Women´s Power and Patriarchy: A Literary Case Study in William Henry Hudson´s Work

Abstract

The representation of female characters in male-authored literary texts constitutes a central point in feminist criticism (Manly, 2007: 46-50; Goldman, 2007: 74). Especially in the Victorian period, women´s quest for power appears as an unusual topic on account of the patriarchal order prevailing in the society of the time. The Anglo- Argentinian author William Henry Hudson was a prolific writer during this historical context; however, the power relationships that come into play in his fictional works have been overlooked until now. Hence, this study analyses the short story Pelino Viera´s Confession with a special focus on its female character, Rosaura, and her search for self-empowerment under patriarchal constraints. For this purpose, a content analysis research method was followed, applying a deconstructive feminist approach in order to dismantle the power relationships existing in the story. The findings from this study highlight the importance of challenging the culturally-determined stereotypes present in literary works so as to perceive the inequalities and power struggles between men and women, and also lead to interesting implications for a feminist debate both in the classroom and in society.