This essay is a critical comparison of Adrienne Rich and Patricia Williams, one as an idealist and the other as a realist.

Adrienne Rich and Patricia Williams are two very distinct voices, the former being something of an idealist, and the latter a realist. Adrienne Rich's voice taking idealistic positions on how society, more specifically, women can regain self-control and self-knowledge if they look back, "re-envisioning" the past. This way, women can ultimately revise it and render it differently, for the better, in the present and future. Patricia Williams, on the other hand, understands the concept of revising the old viewpoints of past assumptions and biases, however she would claim it to be ultimately f…