the depiction of women on stage changed dramatically, in no small part because women could portray women for the first time. Dr. Abigail Williams' adapted lecture, Behn and the Restoration Theatre , discusses Behn's use and abuse of the woman on stage.

What were the feminist advantages and disadvantages to women's introduction to the stage?

The essay Who is Aphra Behn? addresses the transformation of Behn into a feminist icon by later writers, especially Bloomsbury Group member Virginia Woolf in her novella/essay A Room of One's Own .

How might Woolf's description and analysis of Behn indicate her own feminist agenda?

Behn created an obstacle for later women writers in that her scandalous life did little to undermine the perception that women writing for money were little better than whores.

In what position did that place chaste female novelists like Frances Burney or Jane Austen ?

To what extent was the perception of women and the literary vogue for female heroines impacted by Samuel Richardson's Pamela ? Students could examine a passage from Pamela and evaluate Richardson's success and failures, and look for his influence in novels with which they are more familiar, like those of Austen or the Brontë sisters.

In Dr. Catherine's Brown's podcast on Eliot's Reception History , Dr. Brown discusses feminist criticism of Eliot's novels. In the podcast Genre and Justice , she discusses Eliot's use of women as scapegoats to illustrate the injustice of the distribution of happiness in Victorian England.

Professor Sir Richard Evans' Gresham College lecture The Victorians: Gender and Sexuality can provide crucial background for any study of women in Victorian literature.

Women Writers and Class

Can women's financial and social plights be separated? How do Jane Austen and Charlotte Brontë bring to bear financial concerns regarding literature depicting women in the 18th and 19th century?

How did class barriers affect the work of 18th century kitchen maid and poet Mary Leapor ?

Listen to the podcast by Yale's Professor Paul Fry titled "The Classical Feminist Tradition" . At 9:20, Fry questions whether or not any novel can be evaluated without consideration of financial and class concerns, and to what extent Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own suggests a female novelist can only create successful work if she is of independent means.

What are the different problems faced by a wealthy character like Austen's Emma , as opposed to a poor character like Brontë's Jane Eyre ?

Also see sections on the following writers:

• Jane Austen
• Charlotte Brontë
• George Eliot
• Thomas Hardy
• D.H. Lawrence
• Mary Leapor
• Thomas Middleton
• Katherine Mansfield
• Olive Schreiner
• William Shakespeare
• John Webster
• Virginina Woolf

If reusing this resource please attribute as follows: Feminist Approaches to Literature at http://writersinspire.org/content/feminist-approaches-literature by Kate O'Connor, licensed as Creative Commons BY-NC-SA (2.0 UK).

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• Feminist Literary Criticism

How would you expect a female character to be presented in a piece of 18th-century literature, compared to a piece of 21st-century literature? What are the social structures and expectations that influence these portrayals?

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Which of these is not an important work of feminist literary criticism?

True or false: gynocriticism is part of feminist literary criticism.

In which work did Elaine Showalter coin gynocriticism?

What did Beauvoir argue women are perceived as?

What is feminist theory?

What are the three phases in women's writing according to Elaine Showalter?

What thesis did Gilbert and Gubar present in their 1979 book?

What is feminist literary criticism?

True or false: Virginia Woolf uses feminine and masculine imagery in Mrs Dalloway  (1925).

What does the patriarchy refer to?

Which of these elements of text does feminist literary criticism not consider?

• American Drama
• American Literary Movements
• American Literature
• American Poetry
• American Regionalism Literature
• American Short Fiction
• Literary Criticism and Theory
• Critical Race Theory
• Cultural Studies
• Deconstruction
• Derrick Bell
• Disability Theory
• Eco-Criticism
• Edward Said
• Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick
• F. R. Leavis
• Ferdinand Saussure
• Formalism Literary Theory
• Fredric Jameson
• Freudian Criticism
• Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak
• Harold Bloom
• Helene Cixous
• Homi Bhabha
• Intersectionality
• Jacques Derrida
• Jacques Lacan
• Jean Baudrillard
• Jean-Francois Lyotard
• Julia Kristeva
• Kimberle Crenshaw
• Luce Irigaray
• Marxism Literary Criticism
• Mikhail Bakhtin
• Narratology
• New Historicism
• Patricia J. Williams
• Post-Structuralism
• Postcolonial Literary Theory
• Postmodern Literary Theory
• Psychoanalytic Literary Criticism
• Queer Theory
• Raymond Williams
• Reader Response Criticism
• Roland Barthes
• Roman Jakobson
• Rosemarie Garland Thomson
• Stephen Greenblatt
• Structuralism Literary Theory
• Terry Eagleton
• Walter Benjamin
• Walter Pater
• Literary Devices
• Literary Elements
• Literary Movements
• Literary Studies
• Non-Fiction Authors

Feminist literary criticism attempts to answer these questions and critique literature through feminist theory.

Feminist theory explores gender inequality, aiming to understand its roots and nature. In sociology, feminism is a key conflict theory, which argues that society is in continuous conflict due to the inequalities between men and women.

Content warning: This article discusses sexual harassment and violence against women.

Feminist literary criticism: definition

Feminist literary criticism explores the social relationships and roles of men and women. This form of literary criticism draws on the ideas of feminist theory to critique literature, considering how literature portrays and is influenced by patriarchal narratives.

The patriarchy refers to a social system where men hold the most power.

Feminist literary criticism examines a number of elements of a text including;

• 'Gendered' language and symbols.
• Stereotypical or unconventional portrayals of female characters.
• How the gender of a reader can affect their response to a text.

This form of criticism also acknowledges how traditional literature and its production, has been shaped by men. In response to the patriarchal tradition of literature, feminist literary criticism highlights older, 'forgotten' texts by female writers and re-examines classic texts by male writers with a feminist perspective.

A history of feminist literary criticism

Feminist literary criticism as we know it today emerged during the second wave of feminism . However, texts which contribute to feminist literary criticism can be dated back as far as Geoffrey Chaucer 's tex t 'The Wife of Bath' i n his collection of stories The Canterbury Tales (1392) .

In 'The Wife of Bath', the narrator, Alison, is portrayed as a strong-willed woman who subverts traditional expectations of femininity.

Additionally, there are early stirrings of feminist literary criticism during the first wave of feminism. For instance, in her 1929 novel , A Room of One's Own, Virginia Woolf argued that a woman needed to control her own space and finances to be a successful writer.

In 1968, Martha Weinman Lear published an article in the New York Times titled 'The Second Feminist Wave'. This article originated the wave metaphor which categorises feminism into four waves .

The first wave of feminism is marked by the suffragette movement, beginning in the early 20th century. The key focus of this wave was to obtain equality between men and women through the right to vote.

The second wave of feminism began in the early 1960s and lasted until the late 1980s. This wave centred on the legal obstacles to gender equality, such as workplace or reproductive rights.

The third wave of feminism began in the early 1990s and continued until the 2010s. Third-wave feminism expanded the issues the feminist movement worked to address, for instance, intersectionality became a key part of third-wave feminism.

The fourth wave of feminism emerged in the early 2010s. While the fourth wave continued to tackle issues such as legal equality and intersectionality , it focused heavily on sexual violence against women.

Intersectional feminism is an approach to feminism that understands how the intersecting identities of individual women impact the oppression they face.

During the second wave of feminism, feminist theorists began to critique the dominance of male perspectives in literature, focusing on the representation of women in literature, and the works of female authors.

Important works published during this period include:

• A Literature of Their Own (1977), Elaine Showalter.
• The Madwoman in the Attic (1979), Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar.
• New Directions for Black Feminist Criticism (1980), Deborah E. McDowell.

In his lecture, 'The Classical Feminist Tradition' , Paul Fry divided the history of Feminist Literary Criticism into two waves. 1

The first wave of feminism is the earliest stage of feminist literary criticism, acting as the foundation for feminist literary theory. This school of thought centred on the treatment of women by men, highlighting the stereotypical presentation of women by male authors.

In John Steinbeck 's Of Mice and Men (1937), the character of Curley's Wife is presented in a stereotypical way. She is the only female character in the novella and mainly acts as a plot device, rather than an individual. Her lack of individuality and independence is portrayed through her not having a name, only being known as the wife of Curley.

Second wave

The second wave focused on gynocriticism. Gynocriticism provided a new, female-led, framework for literary analysis, creating a new space for the study of women writers.

Gynocriticism is a term that refers to the study of woman's writing. The term was coined by American feminist and literary critic Elaine Showalter (1941- ) in her work A Literature of Their Own (1977) .

This school of thought focused on three key areas;

• The place of women writers in literary history.
• The treatment and portrayal of women in literature.
• Discovering a literary canon of works written by women.

