Examples of Women
and Femininity in
Victorian Literature
Dramas
'A Doll's House' - Henrik Ibsen
Nora has often been painted as one of
modern drama's first feminist heroines.
She breaks away from the domination of her husband.
'Surely you can see that being with Torvald is like being with Papa'.
Nora has been under the thumb
of a man her whole life.
Nora: 'What do you consider my most sacred duties?'
Torvald: '...Your duties to your husband and your children.'
Nora: 'I have other duties just as sacred. (...) Duties to myself.'
This idea of completely scandalous during Ibsen's
time. The thought that a woman might have a value
besides homemaking and being a mother was
outrageous.
Ibsen intended for the
play to be humanist
rather than feminist.
Yet there's constant talk of
women, their roles and the price
they pay for breaking them.
Prose
'Jane Eyre' - Charlotte Bronte
Jane has a strong moral sense between what is right and wrong.
Jane stuggles continually to overcome suppression and achieve inequality. She has to fight patriarchal domination- against those who
believe women to be inferior to men.
Mr Brocklehurst, Mr Rochester and St. John Rivers all try to keep
her in a submissive position, where she is unable to express her
own thoughts and opinions.
'it is thoughtless to condemn them, or laugh at them, if they seek to do more or learn more than what custom has pronounced necessary for their sex'.
Poetry
'The Ruined Maid' - Thomas Hardy
A dialogue between two women who bump into each in the street. The first speaker (an
unnamed woman) comments on Amelia's new clothes and look. Amelia responds with a short,
semi-snobby retort - usually ending in 'Well, I'm ruined'. It ends with the other woman wishing
she to had all the nice things that Amelia has.
'I wish I had feathers, a fine sweeping gown'.
Women knew what femininity was.
Hardy never really had a good thing to say about the role of women.
He's opening up the question: should women just
be content with their lot in life?