Courtroom Case Phyllis A. Roth Essay - 1558 Words

Courtroom Case: Phyllis A. Roth The author, Phyllis A. Roth, is not your ordinary feminist, because she is also a Freudian. A better term to describe Roth would be a psychoanalytic feminist. One of her works as an author can be found in the back of the book Dracula: A Norton Critical Edition. Her criticism article is titled Suddenly Sexual Woman in Bram Stoker’s Dracula. In her article she analyzes the famous novel Dracula. She explores how gender plays a role in the novel and the concept of femininity. She writes about the transformation that takes place when a proper lady turns into a sexual vampire. Her article points out where hostility toward women s sexuality is displayed in the novel, that the average reader may not pick up on. Roth has a strong argument. Let us examine Roth’s case. First, let us look at her thesis statement. The argument Roth is trying to make is that the â€Å"pre-Oedipal focus of the fantasies, specifically the child s relation with and hostility toward the mother, and to indicate how the novel’s fantasies are managed in such a way as to transform horror into pleasure. I would emphasize that for both the Victorians and twentieth century readers, much of the novel’s great appeal derives from its hostility toward female sexuality† (Roth 411). In order to understand her argument that she is trying to make, you need to understand the definition of pre-Oedipal and where the term comes from. The pre-Oedipal is a term used by Freud in his Theory ofShow MoreRelatedLogical Reasoning189930 Words   |  760 Pagestheir help and encouragement with this project: Clifford Anderson, Hellan Roth Dowden, Louise Dowden, Robert Foreman, Richard Gould, Kenneth King, Marjorie Lee, Elizabeth Perry, Heidi Wackerli, Perry Weddle, Tiffany Whetstone, and the following reviewers: David Adams, California State Polytechnic University; Stanley Baronett, Jr., University of Nevada-Las Vegas; Shirley J. Bell, University of Arkansas at Monticello; Phyllis Berger, Diablo Valley College; Kevin Galvin, East Los Angeles College;