The third wave of feminism influence d intersectional literar y criticism. This wave recognised the limitations of second-wave feminism, particularly its emphasis on gender and sex when examining the treatment and portrayal of women in literature. Issues such as race, sexuality, and class were brought to the forefront of the third wave of feminist literary criticism, as theorists acknowledged how an individual is defined and impacted by more than their gender.

Intersectionality is a theory that takes into account people's overlapping identities to understand the interconnected systems of oppression they face. Although the concept of intersectionality originated in the field of gender studies, it is now present in many fields including literary studies.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie highlighted In her 2009 TEDtalk, 'The danger of a single story', how when she started writing stories at 'about the age of seven' all her characters 'were white and blue-eyed'. This was because 'the characters in the British books' she read represented white children and their experiences, rather than children of colour. Because all Adichie had read as a child were books 'in which characters were foreign' she 'had become convinced [that books] had to have foreigners in them'.

Fourth wave

The fourth wave of feminism began utilising literature, the news, and social media, to promote feminist causes and highlight issues such as sexual harassment and gender-based violence. This wave of feminism continued to influence feminist literary criticism's examination of the treatment of women in literature and influenced the contents of texts in the feminist literary discourse.

Louise O'Neill's fiction novel Only Every Yours (2014) presents a dystopian future in which women are controlled by a patriarchal society that values them as objects rather than individuals. Within this novel, O'Neill explores how beauty standards are used to sexualise and control women, limiting their independence and freedom.

O'Neill went on to write Asking For It (2015). In her 2021 paper 'Introducing Rape to High School and College Students: An Analysis of Asking for It', Giulia Mastrontoni argued that this text could be utilised to encourage students to 'better understand the insidious implications of rape representations, and […] to question their standpoint on rape in a safe, educational environment.'

Strengths and weaknesses of feminist literary criticism

There is no set list of strengths and weaknesses for any form of literary criticism. However, it is important to acknowledge that no literary criticism or theory will cover every element of a text.

Feminist literary criticism is just one lens to view a text through. It is most effective when you are considering issues of gender and gendered oppression. You may consider these issues in regard to the gender of the author, the presentation of characters based on their gender, or both.

It is important to acknowledge that a feminist lens doesn't directly consider issues such as race, class, or sexuality. Therefore, an intersectional approach may develop your critical analysis.

Feminist criticism technique in writing

When applying a feminist lens to texts in a literary context, you consider how gendered social constructs have influenced the way in which the text is written.

Here are five key questions which can act as a base when analysing literature through a feminist lens:

• Is the author, and/or narrator, male or female?
• What are the roles of the female characters in the text? Are they minor, secondary, or main characters?
• How are women characterised in the text? Do you notice any stereotypes?
• Does the author use feminine or masculine imagery in the text? If they do, why have they used this imagery?
• What is the social and cultural context that the text was written in? How has this influenced the author's attitude toward women?

Feminist literary criticism examples

Now that we have an understanding of what feminist literary criticism is and its history, let's take a look at three key ideas in feminist literary criticism:

• Simone de Beauvoir's argument that men perceive women as 'the Other'.
• Elaine Showalter's three phases in women's writing.
• Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar's Madwoman Thesis.

De Beavouirs 'the Other'

In her 1949 work The Second Sex, Simone de Beauvoir highlighted how women are characterised as 'the Other' by men. As 'the Other', women are perceived in opposition to men, rather than as individuals with the ability to control their own lives.

Simone de Beauvoir was a 20th-century French philosopher who lived from 1908 to 1986.

Although The Second Sex was not written as a work of literary criticism, the idea of women as 'the Other' is present in feminist literary criticism, highlighting the impact de Beauvoir had on this school of thought.

'The self' and 'the Other' is a philosophical theory that argues that through the existence of 'the Other', something which is not yourself, you are able to recognise and acknowledge your own individual existence.

The concept of 'the Other' was introduced by German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel in his 1807 work The Phenomenology of Spirit. In this text, Hegel argued that the self-consciousness only becomes aware of itself when it recognises a separate self-consciousness (an 'Other). Typically, 'The Other' is dissimilar, or the opposite, of the self.

Showalter's three phases

In her 1977 work A Literature of Their Own, Showalter set out three phases present in the female literary canon:

The 'Feminine' Phase: In this first phase female writers typically wrote in a similar way to men, and wrote under male pseudonyms. Female writers chose to do this in order to have their works published and critically respected. Due to this decision, works written during the 'Feminine Phase' didn't present the role of women in society in an overtly critical way. Instead, these works portrayed traditional patriarchal expectations of women.

The 'Feminist' Phase: This phase occurred after the writers of the 'Feminine Phase' had paved the way for women in literature. Writers from the 'Feminist Phase' began to critique the traditional roles of women in society. Works from this phase typically addressed how women were oppressed by patriarchal social structures, and the effect this oppression had.

The 'Female' Phase: Writers from the 'Female Phase' are less impacted by their sex. This phase began once there was no longer a need to prove the right of women writers to put forward their gendered perspective. Although some women writers still focus on gendered issues in their work, this is no longer a dominant theme in the female literary canon.

Gilbert and Gubar's Madwoman Thesis

In their 1979 work, The Madwoman in the Attic, Gilbert and Gubar highlighted that female characters in works written by men are either defined as an angel or a monster. Essentially, female characters could fit with social expectations, and act in a pure, submissive manner, or they could rebel.

This limited portrayal of female characters by male writers was reflective of the limited opportunities for women in society. Patriarchal standards enforced a lack of individuality in women, they were expected to become wives and mothers, and if they did not fit within these roles they were not deemed 'useful' or worthy.

Gilbert and Gubart argued that the limited opportunities available to women led to 19th-century female writers expressing their frustration through the trope of 'the madwoman'.

In Emily Brontë 's Wuthering Heights (1847) the character of Cathy Earnshaw steadily loses her sanity after marrying Edgar Linton and falling pregnant. At the novel's opening, Cathy is a wild and free character, who subverts traditional expectations of femininity. Once she abides by the gendered expectations placed on her by society, Cathy loses her individuality and her mind.

To an extent, the madwoman represented the patriarchal perception of the woman as a monster, as she was uncontrollable and rebellious. However, the madwoman also embodied the rage of these 19th-century female writers, representing their need to break free of patriarchal oppression. This work demonstrated the presence of a distinct female literary canon, with unique traits and themes.

A feminist literary critique of Mrs Dalloway (1925)

Let's apply a feminist lens to Virginia Woolf's 1925 novella Mrs Dalloway. We'll consider each of our five questions to create the foundations for a feminist literary critique. Try to expand beyond these and form an argument of your own!

Mrs Dalloway follows the character of Clarissa Dalloway over the course of a single day as she prepares for her party in the evening. Over the course of the novella, Virginia Woolf utilises the narrative voice of multiple characters, providing insights into their own lives and perspectives.

Question one: Is the author, and/or narrator female?

The author of Mrs Dalloway is Virginia Woolf, a woman who lived from 1882 to 1941. Woolf's work arguably fits into Showalter's 'Feminist' Phase , as Woolf presents the role of women in a critical light.

There are multiple narrators in Mrs Dalloway, as the novella uses a stream-of-consciousness narrative structure . The novella's protagonist , Clarissa Dalloway, is one of these narrators, giving her a level of autonomy over the way in which she is portrayed to the reader.

Stream-of-consciousness is a narrative mode that represents the continuous flow of an individual's mental processes.

Question two: What are the roles of the female characters in the text? Are they minor, secondary, or main characters?

Clarissa Dalloway is the text's protagonist or main character. She has a dominant role in the novella's narrative, with the story centring on the events of a single day, leading up to her party in the evening. The other female characters in the text are secondary characters; Sally Seton, Elizabeth Dalloway, Doris Kilman, and Lucrezia Warren. Elizabeth Dalloway and Lucrezia Warren's narrative voices feature within the novella.

Question three: How are women characterised in the text? Do you notice any stereotypes?

Each of the female characters in the text is influenced by social constructs and expectations of femininity. There is a strong sense that Clarissa's life has been shaped by social expectations of womanhood and femininity. For instance, Clarissa's decision to marry converges with early 20th-century social constructs of womanhood which placed women within the home, in the role of housewife and mother. Once she decided to marry, Clarissa became 'Mrs Richard Dalloway'.

By referring to Clarissa as an extension of her husband, Woolf highlights the lack of individual identity many women held in marriage.

Question four: Does the author use feminine or masculine imagery in the text? If they do, why have they used this imagery ?

Woolf utilises both feminine and masculine imagery in the text, a key example being Peter's 'pocket-knife'.

