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Feminist and Gender Criticism

The Turn of the Screw

‘He took no notice of her; he looked at me’: Subjectivities and Sexualities in The Turn of the Screw”

Jane Eyre

Gender criticism now often "articulates the insights of feminist criticism unto those of gay male studies" (p. 533 of What is Gender Criticism)

"Plain Jane's Progress"

  • Throughout the essay, Walton combines the ideas of the problematic, undefined role of the governess and her sexual influence and Miles's possible attraction to Peter Quint. The complexities and challenges of a heterosexual attraction between Miles and the governess provides foundation for a similarly complicated, discouraged relationship between Peter Quint and Miles.
  • "Perhaps the decision facing Miles is too overwhelming, and he cannot choose between sexualities. Torn, his heart stops, and so too does the paternal lineage at Bly, for the governess's ineffectual attempt to usurp Quint's position results in the death of a male hier. This conclusion, then, embodies male anxieties ensuing from a woman's refusal to play her patriarchally inscribed role, at the same time that illustrates the difficulties and dangers of 'coming out,' or becoming visible as a gay man." (Walton, 358)

Marsh End

Lowood: the most overt attempt to force Jane into her 'place' as an orphan

  • Marsh End represents the final development in Jane's inner strength and independence
  • She begins to find her place in the world, free and honest
  • St. John is the final and most difficult hurdle to jump because he offers ostensibly the most viable alternative to Rochester
  • early rejection of the spiritual solution foretells the rejection of St. John
  • despite being better spiritually, it would be more unequal than marriage to Rochester
  • She can overcome because she has overcome before, and two literal things help:

1. Inheritance -the money her uncle left her grants her literal independence

2. Death of Bertha -the mental connection with Rochester shows their equality of spirit

  • Jane is now independent, free of her rage and orphan status
  • Rochester is now free of the specter of Thornfield and Bertha, as well as his sense of superiority over Jane
  • Optimistic ending with the isolation to their marriage of equality which society rejects.
  • Jane learns to master her anger
  • She sees two 'solutions' to mastering her rage:
  • Miss Temple -repression in order to conform
  • angry but never shows it
  • Victorian ideal
  • Helen Burns -all consuming spirituality
  • hopes not for this life but the next
  • submit in this life and be vindicated in the next
  • Jane cannot be these women but she learns to compromise
  • "if not liberty, then a new servitude"

Is this essay essentialist or constructionist?

  • According to our frame text, What is Gender Criticism, "The term essentialist refers to the view that women are essentially different from men. Constructionist, by contrast, refers to the view that most of these differences are characteristics not of the male and female se (nurture) but rather, of the masculine and feminine genders (nurture" (p. 355)
  • think this essay is more constructionist, because Walton herself at the beginning of the essay establishes her work as "gender criticism" (p 348-349)
  • "The late 19th century saw a rise in gender experimentations" (Walton, p 349). Constructionists view gender as changing over time, whereas essentialists concerned more with sex than gender have a more rigid viewpoint (stated in the gender criticism essay as one of their downfalls). Walton's emphasis on a particular time period and the changes that occurred during it suggest that she has a constructionist perspective.
  • "Suffragettes rallied to fight for the right of women to vote, a move that signaled the first wave of criticism and intensified cultural anxieties about women's roles" (Walton, p 349).
  • "The governess is in the process of assuming a position of male authority" (Walton, p 349). Here position works similarly with roles, connoting a societal standing-- more constructionist, or nurtured-- rather than an inherent, essential difference between Peter Quint (male) and the governess (female).
  • "Flora becomes the battleground on which the story's 3 female characters struggle, since Flora, as the girl child, is being schooled into womanhood." -Walton, 355).
  • In the essay What is Gender Criticism, the writer develops the idea of sexuality being separate from sex, and also begins to describe these "subjectivities" upon which Walton's essay hinges.
  • "Emphasis that sexuality is not restricted to homo and heterosexuality-- which are usually seen as mutually exclusive, binary opposites-- but, rather, manifests itself across a broad continuum of behaviors and practices not related to either category" (What is Gender Criticism, p. 338)

Jane Eyre's Life as Pilgrimage

1. Raging child at Gateshead as oppression

2. Ostensibly tempered young woman of Lowood surviving starvation

3. Emerging passionate woman at Thornfield overcoming madness

4. Confident and independent young woman rejecting Marsh End and the coldness of St. John

Thornfield: the sight of Jane's most painful experience & center of her next pilgrimage

  • Jane's rage is governed by a surface calm and restraint
  • but the angry child of Gateshead still lives within her, represented by Bertha Mason
  • Women of Thornfield offer 'negative' solutions to directing her rage and gaining independence
  • Adèle -poor, Vanity Fair, singing for her food and fancy dress
  • Blanche -rich, Vanity Fair, warns that marriage may be a losing choice with the charades
  • Grace- acting as a man in keeping Bertha locked up; also bound to be hidden and isolated
  • Rochester as master in society, but...
  • spiritual equals
  • he treats Jane as an equal and offers an apparent solution to her rage by elevating her status
  • in spite of seeming equality, they cannot be true equals because of his secrets, disguises, and power over Jane
  • sexual knowledge
  • Bertha
  • Jane's rage over her status prove to be impediments to their marriage
  • inequality with Bertha
  • status as orphan

The World is Cold but Jane is Hot

  • Set up by Gateshead and the encounter in/with the Red Room
  • First hint of madness and rage seen in losing control of herself with:
  • John Reed
  • Red Room
  • Mrs. Reed
  • 'Escape' from Gateshead leads to her harrowing experience of Lowood.

