Understanding gender politics in literature: A study of the tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte

Abstract

This paper attempts to analyze characterization patterns of male characters in female writing. The aim of this study is to explore the construction of female gender subjectivity while representing male characters in their novels. It has generally been considered that gender politics plays a very significant role in depicting male and female characterization in literature. Female authors engage themselves in over exaltation of female characters and display liking towards them by foregrounding the strengths of their female characters over their weaknesses; and reveal degeneration of male counterparts. Similarly male authors are inherently inclined towards male characters and reflect patriarchy in their works. It has also been analyzed that genuine representation of men by women writers and women by men writers, is not possible; there is always writer's gender subjectivity involved in the representation of characters. Gender identity and gendered representation are the focal concerns in this analysis and I have selected Anne Bronte's novel The Tenant of Wildfell Hall for my gender analysis.This research concludes that gender - apart from biological sex - plays a vital role in determining male and female characterization in literature. Female gender characteristics permeate in the portrayal of male character, language and psychology.