Literary Research: Gender Issues in Pygmalion and The Importance of Being Earnest

1.- Chosen Topic: Gender Issues in Pygmalion and The Importance of Being Earnest.

For this project, I will discuss the Gender Issues found in Pygmalion and The Importance of Being Earnest. I have chosen this as the focus for my research paper mainly because gender issues are so undoubtedly present in both plays. I enjoyed doing the first analysis of the plays and I believe I could write a 1000-1500 word essay on the matter, even when I am no expert in Humanities or Social Science.

2.- The process of finding sources:

Finding sources for this assignment was not easy. I am not comfortable using the Online Library, so I used Google Scholar to find the sources. The other issue I had was being able to find peer-reviewed sources and to understand when they are proper Academic Journals.

The play’s popularity made things a little more complicated in terms of research. Both plays have been used in reference to so many topics that finding analyses relating to inequality, and general gender issues were somewhat troublesome.

In terms of tips, I would honestly recommend anyone having trouble with the Online Library to just use Google Scholar. I think it is easier to use since we are all sufficiently familiar to the Google interphase.

3.- Peer-Reviewed Sources found on Google Scholar:

a.- “A Feminist Perspective to Pygmalion” – I found this paper in the Canadian Social Science Journal website. It was one of the few Academic works that I could find that spoke directly about the feminist perspective on Eliza and her journey through Pygmalion. The author also explained her take on the play, for example: “The audience has reasons to feel very much pleased with the romantic and happy ending because the play is obviously based upon a popular myth— the story of Cinderella”. (Linhua, 1).

This source will help in strengthening the argument about female perception in society. Also, it will help to make the feminist point of view come through in the analysis of Eliza as the main character.

Lihua, Chen. “A Feminist Perspective to Pygmalion/ Une Perspective Femeniste Sur Pygmalion.” Canadian Social Science, no. 2, 2006, p. 41. www.cscanada.net/index.php/css/article/viewFile/j.css.1923669720060202.008/258.

b.- “A ‘Revolutionary Outrage’: The Importance of Being Earnest as Social Criticism” – This paper belongs to the University of Toronto Press and it displays several aspects of Social matters considered in the play.  The author does a great job of analyzing how each character plays an important part of the play. He states: “Lady Bracknell is not merely acting as an individual but as a figure of the larger society’s work to fit individual subjects into socially recognized and sanctioned categories”. (Lalonde, 662).

This source will support the arguments for gender disparities found in Wilde’s play. The paper also aids in understanding some of the social aspects to consider that might not be as present today as it was then.

Lalonde, Jeremy. “A ‘Revolutionary Outrage’: The Importance of Being Earnest as Social Criticism.” Modern Drama, no. 4, 2005, p. 659.

https://moderndrama.utpjournals.press/doi/abs/10.3138/md.48.4.659

For our research project I plan on classifying The Merchant of Venice by Shakespeare. I was intrigued by this play and want to research the comedy as well as the darkness that this play presents. I struggled with finding articles and sources in the database section of our library and opted not to use that as I wasted more time sifting through different links to get to the information I needed when I simply could type keywords into the Library’s search bar and reveal multiple different scholarly sources directly related to the information I was trying to research. I find that using the search bar under the “everything” tab was the best way because you can break down the aspects of specifically what you wanted to rely on for your project.

My first source is a book written by Harry Berger “A Fury in the Words: Love and Embarrassment in Shakespeare’s Venice” and it discusses two plays by Shakespeare. I only focused on The Merchant of Venice part as that is my research project and I chose this source because he discusses the embarrassment of certain characters as part of the tragedy in the play. I plan on discussing how this play can be perceived as a dark comedy so this source will be helpful in proving that.

My second source is an article by Lars Engle “‘Thrift Is Blessing’: Exchange and Explanation In The Merchant of Venice.” It discusses the different aspects of the play that are considered comedy and how Shakespeare would add these elements into some of his plays. Lars does a good job of breaking down different scenes of the play and describes them in a different light and gives another view of how a reader would understand the characters as well as the scenes and how they unraveled. I found both my sources in the APUS Library.

References

Engle, Lars. “‘Thrift Is Blessing’: Exchange and Explanation In The Merchant of Venice.” Shakespeare Quarterly, vol. 37, no. 1, 1986, pp. 20–37. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2870189.

Jr., Harry Berger,. A Fury in the Words : Love and Embarrassment in Shakespeare’s Venice, Fordham University Press, 2012. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy2.apus.edu/lib/apus/detail.action?docID=3239767.