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Concept of Woman in Daniel Defoe’s Moll Flanders: An Existentialist Feminist Approach
Feminism has been defined in many respects in literature. As a kind of intellectual movement it has social, economic and political connotations within the history of literature. In this sense, feminism as a range of social movements tries to share a common purpose. Naturally, it can be said that the main goal of feminist understanding is to explain, establish, and achieve the personal, political, economic, and social equality of the sexes. According to Bell Hooks, it is a fact that male bonding was seen as an accepted and affirmed aspect of patriarchal culture in the English society where as female bonding was not possible during the years passing. Within this context it is clear that Daniel Defoe, an eighteenth century English novelist, describes such a kind of world of men and the defects of patriarchy in his famous novel Moll Flanders. In this study, injustices between the sexes, the othernes of the females and the devastating effects of patriarchy have been analyzed in order to show the feminist attitude of the females in the eighteenth century English society in the light of Simon de Beauvoir’s existentialist philosophy.
Anahtar Kelimeler
Patriarchal, Simon de Beauvoir, feminist, Other, Moll Flanders.