Role of Women in Utopian and Dystopian Novels

Thesis (M.A.) from the year 2009 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,7, RWTH Aachen University, language: English, abstract: Being a great lover of mythological tales since childhood, I have early discoveredthat certain traits and patterns of behaviour were usually ascribed to certain gender roles.Yet even within the roles of the respective genders, considerable differences were to befound. Those who shared many characteristics tended to end in similar ways. Strong andcapable Penthesilea ends dead on the battlefield of Troy and her corpse is raped byAchilles. Atalanta, who beats male heroes in great adventures is tricked into marriageagainst her will, by an offended goddess and a man who is not her equal. Helen's beautyhas the power to launch thousand ships. Yet Helen herself is only a toy for men and gods.Penelope sits and weaves for twenty years waiting for her husband to return from a Trojanwar while he is pursued and seduced by enchantresses. The more I read, in mythology andother fiction, the more often I discovered some endlessly repeating characteristics andpatterns of behaviour of diverse roles.During my studies I became very interested in gender roles in Anglo-Americanliterature, again particularly in those of female characters. Female roles in literature werealways the more interesting to me when read from the background of the historical periodin which they were created. Some of those fictional characters reflected the roles womenwere expected to fill at that particular age and geographical area. Others again were badexamples and warnings of what happens to women who do not fit into socially acceptedroles. Once in a while a heroine would rise above the expected roles yet in the end shewould return to the domestic area in which she was expected to be, or she would bedestroyed. Of course there were always exceptions. Yet the first permanent andrecognisable change of such roles in literature becomes obvious at the turn from the 19th tothe 20th century. It is no coincidence that the same time in history marks the rise of thewomen's liberation and suffrage movement with sweeping changes occurring in manyissues of gender and social class. For the next hundred years, the roles and characteristicsof women in literature underwent a greater change than in all previous centuries puttogether.