Criticism essay Mad Woman in the Attic. Sandra Guilbert and Susan Gubar.

  

The Madwoman in the Attic by Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar

Introduction: Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar's The Madwoman in the Attic (1979) was hailed as a path breaking work of criticism. Both were concerned about 19^th century woman and how her role was based on her association with the symbols of angels, monsters or sometimes both.

"And the lady of the house was seen only as she appears in each room, according to the nature of the lord of the room. None saw the whole of her".

Angel and monster:

Women are portrayed in literature as one of the binary opposites, 'monstrous' or 'angelic'. Women who came forward to fight were considered a monster, a witch, bitch or a fiend by male writers. The ‘Angel’ position was given to a woman who remained submissive. Thus the male writers traditionally praises the simplicity of the dove (Angel ) and invariably castigate the cunningness of the serpent (monster).

The Angel in the House:

Assertiveness, aggressiveness are the characteristics of a male and if these characteristics persists in a woman she is termed as “unfeminine” or “a monster”. Coventry Patmore in his poem “The angel in the House” says,

the daughter of Eve

The woman's gentle mood o’er stept

Withers my love, that lightly scans

The rest, and does in her accept

All own faults, but none of mans.  

 Patmore was influenced by his wife Emily and calls her an 'Angel' because she is submissive, passive, powerless, meek, charming, graceful, self-sacrificing, pious and all above all pure.

Thackarey's coaxing and cajoling women:

In Thackarey's Vanity Fair, Amelia Sedley is angelically submissive and Becky Sharp, an independent charmer. Becky Sharp is portrayed as a 'monster' concealed behind 'angel'.

    "Siren singing, smiling, coaxing and cajoling, the author with modest pride". 

So every 'Angel' according to Thackeray is,.      

         "Proper agreeable and decorous coaxing and cajoling in order to obtain something  from  hapless man is monster".

Dread of Female Creativity:

Arguing throughout theory women are either represented as the 'sweet dumb snow white' character or the 'fierce mad queen'. Adrienne Rich in her poem 'Planetarium' observes that ' Monster in the shape of a woman'. The monster image is inhabitants of male text. The male writers dread of women and they have a affected the self - image of female creativity.

Affected the Self - Image of Women Writers:

In 'Fairire Queen', Spenser introduces a female monster Errour, 'half woamn, half serpent'. She spews at Recross. She vomits poisons, only horrible filled with books, papers, frogs, and Toads. It symbolizes the dangerous effect of misdirected and undigested learning of woman.

Women's Duplicity Presented by Male Writers:

Duessa deceives and ensnares men by assuming the shape of Una, the beautiful and angelic heroine who represents Christianity, chastity and docility. Similarly Lucifera also uses her art to ensnare and destroy men.

Women at their beginning stage of Writing:

During 18th century it was alarming for the feminine readers who are at the stage of taking their pen to write. The male authors attacked women writers using  cartoon figures like Sheridan's, Mrs. Malaprop to show that "women loses meaning, sentence dissolve, message distorted and destroyed".Virginia Woolf in her 'Room of One's Own', states that men had language on their own and language was a great barrier for women.

Angels and Fiends:

Male writers started to write anti-romances to show Angels as fiend. Pope and Gay attacked Anne Finch as 'Blue Stocking an Itch for scribbling'. 

Conclusion: 

Thus  in The Mad Woman in the Attic explores the relationship between female writers and literary tradition.