PATRIARCHY UNDER SCRUTINY Tracing Feminist Discourse in Hobb’s The Realm of the Elderlings

Abstract

The high fantasy genre has often been accused of conservatism and of perpetuating stereotypes. On the other hand, fantasy has also been noted for its capacity to subvert stereotypes and envision alternatives to the current order. This essay investigates the gender politics of Robin Hobb’s high fantasy series The Realm of the Elderlings, exploring the depiction of patriarchal structures and mechanisms in the work. To illuminate the discussion, Hobb’s series is read alongside a variety of feminist theories, with particular weight attached to Sylvia Walby’s Theorizing Patriarchy (1990). The essay is divided into two parts. The first part considers depictions of patriarchal structures in the series, focusing especially on sexual morality, sexual violence, and the institution of marriage. The second part points to ways in which The Realm of the Elderlings subverts and questions patriarchy by portraying gender as culturally contingent, historically variable, and by emphasising the performative aspect of it. In Hobb’s series, although it makes use of a traditional, pseudo-medieval fantasy world where patriarchy is a stock feature, patriarchy does not merely function as a backdrop. Instead, it is repeatedly thematised and put to scrutiny, its mechanisms exposed, and its basic premises questioned. However, this radical perspective is sometimes undermined by contradictory impulses, as the clearly feminist ideas in the work exist side by side with decidedly conservative sentiments.