Defying Conventions: A Survey of First-Wave Feminism in Modernist Fiction

Abstract

The aim of this master thesis is to examine the complexities of female characters and their behaviour at the very end of the 19th century and in the post-Victorian, male-dominated society focusing on the selected works of Kate Chopin, Katherine Mansfield and Virginia Woolf. The analysis is based on the notion of “new woman” that represented a new era in women’s history, the psychological differentiation of the human mind in Sigmund Freud’s work and on the philosophy of Simone de Beauvoir and Virginia Woolf’s works defined in The Second Sex and A Room of One’s Own respectively, all the while by placing these aspects in the framework of modernism. This work consists of three chapters. The first chapter introduces each author, their background and experiences which shaped their literary paths. The second chapter will provide a general historical and philosophical overview focusing on the main aspects on which the analysis is based. The third chapter will give a detailed analysis of female characters in the chosen works while comparing and contrasting them through different perspectives. The thesis focuses on the progressive heroines, who fight against the oppressive society which tries to shackle them.