An Awakening Journey To Feminist Awareness

As The Nobel Prize winner in Literature in 1925,George Bernard Shaw is regarded as one of the most important realist playwrights in the 20^th century.In his career as a playwright George Bernard Shaw created many popular plays which have received attention and discussion from critics home and abroad.Shaw's first play Widowers'Houses gained wide popularity after its publication. The heroine Blanche's image highlighted the Shavian female image and revealed Shaw's early feministic ideas.The present thesis attempts to probe into her twofold character which contributes to her awakening journey to feminist awareness and her realization of identity and true self.The thesis is made up of five chapters.Chapter One gives a brief introduction to George Bernard Shaw's literary achievements,his origins and ideas of feminism. Chapter Two focuses on Blanche's conformity to patriarchy.As a powerless person, Blanche has a financial and emotional reliance on her father.Her obedient "angelic" image is not born but aims at self-protection and survival in the male-oriented society. Chapter Three engages itself with an analysis of Blanche's antagonism against patriarchy.Blanche's "monstrous" image and defeminized feature symbolize her fiat denial of the male-centered social values and her dissatisfaction with the male-dominated society.Chapter Four probes into Blanche's awakening journey to feminist awareness.Strategically she combines the "angelic" with the "monstrous" for realizing her self-evaluation.In the process of her antagonism,Blanche gradually brings her body,her father and her fianc(?) under control.Thus her feminist awareness was established and her true self was realized.Chapter Five points out that Blanche's obedience and then antagonism are the very strategies employed to revolt against the males.Such duality serves as women's call for social equality.With Blanche's image, Shaw satirizes the hypocritical Victorian ideal women and proposes his criteria of the New Women.Therefore the heroine's personality and charm helps to set a model for the Shavian female images afterwards.