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Over the past decade Marie Laberge has become an important figure in Quebec feminine theater. In our introduction we will see that the principal tendencies in her works correspond closely to those in Quebec women's theater as a whole. / This thesis will explore the feminine universe created by Laberge in her plays. The first chapter will examine the spatial universe which, as we shall see, frequently spatializes the feminine characters' choices and conflicts. As for the professional universe, the second chapter shows that, although Laberge's feminine characters are still involved in traditionally feminine occupations, there is a gradual shifting toward more rewarding activities. We will see in the third chapter that the intimate relationships in Laberge's theater tend to determine the overall quality of the feminine characters' existence. In general, conflicts plague these relationships. / Lastly, we will observe that, though Laberge's feminine characters react to their universe in a variety of ways, their reaction is almost invariably spatialized.

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In this study, we interpret Isabel Allende's La casa de los espiritus as a microcosm that portrays a patriarchal society. Our purpose is to study the underlying principles that support this patriarchal order and examine the mechanisms that perpetuate it and repress the potential for change. The objective is then to analyze the main female characters since they constitute a subversive presence which is constantly challenging the patriarchal order and which is potentially capable of transforming it. Our goal is also to demonstrate that the writing of the female characters undermine patriarchal discourse. Our final objective is to examine the novel in the context of two "histories": the consecrated male history which is deconstructed here and the extra-official or alternative one that tradition silences and that is represented here by the writing of the female characters.

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This thesis deals with Tacitus' portrayal of women by examining in detail a number of the female characters in the Annals in order to identify certain themes and ideas relating to women. The most striking theme to emerge from such an examination is that of the strong, powerful, almost masculine woman, and several of the characters examined exemplify this recurring theme. In portraying these characters Tacitus uses certain language patterns and techniques of characterisation, and this thesis is concerned with identifying such patterns and techniques. These include the recurring use of certain words with a specific connotation, and the employment of several methods of directing the reader's perception in the manner Tacitus desires. This manipulation of the reader's response is an example of Tacitus' direct and indirect authorial control, which is also evident in his technique of using his own and other authors' usage to create resonances for particular expressions. Of note is the fact that Tacitus avoids direct description of his characters, but rather allows their actions to reveal character. Given that Tacitus' main preoccupation in the Annals as a whole is the nature of the principate, he uses his portrayal of women to illuminate and comment upon his view of this form of government. The women chosen for study, with one exception, belong to the imperial circle since, with the inauguration of one man rule, those with ready access to the princeps had the most opportunity to break out of the mould of the traditional ideal of Roman womanhood. Boudicca, the British queen of the Iceni, has been chosen for study as a foil to the Roman women in order to highlight their manoeuvrings for personal power, while Octavia has been selected as an exemplar of the Roman ideal of womanhood. Although this is not a historical or sociological study, it must be noted that the evidence we have of the period about which Tacitus is writing is in fact one-sided evidence derived from a restricted social class, recorded by men, and an attempt to redress this balance is made by reference to contemporary studies of the legal and social position of women in Roman society. Consequently chapters on the historical background and the position of women respectively have been included as background. In addition other ancient sources have been consulted where this is appropriate in order to determine areas of bias in Tacitus. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1993.

The notion, which has persisted over many years, of Mary Shelley as the conservative daughter of a radical, proto-feminist mother can be traced to the views of Edward Trelawney, a contemporary and fair-weather friend of Shelley. This study, by exploring female identity, largely in terms of modern feminist psychoanalytic theory, in several of Shelley's lesser-known novels, attempts to contribute to the efforts of those who have challenged such notions and who have strived to render a more accurate portrait of Mary Shelley. / Anne Mellor's discussion of female identity in Shelley's sentimental novels, Mathilda, Lodore and Falkner, (in her book Mary Shelley: Her Life, Her Fiction, Her Monsters) does much to dispel the notion of Shelley's apathy with regard to gender politics. Mellor convincingly argues that these novels celebrate what she terms the "relational" identity of their heroines, and thus "support a feminist position which argues that female culture is morally superior to male culture." She further maintains, however, that these novels simultaneously reveal the damage that such an identity can do to a woman's personal development. / My paper challenges Mellor's assertion that Lodore and Falkner Shelley's last novels, portray relational identity with ambivalence. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

This thesis locates Ibsen within the intellectual context pertaining to gender that is provided by such influential nineteenth-century texts as Mill's The Subjection of Women and Bachofen's Das Mutterrecht, both of which seemingly feminist works in actuality foreground women only for their importance in the production of better-quality sons who will ensure the endurance of the patriarchy. The attraction of feminists to the dramas of a playwright who avowedly wrote from this patriarchal standpoint is elucidated by a consideration of the appropriation of the woman-centered texts of patriarchal "feminism" by recent feminists seeking material to reinforce their own movement. The apparently paradoxical project of the analysis of three Ibsen characters, Nora Helmer, Rebekka West and Hedda Gabler, in terms of contemporary feminist literary theory suggests a parallel means of appropriation. These potentially redefined female characters are afforded an added dimension of reality by their embodiment by actresses in stage performances that allows theatre history to be related to real-life history, in which, contemporaneously, nineteenth-century women were beginning to take part.