The complexity of the female role

Throughout history women have been the object of oppression by patriarchal society. Men have had more privileges than women and although women in earlier days have tried to resist they have been the object and not the subject. The Madonna/Whore complex is still present in many ways as there are restrictions of how women are entitled to behave according to patriarchal society. However involves a third factor; the intellectual or the universal woman who faces nearly the same problem as courtesans and prostitutes did in earlier days in order to obtain a lifelong partner. This study will shed light on the dilemma that a great deal of women encounter when struggling with love and relationships. I have analysed four short stories from Margaret Atwood´s Wilderness tips; Wilderness Tips, Hairball, True Trash and The Bog Man. The women in these novels experience subordination in their relationship to men either as a Madonna, whore or intellectual. To come to this conclusion I have examined the short stories from different perspectives in terms of which role they each portray, how they reveal their implications in the narrative and how projective identification empowers women in relationships. Keywords: Madonna/ whore complex, patriarchal society, narratology, voice, projective identificatio