... ideal woman within her nineteenth-century English context. Commonly regarded as a realist writer in her accurate portrayal of everyday, Regency era life, Austen was moreover "one of the great formative and founding influences on how we think about 'England' and 'Englishness,' as well as class, ideology and gender issues."2 Her novels raise central matters within ... intelligence, however, make up for plainness in appearance, and her eventual union to Darcy contests the notion that "social rank alone might suspend or overrule a sentiment about someone's 'character.'"17 Darc...

• Word Count: 5516
• Approx Pages: 22
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... feminist nature of Blanche's statement. Blanche is depicted as a silly, vain girl, so surely for her to entertain this opinion is a demonstration of her character? To reverse the conventional and portray a woman's beauty as the mark of something negative is daring, but not without its problems. To truly be ... and preservation of her protagonist's independence as a woman. The first person narration is personal, intimate, and we come to know Jane as a three-dimensional character as opposed to the 'automaton' she feels accused of being. We root for a happy conclusion with Mr. Rocheste...

• Word Count: 2473
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... "to-be-looked-at-ness". She offers that female characters add nothing or very little to actual elements of plot and character but rather are subjected to male scopophilia, the fetishistic and voyeuristic, due to phallocentricism and psychoanalytic fear of castration. She laments the way ... subtext. She subtly bemoans these tendencies and offers hopes to "[transcend] outworn or oppressive forms, or [dare] to break with normal pleasurable expectations in order to conceive a new language of desire."4 This implies that an awareness of the way pleasure and beauty elicits a scopophilic gaze .....

• Word Count: 4301
• Approx Pages: 17
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... about men with female - and therefore "weak" - attributes, "whom everybody automatically assumed to be 'masculine', to positions of great power"[4]. This can be seen in Brocklehurst's actions. His attempts to render the girls sexless in order to ameliorate his own position as a powerful ... position of power. Mrs Fairfax's actual position shows that she is far from it – "this affable and kind little widow was no great dame, but a dependant like myself". Uses of the words "kind" and "affable" in this quotation shows Jane's ... money and status (Blanche Ingram) are disliked by the ...

• Word Count: 1797
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... to be a man. Through study, Mary Wollstonecraft finally realizes that being a woman should not be a flaw that leads to the unjust treatment of human beings, but it should be a great success. Self-assertiveness and determination leads Mary Wollstonecraft to focus her concerns on the pursuit for the just treatment of women, which proves that she internalizes the definition of a proper ... swallows the crude praises which partial friend and polite acquaintance bestow thoughtlessly when the supplication eye looks for them." (Letters 219) In the opinion of Mary Wollstonecraft, attitudes and ...

• Word Count: 1732
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... of traditional gender roles, which allows her to give a voice to all the women who cannot speak up for themselves. Despite being a fictionalized character, Esperanza's life greatly resembles Cisneros' upbringing. In the first vignette, "The House on Mango Street," Esperanza states, "throughout her ... Cisneros and Esperanza's mother wanted their daughters to be something more in life than just adopting their position in the kitchen so they placed a great importance on education. They did not want their daughters to live a domestic life filled with regrets. Cisneros further explores Espera...

• Word Count: 2834
• Approx Pages: 11
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... barrier that might exist in their mind, which is creating "an ambition gap " obstructing a woman's way to the top (Bohler, 2013, p. 37). From birth, society raises females to have different expectations. Girls are sent the message that they will have to make a distinct choice between being successful at work and being a dutiful mother and housewife. As they grow up and aspire ... as she uses a full array of skills to accomplish her goals " (Walker 1999, p. 183). Another incredibly important quality involves integrity, which is a crucial part of morphing into an authentic leader. Charact...

• Word Count: 1954
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate