Female Representation in Hard Times by Charles Dickens

Abstract

The fight for women's emancipation has existed for centuries, dormant in the previous era. Still, the sprouting of radical activity in the women's movement gathered impetus and peaked in the late Victorian era. The feminist agitation of the era was a noticeable feature that shocked the Victorian conservative. The term was first used by French dramatist Alexander Dumas in 1872. From the Hebrew Bible and Greek philosophy to the present, the female tends to be defined by negative reference-weak, docile, virile, and sensual. The study of Victorian feminists is a source of interest to the extent of modern feminism. The link between novelists and feminists can be discerned in their intention to bring reforms. The transition era saw a change in the very image of women; the angel in the house was slowly transforming into an assertive woman, a woman finding her voice which stimulated confusion in the very understanding of the new woman. The literature that stimulated such confusion signals their readability value. Feminism has shown interest in re-fashioning the past literature, which is a positive sign to revisit.