Feminist Analysis

English Lit: AQA A Level Death of a Salesman, topic 10.3.1

Feminist criticism focuses on notions of gender, as well as power relations, particularly the unequal power relations between men and women.

Feminist criticism is based on ideas from the feminist movement which began to gain momentum in the course of the 1960s.
Like Marxism, it focuses on power relations, particularly the unequal power relations between men and women.
It examines notions of gender, and the extent to which ideas of what constitute masculinity or femininity have been constructed.

The following ideas are central tenets of feminist thinking:
- 1. Literature reflects, and helps to perpetuate, the negative stereotyping of women.
Women are stereotyped from a male point of view in ‘positive’ ways such as the “self-sacrificing angel” or in ‘negative’ ways such as the “dangerous seductress”.
These stereotypes promote the idea that female behaviour should be more passive and powerless, preventing equality between the sexes.
Feminist criticism often looks to challenge these stereotypes.

1. Gender roles have little to do with how females (and males) really are, but with the way that society sees them - how they are culturally constructed.
The notion of women being naturally “timid”, or “helpless” is to construct a role for them.
Likewise, masculinity, with its connotations of strength and control is also a construction.
Feminist criticism often looks to challenge the assumptions that lead to these constructed (artificial) ideas of how men and women ‘should’ behave.

1. Texts, even those written by women, often reflect and reinforce patriarchal authority (a society in which men hold the power).
Women are often portrayed as “the other” in texts, whereas men are seen as the “norm”.
This can often be seen in the language and imagery used to describe male and female characters, language which perpetuates false assumptions about gender.

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