The pocket-knife acts as a phallic symb ol, Woolf employs it to allow the audience to infer Peter’s attraction and need for dominance. The pocket knife becomes a symbol of masculinity during Peter and Clarissa's first exchange. Despite knives holding connotations with danger and Peter’s own pocket knife being large, Clarissa dismisses it. This indicates that she is not intimidated by Peter’s masculinity and presence.

As he tilts his pen-knife towards her green dress, Clarissa simply responds by opening her scissors, a yonic symbol, the similar connotations with danger held by scissors allowing Clarissa to match Peter’s encroaching masculinity with her femininity.

Phallic and yonic symbols refer to the male and female anatomy. A phallic symbol will resemble or represent a penis while a yonic symbol will resemble or represent a vagina.

Question five: What is the social and cultural context that the text was written in? How has this influenced the author's attitude toward women?

Mrs Dalloway was written and published during the mid-1920s. At this time, women in the United Kingdom over the age of thirty had only just obtained the right to vote through the 1918 Representation of the People Act. It wasn't until 1928 that women in the United Kingdom could vote at the same age as men.

Although gendered expectations were steadily changing, as represented by the women's suffrage movement and its success, traditional expectations still held a strong social influence. The majority of women were expected to become housewives and mothers, supporting their husbands rather than acting as independent entities. While Virginia Woolf subverted these expectations, as a successful author who earned her own living, she would have still been impacted by these traditional ideas.

The women's suffrage movement in the UK was a movement to fight for women's right to vote. This movement began in the late 19th century and succeeded in its mission with the 1918 and 1928 Voting Rights Acts.

Feminist Literary Criticism - Key takeaways

• Feminist literary criticism draws on the ideas of feminist theory to critique literature.
• This form of literary criticism explores how literature portrays and is influenced by patriarchal narratives.
• Elements of a text of feminist literary criticism may consider include; 'gendered' symbols and language, the portrayal of female characters, how the gender of the reader influences their reading of a text.
• Feminist literary criticism first emerged during the second wave of feminism , however, ideas relevant to feminist literary criticism are present during feminism's first wave.
• Important ideas in feminist literary criticism include: Simone de Beauvoir's argument that men perceive women as 'the Other'. Elaine Showalter's three phases in women's writing, Sandra Gilbert and Susan Guabar's Madwoman Thesis.
• Paul Fry, The Classical Feminist Tradition , 2012.

Flashcards in Feminist Literary Criticism 100

Literature and Revolution  (Leon Trotsky, 1923).

True! Gynocriticism is a school of thought pioneered by Elaine Showalter. Gynocriticism provided a new, female-led, framework for literary analysis, creating a new space for the study of women writers. 

A Literature of Their Own  (1977) . 

Simone de Beauvoir argued that women are perceived as 'the Other'. 

Feminist theory explores gender inequality, aiming to understand its roots and nature.

The 'Feminine' Phase. 

The 'Feminist' Phase.

The 'Female' Phase.

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Frequently Asked Questions about Feminist Literary Criticism

What is the meaning of feminist criticism?

Feminist literary criticism is a form of criticism that draws on the ideas of feminist theory   to critique literature, considering how literature portrays and is influenced by patriarchal narratives. 

What are the characteristics of feminist literature?

Feminist literature will typically present the social role of women in a critical light, examining how women are influenced by patriarchal standards and expectations. 

What is the first example of feminist criticism?

Feminist criticism as an independent school of thought was defined by Elaine Showalter's A Literature of Their Own  (1977). This work pioneered the school of thought known as gynocriticism  which provided a new, female-led, framework for literary analysis.

However, earlier works, such as Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex  (1949), also contributed to feminist criticism.

How do you write a feminist literary criticism?

When viewing literature through a feminist lens you should consider either the gender of the author, the presentation of characters based on their gender, or both. 

Some key questions you should answer are; 

• Does the author use feminine or masculine imagery in the text? If they do, why have they used this imagery? 

Who are some key thinkers in feminist literary criticism?

Key thinkers in feminist literary criticism include; Simone de Beauvoir, Elaine Showalter, and Sandra Gilbert & Susan Gubar. 

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Feminist Literary Criticism

Feminism Definition

• History Of Feminism
• Important Figures
• Women's Suffrage
• Women & War
• Laws & Womens Rights
• Feminist Texts
• American History
• African American History
• African History
• Ancient History and Culture
• Asian History
• European History
• Latin American History
• Medieval & Renaissance History
• Military History
• The 20th Century
• J.D., Hofstra University
• B.A., English and Print Journalism, University of Southern California

Feminist literary criticism (also known as feminist criticism) is the literary analysis that arises from the viewpoint of feminism , ​ feminist theory , and/or feminist politics.

Critical Methodology

A feminist literary critic resists traditional assumptions while reading a text. In addition to challenging assumptions that were thought to be universal, feminist literary criticism actively supports including women's knowledge in literature and valuing women's experiences. The two main features of feminist literary criticism include:

• Identifying with female characters: By examining the way female characters are defined, critics challenge the male-centered outlook of authors. Feminist literary criticism suggests that women in literature have been historically presented as objects seen from a male perspective.
• Reevaluating literature and the world in which literature is read: By revisiting the classic literature, the critic can question whether society has predominantly valued male authors and their literary works because it has valued males more than females.

Embodying or Undercutting Stereotypes

Feminist literary criticism recognizes that literature both reflects and shapes stereotypes and other cultural assumptions. Thus, feminist literary criticism examines how works of literature embody patriarchal attitudes or undercut them, sometimes both happening within the same work.

Feminist theory and various forms of feminist critique began long before the formal naming of the school of literary criticism. In so-called first-wave feminism, the "Woman's Bible," written in the late 19th century by Elizabeth Cady Stanton , is an example of a work of criticism firmly in this school, looking beyond the more obvious male-centered outlook and interpretation.

During the period of second-wave feminism, academic circles increasingly challenged the male literary canon. Feminist literary criticism has since intertwined with postmodernism and increasingly complex questions of gender and societal roles.

Tools of the Feminist Literary Critic

Feminist literary criticism may bring in tools from other critical disciplines, such as historical analysis, psychology, linguistics, sociological analysis, and economic analysis. Feminist criticism may also look at intersectionality , looking at how factors including race, sexuality, physical ability, and class are also involved.

Feminist literary criticism may use any of the following methods:

• Deconstructing the way that female characters are described in novels, stories, plays, biographies, and histories, especially if the author is male
• Deconstructing how one's own gender influences how one reads and interprets a text, and which characters and how the reader identifies depending on the reader's gender
• Deconstructing how female autobiographers and biographers of women treat their subjects, and how biographers treat women who are secondary to the main subject
• Describing relationships between the literary text and ideas about power, sexuality, and gender
• Critique of patriarchal or woman-marginalizing language, such as a "universal" use of the masculine pronouns "he" and "him"
• Noticing and unpacking differences in how men and women write: a style, for instance, where women use more reflexive language and men use more direct language (example: "she let herself in" versus "he opened the door")
• Reclaiming women writers who are little known or have been marginalized or undervalued is sometimes referred to as expanding or criticizing the canon—the usual list of "important" authors and works. Examples include raising the contributions of early playwright ​ Aphra Behn and showing how she was treated differently than male writers from her own time forward, and the retrieval of Zora Neale Hurston 's writing by Alice Walker .
• Reclaiming the "female voice" as a valuable contribution to literature, even if formerly marginalized or ignored
• Analyzing multiple works in a genre as an overview of a feminist approach to that genre: for example, science fiction or detective fiction
• Analyzing multiple works by a single author (often female)
• Examining how relationships between men and women and those assuming male and female roles are depicted in the text, including power relations
• Examining the text to find ways in which patriarchy is resisted or could have been resisted

Feminist literary criticism is distinguished from gynocriticism because feminist literary criticism may also analyze and deconstruct the literary works of men.

Gynocriticism

Gynocriticism, or gynocritics, refers to the literary study of women as writers. It is a critical practice of exploring and recording female creativity. Gynocriticism attempts to understand women’s writing as a fundamental part of female reality. Some critics now use “gynocriticism” to refer to the practice and “gynocritics” to refer to the practitioners.

American literary critic Elaine Showalter coined the term "gynocritics" in her 1979 essay “Towards a Feminist Poetics.” Unlike feminist literary criticism, which might analyze works by male authors from a feminist perspective, gynocriticism wanted to establish a literary tradition of women without incorporating male authors. Showalter felt that feminist criticism still worked within male assumptions, while gynocriticism would begin a new phase of women’s self-discovery.

