Историзм романов Маргарет Этвуд

Abstract

Feminist problematic is dealt with in many novels by M. Atwood: “The Handmaid’s Tale”, “The Robberbride”, “A Cat’s EYE”. In “The Robberbride” three heroines of the novel oppose one devilish heroine, Zenia, the embodiment of Evil, who destroyed their lives by tempting and taking away their husbands or a beloved. All three heroines were kind to her and helped her in her assumably desperate situation. All three proved armless against her and hated her, but at the end of the novel are proud of her. Zenia showed them the limitations of their own lives which they spent hiding from reality, and they come to the understanding that she alone realized her life potential in spite of immorality of her ways and goals. The end of the novel expresses the expectation of the appearance of a new woman who will be equal to Man in life struggle. Historicism of M. Atwood’s novels consists in the ability to determine the tendency of the historic development of society and to show the dangers inherent in it, be it feminist dictatorship or apocalypse caused by scientific progress not based on moral principles. In “The Robberbride” she shows the changes in the lives and psychic of women who under the pressure of feminism come to the understanding of the necessity of self-identification and self-realization.