|
Victorian women
writing: a work of proto feminism
Anand Mathew
The history of England is the history of the male line, not of the
female. We know always some fact, some distinction about fathers. But of
mothers, nothing remains but tradition. It is true that we know nothing of them
except their names and dates of their marriage and the number of offspring they
begot.
Strange spaces of silence seem to separate one period of activity from
another. There was Sappo and a little group of women all writing poetry in a
Greek island six hundred years before the birth of Christ. They fell silent.
Then about the year thousand we find a certain court lady, the lady Murasaki,
writing a very long and beautiful novel in Japan. But in England in the 16th
century, the women were dumb while the dramatists and poets were most active.
Later we see Elizabethan literature pretty much masculine. Then at the end of
the 18th century and in the beginning of the 19th century
we find women again writing- thus time in England- with extraordinary frequency
and success.
Law and custom were, certainly, largely responsible for these strange
intermissions of silence and speech. When a woman was liable, as she was in the
15th century, to be beaten and finally flung about the room if she
did not marry the man of her parent’s choice; the spiritual atmosphere was not
favorable to the production of any work of art. Thus it is clear that the
extraordinary outburst of fiction and poetry in the beginning of the 19th
century in England was heralded innumerable slight changes in law and customs
and manners.
And as we know, it is probable, however, that both in life and art the
values and views of women are not the same that of men. It is obvious that when
a woman ventures herself to write a poetry or novel, we will find that she is
perpetually wishing to deconstruct the ideals and values constructed by the
opposite sex and establish the insignificant serious, important trial-
pre-established by male writers.
In the early 19th century women’s writings were more or less
autobiographical. One of the motives that led them to write was the desire to
establish their self, expose their own sufferings and to plea their own cause.
Commenting upon the themes and imagery of the 19th century women
writings – Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar observe in “Mad Women in the Attic”:
“ The one plot that seems to be concealed in
most of the 19th century literature by women… is some sense a story of the woman writer’s quest for her own
story, it is the story, in other words- of the woman’s quest for
self-definition.”
Aurora leigh: Victorian concepts of a woman’s vocation
- Elizabeth barret browning
Aurora Leigh expresses Elizabeth Barret Browning’s unconventional views
on child labour, prostitution, gender and class conflict. Her heroine’s quench
for an independent status as a professional poet, and her questioning of many of
society’s established norms and institutions bring forth Elizabeth’s own
struggles and intense experiences and we will find it as an “autobiographical
discussion” of the feminist issues stated by Elaine Shawalter. The conflict
that women in the Victorian age witnessed between their aesthetic vocation and
feminine duties are explicitly expressed in Aurora’s struggle to succeed as a
poet.
Aurora Leigh made a tremendous effect to its age. Elizabeth brings forth
the major issues in to the day light- issues of gender roles, women’s struggle
for equal and just treatment and class conflict in her poems. She questions the
popular Victorian concepts of a woman’s vocation, her status in marriage,
family and society and the established notions of virtue and chastity.
She acknowledges the significance of socially constructed norms of sex
and genders and address herself through the characters of Aurora Leigh, Marian
Erle, and Romney Leigh. Instead of portraying helplessness as the typical
feminine behavior she projects strong willed women who pursue their vocation
with determination and intelligence. The heroine Aurora wants to become a poet
and earn a living through her publication. She wishes to realize fully her
intellectual and creative talents. She seeks to acquire a status as an
independent and responsible person; she wishes to attain selfhood on the basis
of her feminine separateness. The poem gradually shows the mutual needs of both
men and women.
