Labeling Women Mad

Abstract

Labelling woman mad is a research paper which has become a showcase of today’s feminism. It studies the historical and literary construction of the phrase ,”Are you mad”, and a habit of labelling it on women by it’s male counterpart. It reveals and examines how male have been strategically using the label mad on women to domesticate her and bring her in their control especially those women who have their own creativity, independence, desire to do something on their own or tries to do something which is mostly done by males. Focussing on the works of Helen Small, Elaine Showalter, Mary Jacobus, Susan Gubar and Sandra Gilbert this research paper probes into the habit of labelling women mad by males and also display how they have taken their stance in reinterpreting this labelling. After a thorough dissection of the texts of the works of Silvia Plath, Virginia Woolf, Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, and Lewis Caroll’s, Alice in the Wonderland this paper explores the deliberately constructed gendered association of women with madness devised to shield the male domination. This research papers discusses that some feminist writers have idolized madness as a figure of liberation while Mary Jacobus alarms against this trap stressing on breaking the structures that compare women freedom with madness and irrationality. This paper infers ,meticulously designed strategy of male control of labelling woman mad and its validity in the era of liberation and its implication on the contemporary society.