https://ar.iub.edu.bd/handle/11348/1237 Thu, 10 Sep 2026 13:50:44 GMT 2026-09-10T13:50:44Z https://ar.iub.edu.bd/handle/11348/1557 The witches and the female power in Macbeth: challenging patriarchal control through the supernatural Sarker, Arnab Feminist readings of *Macbeth* continue to garner curiosity and interest among scholars around the globe. This study examines the representation of the witches in *Macbeth* as embodiments of subversive female power that challenge patriarchal authority through the supernatural. Drawing on feminist and psychoanalytic theories, including the works of Gilbert and Gubar and Jessica Benjamin, the research explores how the witches destabilize traditional gender roles and disrupt the rigid structures of male dominance in early modern society. Rather than portraying them as mere agents of chaos, this paper argues that the witches function as symbolic figures who expose the fragility of patriarchal control. Their ambiguous identities, prophetic authority, and resistance to normative femininity position them as powerful catalysts within the play. Ultimately, the study reinterprets the witches as central figures in negotiating power, agency, and gendered resistance in Shakespearean tragedy. This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (BA) in English Literature (EL), 2026. Wed, 01 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://ar.iub.edu.bd/handle/11348/1557 2026-04-01T00:00:00Z https://ar.iub.edu.bd/handle/11348/1556 A comparative study on the fragility of human bonds in The way of the world and The great Gatsby Sultana, Sadia This study offers a comparative analysis of emotional fragility in William Congreve’s *The Way of the World* and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s *The Great Gatsby*, drawing on Marxist literary criticism and New Historicism. It contends that love, trust, and loyalty in both texts are structurally produced within socio-economic systems that privilege wealth, status, and social performance. Through close reading, the analysis demonstrates how material conditions, class hierarchies, and processes of self-fashioning mediate intimacy, rendering emotional bonds conditional and unstable. In Congreve, marriage operates as a strategic negotiation embedded in aristocratic property relations, while in Fitzgerald, romantic desire is shaped by capitalist aspiration and the illusion of social mobility. By placing these texts in dialogue, the study reveals a transhistorical pattern in which socio-economic structures systematically undermine emotional stability, reframing intimacy as contingent upon external systems of value rather than individual sincerity. This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (BA) in English Literature (EL), 2026. Wed, 01 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://ar.iub.edu.bd/handle/11348/1556 2026-04-01T00:00:00Z https://ar.iub.edu.bd/handle/11348/1555 From victims to agents: reclaiming female autonomy Barua, Indira Feminine readings of *Woman at Point Zero*, *A Thousand Splendid Suns*, and *The Color Purple* still arouse curiosity and interest among scholars around the world. This comparative study aims to delve into a critical analysis of all three novels from the perspective of protagonists who suffer under the patriarchal system. Using the theoretical frameworks of Beauvoir’s “Othering” and Gilbert and Gubar’s “Angel-killing,” the study shows how this male-dominated structure uses verbal abuse, commodification, and domestic torment to enforce female immanence. The analysis of the novels, their protagonists, and the dynamics and ideologies of feminism presented in the novels is conducted using a qualitative research methodology. Through close reading of the novels, connecting them with the theoretical frameworks, and conducting an in-depth literature review, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of feminist perspectives. This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (BA) in English Literature (EL), 2026. Wed, 01 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://ar.iub.edu.bd/handle/11348/1555 2026-04-01T00:00:00Z https://ar.iub.edu.bd/handle/11348/1554 From valuation to suspicion: how neoliberal economic fundamentalism produces panoptic power in the reluctant fundamentalist Manowar, Fatima Literary critics have posited divergent interpretations of Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist. Varying opinions preoccupy mostly the geopolitics of the post 9/11 era, neoliberal capitalism, Orientalism, migration experience, and subjectivity. This paper offers yet another perspective on The Reluctant Fundamentalist linking neoliberal capitalism with the surveillance culture that emerges after 9/11. I argue that the suspicion directed at Changez does not arise suddenly after the attacks but develops from earlier practices of evaluation within neoliberal institutions. Close factual reading allowed me to gather knowledge about neoliberal rationality, surveillance culture, and diffused power of a control society. Drawing briefly on concepts from Michel Foucaul, Gilles Deleuze and Wendy Brown, the thesis demonstrates how neoliberal forms of discipline help prepare the conditions for post-9/11 surveillance. This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (BA) in English Literature (EL), 2026. Wed, 01 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://ar.iub.edu.bd/handle/11348/1554 2026-04-01T00:00:00Z