The Madwoman in the Attic by Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar

Oftentimes literature can have a profound impact on not only individuals, but on the entirety of the society in question. The written word has more than proven to be an important tool used to challenge societal norms as well as cultural expectations, to shake the framework of society and act as a harbinger of changes that trickle through and flood the socio-political orders that be. This was particularly true for the nineteenth-century female writer who was â€Å"enclosed in the architecture of an overwhelmingly male-dominated society† (Gilbert and Gubar). As the authors of The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar point out, there existed at the time â€Å"a common, female impulse to struggle free from social and literary confinement through strategic redefinitions of self, art, and society† (Gilbert and Gubar). One would have difficulty fully understanding social facets of the Victorian e ra without making an effort to first understand the plight of emerging female writers during this time period, especially noting that some sought male-sounding pseudonyms in order to secure their publications, and to be taken seriously as novelists and authors. Charlotte Bronte and Elizabeth Barrett Browning are two such female writers who actively sought to redefine society through their work—in particular, the expectations women were meant to make realities. Bronte’s 1847 novel entitled Jane Eyre and Browning’s 1856Show MoreRelated Exposing the Role of Women in The Madwoman in the Attic Essay1701 Words   |  7 PagesExposing the Role of Women in The Madwoman in the Attic  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚   In their book The Madwoman in the Attic, Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar address the issue of literary potential for women in a world shaped by and for men. Specifically, Gilbert and Gubar are concerned with the nineteenth century woman and how her role was based on her association with the symbols of angels, monsters, or sometimes both. Because the role of angel was ideally passive and the role of monster was naturally evil, bothRead MoreEssay on Feminist Theory in Heart of Darkness1199 Words   |  5 Pagesargue the novel is gendered feminine. Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar claim â€Å"Conrad’s Heart of Darkness†¦penetrates more ironically and thus more inquiringly into the dark core of otherness that had so disturbed the patriarchal, the imperialist, and the psychoanalytic imaginations†¦Conrad designs for Marlow a pilgrimage whose guides and goal are†¦eerily female† (DeKoven 233). This short essay will use Joseph Conrad’s novel Heart of Darkness to highlight Gilbert and Gubar’s theory of angel/monster dichotomyRead MoreThe Madwoman in the Attic4718 Words   |  19 Pages23-41 OPEN ACCESS ISSN 2220-4504 www.ieit-web.org/apscj Women’s Secret Language: the Madwoman in the Attic in a Cultural and Psychological Context JIA Shi 1 1 The University of Iowa E-Mails: daisy-wreath@hotmail.com Received: Apr. 2011 / Accepted: May 2011 / In Press: May 2011 / Published: Jun. 2011 Abstract: As an outstanding representative of the second-wave feminism, The Madwoman in the Attic is still useful in handling the relationship between women and language, especially whenRead MoreRelationship Between Emma Woodhouse And George Knightley1089 Words   |  5 Pagessame rank as his own, with a little money, it might be very desirable†. (Austen 30). Marriage doesn’t serve as the only expectation for women. From The Madwoman in the Attic, they are required to have an angelic personality, which is the idea of never resisting the dominant male culture, or questioning ones’ own place within society. (Gilbert and Gubar, 21). However, Emma Woodhouse both conforms and rejects the angelic personality. She only conforms when required to, at formal gatherings for exampleRead More The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination2194 Words   |  9 PagesThe Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Centu ry Literary Imagination And the lady of the house was seen only as she appears in each room, according to the nature of the lord of the room. None saw the whole of her, none but herself. For the light which she was was both her mirror and her body. None could tell the whole of her, none but herself (Laura Riding qtd. by Gilbert Gubar, 3). Beginning Gibert and Gubar’s piece about the position of female writers duringRead MoreLimits and Challenges of the Feminist Critical Approach2835 Words   |  12 Pagesaspects of theory put forth by three prominent feminist critics, while also considering the arguments raised by three à ©criture feminine scholars. The feminist critics to be considered in this essay are Simone de Beauvoir, Elaine Showalter, Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar. Their arguments about the role of sexual difference, the depiction of females in a binary oppositions to male characters and authors, as well as the sociological statements that these roles make shall, be discussed by themselves. TheRead MoreThe Feminist Approach2232 Words   |  9 Pagesaspects of theory put forth by three prominent feminist critics, while also considering the arguments raised by three à ©criture feminine scholars. The feminist critics to be considered in this essay are Simone de Beauvoir, Elaine Showalter, Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar. Their arguments about the role of sexual difference, the depiction of females in a binary oppositions to male characters and authors, as well as the sociological statements that these roles make shall be discussed. The à ©criture feminineRead MoreEssay on Doubles in Jane Eyre2194 Words   |  9 Pagesbetween Jane and Bertha is the foundation to Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gruber’s argument that the climax of the novel, when Jane is confronted with Bertha as Rochester’s still-living wife, is actually representative of a confrontation within Jane; a confrontation â€Å"with her own imprisoned ‘hunger, rebellion, and rage’, a secret dialogue of self and soul on whose outcome†¦the novel’s plot, Rochester’s fate, and Jane’s coming-of-age all depend† (Gilbert Gubar 339). Bertha then, is a reflection of Jane’sRead MoreJane Eyre By Charlotte Bronte1601 Words   |  7 Pagesrepresentation of the fem ale Victorian writer, trapped in the â€Å"attic† of societal conventions and labeled as a madwoman for her passionate display of emotion (Gilbert and Gubar 7). The only way that Bertha was able to show her power is through unacceptable displays of emotion and arson. Female writers who wrote about unacceptable and taboo ideas, or anything at all, were often labeled as inferior and too passionate, like Bertha (Gilbert and Gubar 12). Rochester called her  intemperate and unchaste (Brontà «Read More Mothers in Jane Austens Sense and Sensibility Essay1517 Words   |  7 Pagescompliments and attention, Fanny Dashwood desires money. Their poor mothering skills, however, are not surprising, but merely reflect Austens clear portrayal of them as shallow individuals with unbalanced values. In Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubars now-classic The Madwoman in the Attic, they discuss a strange breed of women in Austen novels that, unlike the heroines, are angry, ruthless, and powerful. Often, they are mothers or surrogate mothers who seek to destroy their docile children (170).