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The Destructive Performance - A Feminist Reading of Three Texts Written by Sylvia Plath, Margaret Atwood and Doris Lessing

Molin, Johanna LU (2018) ENGK01 20172
English Studies
Abstract
Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, Margaret Atwood’s The Edible Woman and Doris Lessing’s “To Room Nineteen” are three literary texts in which the three protagonists seem to play a role which makes them miserable and suicidal. This essay explores what elements that are involved in making these women unhappy and self-destructive. Based on a close reading of the three texts and Judith Butler’s theories on gender performativity and the heterosexual matrix the essay concludes that the three protagonists are performing their gender and that they are affected by the grids and regulations of the heterosexual matrix. Furthermore, the essay concludes that the protagonists are torn apart between on the one hand act the role they have been assigned and on... (More)
Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, Margaret Atwood’s The Edible Woman and Doris Lessing’s “To Room Nineteen” are three literary texts in which the three protagonists seem to play a role which makes them miserable and suicidal. This essay explores what elements that are involved in making these women unhappy and self-destructive. Based on a close reading of the three texts and Judith Butler’s theories on gender performativity and the heterosexual matrix the essay concludes that the three protagonists are performing their gender and that they are affected by the grids and regulations of the heterosexual matrix. Furthermore, the essay concludes that the protagonists are torn apart between on the one hand act the role they have been assigned and on the other hand follow their deepest dreams and desires, and that this tug-of-war between their inner selves and the outside pressure disconnect the women from their own identities and in the end also dismantles their beings until there is almost nothing left. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Molin, Johanna LU
supervisor
organization
course
ENGK01 20172
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
language
English
id
8934296
date added to LUP
2018-01-31 08:53:22
date last changed
2018-01-31 08:53:22
@misc{8934296,
  abstract     = {{Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, Margaret Atwood’s The Edible Woman and Doris Lessing’s “To Room Nineteen” are three literary texts in which the three protagonists seem to play a role which makes them miserable and suicidal. This essay explores what elements that are involved in making these women unhappy and self-destructive. Based on a close reading of the three texts and Judith Butler’s theories on gender performativity and the heterosexual matrix the essay concludes that the three protagonists are performing their gender and that they are affected by the grids and regulations of the heterosexual matrix. Furthermore, the essay concludes that the protagonists are torn apart between on the one hand act the role they have been assigned and on the other hand follow their deepest dreams and desires, and that this tug-of-war between their inner selves and the outside pressure disconnect the women from their own identities and in the end also dismantles their beings until there is almost nothing left.}},
  author       = {{Molin, Johanna}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{The Destructive Performance - A Feminist Reading of Three Texts Written by Sylvia Plath, Margaret Atwood and Doris Lessing}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}