"Who am I"? The many faces of women's identity in Victorian Literature.
Friday, September 08, 2006
(taken from a previous essay)
The portrayal of women in Victorian novels raises questions about the search for their identity, and as a consequence, serves as a vehicle for the projection of the authors varied opinions on the rights and position of women in Victorian Society. In this essay, my purpose is to analyze five heroines in Victorian Literature and compare and contrast how each form their respective identies.
I am my beloved: Catherine Linton (Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights)
For Catherine, who she is as an individual depends on how much she is a part of her soulmate, Heathcliff. As long as she is free to be with Heathcliff, she could be herself, but the moment she goes against her nature, i.e. try to "better" her self by marrying Linton, and thereby break her relationship with Heathcliff, she loses a part of herself. After her marriage to Linton, Cathy takes on another persona. She is no longer the girl who would roam wild and free in the moors. Instead, she is confined to the suffocating grandure and Victorian sense of propriety in Thrushcross Grange. Cathy even acknowledges to Nelly that she and Heathcliff were one when she says "I am Heathcliff". Hence, in this case, the woman takes the identity of her beloved.
I am his equal: Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre)
For Jane, her identity as an intelligent, independent woman is resolved through ties with Edward Rochester, her imposing employer and Master of Thornfield. Although Jane does seek her own independence (and thereby her identity as a single woman), in the end, she finds she needs Rochester to be complete. Firstly, there is the telepathic relationship that she shares with Rochester, which I believe is a strong indicator (from the author) that as long as that supernatural connection exists between Jane and Rochester, they could not be entirely happy without each other. They need each other to be whole because they are "equals" and complement each other. Jane needs Rochester during moments of her insecurity (when Rochester is more controlling of her), and by the end of the story Rochester needs Jane when he is (phsycially) found wanting (thus Jane controls Rochester). This symbiotic sort of relationship is differnet from that of Cathy and Heathcliff in that this is a relationship of equals, where only each will do for the other, but each keeps their own identies. Jane is NOT Rochester in the manner as Cathy affirms she IS Heathcliff.
I am my husband's wife: Dorothea Brooke (George Eliot's Middlemarch)
For Dorothea, finding her place in the world and fulfilling her purpose in life is to marry an influencial man, and thus, she marries Casaubon, although there is no passion or love between the two of them. Dorothea, having been brought up in a wealthy and lavish life, identifes her purpose in life early on. She wishes to make a change in her society and to help people below her. She also has a thirst for knowledge and is intent on learning more about the world around her. She believes that marriage to Casaubon will help her attain all her goals. To an extent, marriage to Casaubon does give her some liberty to help people around her, such as helping Lydgate. However, it is only after her marriage that she realizes Casaubon's duplicity and weakness of character, along with finding out who she was as a person and what she wants in a marriage. Though she does fall in love with Will Ladislaw, even after her marriage to him, her powers as woman fulfilling her aims in life remain obscure, as she is only able to excercise them through her husband, a powerful politician.
I am my father's daughter: Margaret Hale (Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South)
Margaret, being the daugther of a cleric, was used to having the influence of her father lead the way she conducted affairs in her own life. Being very close to her father, she is also prone to holding some of her true feelings back, as when she bravely consents to leave Helstone even though her heart broke the whole time. In Helstone, Margaret was an important personality and she was able to influence people around her by means of her position. Thus, even when she moves to Milton with her family, she still carries that mentality (the fact that she was "superior" to the other workers). Even though her father resigned from the Church of England and only chose, through his own free will, to teach the workers, it gave Margaret an upper hand, in that she knew that while her father had a choice to do a noble deed such as educating workers when he could have led a more comfortable life, the workers in Milton are deprived of such a choice. Thus Margaret also feels that she has to live up to her father's standard of judgement and leadership. While this prompts her to visit workers and to try and change them herself, she also learns a lot from them, which later allows her to overcome class boundaries, most importantly, reconciling her relationship with John Thornton, a man far below her in terms of the social scale.
I am Myself: Tess Durbeyfield (Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles)
Tess is the most radical of all of these heroines in that who she is as a woman is NOT merged with the identity of any man. When Angel compares her to Greek Goddesses like Demeter or Artemis, she immediately retorts, "call me Tess". She wants Angel to accept her for who she is, despite doubts revolving around her "purity". She stands her ground when the Pastor refuses to baptise Sorrow, and she herself baptises her own child, even though such a practise is foreign. She tells Angel the truth about her past hoping that he will accept as she forgives him. Even when her parents doubt her character, she leaves her home in search of her own independence without Angel. She loved Angel but did not think of him as "herself" or her "equal" as the heriones above did.
