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Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Feminism in "The Women"

This blog might possibly be too late to receive any points, but that's okay I still want to discuss it. While the majority of the audience of the play and readers of the script would want to classify either Mrs. Haines (the original) or Nancy Blake, I find the real feminist of the story to be Peggy Day. Mrs. Haines, though she does not mind about being temporarily single, eventually goes back to her husband and Nancy seems to knowingly make the claim that women aren't happy unless they have a man. This situation is entirely different Peggy. She is someone who has no trace of motherhood whatsoever, referring to her newborn child as "it." Even though she gets pregnant several times throughout the course of the play and has a number of child, not once does the audience see any time of nurturing character within her. This rejection of typical motherhood defies society's standards on a woman's place within the marriage, both then and now. Additionally, she is governed by the Id, having sex for pleasure (this is inferred by her constant pregnancy) and being highly gluttonous, fulfilling her every desire without fear of repercussions, performing a stereotypical male role. She is a wife and a mother only by title.

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