Gender in Mother Courage and Her Children and M. Butterfly Essay

Comparing Gender in beget fortitude and Her Children and M. coquet The term sexual urge is commonly used to list to the psychological, cultural, and social characteristics that distinguish the sexes (Cook 1). From the idea of sexual practice such nonions as gender bias and stereotyping have developed. Stereotypes have lead society to believe that a male or distaff should appear, act, or in more philosophical terms, be a certain way. What these gender stereotypes are and, whether or not they really exist, will be discussed further so that they can be examined in reference to the plays Mother endurance and Her Children and M. Butterfly. In Mother Courage and Her Children motherhood, and what it should be, is challenged as a result of the actions and qualities of the character Mother Courage. M. Butterfly gives us a great depiction of a conventional male, and uses the female stereotype against him. Both of these plays invert, modify, and even glorify the gender ste reotypes. Society has females and males akin typecasted into roles which have basic characteristics that are the reverse of each other. Although this has begun to change over the past thirty years, typically the man was seen as well-made to the female. This superior image is angiotensin-converting enzyme that today, is slowly on its way to being trim back to one of complete equality between the two genders. Before the libber revolution began, the female was traditionally in charge of taking occupy of the children and household. Her image in life was that of the wife, mother, and nurturing person. Some of the traits that were thought to be unambiguously feminine were . . .emotional, sensitive, gentle, quiet, nurturing, interested in personal appearance and beauty, focused upon h... ...ect charwoman (1.3.5) in M. Butterfly. The play shatters the illusion of the female ideal. The character Gallimard discovers that it doesnt really exist. However, the stereotypica l male all too real. It is glorified to its absolute extremes in this play. The one conclusion that can be drawn between these two plays and gender stereotypes, is that stereotypical masculine characteristics are quite genuine. Conversely, those qualities that create the female ideal, are merely a figment of male perceptions. Works Cited Brecht, Bertolt. Mother Courage and Her Children. Worthen 727-751. Cook, Ellen Piel, ed. Women, Relationships, and Power. Virginia American Counseling Association, 1993. Hwang, Henry David. M. Butterfly. Worthen 1062-1084. Worthen, W.B. ed. The Harcourt Brace Anthology of Drama. 3rd ed. Toronto Harcourt, 1993.