Examples of Women and Femininity in Victorian Literature

Examples of Women and Femininity in Victorian Literature

1. 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.

2. 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'.

3. 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?