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Against the Grain:
The Women from The Odyssey, The Wife of Bath, and Sir Gawain

Until recently, the role of women in literature has seemed to reflect the way they were treated in society. Women were seen as secondary to men, and their sole purpose in life was to please a man's every desire. This is not the case in three specific literary works. The Odyssey, The Wife of Bath, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight use the actions of its women characters to greatly enhance important thematic elements. The women in each of these works use feminine psyche to persuade men to do things that men of the time would not usually do. The use of women in these literary works is very contrary to the prevailing ideals of the female and her responsibilities at the time each was written. In each case, the woman possesses an almost supernatural power to influence others to do as she requests. Though it is somewhat premature to assume that the authors of these pieces started a feminist......

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Approximate Word Count: 1851
Approximate Pages: 8 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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