Construction of Womanhood, Gender-Based Violence and Patriarchal Intersections in Elif Shafaq’s “Three Daughters of Eve”: A Feminist-Psychoanalytical Approach

Abstract

This paper critically appraises the representation of female characters in Elif Shafak's selected work to delineate how women's identities and lives are shaped under male domination and violence and to unravel the dynamics of violence and exile in constituting female subjectivity. Through analysis of the novel" Three Daughters of Eve," the research demonstrates how Shafak's fiction ventures into the intricate enmeshments of gender, power, and norms to articulate a complex female existence in and beyond Turkish society. Through the lens of feminist-psychoanalytic scholarship, the paper argues that Shafak's literary discourse not only highlights the oppressive machinery of patriarchy but also brings to light women's perseverance and agency in the face of these structures. It argues that violence, both physical and psychological, alongside the metaphorical and literal experiences of exile, serves as pivotal elements that contribute to the redefinition and assertion of female identity against the backdrop of societal and cultural dictates.