What You Need to Know

Key Concept Diagram

Feminist criticism examines how gender is constructed, represented, and challenged in texts

It analyses the roles and agency of female characters within their social and historical contexts

Male gaze refers to the tendency in literature and film to represent the world from a masculine viewpoint

Feminist critics explore how women's voices are marginalised, silenced, or reclaimed in texts

Re-reading canonical texts through a feminist lens often reveals hidden or suppressed female perspectives

Key Vocabulary

Feminist criticism

A critical approach that examines representations of gender and challenges to patriarchal power in literary texts

Male gaze

The tendency to present the world from a masculine, heterosexual perspective, objectifying women

Agency

The capacity of a character to act independently and make their own choices

Patriarchy

A social system in which men hold primary power, and women are frequently marginalised or subordinated

Knowledge Check

Select the correct answer for each question. Click "Check Answer" to see if you are right.

Question 1

A feminist critic reading Jane Austen would most likely focus on:

The way female characters navigate limited social freedoms in a patriarchal society The economic transactions described in the novels The religious themes of Austen's era The botanical descriptions of the English countryside

Question 2

The concept of the "male gaze" in literature refers to:

A technique for writing about male characters in depth Representing the world primarily from a masculine viewpoint, often objectifying female characters The idea that only male authors can write convincing male characters A historical period when only men wrote literature

Question 3

When feminist critics describe a character as lacking "agency", they mean:

The character has no job or profession The character is villainous The character has no capacity to act independently or shape their own fate The character is poorly written

Feminist Literary Analysis