Radical Feminist Study of Ill-Formed Love in Ibsen, Lawrence, Tolstoy, and Williams
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53103/cjlls.v6i1.243Keywords:
Ill-Formed Love, Radical Feminism, Patriarchy, Gender Inequality, Female Agency, Comparative LiteratureAbstract
This paper focuses on how far radical feminism matters accelerate the representation of ill-formed love in Henrik Ibsen, D.H. Lawrence, Leo Tolstoy, and Tennessee Williams. Following a comparative approach to the literature, the research investigates how the authors thematize love not as an idealized force but rather as a complex site of struggle, domination, and resistance, where gender roles are continuously contested. The result is that Ibsen portrays the patriarchal marriage and relationship; Lawrence, the conflicts between sensuality and dominance; Tolstoy, the moral tensions between passion and duty; and Williams, the psychological and social maladies within relationships. These thematizations stand together to unveil deep-seated inequalities and face culturally and socially formed norms of love. By choosing a close literary analysis with radical feminist theory, the research manifests new insights into the ways in which literature reflects and critiques gendered power expositions, thereby demonstrating the contemporary relevance of feminist critique towards human intimacy.
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