Feminist Characters in Promising Young Woman and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

 TW: I wanted to put a trigger warning because I talked about the film, Promising Young Woman, which contains sexual assault and violence. And there are also some movie spoilers!  

I saw the Oscar Best Picture nomination, Promising Young Woman directed by Emerald Fennell. This film centers around the issue of sexual assault and violence of women. Although the film ends with a dark sense of hope for women, the lead character, Cassie resembles similar feminist charactersitics to Martha from Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 

Promising Young Woman focuses on Cassie, who dedicates her life to avenging the sexual assault and death of her best friend. She does this in a few ways. The first being she pretends to be drunk or drugged at bars. When men then attempt to take advantage of her in their homes, she “scares” them by showing them how she is actually sober. She also avenges her friend by ruining the lives of the people involved in the sexual assault, whether that was the actual men or her female friends that did not believe or stand up for her when she came forward. The film ends with Cassie tying up the rapist and trying to carve her friend, Nina’s, name into his abdomen. He then pushes a pillow over her head and kills her. However, the film closes with all the evidence Cassie found going out to all the men’s phones and to the police. She planned these texts knowing her murder was a possibility. We see the men taken by the police at the very end of the film, hinting that they will be arrested and there is this dark sense of hope. Although the men are being arrested it came at the cost of Cassie’s life. 

What made the film so incredible, however, was Cassie’s performance. She not only dedicated her life to her friend, but in the end sacrificed her life to get revenge on the men that raped Nina. Throughout the film, many of her actions are questionable and appalling. Although her actions are extreme and bold, we see she does it because she knows that Nina will never get the justice she deserves without Cassie intervening. A theme we see throughout the film is therefore revenge. Cassie turns justice into revenge by her plan to destroy anyone involved in the sexual assault of Nina. Cassie knows that society will not be on her side, which is exactly what Martha believes in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 

Martha is also considered a strong, female character, who represents many feminist ideals. Like Cassie, she represents these ideals in very extreme ways. This play takes place in the 1960’s. As we know, during this time, women were expected to “serve” their husbands. Martha broke away from this stereotype in every way. She controlled her husband, George, through her manipulation and infidelity. Martha consistently mocked her husband for his job title, his relationship with her father, and his appearance. She is an extreme version of this femisinst ideal, going so strongly against her husband through her cruelty. Like Cassie, however, Martha believes this extremity is the only way for her to break from society’s perception of what a woman should be. 

Both Promising Young Woman and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? make us think about the role of women in society. Through both these intense characters, Cassie and Martha, we notice this pattern of the lack of trust in society because of previous experiences. How can society ever break away from these disgusting and intolerable issues? 

https://www.vulture.com/article/the-queasy-ending-of-promising-young-woman.html