The Body's Political Dilemma from the Feminist Critical Perspective
Abstract
This paper, grounded in Feminist criticism , examines Jane Eyre and The Yellow Wallpaper to dissect how patriarchy controls and oppresses women's bodies through spatial isolation, medical discourse, and the discipline of daily routines. It reveals how patriarchal order strips women of bodily autonomy through the stigmatisation of “madness”, spatial confinement, and labour exploitation. Yet, Jane Eyre and the unnamed narrator in The Yellow Wallpaper wield madness as a weapon and writing as a medium,fiercely reclaiming bodily sovereignty within the confines of their oppressive circumstances. These works collectively demonstrate that the female body is not merely a vessel for oppression, but rather the very source of resistance and the material foundation for the formation of subjectivity.
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