The case of marginalised Victorian women: An analysis of Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist and Hard Times through Kate Millett's feminism

The present dissertation aims to analyse Victorian society and its reflection in the 19th-century novels such as Hard Times and Oliver Twist within the feminist framework. Discriminative attitudes in a patriarchal society and how females meet abuse from childhood are among the main concerns; therefore, these are also examined with a great emphasis and added to the research. Their miserable condition inspires the author of this study to shed light upon the women and children within their fictionalisation both in the Victorian novels and in different periods. Kate Millett's Sexual Politics is considered the secondary source to develop ideas and explain the quotes taken from the mentioned novels. She discusses the inequality between sexes stemming from the religious, psychological, and historical mistreatment of women. The research is mainly based on the analysis of deprived groups such as women and children; thus, Charles Dickens's masterpieces are used as evidence supporting the main idea of this work because he is one of the significant novelists of the Victorian Era for his realistic illustrations of society.