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In The Beginning, Men Wrote: Women Wrote Not

     What if the sin of Eve, found in Genesis 1:6, was reversed, and Adam took the first bite of the forbidden fruit? Would this change the stereotypical "weaker sex" role that has plagued women since the beginning of time? In The Madwoman In The Attic, Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar discuss in chapter one the "ideal" roles that women historically follow in a patriarchal society. The authors continue to describe and discuss the "angel" and the "monster" (17) theory that male writers of this time characterized their female "literary creations" (12). I feel that the understanding of how a patriarchal society dictates women's roles, as expressed through through Gilbert and Gubar’s feminist theory of angel/monster-woman, is both insightful yet sad.

Before understanding how a patriarchal society views women in literature, I would create short stories with women, using strong, brave, and feminine characteristics. But according to Gilbert and Guber, there lurked a different kind of female character: one that "exist only to be acted on by men, both literary and as sensual objects" (8). Gilbert and Guber continue to explain that male writer's express their authority through "a pen [being] a metaphorical penis," according to Gerard Manley Hopkins (3). This "male sexuality" (4) is "actually the essence of literary power," (4) giving male authors the ability to generate life [and] the power to create a posterity to which he lays claim" (6). Since women do not posses this "instrument of generative power," (6) they are unable to compare to such great works as Aristotle, Sidney, or Shakespeare. I agree with Gilbert and Gubers explanation of the male gender’s authority over women. This dominant male power has literally stifled the female genders creative abilities. Anne Finch says, "that the pen has been in male hands," meaning "that women have not only been excluded from authorship but in addition they have been subject to (and subjects of) male authority" (11). This authority is used to dictate the type of woman that can be controlled and manipulated by men to meet his "every desire". I enjoy expressing myself by creating and writing short stories, and never imagined the powerful influence that a patriarchal society had and has on literature. I found it especially interesting the two different types of female characterization that Gilbert and Guber examined in a patriarchal society.

One way, Gilbert and Guber define and describe a feminist viewpoint on the male writer’s ideal female character is through the angel theory. In this theory, the angel creation portrays submissive, feminine, and male-dominated women. Since "the ideal woman that male author’s dream of generating is always an angel," according to Norman O. Brown, woman writer’s need to break out of this characterization and attain her own definition of an angel-woman (20). Otherwise, she loses her identity and becomes an "ideal" male version of how a woman is supposed to act. A way in which to do this, she must first "’kill’" the "angel in the house,’" meaning, "women must kill the aesthetic ideal through which they themselves have been 'killed' in art" (17). Until women artists realize the oppressing power a patriarchal society has over them, they will continue to have "no story of her own" (22). This makes me sad, because women do have a story to tell and should be able to express their views rather than try to "fit" into a stereotype dictated by men. Mary Coleridge compared women in a patriarchal society as living on "the crystal surface" of literature waiting for her male consort to pass "the pen" to her (17). This is difficult according to Gilbert and Guber because of "all those patriarchal definitions that intervene between" purity and equality (17). "The ‘"ideal of contemplative purity,"’ as quoted by Goethe, "is always feminine" and "wholly passive, completely void of generative power," becoming objects that have no thoughts of their own other than pleasing their man (21). Equality is frowned upon and any "ideal of significant action" taken! by a woman is considered to be unacceptable by male writers (21). If a woman does express her thoughts, she is portrayed through the characterization of the monster-woman.

To me, the monster-woman portrays feminine characteristics that men are afraid of and therefore to justify their fear, they create something that is grotesque in the reader’s sight. Gilbert and Guber describe the female monster characterization as one containing the offensive masculine qualities of jealousy, greed, and a-mind-of-her-own attitude. These female monsters resemble "accidents of nature, deformities meant to repel, but in their very freakishness they possess unhealthy energies powerful and dangerous arts" (29). The male gender is threatened by these masculine qualities and feels that by creating a monster-woman, they control the way women view themselves. One example is the legend of Lilith. She "summarizes the genesis of the female monster" by refusing to obey Adam’s command (36). She paid "the price women have been told they must pay for attempting to define themselves" (35). I personally disapprove of Lilith because of her wicked qualities, but yet, I have compassion for her situation. She attempted to rise above the predefined male definition of the ideal woman, and expressed her "female will" (28). This free will that should be the rights of both men and women, only seems to frustrate a patriarchal society, thus the patriarchy considers this act as one committed by a monster, or shall I say, "a woman in the shape of a monster" (29).

I enjoyed reading this chapter, because it helped me as a writer to look-between-the-lines of literature through a feminist perspective. Gilbert and Guber brought up some interesting insightful views on how a patriarchal society dictates the way women should or should not act. This feminist view took the way men wrote about women and categorized it into two different theories: one being the angel-woman, and the other being the monster-woman. The angel-woman theory depicted women as being objects that could be manipulated to do as the man pleased without complaint. The monster-woman theory depicted women as being hideous creatures full of lust, greed, jealousy and having a-mind-of-their-own attitude. This analysis made for an enjoyable beginning to understanding how women in literature write.

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