This week: Gender Roles in Dramatic Fiction Edited by: Joy  
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“The role of gender in society is the most complicated thing I’ve ever spent a lot of time learning about, and I’ve spent a lot of time learning about quantum mechanics.”
Randall Munroe
“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.”
Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre
“I was not ladylike, nor was I manly. I was something else altogether. There were so many different ways to be beautiful.”
Michael Cunningham, A Home at the End of the World
“[I]f we revert to history, we shall find that the women who have distinguished themselves have neither been the most beautiful nor the most gentle of their sex.”
Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
Hello, I am Joy , this week's drama editor. This issue is about the everchanging gender roles in drama and fiction.
Thank you for reading our newsletters and for supplying the editors with feedback and encouragement.
Please, note that there are no rules in writing, but there are methods that work for most of us most of the time.
The ideas and suggestions in my articles and editorials have to do with those methods. You are always free to find your own way and alter the methods to your liking. |
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Welcome to the Drama newsletter
Can drama or any kind of fiction be more than entertainment? When we look at the earlier works, we see that most plays and fictional stories reflect a given culture’s moral values, societal rules, and lifestyles. And yes, they also show the gender roles of characters. Plus, we tend to view gender roles of earlier centuries as being barbaric and tyrannical, when the reality was far more routine, practical, and diversified by class.
In Aristotle's time, according to the class hierarchy, men were the governing authority in the home and in the public domain. Therefore, plays from his time hint at that social order. Even Euripides’s Medea, about a woman with a desire for revenge against her unfaithful husband is considered to be an uprising of the female gender, which in our time, would probably become a B movie.
In the same vein, Henrik Ibsen's play Hedda Gabler (1890/2001) is about the life of an unhappy woman who has a thirst for life but can never satisfy her longing. In deeper analysis of the play, however, we can see that the author was addressing the subject of gender roles in society and how those roles affected the lives of all characters.
Then, during the twentieth century, women’s movement brought women to the forefront in the societal life and in the workplace. During the last half of the twentieth century, the study of gender roles dominated the higher learning institutions.
With all the interpretations and revolutions of gender roles in literature, my understanding is that these roles are always subject to change. Even if one country can see and accept these changes, another one may not. That leaves a wide gap in the understanding of these roles around our world. I believe, in the long run, personal accomplishments will decide each character's gender role in relation to the societal structures. Still, in most literary fiction, an individual's gender role can be the most prominent of their many roles, societal or otherwise.
As writers, we may take things for granted and not pay much attention to the gender roles. This may be especially risky for writers of historical fiction. For example, a historical novel I have read had a woman traveling alone a couple of centuries ago in a country that wouldn’t let it happen.
Then, in addition to the time-frame, plot, characterization, and other elements of storywriting, the gender roles, as assessed to each of our characters, should be significant enough.
Thus, a few questions to keep in mind can be:
 What gender roles do the characters have in the general story and each specific scene, and are they themselves aware of it?
Do the gender roles of our characters fall into the traditional realms or outside of them?
What are the consequences of the gender roles that the writers assign to the characters, and how do the characters play out these roles?
When drawing a character in a gender role--such as male, female, or other—are we using cliché patterns or are we making the characters polar-opposites in relation to gender? My personal opinion is that, whichever role is the choice, we should keep the character as human as possible, depending on the character's own viewpoint.
To wrap it up, gender roles are more than the biological differences of sexes. They are how societies and, consequently, fiction writers apply this role plus everything else to their people.
Until next time!  |
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This Issue's Tip: When choosing a protagonist with a certain gender role or not, it is important to focus on whether the person you pick will stay the same or can change. Keep in mind that those who can change can add to the character's emotional arc and thus, enrich your story.
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Feedback for "The First-Person POV and the Conflict"
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Sumojo 
Thank you so much for including my story this week, I really appreciate it. Great news letter this week. Thanks for the information. Cheers Sue
You're very welcome and thanks for the feedback.
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Drama: February 03, 2021 Issue [#10578]
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