Portrayal of New Woman in Selected Stories fromDream Vision and Realities

Abstract

This paper makes an attempt to analyze the issue of representation of New woman in five selected short stories from the anthology Dream Vision and Realities edited by Stephanie Forward. The stories are: “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “The Yellow Drawing-Room” by Mona Caird, “The Man in the Scented Coat” by Sarah Grand, “The Revolt of ‘Mother” by Mary E. Wilkins and “The Storm” by Kate Chopin. The study is based on the theoretical concept of New Woman by Henry James who used it to describe the evolution of educated, independent and revolutionary woman in western society. As the research finds, the writer portrays thewoman as new woman to showcase the rise of changed female personality who no more remain under the domination of patriarchal society. Finally, the research concludes that all stories begin with submissive woman characters and during the progression of plotthe characters gradually change to new woman, so in that sense all the stories focus on the process of being new woman. Key Words: New woman, Patriarchy, Revolutionary Woman, Victorian Society, Womanhood, Conventional