How does this essay adhere to and/or differ from traditional feminist criticism?

What is it?

  • Gender criticism of literature came out of feminist criticism and was greatly influenced and shaped by it; thus in order to understand gender criticism, we must understand feminist criticism.
  • Feminist criticism is varied in both its forms and goals, which can include:

  • rediscovering works written by women which were previously overlooked by the male-dominant culture
  • reviewing the works of men from the female point of view
  • The female point of view may include topics such as:
  • women's autobiographical works
  • womanliness as a masquerade
  • the role of media in constructing gender
  • postcolonial society
  • etc.

Early Feminist Criticism

1970s-early 1980s

  • Initially feminist criticism was classified, not by topic, but by country of origin.
  • The three nations whose perspectives proved particularly impactful in forming the theory were:
  • France
  • America
  • Britain

Feminist Theory Today

  • Today the French, American, and British varieties of feminism have influenced and assimilated to one another so much that the national boundry lines of modern criticism are difficult to distinguish.

French Feminist Theory

American Feminist Theory

British Feminist Theory

"Gynocriticism"

  • This movement arose as feminist critics focused their attention of female writers who created "a literature all their own"
  • Critics would emphasize how these authors percieved themselves and their reality
  • They also sought to...
  • rediscover women's culture and history
  • discover overlooked female authors
  • They claimed that women's writing developed in three phases:
  • the Feminine -when women first imitated masculine tradition
  • the Feminist -when they protested against values and standards
  • the Female -when they advocated their own perspective

Other Works

American Criticism

A Feminine Language?

Linguistic Focus

Feminism and the Body

  • Although American feminist criticism focused on the "feminine mode" or "style" both linguistically and thematically, they differed from the French as their primary focuses have been madness, diease, and the demonic.

Anglo-American Feminism?

  • Rather than choosing between using a masculine language and silence, some french feminists suggested the formation of a feminine language.
  • Although the American and British schools of feminism were often lumped together due to their many similarities, British feminist critics sought to distinguish themselves from the American feminist tradition.
  • They viewed the American perspective as overemphasizing texts that link women across boundries and time.
  • French Feminist Criticism was characterized by a focus on language and how meaning is produced
  • They concluded that language is primarily a "male realm"
  • This conlcusion is founded on the binary aspect of language which opposes pairs such as:
  • active/passive
  • masculine/feminine
  • sun/moon
  • head/heart
  • father/mother
  • The aspects traditionally seen as positive (like activity, light, and thought) are grouped with mascuinity and thus given preference; such distinictions were seen to represent the male point of view.
  • Rather than attending to a theory of language, Americans began first by re-analyzing classic works of male literature. They paid special attention to the depiction of female characters and exposed patriarchal ideologies.
  • Some feminist critics (such as Kristeva and Cixous) believed there to be an essential connection between the female body and female writing
  • Cixous advised women to "Write your self. Your body must be heard."
  • This view was frequently criticised by others who believed such a view reduced feminintiy to mere biology and retains the binary categories they were trying to escape.
  • Effects of such a language?
  • threatens the patriarchal culture
  • allows women to express themselves in new ways
  • risks being left on the outskirts of society and polictics which are dominated by men
  • British feminists sought to emphasize the impact of art, politics, and culture.
  • Through and emphasis on the historical process, British feminists sought to effect social change. While they believed the French and American schools "disguise women's oppression by highlighting sexual difference, suggesting that a dominant system is impervious to political change,"

A Feminist Theory?

  • As feminist criticism developed, the question arose as to whether or not they must develop a theory of practice
  • A criticism which relied on theoretical assumptions, categories, and strategies developed by men might not be seen as equal with other disciplines

  • Not all feminist critics thought this theory was necessary and preferred the flexibility of working with theories from other disciplines
  • A "playful pluralism" developed which included various critical schools and methods

  • Still the question of whether it was better to emphasize the separateness of the criticism or if this weakened the school of feminism remained
  • Now criticisms are defined based on whether or not the category of woman is the primary emphasis, or whether another aspect of identity (like race, sexuality, etc.) is the main focus.
  • Stress is placed on the fact that though all women are female, they are something else as well.
  • This has led to a more united and inclusive global perspective.
  • With such an inclusive feminism areas of study have expanded and the category of gender criticism has been developed.

Works Cited

Any Questions???

Ross C. Murfin, “What Are Feminist and Gender Criticism?”

Sandra M. Gilbert, “Plain Jane’s Progress”

Priscilla L. Walton, “ ‘He took no notice of her; he looked at me’: Subjectivities and Sexualities in The Turn of the Screw”

Presentation By:

Lauren Blair, Kara Lewis, & Michaela Wiehe

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