Margaret Atwood

1. Margaret Atwood ‘Spotty-Handed Villainesses’ 1994

2. Author: • Born 1939 • Nobel prize winning Canadian author • Poetry internationally acclaimed but best known for her novels • Feminist campaigner in the 1960s • Writing praised in the1970s by feminists • A feminist supporter but criticises extremism • Not a ‘feminist author’- distances herself from that ideological position • Worked as English lecturer at University of British Colombia • Writer-In-Residence at numerous universities in the 70s and 80s, e.g. • University Of Toronto, Macquarie Univ. and Trinity Univ.

3. Audience: • Well-educated readers of fiction • Middle-aged, intellectual, literary women • Informed about contemporary social movements, specifically the role of feminism in the changing position of women in life and art • Speech said at different events throughout 1994, e.g. American Bookseller Convention • Atwood often invited to attend literary festivals to speak about her work as well as the role of literature in society.

4. Context For Speech: • 1960s: strong feminist push (second wave feminism) – Focus on fighting the oppression of women in society and the need for equal rights • 1990s: response to the backlash of second wave feminism (third wave feminism) – Reacted to new thoughts about equality, social structure and gender – Focus on accepting contradictions, as well as embracing diversity and change • Questions of what feminism meant and the changing roles of men/women • 1994: Canadian debate about its national identity – Atwood universal writer – Faced with globalisation of the world economy and culture

5. Central Idea/Argument: • The speech focuses on the representation of women in literature over the ages, in particular the presentation of evil or bad women. • Evident in the title ‘Spotty-Handed Villainesses’ • For this purpose she harnesses the personal anecdote of her young daughter’s theatrical presentation, the help her illustrate what literature is not • “... Are you going to do anything except have breakfast?’ we said. ‘No’ they said. “Then this isn’t a play,’ we said. ‘Something else has to happen’... • To rescue the representation of women in literature both from patriarchal stereotypes and from ideological feminist stereotypes • ‘Lets put a women at the centre of something-other-than-breakfast, and see what happens....’ • Her purpose is not to push for one side of the argument but to critique other agendas and propose certain suggestions as to how the question of wicked women in literature might be framed.

6. A large section of the speech deals with the more general question of what fiction aims to do, and how it is created. • The word 'process' is very fashionable. All it really means, as far as I can tell, is "how do you do it?" You have to understand something about the form before you can do it at all. (Atwood) • Atwood looks at the general question of fiction, its aims and scope, and at the requirements of various genres of fiction. At this point she moves to considering the women's movement: • … part of the history we've had recently is the history of the women's movement, and the women's movement has influenced how people read, and therefore what you can get away with, in art. • She negates this viewpoint with an overview of wicked women as shown in the world's literature: “the murderers, the seducers, the espionage agents, the cheats, the bad mothers and stepmothers”. She concludes by claiming that as wicked women exist in real life, so they have a place in literature; and that the many-dimensionality of women needs to be given literary expression.

7. Values Explored • Literature should reflect the diversity of life and its moral complexity • Atwood is portraying the notion that literature should have characters that reflect the variety life offers as that is what makes a story entertaining rather than characters that are two dimensional • “Create a flawless character and you create an insufferable one; which maybe why I am interested in spots” – spots refers to the guilt Lady Macbeth felt after influencing her husband to kill the King

8. Women are capable of evil, and this should be recognised • Atwood also emphasises that women too can possess faults in terms of their moral complexity and should not be stereotyped within literature as being only virtuous • “Evil women are necessary in story traditions… why shouldn’t their many-dimensionality be given literary expression?”

9. Evil characters in literature are the most interesting. • They are said to be the ‘lifeblood of literature’, meaning no evil characters equals no literature • Atwood points out in her speech that literature needs ‘something disruptive to static order’ in order to make the text more interesting, engaging and unique. • She further emphasizes on this point by using an anecdote, turning out to be her daughter’s tedious play based on an ongoing breakfast. Margaret then goes on to state that in order to be literature, a novel or whatever form of writing must consist of ‘more than breakfast’. • She also says that ‘the difference between literature and life is something else has to happen.’ Through this anecdote and again her reference to literature having to be ‘more than breakfast’, it is easy to conclude that she means that literature in fact need characters who bring something different and diverse to a novel or piece of writing, such as the spotty-handed villainesses or in basic reference, evil characters.

10. 1970s feminism has been good for society • Margaret ‘summarises’ within her speech the benefits to literature that the feminist movement supplied : • “the expansion of the territory available to writers, both in character and in language; a sharp eyed examination of the way power works in gender relations, and the exposure of much of this as socially constructed; a vigorous exploration of many hitherto-concealed areas of experience.” • Atwood also goes on to speak about the new kinds of behaviours that were available to female characters, exclaiming it to be yet another benefit of the Women’s Movement in the 1970s: • ‘The Women’s Movement has influenced how people read, and therefore what you can get away with, in art’ • She also again summarises the benefits that she thinks that have come to writing from feminism such as expanded subject matter, the critical examination of power relationships and the introduction of the notion of the social construction of gender.

11. Structure Of Speech • The speech opens with an introduction of the title and sub-title of the speech and a Margaret’s use of first person opens the speech up to the central idea and purpose; The portrayal of women in literature, in particular evil women • Atwood then moves the speech forward and introduces a personal anecdote of her daughters play in order to define what literature is not • Paragraph 11, is where Atwood begins to describe what a novel is, and begins to criticises those who attempt to define what exactly a novel is • “only a very foolish person would attempt to give a definitive answer....” She then goes on to further explain what a novel is but stating what a novel is not • Paragraph 24 introduces the notion of women in literature, and Atwood focuses on female protagonists • “Lets put a women at the centre of something-other-than-breakfast • Throughout the remainder of the speech Atwood makes reference to other example of literature to further highlight her intentions and ideas on women in literature and the different roles that they can and have played. • “Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw and Bram Stoker’s Dracula ... Both revolve around notions of female sexuality”

12. Rhetorical Devices and Examples:

16. Link to other Speeches • Margaret Atwood’s speech hold strong ideals and values that link to those presented in Aung San SuuKyi’sSpeech • Aung San SuuKyiexpresses her main view of the empowerment of women in society through the removal of intolerance and prejudice. • In a similar way Atwood approaches these values, however expresses them through the medium of literature, through which one can gage an understanding of the changing nature of literature and women.

17. Critical Commentary: • Engaging in discussion of feminist ideas, some ideas particularly through the use of literary allusions • Necessity of evil (and often interesting) characters in literature • Some of them will be women • Topics discussed as once being non-literary or sub-literary have become even more prominent over past 17 years • Still relevant as women are still portrayed in a variety of (sometimes conflicting) ways