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Library's collection Library's IT development CancelWomen are often regarded as being inferior to men.
However, since nineteenth century, the feminists have
been trying to change contemporary life by redefining
women's sense of themselves and their role in the socie-ty.
This search for equality is often reflected in the
literary works. Cranford written in 1853 by Elizabeth
Gaskell is said to be one of those works that reflect the
ideas of feminism. Therefore, this thesis analyses some
ideas of feminism in marriage, education and job through
the characters : Miss Jenkyns, Miss Matilda, Miss Mary
Smith and Lady Glenmire and their conflicts. Those
characters and the conflicts which they undergo reveals
the ideas of feminism. Miss Jenkyns dares choose to
remain single. Miss Matilda is a spinster who finds that
although she does not get married, she can enjoy her life
to the full because she is surrounded by her kind
friends. Lady Glenmire, a high ranked woman, opposes the
traditional convention which forbide women to marry below
her rank. In education, the inadequacy of female educa-
tion is reflected through Miss Matilda. Miss Matilda is
incapable of doing things that require her intellectual
skills because her only education is only an education of
ladylike behavior. On the other hand, Miss Jenkyns is a
woman whose knowledge is not merely about ettiquetes, but
she does not get her education from formal school. She
gets it from her father. So from the character, it
implies women's lack of education opportunities like men.
At last, through Miss Smith and Miss Matilda, the idea
that women should have an equal right to find job as men
without losing their gentility is revealed. On the
whole, all the ideas of feminism in marriage, education
and job that the characters and their conflicts reveal,
basically, are the search of equality between men and
women.