Resources and Further Reading

• Alcott, Louisa May. The Feminist Alcott: Stories of a Woman's Power . Edited by Madeleine B. Stern, Northeastern University, 1996.
• Barr, Marleen S. Lost in Space: Probing Feminist Science Fiction and Beyond . University of North Carolina, 1993.
• Bolin, Alice. Dead Girls: Essays on Surviving an American Obsession . William Morrow, 2018.
• Burke, Sally. American Feminist Playwrights: A Critical History . Twayne, 1996.
• Carlin, Deborah. Cather, Canon, and the Politics of Reading . University of Massachusetts, 1992.
• Castillo, Debra A. Talking Back: Toward a Latin American Feminist Literary Criticism . Cornell University, 1992.
• Chocano, Carina. You Play the Girl . Mariner, 2017.
• Gilbert, Sandra M., and Susan Gubar, editors. Feminist Literary Theory and Criticism: A Norton Reader . Norton, 2007.
• Gilbert, Sandra M., and Susan Gubar, editors. Shakespeare's Sisters: Feminist Essays on Women Poets . Indiana University, 1993.
• Lauret, Maria. Liberating Literature: Feminist Fiction in America . Routledge, 1994.
• Lavigne, Carlen. Cyberpunk Women, Feminism and Science Fiction: A Critical Study . McFarland, 2013.
• Lorde, Audre. Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches . Penguin, 2020.
• Perreault, Jeanne. Writing Selves: Contemporary Feminist Autography . University of Minnesota, 1995.
• Plain, Gill, and Susan Sellers, editors. A History of Feminist Literary Criticism . Cambridge University, 2012.
• Smith, Sidonie, and Julia Watson, editors. De/Colonizing the Subject: The Politics of Gender in Women's Autobiography . University of Minnesota, 1992.

This article was edited and with significant additions by Jone Johnson Lewis

• What Is Radical Feminism?
• 1970s Feminist Activities
• Goals of the Feminist Movement
• Maxine Hong Kingston’s "The Woman Warrior"
• Liberal Feminism
• Feminist Poetry Movement of the 1960s
• The Feminist Movement in Art
• Socialist Feminism vs. Other Types of Feminism
• Redstockings Radical Feminist Group
• Patriarchal Society According to Feminism
• Adrienne Rich's 'Of Woman Born'
• 10 Important Feminist Beliefs
• Oppression and Women's History
• Biography of Marge Piercy, Feminist Novelist and Poet
• Biography of Adrienne Rich, Feminist and Political Poet
• Feminist Philosophy

Literary Theory and Criticism

Home › Elaine Showalter as a Feminist Critic

Elaine Showalter as a Feminist Critic

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on September 24, 2016 • ( 7 )

Elaine Showalter is an influential American critic famous for her conceptualization of gynocriticism, which is a woman-centric approach to literary analysis, Her A Literature of their Own discusses the -female literary tradition which she analyses as an evolution through three phases. She observes that literary “subcultures” (black, Jewish, Anglo-Indian) tend to pass through these stages: 1) Imitation of the modes of the dominant tradition and internalization of the artistic and social values. 2) Protest against these standards and values and a call for autonomy, 3) Self discovery — turning inward free from’ some of the dependency of opposition, a search for identity.

Viewing the women’s literary tradition in terms of these phases, Showalter calls the first phase as “feminine” spanning from 1840 – 1880 (a phase of imitation, when women writers like George Eliot wrote with male pseudonyms); the second phase as the feminist phase (1880-1920, the phase of protest) when women won voting rights; the third phase as the female phase (1920- till around 1960) when women’s  writing entered a new phase of self-awareness.

Showalter points out that although women writers since the beginning have shared a “covert solidarity” with other women writers and their female audience; there was no expressive communality or self-awareness before the 1840s. Even during the feminine phase, women writers did not see their writing as an expression of their female experiences.Yet the repressive circumstances gave rise to innovative and covert ways to express their inner life, and thus we have the mad woman locked in the attic, the crippled artist and the murderous wife. Despite the restrictions,  the novel from Jane Austen to George Eliot talked about the daily lives and values of women within a family and community.

In the feminist phase which denotes political involvement, women writers questioned the stereotypes and challenged the restrictions of women’s  language, denounced the ethic of self-sacrifice and used their fictional dramatization of oppression to bring about social and political changes. They embodied a “declaration of independence” in the female tradition and stood up to the male establishment in an outspoken manner. Challenging the monopoly of the male press, many feminist journals came into being, and some like Virginia Woolf, controlled their own press.

The female phase was marked by courageous self-exploration and a return to more realistic modes of expression. Post 1960 writers like Doris Lessing , Muriel Spark, Iris Murdoch and Margaret Drabble undertook an authentic anger and sexuality as sources of creative power, while reasserting their  continuity with women writers of the past.

Showalter also posited that feminist criticism falls into two categories: woman as reader (Feminist Critique) and woman as writer (Gynocriticism). In the first category, women are consumers of a male-produced literature and this aspect of feminist criticism is concerned with the stereotypical representations of women, fissures in male-oriented literary theory and how patriarchy manipulated the female audiences. Gynocriticism attempts to construct a female framework for the analysis of women’s literature and focus on female subjectivity, female language and female literary career.

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In her essay Feminist Criticism in the Wilderness (1981), Showalter says, “A cultural theory acknowledges that there are important differences between women as writers: class, race nationality, and history are literary determinants as significant as gender. Nonetheless, women’s culture forms a collective experience within the cultural whole, an experience that binds women writers to each other over time and space”. I want to understand this please ?

The theory of culture as a factor affecting women’s writing is inclusive of the theories of biology, language and psyche. The influence of all these factors is guided by the cultural situation of a woman. History has not included female experience. Thus, history is inadequate to understand women’s experience. Woman’s culture is not a sub-culture of main culture. They are part of general culture itself. If patriarchal society applies restraints on them, they transform it into complementarity. Thus, women experience duality of culture including general culture and women’s culture. Women form ‘muted group’ in society and men form ‘dominant group’. Ardener suggested a diagram with two circles representing these two groups respectively. All language of the dominant group is all acceptable language. So, the muted group has to follow the same language. The part of the circle representing the muted group which does not coincide with the other circle represents that part of women’s life which has not found any expression in history. It represents the activities, experiences and feelings of women which are unknown to men. Since they do not form part of men’s life, they do not get representation in history. This ‘female zone’ is also known as ‘wild zone’ since it is out of the range of dominant boundary. Women could not write on experiences belonging exclusively on the wild zone. They have to give representation to the dominant culture in their texts. There are other muted groups as well than women. For instance, literary identity of a black American poet is forced upon her by the trends of the dominant group. Feminist critics try to identify the aspects of women writers which do not follow the trends established by the male writers. For instance, Woolf’s works show tendencies other than those of modernism. However, these tendencies are visible in the sections which have so far been considered obscure or imperfect. Feminist critics should attempt ‘thick description’ of women’s writings. It is possible only when effect of gender and female literary tradition are considered among the various factors that affect the meaning of the text. Showalter concludes that the ‘promised land’ or situation when there would be no difference in the texts written by man and woman could not be attained. Attainment of that situation should not be the aim of feminist critics.

Thank you so much sir for generous help but does Showalter refer that women would be writing alike ? By having the same female literary tradition, would they supposedly write alike ?

What is value of gynocriticism in the context of feminist criticism?

https://literariness.org/2016/09/25/gynocriticism-a-brief-note/amp/

•  Gynocriticism A Brief Note – Literary Theory and Criticism Notes
• The Madwoman – Standplaats wereld

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Encyclopedia

Writing with artificial intelligence, feminist criticism.

• © 2023 by Angela Eward-Mangione - Hillsborough Community College

Feminist Criticism is

• a research method , a type of textual research , that literary critics use to interpret texts
• a genre of discourse employed by literary critics used to share the results of their interpretive efforts.

Key Terms: Dialectic ; Hermeneutics ; Semiotics ; Text & Intertextuality ; Tone

Foundational Questions of Feminist Criticism

• Consider stereotypical representations of women as the beloved, mothers, virgins, whores, and/or goddesses. Does the text refer to, uphold, or resist any of these stereotypes? How?
• What roles have been assigned to the men and women in the text? Are the roles stereotypical? Do gender roles conflict with personal desires?
• Does the text paint a picture of gender relations? If so, how would you describe gender relations in the text? On what are they based? What sustains them? What causes conflict between men and women?
• Are gender relations in the text celebrated? Denigrated? Mocked? Mystified? If so, how?

Discussion Questions and Activities: F eminist/Gender Studies

• Define gender, gender roles, patriarchy, and stereotypical representations of gender in your own words.
• Describe the relationship between culture and gender roles. How do culture and gender roles inform each another?
• Read “ Barbie Doll ” by Marge Piercy. Choose the stanza that you think most markedly represents how gender itself is socially constructed. What words, phrases, or lines in the stanza inform your choice?
• Compare and contrast how society treats and advises the girl in the poem with what she does after her good nature wears out “like a fan belt.” Does the poem present the socially constructed nature of gender as positive?
• Evaluate the role that the lines “Consummation at last, / To every woman a happy ending” play in the poem. Quote from the poem to support your interpretation.

