Women depiction in Gulliver’s travels by Jonathan Swift

Abstract

Society is marked by relations of power that stratify itself. Relations that are marked by inequality in view of the uneven spaces occupied by men and women. If, on the one hand, man are responsible for public spaces and, as a consequence, for the domain of social discourses; on the other hand, women belong to the private space, where they are assigned to the roles of housewife and mother. This paper aims at analyzing the work Gulliver’s Travels (2009) by Jonathan Swift from a gender perspective. As object of this research it was taken the Queen’s maid of honor of Brondingnag. The present analyses showed that in a first glance it is possible to think in a reality in which the woman is not described as subdued to the masculine. However, it is highlighted that women still assimilate a submissive role and do not subvert the establishment imposed by their gender. Hence, no change occurs in woman representation because the female characters are impregnated by male discourse. Because of strong cultural issues the Queen’s maid act according to the expectations the Western patriarchal society has about them.

Este trabalho visa analisar a obra As Viagens de Gulliver (2009) do autor Jonathan Swift a partir de um estudo de gênero. Como objeto de pesquisa, tomamos as damas de honra da rainha de Brobdingnag. A presente análise mostra que, em uma primeira leitura, pode-se aventar uma realidade, na qual a mulher não será descrita como submissas ao masculino. Contudo, é destacado que essas mulheres ainda assimilam um papel de submissa, não subvertendo o establishment impostas para o seu sexo. Dessa maneira, não ocorrem mudanças na forma de representação da mulher, pois as personagens aqui selecionadas estão impregnadas pelo discurso masculino. Devido a questões culturais fortes, essas mulheres agem da forma que lhes é esperada pela sociedade ocidental patriarcal.