Browsing by Subject "Elizabeth Gilbert"

This thesis explores the representation of female sexuality in D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover and Elizabeth Gilbert’s City of Girls. This work aims to compare the patriarchal image of Connie Chatterley with a more progressive image of Vivian Morris with the help of interdisciplinary feminist theory and feminist literary criticism. Lady Chatterley’s Lover is a final novel by the British writer D.H. Lawrence, written in 1928 but banned from publication until 1960 for its explicit sexual content. The novel portrays the interclass affair between Connie Chatterley and the gamekeeper Oliver Mellors and is problematic in representing gender and sexuality. Employing feminist interpretations of essentialism, theory of binary opposition, and Freud’s theory of sexuality, I analyze how the novel portrays othering of the female body, disparaging attitude toward the womb, and heterosexual power dynamic, thus making Connie an embodiment of the patriarchal vision. Gilbert’s City of Girls is a progressive literary work published in 2019 which explores the theme of female sexuality from a contemporary point of view through the narrator-protagonist Vivian Morris. Gilbert presents a refined image of female sexuality by tackling assumptions traditionally assigned to it. The novel explores feminine beauty, sexual shame, and social punishment due to female sexual expression. Gilbert portrays Vivian as a sexually transgressive heroine who eventually embraces her sexuality and accepts it as a natural part of her identity. Gilbert’s representation of female sexuality presents a feminist perspective and subverts literary tradition.