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Cambridge University Press 9780521852555 - A History of Feminist Literary Criticism - Edited by Gill Plain and Susan Sellers Frontmatter/Prelims

A HISTORY OF FEMINIST LITERARY CRITICISM

Feminism has transformed the academic study of literature, fundamentally altering the canon of what is taught and setting new agendas for literary analysis. In this authoritative history of feminist literary criticism, leading scholars chart the development of the practice from the Middle Ages to the present. The first section of the book explores protofeminist thought from the Middle Ages onwards, and analyses the work of pioneers such as Wollstonecraft and Woolf. The second section examines the rise of second-wave feminism and maps its interventions across the twentieth century. A final section examines the impact of postmodernism on feminist thought and practice. This book offers a comprehensive guide to the history and development of feminist literary criticism and a lively reassessment of the main issues and authors in the field. It is essential reading for all students and scholars of feminist writing and literary criticism.

GILL PLAIN is Professor of English at the University of St Andrews, Scotland.

SUSAN SELLERS is Professor of English at the University of St Andrews, Scotland.

SUSAN SELLERS

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo

Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB 2 8 RU , UK

Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York

www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521852555

© Cambridge University Press 2007

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 2007

Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge

A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library

ISBN 978-0-521-85255-5 hardback

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

Acknowledgements

Our thanks are due to the School of English at the University of St Andrews for the research funding, leave and support that have helped us to complete this project. Hope Jennings provided invaluable help with the compilation of the book – we could not have done this without her – and a number of people in St Andrews were generous in the provision of practical support. In particular we should like to thank the secretaries in the School of English: Jill Gamble, Jane Sommerville, Sandra McDevitt and Frances Mullan.

Susan Sellers would like to thank the Leverhulme Trust for the funding of a period of leave during which this project was first conceived, and we should both like to thank Ray Ryan and Maartje Scheltens at Cambridge University Press. Ray commissioned the book and supported it throughout its development, while Maartje carefully guided the book and us through the production process.

An enormous number of people helped in the preparation of the project, offering vital suggestions as we progressed. Inadequate records were kept of our many debts, but amongst those giving welcome advice were Sara Ahmed, Isobel Armstrong, Kate Chedgzoy, Priyamvada Gopal, Mary Jacobus, Jackie Jones, Judith Halberstam, Berthold Schoene, Elaine Showalter and Frances Spalding. Above all we would like to thank our contributors for their unstinting professionalism and enthusiasm for the project. We feel privileged to have had such an excellent group of critics devoting their time to the book.

Finally, we would like to dedicate this book to Jo Campling and to the many other feminist critics who have helped and inspired us over the years.

Contributors

LINDA ANDERSON is Professor of Modern English and American Literature at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne. Her publications include Women and Autobiography in the Twentieth Century (1997), Territories of Desire in Queer Culture (with David Alderson, 2000), Autobiography (2001) and Elizabeth Bishop: Poet of the Periphery (with Jo Shapcott, 2002).

HELEN CARR is Professor in the Department of English and Comparative Literature at Goldsmiths College, University of London. She is the editor of From My Guy to Sci-Fi: Women’s Writing and Genre in the Postmodern World (1989), and author of Inventing the American Primitive (1996) and Jean Rhys (1996). She was a co-founder and co-editor of Women’s Review and is a co-founder and co-editor of Women: A Cultural Review .

CLAIRE COLEBROOK is Professor of English Literature at the University of Edinburgh and is the author of a number of books on Deleuze, literary criticism and literary theory. Her publications include Ethics and Representation (1999), Gilles Deleuze (2002) and Gender (2004).

CAROLYN DINSHAW is Professor of English and Social and Cultural Analysis at New York University, where she founded the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality. She is the author of Chaucer’s Sexual Poetics (1989) and Getting Medieval: Sexualities and Communities, Pre- and Postmodern (1999), co-editor of The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Women’s Writing (2003) and founding co-editor of GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies .

MARY EAGLETON is Reader in the School of Cultural Studies at Leeds Metropolitan University. Her research interests focus on feminist literary history and theory, and contemporary women’s writing. She has published widely in both areas. Recent publications include A Concise Companion to Feminist Thought (2003) and Figuring the Woman Author in Contemporary Fiction (2005).

ELIZABETH FALLAIZE is Professor of French Literature at the University of Oxford, and a Fellow of St John’s College. Her books include The Novels of Simone de Beauvoir (1988), French Women’s Writing: Recent Fiction (1993), Simone de Beauvoir: A Critical Reader (1998) and French Fiction in the Mitterrand Years (with C. Davis, 2000).

STACY GILLIS is Lecturer in Modern and Contemporary Literature at the University of Newcastle. She has published widely on cybertheory, cyberpunk and feminist theory. The co-editor of Third Wave Feminism (2004) and editor of The Matrix Trilogy: Cyberpunk Reloaded (2005), she is currently working on a monograph about British detective fiction.

JANE GOLDMAN is Reader in English at the University of Glasgow and General Editor, with Susan Sellers, of the Cambridge University Press Edition of the Writings of Virginia Woolf. She is the author of Modernism , 1910–1945: Image to Apocalypse (2004), The Cambridge Introduction to Virginia Woolf (2006) and The Feminist Aesthetics of Virginia Woolf: Modernism, Post-Impressionism, and the Politics of the Visual (1998).

CAROLINE GONDA is a Fellow and Director of Studies in English at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge. She is the author of Reading Daughters’ Fictions 1709–1834: Novels and Society from Manley to Edgeworth (1996) and editor of Tea and Leg-Irons: New Feminist Readings from Scotland (1992). She is the co-editor with Chris Mounsey of Queer People: Negotiations and Expressions of Homosexuality 1700–1800 (2007). She has also written on British eighteenth-century and Romantic literature, on lesbian theory, children’s literature and contemporary Scottish lesbian writing.

SUSAN GUBAR , Distinguished Professor of English at Indiana University, is the co-author with Sandra M. Gilbert of The Madwoman in the Attic (1979) and its three-volume sequel No Man’s Land (1988). Besides co-editing the Norton Anthology of Literature by Women (1996), she has published a number of books including Racechanges: White Skin, Black Face in American Culture (1997), Critical Condition: Feminism at the Turn of the Century (2000) and Poetry after Auschwitz (2003).

ARLENE R. KEIZER is Associate Professor of English and American Civilization at Brown University. She is the author of Black Subjects: Identity Formation in the Contemporary Narrative of Slavery (2004), as well as articles and poems in African American Review , American Literature , Kenyon Review and other journals. She is currently at work on a book on African-diaspora intellectuals and psychoanalysis.

HEATHER LOVE is Assistant Professor of Twentieth-Century Literature and Gender Studies in the English Department at the University of Pennsylvania. She has published articles on topics in modernism and queer theory in GLQ , New Literary History , Feminist Theory , Postmodern Culture and Transition . Her first book, Feeling Backward: Loss and the Politics of Queer History (2007), is published by Harvard University Press.

SUSAN MANLY is Lecturer in English at the University of St Andrews. She is the editor of Maria Edgeworth’s Harrington and Practical Education , and the co-editor of Helen and Leonora , all in the twelve-volume Novels and Selected Works of Maria Edgeworth (1999/2003). She is also the editor of a paperback edition of Harrington (2004), and the author of Language, Custom and Nation in the 1790s (2007).

GILL PLAIN is Professor of English Literature and Popular Culture in the School of English at the University of St Andrews. Her publications include: Women’s Fiction of the Second World War (1996), Twentieth-Century Crime Fiction: Gender, Sexuality and the Body (2001) and John Mills and British Cinema: Masculinity, Identity and Nation (2006). She is currently working on a literary history of the 1940s.

MADELON SPRENGNETHER is Professor of English at the University of Minnesota, where she teaches literature and creative writing. She has edited several books of feminist criticism, including The (M)other Tongue: Essays in Feminist Psychoanalytic Interpretation (1985), Revising the Word and the World (1993) and Shakespearean Tragedy and Gender (1996). She is also the author of The Spectral Mother: Freud, Feminism and Psychoanalysis (1990).

SUSAN SELLERS is Professor of English and Related Literature at the University of St Andrews. Her publications include Myth and Fairy Tale in Contemporary Women’s Fiction (2001), Hélène Cixous (1996), Language and Sexual Difference (1995) and Feminist Criticism (1991). She is currently working on a scholarly edition of the writings of Virginia Woolf.