Aurora’s quest for selfhood and freedom to pursue her own plans come in
to conflict with her society’s intention to restrict her freedom by binding her
into the domestic roles. The open green world of nature where Aurora loves to
spend her time offers her a sense of freedom, whiles the life within her home,
and reinforces the socially accepted role. Romney’s reaction to Aurora’s plans
reflects his disdain towards a woman’s self-awareness and her ambition to
become an independent being. And he doubts her creativity and vocation. He is
doubtful of her ability to become a good poet. He thinks- as she is a woman and
even if she could do so, it would hardly matter. He further states that the
world is full of misery and pain that what it wants is not poets, but devoted
selfless workers to help humanity. For him, her ambition to become a poet is a
selfish, self-centered wish, neglecting the more worthwhile service for
humanity.
Aurora’s defense of her choice of career begins by hinting at Romney’s
male arrogance towards women. Like other men, he too cannot regard women as
independent beings; he thinks them “mere complement of his sex.” She thinks
that the image evoked of companionship does not in real life work in that manner, for she finds the
man-woman relationship after marriage become an unequal one. In the name of ‘
love’ she finds women cheated in marriage; women become willing slaves and bear
the burden of men’s missionary work, without complaining, and without getting
any recognition for their contribution. And we see that she is ready to
sacrifice her own wishes for a career, where she feels she could also prove to
be equally useful to society.
Finally, we see that her reason for not
accepting Romney’s proposal of marriage is an emotional one. She feels that
Romney’s proposal does not convey sense of love for her. All that he wants is a
‘help mate’, ‘a sister of charity’, not really a wife. We find irony in her
words for him that he is already wedded to his social sense:
“Sir, you were married long ago,
You have a wife already, whom you love,
Your social theory.”
She would want a more warm and loving relationship, and a more equal
status with in marriage.
Elizabeth expresses powerfully, both, the aspiration and struggle of a
young woman and later a subsequent clash between the desire to be an individual
being and to be loved. After reading through the poem I feel that it challenges
many of the dominant patriarchal notions about women and their duties. It
challenges the restrictions placed on women’s self-expression; it “denounces
the gospel of self-sacrifice”, and attacks “patriarchal religion”. It is also a
search for new heroines, new role-models and new lives which was absolutely a
lack of the age.
Goblin market
- christina rossetti
Goblin Market comments on the institutions in Victorian society the
Rossetti and her feminist contemporaries wished to see altered, creating modern
female heroines to carry out its images. The goblins serve as malicious male
figures to attempt the innocent heroines, sisters Laura and Lizzie, to
corruption. Rossetti implies that Laura’s demise was caused by in addition to
the trickery of the male figures, her own yield to temptation. Fear of desire
was a near obsession in Victorian society; yielding was a sign of weakness, and
Rossetti’s poem mocks this obsession with its fairytale- like construction. The
Victorian people also viewed excessive sexuality in a negative light,
associating it with the lower classes and tribal cultures.
... “Goblin Market” is the epitome of an allegorically feminist work,
criticizing Victorian male dominated culture while creating strong feminine
heroes that prove the validity of Rossetti’s criticism by embodying the
feministic essence she is trying to portray. Throughout the poem, resistance to
the male figures is a part of a “painful and strenuous quest that frees the
heroine” from dependence on men and liberates her into a world of empowerment
in which she can thrive.
George eliot
From the perspective of many feminists, Eliot is a disappointment. None of
her brilliant, gifted, beautiful, philosophical characters usurp male roles or
verbalize the inequality of gender codes. I would like to discuss the common
characteristics of her heroines and works.
It would be little hard to find
any trace of humor or insight in her works. But we find the vindictiveness of a
grudge which we feel to be personal in its origin. She allows her heroines to
talk too much. It seems that she has little verbal felicity. But, it is upon
the heroines that we would throw a glance. They cannot live without religion
and they search for one thing they experienced during the childhood. Each has
the deep feminine passion for goodness. In learning they seek their goal both
in the wider service of their kind. They do not find what they seek and we
cannot wonder because those are kept far from their proximities and they face a
number of established norms and institutional correspondences.