The portrayal of women in Victorian novels raises questions about the search for their identity, and as a consequence, serves as a vehicle for the projection of the authors varied opinions on the rights and position of women in Victorian Society. In this essay, my purpose is to analyze five heroines in Victorian Literature and compare and contrast how each form their respective identies.
I am my beloved: Catherine Linton (Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights)
For Catherine, who she is as an individual depends on how much she is a part of her soulmate, Heathcliff. As long as she is free to be with Heathcliff, she could be herself, but the moment she goes against her nature, i.e. try to "better" her self by marrying Linton, and thereby break her relationship with Heathcliff, she loses a part of herself. After her marriage to Linton, Cathy takes on another persona. She is no longer the girl who would roam wild and free in the moors. Instead, she is confined to the suffocating grandure and Victorian sense of propriety in Thrushcross Grange. Cathy even acknowledges to Nelly that she and Heathcliff were one when she says "I am Heathcliff". Hence, in this case, the woman takes the identity of her beloved.
I am his equal: Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre)
For Jane, her identity as an intelligent, independent woman is resolved through ties with Edward Rochester, her imposing employer and Master of Thornfield. Although Jane does seek her own independence (and thereby her identity as a single woman), in the end, she finds she needs Rochester to be complete. Firstly, there is the telepathic relationship that she shares with Rochester, which I believe is a strong indicator (from the author) that as long as that supernatural connection exists between Jane and Rochester, they could not be entirely happy without each other. They need each other to be whole because they are "equals" and complement each other. Jane needs Rochester during moments of her insecurity (when Rochester is more controlling of her), and by the end of the story Rochester needs Jane when he is (phsycially) found wanting (thus Jane controls Rochester). This symbiotic sort of relationship is differnet from that of Cathy and Heathcliff in that this is a relationship of equals, where only each will do for the other, but each keeps their own identies. Jane is NOT Rochester in the manner as Cathy affirms she IS Heathcliff.
I am my husband's wife: Dorothea Brooke (George Eliot's Middlemarch)
For Dorothea, finding her place in the world and fulfilling her purpose in life is to marry an influencial man, and thus, she marries Casaubon, although there is no passion or love between the two of them. Dorothea, having been brought up in a wealthy and lavish life, identifes her purpose in life early on. She wishes to make a change in her society and to help people below her. She also has a thirst for knowledge and is intent on learning more about the world around her. She believes that marriage to Casaubon will help her attain all her goals. To an extent, marriage to Casaubon does give her some liberty to help people around her, such as helping Lydgate. However, it is only after her marriage that she realizes Casaubon's duplicity and weakness of character, along with finding out who she was as a person and what she wants in a marriage. Though she does fall in love with Will Ladislaw, even after her marriage to him, her powers as woman fulfilling her aims in life remain obscure, as she is only able to excercise them through her husband, a powerful politician.
I am my father's daughter: Margaret Hale (Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South)
Margaret, being the daugther of a cleric, was used to having the influence of her father lead the way she conducted affairs in her own life. Being very close to her father, she is also prone to holding some of her true feelings back, as when she bravely consents to leave Helstone even though her heart broke the whole time. In Helstone, Margaret was an important personality and she was able to influence people around her by means of her position. Thus, even when she moves to Milton with her family, she still carries that mentality (the fact that she was "superior" to the other workers). Even though her father resigned from the Church of England and only chose, through his own free will, to teach the workers, it gave Margaret an upper hand, in that she knew that while her father had a choice to do a noble deed such as educating workers when he could have led a more comfortable life, the workers in Milton are deprived of such a choice. Thus Margaret also feels that she has to live up to her father's standard of judgement and leadership. While this prompts her to visit workers and to try and change them herself, she also learns a lot from them, which later allows her to overcome class boundaries, most importantly, reconciling her relationship with John Thornton, a man far below her in terms of the social scale.
I am Myself: Tess Durbeyfield (Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles)
Tess is the most radical of all of these heroines in that who she is as a woman is NOT merged with the identity of any man. When Angel compares her to Greek Goddesses like Demeter or Artemis, she immediately retorts, "call me Tess". She wants Angel to accept her for who she is, despite doubts revolving around her "purity". She stands her ground when the Pastor refuses to baptise Sorrow, and she herself baptises her own child, even though such a practise is foreign. She tells Angel the truth about her past hoping that he will accept as she forgives him. Even when her parents doubt her character, she leaves her home in search of her own independence without Angel. She loved Angel but did not think of him as "herself" or her "equal" as the heriones above did.