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Feminist literary theory, like feminism itself, encompasses a range of attitudes and approaches. A Marxist feminist, for example, would assume that gender inequality flows from material economic conditions, and might examine how a work of literature challenges or upholds men’s ownership of women’s reproductive capacity. By contrast, a postmodern feminist would consider language itself key to gender inequality, and might question the way a work depicts womanhood or femininity (e.g. as a natural category, as inferior to masculinity, as intrinsically powerful). Feminist criticism may also consider the way gender interacts with other categories (race, sexual orientation, etc.), questioning the Western literary canon’s white male bent, examining how gender influences an individual’s experience as a writer or reader, and related questions.
What ties all these approaches together is the belief that literature needs to be understood within the context of patriarchy. From a feminist critical perspective, a given work might depict, critique, or uphold patriarchal norms, but it nearly always engages societal ideas about women and gender roles in some way. This is certainly true of Hamlet, which was written at a time when women weren’t even allowed to perform on stage, meaning that male actors would have portrayed both
By William Shakespeare
All's Well That Ends Well
All's Well That Ends Well
William Shakespeare
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
William Shakespeare
Antony and Cleopatra
Antony and Cleopatra
William Shakespeare
As You Like It
As You Like It
William Shakespeare
Coriolanus
Coriolanus
William Shakespeare
Cymbeline
Cymbeline
William Shakespeare
Henry IV, Part 1
Henry IV, Part 1
William Shakespeare
Henry IV, Part 2
Henry IV, Part 2
William Shakespeare
Henry V
Henry V
William Shakespeare
Henry VIII
Henry VIII
William Shakespeare
Henry VI, Part 1
Henry VI, Part 1
William Shakespeare
Henry VI, Part 3
Henry VI, Part 3
William Shakespeare
Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar
William Shakespeare
King John
King John
William Shakespeare
King Lear
King Lear
William Shakespeare
Love's Labour's Lost
Love's Labour's Lost
William Shakespeare
Macbeth
Macbeth
William Shakespeare
Measure For Measure
Measure For Measure
William Shakespeare
Much Ado About Nothing
Much Ado About Nothing
William Shakespeare
Othello
Othello
William Shakespeare