Feminism in The Piano Lesson

August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson is ruled by strong male characters who view women in a negative light. They are seen as objects to be conquered or as conniving and deceitful. The women of the Charles family contradict this by being strong and independent, giving the play a feminist undertone primarily through Berniece.

In Act 1, scene 1 Lymon’s view of women is made clear: Boy Willie: "All [Lymon] want to talk about is women. […] Talking about all the women he gonna get when he get up here." Lymon spends a large portion of the play focused on women and sees them as objects in the beginning. Doaker views them as gold diggers after their money: "I ain't thinking about them women. […] All them women want is somebody with a steady payday." Willie Boys’ treatment of Grace also shows that he doesn’t view women with equality and respect. He talks back to Berniece, who is the matriarch of the household, and often talks down to her.

Berniece stands against Willie Boy when he wants to sell the piano, and doesn’t concede to Avery’s attempts to marry her. In her monologue in Act 2, scene 2 she questions Avery why a woman isn’t a woman without a man, and why a man is still a man without a woman.  She points out the obvious double standards society has in place. This specific monologue shows feminine strength and independence but right after it we are given the reason for her refusal to remarry, she is still in mourning over her deceased husband. The women of the Charles family are forced into independence by being widowed. Her mother was the same way; she never remarried after he husband died either. The role of mourning widow is the norm of their family now and is a part of their history symbolized through Mama Ola’s blood rubbed into the piano: "Mama Ola polished this piano with her tears for seventeen years. For seventeen years she rubbed on it till her hands bled. Then she rubbed the blood in…mixed it with the rest of the blood on it."