JUDITH STILL is Professor of French and Critical Theory at the University of Nottingham. Her books include Justice and Difference in the Work of Rousseau (1993) and Feminine Economies: Thinking Against the Market in the Enlightenment and the Late Twentieth Century (1997). She is the editor of Men’s Bodies (2003) and also co-editor of Textuality and Sexuality (1993),

© Cambridge University Press

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Gynocriticism: a concept by Elaine Showalter

Gynocriticism was a concept that was developed by Elaine Showalter in her significant essay ‘ Toward a Feminist Poetics ’ (1979). According to Showalter,

“Gynocritics is related to feminist research in history, anthropology, psychology, and sociology, all of which have developed hypotheses of a female subculture including not only the ascribed status, and the internalized constructs of femininity, but also the occupations, interactions, and consciousness of women”.

Gynocriticism is the kind of feminist literary criticism that goes beyond the established and prevalent dependency upon male literary culture and literature. It is also further evolved from the feminist focus on conventional women’s role, their marginalization and exploitation in a patriarchal and male dominant world. Instead, it aims to create a new tradition of women’s literature, history, anthropology, linguistics, etc, that focuses on women’s internal experiences, their sisterhood, and their subculture.

Showalter emphasizes how feminist literary criticism and theory was perceived as inferior and inadequate in literary academia. During the 1970s, literary academia was completely dominated by men. Almost all prominent literary critics such as Raymond Williams, Terry Eagleton, Fredric Jameson, Roland Barthes, Stuart Hall, Northrop Frye, Harold Bloom, Stuart Hall, etc. were men. Feminist theory and criticism were extremely isolated and misunderstood. Male critics often expected feminist critics to fit into the masculine and traditional academic norms and become indifferent and rigid to what they themselves felt. This not only made feminism lack its own distinct voice, it also made it confined to studying women only with respect to men. Gynocriticism is a critical study of women’s literature that is no longer occupied with women’s relationships, roles, and their treatment in a patriarchal literary society and world. Instead, it tries to study women’s literature by focusing on their internal struggles and experiences, their relationships with other women, and their perceptions about life.

Besides the marginalization of feminist criticism, another obstacle for feminist movement was its resistance to theory due to the fear of it getting subsumed by the male dominant academia. Since most theorists were men, theory’s language, terminology, methods depicted concepts and viewpoints only of men, and assumed them to be universal. Thus, it became increasingly difficult for female critics to depend on or welcome theory that was so rooted in patriarchy. Gynocriticism aims to reconstruct theory linguistically as well as methodologically in order to include women’s issues, perceptions, culture, and experiences, and give them adequate space in literary theory and academia.

Gynocriticism: Woman as a Writer

In her essay ‘ Toward a Feminist Poetics ’, Elaine Showalter categorizes feminist literary theory and criticism as either woman as a reader also known as the feminist critique, or as woman as a writer which is known as gynocriticism. According to Showalter, when a woman is a reader, she absorbs all the works produced by men. Hence, feminist critique focuses on how women are depicted in literary texts written by men. It studies women’s characters, conditions, and experiences as written by men. It also highlights traditional misconceptions, misogyny and marginalization of women that is prevalent explicitly or implicitly in literature.

Gynocriticism, on the other hand, goes beyond feminist critique. Woman no longer is a reader but becomes a writer. Showalter points out that although feminist critique is a significant kind of feminist criticism, it is limiting. If we continue to focus upon the portrayal of women in literature produced by men, we will never be able to learn about women’s internal experiences and will continue to know women as seen by men.

In Gynocriticism, it is the woman who creates history, text, its meaning, structure, themes, genre, and characters. Gynocriticism no longer sees women with respect to men. Rather, it attempts to focus on unearthing and creating a tradition and sub-culture that belongs to women and is entirely about them without the influence of conventional male literary codes. Carolyn Heilbrun and Catharine Stimpson, editor of Signs: Women in Culture and Society, compares gynocriticism to New Testaments, that relies upon imagination.

Gynocriticism creates a new sub-culture for women

By renouncing conventional patriarchal norms about literature, history, society, and language, gynocriticism creates a subculture that includes interactions and consciousness of women. It researches multiple fields in order to create a subculture that portrays women as their authentic self. Besides creating a subculture, gynocriticism also unearths existing solidarity and sisterhood of women that arises from their marginalization by a patriarchal society. Gynocriticism studies how women have incorporated myths of Amazon, and secluded female societies in various literary works since the Victorian age till the contemporary period.

Significant American Gynocritics

Showalter also mentions four significant American feminist scholars who have attempted to explore new ways to study and understand 19th century female culture through literature. Out of the four gynocritics, three are social historians.

Showalter mentios Carroll Smith-Rosenberg for her path-breaking scholarship of women’s gender and history in the United States. Her article titled ‘ The Female World of Love and Ritual ’ published in the first volume and issue of Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society (1975), explores the society and emotions through numerous archived letters between women.

Nancy Falik Cott is the second gynocritic whom Showalter mentions for her book ‘ The Bonds of Womanhood: “Woman’s Sphere” in New England (1780-1835)’ . This book focuses on solidarity and the sisterhood that develops among women through their shared exploitation and cultural bondage.

Showalter also mentions Ann Douglas who is another significant gynocritic known for ‘ The Feminization of American Culture ’. In this work, Douglas explores and traces the development of American mass-culture that is found in women’s sentimental literature and clergymen.

The fourth American gynocritic is Nina Auerbach known for ‘ Communities of Women: An Idea in Fiction ’ (1978). This book explored the bonds of women through the fictions of Louisa May Alcott and Elizabeth Gaskell, Muriel Spark, Sylvia Plath, and Dorothy Sayers.

According to Showalter, these gynocritical works by feminist scholars are extremely significant for a complete development of feminist literary theory.

Gynocriticism takes into account women’s Political, social, and personal history

Virginia Woolf accurately remarks in her essay ‘ Women and Fiction ’(1928) that:

“In dealing with women as writers, as much elasticity as possible is desirable; it is necessary to leave oneself room to deal with other things besides their work, so much has that work been influenced by conditions that have nothing whatever to do with art.”

Several irrelevant factors shape and impact women’s literature. Showalter mentions how Cora Kaplan introduces Elizabeth Barrett Browning in the latter’s novel ‘ Aurora Leigh ’, as a romantic and bourgeois feminist who relies upon the transformational powers of love, Christianity, and art. Interestingly, Kaplan is unable to take note of and mention one of the most significant factors that must have impacted Barrett Browning’s writing -- Robert Browning. Since women are more affected by the value systems and male traditions, and constantly have to seek male approval, literature produced by them is naturally shaped by factors that are directly irrelevant to art. Gynocriticism attempts to understand the framework of women’s subculture and helps us to find and establish connections within a tradition. Without placing women’s literature alongside their internal, social and political history, we are bound to misread and misunderstand literary meanings, themes and structures of their work.

The Pain of Feminist Awakening

Florence Nightingale in a passage from her work ‘Cassandra’ says:

“Give us back our suffering, we cry to Heaven in our hearts--suffering rather than indifferentism--for out of suffering may come the cure. Better to have pain than paralysis: A hundred struggle and drown in the breakers. One discovers a new world.”

For Nightingale, pain was the very essence of the feminist awakening and was the driving force of any progressive change. It is better to struggle and suffer to gain some authority and autonomy as a female writer than to remain complacent as in the case of Victorian women.

Pain and suffering have been one of the most prominent themes of women’s literature, and have been consumed by both men and women as a literary commodity. Popular novels such as ‘ Mill on the Floss ’, ‘ The House of Mirth ’, ‘ The Story of an Animal Farm ’, have plots that find fulfillment only when a male mourner visits the grave of a female protagonist.

Similarly, in novels such as ‘ Down Among the Women ’, and ‘ Female Friends ’ by Fay Weldon, suicide by the female protagonist becomes a central theme. On the other hand, in the novel ‘ The Driver’s Seat ’ by Muriel Spark, the female protagonist Lise goes as far as pursuing a misogynist psychopath and persuades him to murder her. One might assume that such examples of self-destructive and tragic novels might be the result of women’s personal issues. However, this assumption ignores the possibility that such self-destructive and tragic worlds might be the only ones available for women, and their self-destructive responses might be necessary and justifiable. Gynocriticism takes into account this possibility.

According to Showalter, women’s literature must go beyond the themes of compromise, death, madness, and suffering. Although pain is an inevitable element of feminist growth and progress, women’s literature must also begin to write about the world beyond it. Fortunately, women’s literature has now begun to place the pain of feminist awakening in the past. For example, ‘Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution’ challenges the popular and common rejection of mothers by their daughters disguised as feminist awakening. Gynocriticism attempts to recover from this prevalent ‘matrophobia’ (a term coined by the American poet Lynn Sukenick). Just as the death of a father was a significant event in a male protagonist, the loss of a mother is considered just as impactful in a female protagonist’s life. Literary works such as ‘ Surfacing’ by Margaret Atwood, and ‘Kinflicks’ by Lisa Alther are some popular examples.