For her the burden and the complexity of womanhood were not enough, that
she must reach beyond the sanctuary and pluck for herself the strange bright
fruits of art and knowledge. It is to be mentioned that Eliot herself explained
that she felt that she could serve the cause best as an artist rather than an
activist. As a result when we look for feminism in Eliot, we have to look for a
much more subtle approach. One way that we can see Eliot acting as an advocate
for her gender is in her creation of such believable heroines. Certainly, I think,
they are an implicit argument for women’s capacities. After all, her realist
approach requires true-to-life endings for her heroines. I think, her heroines,
indeed though they leave the readers unsatisfied, they actually have greater
consciousness- raising effect than a straighter forwardly “feminist” storyline
would do. Finally, on considering Eliot’s feminism or laxity, it is important
to keep in mind that many19th century women writers believed that there was an
essential feminine nature and it must be followed if civilization required. So
thereafter many women writers followed that traditional interpretation of
femininity. If we compare the heroines of Eliot with that of others we will
find Eliot’s heroines practice the dangerous and damaging habit of
self-abnegation. Her characters also express the poignancy and repressed
desire.
Jane eyre and wuthering heights
- charlotte bronte &
Emily bronte
Charlotte Bronte does not
attempt to solve the problems of human life; she is even unaware that such
problems exist; all her force, and it is the more tremendous for being
constricted, goes in to the assertion, ‘I love’, ‘ I hate’, ‘ I suffer’. We
read Charlotte not for exquisite observation of character. Her characters are
vigorous and elementary; not for comedy- hers is grim and crude; not for
philosophic view of life- hers is that of a country parson’s daughter for her
poetry.
Wuthering Heights is a more
difficult book to understand than Jane Eyre, because Emily was a greater poet
than Charlotte. When Charlotte wrote she said with eloquence and splendor and
passion ‘I love’, ‘I hate’, ‘I suffer’. Her experience, though more intense, is
on a level with our own. But there is no “I” in Wuthering Heights. There are no
governesses. There are no employers. There is love, but it is not the love of
men and women. Emily was inspired by some more general conception. The impulse
which urged her to create was not her own suffering or her own injuries. She
looked out upon a world cleft in to gigantic disorder and felt within her the
power to unite it in a book. The gigantic ambition is to be felt throughout the
novel – a struggle, half thwarted but of superb conviction, to say something through the mouths of her
characters which is not merely ‘ I love’ or ‘ I hate’ , but ‘ we , the whole
human race’ and ‘ you, the eternal powers…’ the sentence remains unfinished.
But it was not enough for
Emily to write a few lyrics, to utter a cry, to express a creed. In her poems
she did this once and for all, and her poems will perhaps out last her novel.
But she was novelist as well as poet.
conclusion
From
the works of 18th and 19th century women writers we get
an understanding of the tactics which have been employed by men in order to
have the lifelong concept of women to follow the set-code of behavior which
fulfills the demands of patriarchy. Many Victorian texts written by male as
well as female writers were attempts at defining “womanliness” as also
‘feminine sphere’ of duties. The conflict between the needs of the individual
and those of society was heavily turned against women’s self-awareness, by
relating her social duty with strong shades of moral duty.
Summing
up, we know that the beginning of the feminist movement belongs to the later 19th
century. So when we bring forth all the works of female writers of Victorian
era, we would know that the female writings of the age paved the passage for
the later feminist movement and writings. All works of Elizabeth Barret
Browning, Christina Rossetti, Bronte sisters, George Eliot, Gaskel, etc. we’re
focusing on the struggles and self-assertion of women of the time. All the
Victorian female writings challenge many of the dominant patriarchal notions
about women and their duties and also challenge the restrictions placed on
women’s self-expression, as vivid in Aurora Leigh. The poem Goblin Market
establishes a modern female heroine. Rossetti takes the early manifesto of
misogyny, and cleverly twists it around to fit her purpose; a very light, but
exceedingly biting mockery of male-dominated culture. Considering the major
female writings of Victorian era, it’s worth to note that Victorian female
writing as a whole a work of proto feminism.
|
Comments
Post a Comment