An Analysis of Feminist Theory in Literary Criticism

Abstract

Feminist critique in literary studies in particular, analyzes literature and the role of literature in perpetuating economic, political, social, and psychological subordination of women. This research study examines the evolution of Feminist Literary Criticism from the early 1920s to current varieties. It shows such crucial female critics and theoreticians as Virginia Woolf, Simone de Beauvoir and Judith Butler whose works contributed much to the understanding of the gender issue in relation to literature. It explains three feminisms: liberal, radical, and intersectional, with an emphasis on how these frameworks make text notable. A qualitative method applies text analysis in examining selected literary works using the feminism method. The case studies are novels by Charlotte Brontë, Kate Chopin, and Toni Morrison which examine how gender is socially constructed, and contested, in literary texts. From these observations it is possible to conclude that the field of feminist criticism is important and constantly evolving and is capable of contributing much to the analysis of gendered representations of texts and their social- cultural contexts. In conclusion, this paper shows that the understanding of gender, power and identity is enriched by the introduction of the concepts formulated by the representatives of the feminist literary criticism.

Keywords: Feminism, feminists, culture, criticisms