Gynocriticism enables female writers to tap into their ‘precious speciality’

It has been popularly assumed that the novel is the most efficient genre for women to express and document their most personal experiences and thoughts. However, just like literary academia and theory, the field of literary publishing too has been dominated by men. Therefore, it was extremely difficult for women to write exactly what they wanted to. Even if they wrote in a genre that was assumed to belong to them, they were mentally imprisoned to impress and seek approval from their publisher.

George Eliot in her essay 'Silly Novels by Lady Novelists’ declares that:

“…we are not dependent on argument to prove that Fiction is a department of literature in which women can, after their kind, fully equal men.  A cluster of great names, both living and dead, rush to our memories in evidence that women can produce novels not only fine, but among the very finest—novels, too, that have a precious speciality, lying quite apart from masculine aptitudes and experience”.

Gynocriticism attempts to free women of this psychological bondage to seek approval of a male dominating publishing industry, academia, or theory and criticism.

Gynocriticism belongs to the female phase of feminist criticism. It rejects both imitation and protest against literature produced by men. It focuses on women’s internal experiences, and personal history as a source of their literary works, rather than conventional patriarchal factors. Gynocriticism creates a tradition of women’s literature that includes all three phases of feminine, feminist, and female phases of feminist criticism. It reconstructs a female tradition by unearthing a large amount of literary texts, poetry, drama, essays produced by women that have been ignored and marginalized. This continuous female tradition spans from “decade to decade” and not from “Great Woman to Great Woman”. Once a continuous tradition of women writers is established, gynocriticism helps us see interrelated patterns of influence and evolution among women’s works.

Gynocriticism goes beyond prominent literary theories

During the years leading to the Cold War, humanist academia was at its lowest times. All the focus and money was being directed towards science and scientific research. It was Northrop Frye, in ‘ Anatomy of Criticism ’ (1957), who proposed the idea of a systematic critical theory that would give literary studies the desirable qualities and gravity of science. This also led to the prominence of theories like Marxism and Structuralism. Theorists began to read literature on the bases of linguistics, deconstructuralism, etc. in order to show that their profession was as serious and masculine as science. These elite theories are considered to be the “sciences of the text”. In Marxist theory, the author produces the text depending upon the economical, social, and historical factors. Similarly, Structuralism sees the text as the science of meanings, and grammar of genres.

Showalter accurately observes that:

“Literary science, in its manic generation of difficult terminology, its establishment of seminars and institutes of postgraduate study, creates an elite crop of specialists who spend more and more time mastering the theory, less and less time reading the books. We are moving towards a two-tiered system of “higher” and “lower” criticism, the higher concerned with the “scientific” problems of form and structure, the “lower” concerned with the “humanistic” problems of content and interpretation.”

Gynocriticism perceives the author as the creator of texts rather than as a producer. It considers the traditional terminology of elite theories limiting to women’s literature and urges women to write through their impulses, free of any male approval or influence. According to Showalter,

Gynocriticism is a synthesis of both higher criticism (including Marxism, Structuralism, etc), and lower criticism (feminist criticism). Unlike the elite theories, it includes the subjective experiences of women and considers them at least as important as the systematic studies of the literary text. Gynocriticism attempts to discover a new language, a renewed way of reading that amalgamates our intellect, reason with our experiences, emotions and vision.

Gynocriticism of Pride and Prejudice: a brief example

' Pride and Prejudice' by Jane Austen is one of the most popular English novels of the 18th century. The very opening lines of the novel reveal to us its core subject - women's constant struggle for an advantageous marriage.

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."

The feminist reading of the novel will focus on the following elements:

• How marriage is the only respectable option for a woman to have access to financial security. Mr. and Mrs. Bennet have five unmarried daughters – Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Kitty, and Lydia. Thus, throughout the novel, we see the Bennets desperately and embarrassingly (in case of Mrs. Bennet) attempting to catch the attention of Mr. Bingley, an eligible wealthy bachelor.
• Lack of  financial security reduces the institution of marriage an economic transaction in which the value of a man depends upon his wealth and that of a woman depends on her beauty, and domestic abilities. For instance while Jane has promising prospects to marry Mr. Bingley due to her striking beauty, Elizabeth's friend, Charlotte Lucas eventually has to settle for Mr. Collins :

"Mr. Collins, to be sure, was neither sensible nor agreeable; his society was irksome, and his attachment to her must be imaginary. But still he would be her husband. Without thinking highly either of men or matrimony, marriage had always been her object; it was the only provision for well-educated young women of small fortune, and however uncertain of giving happiness, must be their pleasantest preservative from want. This preservative she had now obtained; and at the age of twenty-seven, without having ever been handsome, she felt all the good luck of it."

In short, a feminist reading of Austen's ' Pride and Prejudice' will focus on the condition and role of women in a patriarchal society. We read and study women and their fate in the novel with respect to men.

However, gynocriticism attempts to read ' Pride and Prejudice' with a focus on women, their internal experiences, their relations with other women and their perception of life. A gynocritical reading of the novel might focus on the following points:

• Rather than being completely occupied with women's desperate and inescapable need to get married, gynocriticism would analyze the relationship among the five Bennet sisters. The focus shifts to women's interpersonal relationships and their personal experiences.
• It might also attempt to study the strong friendship shared between Elizabeth and Charlotte Lucas.
• Will not study the novel in isolation, but would rather attempt to find patterns of influence by a larger literary tradition belonging exclusively to women.

Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice (Penguin Clothbound Classics . 9 Jan. 2023

Elaine Showalter: ‘Toward a Feminist Poetics. In The New Feminist Criticism. New York : Pantheon, 1985.

Showalter, Elaine. A Literature of Their Own : British Women Novelists from Bronte to Lessing. London Virago, 1978

Eliot, George. Silly Novels by Lady Novelists . London, Penguin, 2010

Nightingale, Florence. Cassandra : An Essay. With an Introd. By Myra Stark and an Epilogue by Cynthia Macdonald. Old Westbury, Ny, Feminist Press, 1979.

23 Texts to Introduce Feminist Criticism in High School ELA

• Reading Instruction

When I introduce literary criticism to my students, feminist criticism is one of the first lenses we use.

In part, we encounter feminist criticism early on because students know the word “feminist” or “feminism” without always know what those terms mean. Unfortunately, some of my students often have negative attitudes toward “feminist” and “feminism.” Introducing feminist criticism helps students unpack those terms and better understand what it means to be a feminist.

Additionally, at the high school level, feminist criticism is fairly straightforward. When applying feminist criticism, we are basically looking at how a text treats its womxn characters. In other words, we’re asking the same three questions over and over:

• First, how does the text treat womxn characters?
• Similarly, what does the treatment of womxn characters reveal about the text, its author, or its historical context?
• Finally, does the treatment of womxn characters support or undermine the author’s purpose for writing? Why or why not?

Keep reading to check out 23 texts that help students answer these questions!

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Using Mythology to Introduce Feminist Criticism

Anytime I introduce a new critical lens , I like to start with a familiar text. Since literary criticism requires students to evaluate a text from a new angle, it’s helpful to begin with a low-stress text.

By the time students come to me, they have usually read The Odyssey , so that’s oftentimes a good place for us to begin applying literary criticism.

Firstly, I often begin with “Siren Song” by Margaret Atwood. For one, students usually remember Odysseus’ encounter with the sirens. (Even if they don’t, we can quickly re-read the scene here .) As we’re reading or recalling this scene, we can discuss how many of the womxn characters in The Odyssey are vilified, including Circe and Calypso . Then, to take our feminist criticism further, we can read “Siren Song” and evaluate how Atwood’s version of events is different from Homer’s original. To extend this lesson, teachers can do the same thing with the song “Calypso” by Suzanne Vega.

Penelope As a Focal Point for Feminist Criticism

Similarly, there are a variety of poems that reimagine Penelope’s role in The Odyssey . While students may not always remember Penelope, we can quickly remember her by reading Penelope , Penelope’s Suitors , and Penelope’s Test . Once students are more familiar with Penelope’s story, we can use feminist criticism to evaluate the source. Then, we can dive into some more modern reinterpretations of Penelope’s story.

