Gender roles and language from henry fielding to george bernard shaw

Abstract

The purpose of this research work is to explore gender features in English literary texts so that to capture the differences used in language from a sociolinguistic stand point focusing upon gender roles, identity and stereotypes. To this effect, a comparative study of gendered features in Tom Jones and Pygmalion is carried out, where a thorough examination of the novels’ characters is held utilizing approaches from literary criticism and sociolinguistics; thereby the analysis reveals that Shaw concentrates on gender distinction at the level of language use, while Fielding focuses on social inequalities between males and females. In another way, both novelists try to give an account of gender distinctions and discrimination in England through different periods of time, although they differ in the subjects being probed related to society. The findings demonstrate that Fielding and Shaw differ largely in representing gender differences.