Compare and contrast the representation of femininity in Pygmalion and Wide Sargasso Sea

This paper result attempt to examine and contrast the representations of muliebrity in the novel Wide Sargasso sea (WSS) and the animate Pygmalion. It will investigate whatever ways in which the whole flora reflect or challenge commonly held social representations of femininity, and will correspond and contrast each representation of femininity and then investigate twain themes. It will also consider the counterpoint of masculine representation, and give wayly the limitations of a comparison between two texts of contrasting disciplines.These two titles were products of very unlike cultures Pygmalion was indite in 1912 by the thoroughly British Bernard Shaw, a self-proclaimed feminist, art object WSS was written in 1966 by Jean Rhys, a Caribbean Creole (like her chief(prenominal) characters) who immigrated to England in her teens. These texts were not intended to be textbooks, or represent any views other than the authors, but by comparing these texts we may find ho w the ideas of femininity have changed in the intervening years.Shaws feminism might be anticipate to have influenced his portrayal of the pistillate characters in his work, so the reader should be aw be of a possible feminist subtext. WSS is set in the Caribbean of the 1830s, and was written for a primarily English audience. The author might in that locationfore be expect to emphasise or exaggerate certain aspects of the story to add-on the dramatic effect of alienation between the reader and the faraway field of force and so the depictions may not be entirely accurate.Both of these works manifest stereotypes of passive wo workforce and male figures of authority, as might be expected from works set around the Victorian period. Pygmalion reflects these beliefs to a degree, as Eliza is henpecked by the male characters, and especially Professor Higgins, during the three acts of the play. Her own let reflects Victorian values in that he feels able to sell her to Higgins, without h er cognition or consent. However, the play challenges these beliefs by having Eliza leave and stand up to Higgins during the last two acts.The play was also rather daring for the day in casting a common heyday girl as the heroine, and refusing the play a conventional romantic ending in which the heroine marries the hero. Class and sexual practice are inseparable, as evidenced by Higgins continued reference to the gutter Eliza came from. in that location is also the suggestion that the only thing separating the flower girl from the duchess is their educations. WSS broadly speaking reflects Victorian female stereotypes, as the wo workforce are treated by the work force as extensions of their property Annette has to beg her husband for money, and Antoinette is forced to sign all her possessions over when she marries.The few single women are portrayed as being outsiders in several(a) ways Christophine is from a unalike island, and feared because she practices obeah duration Ame lie, contemptuous of the white people she serves, is an outsider in their company. There are many different representations of femininity in these works, and I feel the best way the explore femininity in these works will be to analyse the female characters relationships, and will analyse first the ways the femininity of the main characters is stand for in each.In Pygmalion, Elizas femininity is highlighted firstly by her work she is referred to in the play at first as simply The Flower Girl, and is shown to use her gender to exploit the presumed chivalrous nature of the men she deceitfully tells Pickering shes short for my lodgings, despite having previously said she could change one-half a crown. There are also repeated worries that Eliza is or could draw a prostitute Eliza herself recognises this, by her statements that she is a good girl.After all, at the start of her gentility Elizas aim is to work in a flower shop, yet there is no obvious position ready for her, and when h er pedagogy is complete she feels unable go back to selling flowers on road corners. Antoinette, the main female character in Wide Sargasso sea, is represented as being somewhat submissive throughout the novel. The first percent is told from her point of view, and is characterised by very little reference to her thoughts and feelings she mostly fronts to go with the flow.For example, when the Coulibri landed estate is set on fire she barely reacts except to do as shes told, and lets her family deal with it. After this, Antoinette is bullied and teased she does not retaliate, but sooner runs away as soon as she can. Antoinettes vulnerability is the mirror forecast of the tough, practical Tia and sensible Christophine, which is an example of how femininity is depict differently between the women of different races.The white figures in the Caribbean are generally depicted as being somewhat out of place and cast off, composition the black characters are part of a larger and m ore naturally-developed participation Antoinette is unable to make any real friends, as the white friendship has not been able to integrate with the black whereas the local black law of closure is almost able to turn the burning of the Coulibri estate into a crossroads outing. This reflects a theme of belonging, either to a home or in society, and also a press release of that place.For example, Annette is driven (or appears to be) insane after the loss of her family home. The first reference to Antoinette acting insane arrests when she loses the smack of belonging to her estate after her husband sleeps with the servant Amelie, he perceives her as having a mad laugh. This sense of loss is analogous to Elizas loss of identity and social class, as by the end of her training she has effectively lost her previous identity. Elizas bit point in the story, where she starts to stand up to Higgins, comes just completing her training and winning Higgins bet.This is the point where sh e would be starting her new life, and so it makes sense for her to break off from Higgins. Next I will study the various familial relationships between the female characters. I will begin by analysing the representation of aimhood, a strongly represented relationship in some(prenominal) works. The two main characters in each book each come from essentially single-parent families. In WSS, Antoinette is depicted as being rather attention-starved by her mother Annette, which might explain her hunger for affection with her husband later.This seems alike to her husbands relationship with her father, whom he feels has disinherited him but he reacts by top his emotions, and seems to feel a loving relationship is unnatural. Antoinette does not display any real affection of her own towards her family, and never mentions playing with either her mother or her brother. Higgins seems to have had a similar relationship with his mother in Pygmalion, to whom he displays an almost infantile atta chment. Elizas father seems to have dominated her at home, given his references to beating herA recurring theme in both works is the female characters dependence on men, and the expectation that the men will provide for them. Eliza is dependent on Professor Higgins for her transformation, and on Colonel Pickering for the money to establish her flower shop later on. The women in Wide Sargasso Sea are mostly represented as being somewhat helpless, and there are many examples of the female characters being saved by men or needing a male presence in their lives for example, the family is only rescued from exiguity when Annette marries Richard Mason, and later on, Antoinette is saved from bullies by her cousin Sandi.So in Pygmalion, the female characters are mostly independent from men, while the opposite is true in WSS. However, So Pygmalions plot has a more obvious feminist subtext than WSS, which is indicatory of the different representations of femininity in the cultures that made these texts. However, the way Higgins treats Eliza is anything but feministic and Shaw seems to be biased in favour of his male characters all the best lines seem reserved for Higgins. It could also be argued that the uncaring and abusive nature of the men in WSS demonstrate why Rhys felt it was important to protect the rights of women.However, there are inherent limitations to an interdisciplinary approach such as this. A play is designed to be viewed in a very different way to a novel, and while WSS presents a concrete and defined world, Pygmalion as a play is open to interpretation. There are many different ways of performing the text that could destroy the delicate feminist subtext for example, at the end of the film My Fair Lady, based on Pygmalion, Eliza quietly returns to Higgins, who asks her to start out his slippers the opposite of Shaws intentions.