Pre-established Destiny through Patriarchal Forces in Elfriede Jelinek`s Die Liebhaberinnen

Abstract

The writer Elfriede Jelinek, winner of the Nobel Academy award in 2004, has demonstrated throughout her career how a piece of writing can go deep into people’s consciousness and make them reflect about class injustices and gender oppression. The novel Die Liebhaberinnen (1975) is considered one of Jelinek´s masterpieces as it is the first time she makes an excellent critique towards gender oppression. Through this work, she opens her writing to an extreme style that will define the rest of her works. The present paper will show that patriarchal forces have pre-established the destiny of the two main characters, Brigitte and Paula, in Elfriede Jelinek´s novel Die Liebhaberinnen and that this has been portrayed throughout the story making connections with present society. In the following analysis, information about Elfriede Jelinek and the sociohistorical context the novel has been influenced on are given. Theoretical notions and explanations of the patriarchal forces are presented after. This is followed by the deep analysis of the work, where first Brigitte´s and Paula´s views towards destiny along the novel are portrayed and then compared, within the theoretical framework provided previously. All the statements are proved through quotes from the novel or other experts’ pieces of writings. The conclusions of this analysis show that the roles and stereotypes that lead to empowerment rejection of women play a key role in the establishment of the patriarchal forces. Both characters’ inner thoughts show that they are unable to escape oppression they have to undergo and stay contemplating the irreversible changes in their lives. With Brigitte and Paula, we find a clear image of women in society, unable to escape from the pre-established patriarchal destiny.