THE ARCHETYPAL ROLES OF GENDER PORTRAYAL IN CHILDREN’S LITERATURE: A CRITICAL OVERVIEW

Abstract [English]

Feminist literary criticism, cropping up in concurrence with socio-political feminism, critiques patriarchal language and literature by exposing how this replicates masculine ideology. It scrutinizes the functioning of gender politics and traces the subtle construction of masculinity and femininity, and their virtual standing, positioning, and marginalization within the written works. Feminist criticism relates itself with a trite illustration of genders. One will recurrently notice the term “patriarchy” used among feminist critics, referring to conventional male-dominated culture. “Marginalization” refers to being forced to the fringes of what is considered socially and politically mainstream; the female voice was habitually marginalized, or dismissed in total. Fairy tales are exceedingly indispensable components of literature and they should not be obliterated from children’s existence. Regarding the distinctive typecast present in fairy tales, it is a prevailing truth that inappropriate and one-sided portrayals impinge on females to a large extent. In fairy tales, we perceive that women are characteristically portrayed in an inferior or yet adverse way. They are pictured as feeble princesses and they by and large wait for a valiant and robust prince to salvage them. The archetypal representation of women and men in children’s literature causes the children to picture an illusory image of the disposition of females and males. It also intensifies the unfairness against both women and men. Concurrently, it aids in the configuration of children’s erroneous and prejudiced notions regarding the characteristic conduct patterns of females and males. In this paper, an attempt is made to embark on a critical overview of the Archetypal Roles of Gender Portrayal in Children’s Literature, tracing its history to get hold of a deeper insight into the gender characters.