• First, “Penelope” by Dorothy Parker is a short glimpse into Penelope’s days. This is a great place to begin applying literary criticism, especially since the poem’s first person provides key contrast to the original text. Read it here .
• Similarly, “Penelope to Ulysses” by Meredith Schwartz also uses the first person. The epistolary nature of this poem adds another layer of complexity. (Plus, teachers can build on this poem by having students write their own letters to Ulysses.) Read it here .
• Finally, “An Ancient Gesture” by Edna St. Vincent Millay is my favorite of these three poems because it modernizes Penelope’s struggle. Rather than focusing on Penelope, this poem focuses on how her story continues to be re-lived by other womxn today. This poem provides a good opportunity to connect the text to modern times. Read it here .

Grab all three of my resources for teaching these poems in The Odyssey Synthesis Bundle !

Helen as a Focal Point for Feminist Criticism

Like Penelope, Helen is a well-known figure in mythology. Unlike Penelope, fewer of my students are familiar with Helen, so using her as a focal point for feminist criticism is a way to begin leveling up.

• Firstly, “Helen of Troy” by Ella Wheeler Wilcox has a clear sonnet structure that students understand. For this reason, students can spend more time focused on a feminist reading of the poem. Read it here .
• Additionally, “Helen” by Nikita Gill is a student favorite! My students are often familiar with Gill’s work from social media, and her book Great Goddesses: Life Lessons from Myths and Monsters is always checked out from the classroom library. The question at the end of this poem makes it a great candidate for feminist criticism!
• Finally, “Helen” by H.D. is the most challenging of these texts because it is the most ambiguous . Once students have a grip on the poem, they can turn readily to feminist criticism, but they have to nail the poem’s meaning first. Read it here .

Teaching resources and lesson plans for all three of these poems are included in my 11-12 Synthesizing Allusion Across Media Bundle , which helps students synthesize across media by focusing on one central allusion.

Poetry to Teach Feminist Criticism

Beyond mythology, poetry is a good way to introduce feminist criticism. The brevity of poetry makes it an ideal medium for applying new skills and concepts. Here are some of my favorite poems for using feminist criticism:

Firstly, “The Latin Deli: An Ars Poetica” by Judith Ortiz Cofer is a good poem to begin with. While this is a longer poem, the language is fairly straightforward, so students can spend less time paraphrasing and more time applying feminist criticism. Read it here .

Secondly, “What I Carried” by Maggie Smith is another great poem for introducing feminist criticism. In this shorter poem, students have to grapple with feminist criticism in the context of motherhood. Another great Smith poem is “You Could Never Take a Car to Greenland.” Read them both in Good Bones , one of my favorite poetry collections.

Similarly, the one word in “One-Word Poem” by David R. Slavitt pairs nicely with either of Maggie Smith’s poems. This offers readers another perspective on motherhood, which is complicated by Slavitt writing the poem without every being a mother. Read it here .

As students become more comfortable with feminist criticism, they’re ready for more challenging poems. To my mind, that means poetry that’s complicated by sarcasm, understatement, and irony. Two great poems for this next level are “I Sit and Sew” by Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson and “I, being born a woman and distressed” by Edna St. Vincent Millay. The first time we read these poems, my students almost always giggle a little. In other words, these are engaging poems for students.

Grab four of these poems in the Feminist Criticism Bundle !

Short Stories for Teaching Feminist Criticism

As students continue to develop their skills with feminist criticism, we move on to longer works. Short stories are great tools for literary criticism because they often lend themselves to more than one critical lens. Check out some of my favorite short stories for feminist criticism:

• Firstly, “A White Heron” by Sarah Orne Jewett is an English classroom staple. When my students are newer to literary criticism, I often choose this text because the plot is fairly simple, but the text lends itself to several critical lenses, including Marxist and feminist criticism. Read it here .
• Similarly, “The Yellow Wall-Paper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a popular text for American literature. Since this text is a little longer and more complex than “A White Heron,” it’s a great level up for students. When teachers couple this short story with the essay “Why I Wrote ‘The Yellow Wall-paper’?” , students have the chance to practice biographical and feminist criticism. Read the short story here .
• In contrast to the sympathetic protagonists in Jewett and Perkins Gilman’s work, the protagonist of “Editha” by William Dean Howells is not sympathetic. As such, this short story provides a greater challenge to students as they read and annotate. Additionally, this is the first short story recommendation that doesn’t come from a womxn author, which will complicate students’ classroom conversation. Read it here .

Increased Complexity for Criticism

• Additionally, the protagonist in “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid is sympathetic while the speaker is not. While this story is short, its structure is more complex. Like “What I Carried,” this story also introduces the relationship between mother and daughter. Overall, this text requires a nuanced approach to feminist criticism. Read it here .
• Next, “Berenice” by Edgar Allan Poe is named after the woman character, but she’s not the speaker nor is she given much agency. As with Howells’ story, the feminist criticism here is complicated by Poe’s writing. Furthermore, the horrifying nature of this text makes it a hard read in some ways. Check it out here .
• Finally, my favorite short story on this list is “A New England Nun” by Mary E. Freeman. This is such a great read for several types of literary criticism, including Marxist, deconstructionist , and feminist criticism. Overall, the end of this short story makes it a must-read. Check it out here .

To help you bring all of these short stories into your classroom, I’ve put together a 9-12 Short Stories bundle that will save you time and money!

Longer Works for Teaching Feminist Criticism

As students become more adept at literary criticism, they can begin evaluating longer and more complex works.

Oftentimes when teachers think of longer works, we think of novels. While I do have some novel recommendations, dramas are also an amazing tool for literary criticism. Because drama is performed, it really lends itself to the kind of dialogue in which literary criticism thrives. Check out these three dramas for incorporating feminist criticism:

• Firstly, many English teachers first think of Lady Macbeth when considering womxn in drama. Indeed, Macbeth by William Shakespeare is a great opportunity for feminist criticism.
• Similarly, Julius Caesar is another Shakespearean drama ripe for literary criticism! The fact that there are so few womxn characters in this text provides students with a great sense of focus.
• If Shakespeare is not the dramatist for you, The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a good play for applying literary criticism. The treatment of Elizabeth Proctor and Abigail Williams makes for strong discussion.

Beyond classroom dramas, novels are always a good place to apply literary criticism. In this case, my two recommendations are diametrically different.

• Firstly, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald features womxn characters who are not empowered. When the womxn characters in the text do have agency, it’s always coupled with wealth and privilege. Reading this novel alongside Fitzgerald’s short story “Winter Dreams” also provides a rich conversation about how Fitzgerald treats womxn characters.
• On the other hand, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen features womxn characters with varied levels of privilege and agency. The diverse motivations of the womxn characters also factors into classroom conversations about feminist criticism.

Further Reading

Since literary criticism is one of my passions, I’ve written quite a bit about it. Check out these related posts and resources:

• 5 Reasons to Include Literary Criticism, and 5 Ways to Make it Happen
• How to Introduce Deconstructionist Literary Criticism
• Teaching at the Intersection of History and Literature
• 8 Ways to Bring Creativity into the Classroom
• 40 Texts for Teaching Literary Criticism
• Historical and Biographical Criticism
• Deconstructionist Criticism Bundle
• All Literary Criticism Resources
• Introducing Literary Criticism
• Feminist Criticism Bundle
• Historical Criticism

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Feminist criticism essay writing instructions.

If you have been assigned to write a feminist criticism essay, it simply means that your tutor wants you to carefully analyze some of the feminist issues which are represented in a given book, with attention on the female characters and the roles they played in the book’s narration. As you get down to the task of finding out about the author’s view of women as exhibited by his or her work, there are certain aspects of the process that you should pay attention to as well. If it is your first time of writing this type of academic paper, here are some writing instructions to help you get started right away. They are as follows:

• Get To Know The Characters: In order for you to effectively write your feminist academic paper, it is important that you take your time to know all you should about the characters. This includes their background, work, sexuality, childhood, and outlook on life. When you know all these, drawing conclusions on them becomes an easier task for you to handle.
• Get To Know Their Roles In The Book: Now that you have found out their background and other important information, it is time to know about the roles they played in the book. You can focus on the lead character. Taking note of any anecdotal scenarios will provide more support for the thesis of your feminist essay.
• Determine Their Relationship With Each Other: As you take a look at the female characters in the book, take your time to explore the relationship between them. This way, you will be able to come up with contrasts. You can also examine how they relate with their male counterparts in the book.
• Evaluate Their Characters: Each of the characters of the book has their individual characters which cannot be ignored. Go ahead and assess each character’s attitude and take your time to evaluate same. This way, you will be able to determine how powerful or weak each character is.
• Time To Write: Having gathered all the information you need, the next step is to write your academic paper. Your findings will form the foundation of your writing as you set out to affirm or disapprove the author’s views or opinion.

Choosing and writing on feminist essay topics can be a little bit tricky but with the tips listed above, you will surely have an improved writing experience. Alternatively, consider asking " write my term paper " a good writing service.

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