Patriarchy and Female Agency in English Literary Texts

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between patriarchal structures and female agency in English literary texts through a feminist critical framework. Drawing on the theoretical contributions of Simone de Beauvoir, Elaine Showalter, Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar, and Judith Butler, the study analyzes how literary narratives construct and regulate female identity within patriarchal systems. Using a qualitative, text-based methodology grounded in close reading, the paper explores how female characters are confined to symbolic roles, restricted to domestic spaces, and denied narrative authority. At the same time, the analysis highlights the subtle and complex forms of agency that emerge within these constraints, including negotiation, reinterpretation of social roles, and moments of narrative self-assertion. The study argues that female agency in English literature is rarely absolute but is instead characterized by ambivalence and partial resistance. By examining both patriarchal control and female resistance, the paper contributes to feminist literary scholarship by offering a nuanced understanding of how gendered power relations are reproduced and contested within literary texts