Feminist Roles in British Literature

 As an English major, I have taken very many literature courses, and there is always one common interest that I carry throughout all of these courses. I am always interested in how the feminine roles of that society reflect in the literature; whether it is through female authors, or female characters. One of the class presentations from this semester that was most interesting to me was the one given by two of my classmates about the feminine role in Victorian society. It was fascinating to me how a woman’s job was to be at home playing the role of a domesticated wife and mother, yet that is hardly ever the way that they are perceived in the literature of that time, or even the time before and after that. As I went through all of our blog posts from this semester, I found that this study would take me on a timeline journey through several texts we’ve read. Starting from Romance of the Forest, going on to Cry of the Children, then The Forsaken Merman, and finally ending with The Bloody Chamber. The connections between these four pieces may not be noticeably apparent at first glance, but once you put take feminine perspective into consideration, they slowly start to rise to the surface.

  One of the very first novels we read in this class was Romance of the Forest by Radcliffe, where we were introduced to our first lead female character, Adeline. She seemed to be a rather controversial character within our class. Some people viewed her as being weak, feeble, and sensitive, while others saw her as an interesting, complex, and intelligent character. Although the true nature of her character is up for debate, it certainly can’t be denied that she is our heroine for a reason. I find it very difficult to believe that Radcliffe would write a weak lead character that doesn’t have more to her than the exterior. Adeline certainly fits the description of a typical woman in that time period. She was always falling victim to her own emotions and it seemed that she was too weak to face the real world on her own. However, all of these qualities that she possesses could also be seen as manipulation tools that she used to get what she wants. Adeline certainly knows how to use her beauty and innocence to charm those around her, and I would argue that she took advantage of that.

  I found this picture and thought that it was a beautiful illustration of the book. The artist clearly took into the consideration the imagery and romance of the book and incorporated it into this picture. Although the figure on top of the cliff is not clearly seen, we can tell that it is a woman’s body and that it is supposed to be Adeline. The way she is laying on the cliff seems to portray her as a damsel in distress, but I couldn’t help but look past that. Although she does seem like she’s in need of help, it still is a very captivating image. It seems as if she strategically placed herself in this beautiful scene and waited to be noticed. It’s as if she is doing it on purpose just to get our attention, and she does.

  Although The Cry of the Children is written in response to the child labor that was prevalent in the Victorian era, there are feminist prints all over it. Elizabeth Barrett Browning was clearly trying to reach women in this poem by appealing to their pathos and having them feel sorry for the children. If she can strike a chord with the women, then the men will eventually hop on board too. Although women didn’t have any influence in the government or politics, they certainly had influence over the men in their households. Browning was known for adding sentimental touches in her poetry. In The Sentimental Artistry Of Barrett Browning's "The Cry Of The Children.", Henry Peaches talks about Browning’s writing style by saying, “Her relationship with feeling, the main currency of sentimental literature, was complicated both by her position as a woman in Victorian society and her sense of herself as a poet. She wrote during a time when both women’s lives and art were limited by social conventions which marked them as emotional rather than reasoning, sensitive to individual grief but capable of understanding broad societal problems” (Peaches 538).

  The week that we were assigned to read The Forsaken Merman by Matthew Arnold, I remember we had a very interesting discussion in class about why we thought the merman’s wife was leaving him and their children to go to land. Many connections to made to the role of religion in the poem, however, the interpretation that most interested me was the one that suggested that the poem was actually a feminist one and could be read as such. The woman leaving her husband and kids to go to land was viewed as an act of liberation where the woman was able to escape her destined domesticated role as a wife and mother and chase her dreams (which in this case was going to land and experiencing a new way of life). Although this reading of the poem is not common, it certainly has every right to be interpreted in that way. In a time where it was considered outrageous for a woman to leave her family to be independent and do what she wants, this woman went against the tide (pun intended) and did it anyways. It was a bold opposition to the norm and I can see how this woman can be viewed as a liberated woman.

  In this illustration of The Forsake Merman we see the merman, his wife, and their children. It seems as if the woman is leaving her family, and they are still in the water while she is on land. She is the only one in the picture that has any legs. The husband and children all have fish tails that constrain them to the water, the wife, however, has legs and is free to leave the water and go onto the land. The fact that the woman in the image is dressed very nicely in a beautiful gown and is wearing jewelry also gives the impression that she truly is liberated and the life that she has made for herself on land is more lavish than the one that she had with her husband. It is a controversial claim to make, but that’s what makes Arnold’s poem so dynamic. It has the ability to transcend its religious constraints and move into a territory far ahead of its time, women’s emancipation from societal obligations.

  The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter was known to have been influenced by the feminist movement that was going on in that time. The young girl in the story seems to possess qualities that contribute to her being the heroine that she is in the end. In "Bluebeard" and "The Bloody Chamber": The Grotesque of Self-Parody and Self-Assertion", Kari Lokke talks about this young woman’s journey by writing, “The Bloody Chamber is a contemporary transformation of the quintessential grotesque motif, the dance of death and the maiden, a modern, feminist transformation in which for once the maiden is victorious over death itself’ (Lokke 9). This is not your typical fairy tale. It has very many unusual twists and turns that give it a more gothic feel. I loved the idea that this story was also written by a woman. Carter without a doubt thought that it was important that the women of the story came out on top in the end. Although the young girl was saved from her murderer husband by her mother, it still doesn’t take away from the fact that Carter wrote her as the heroine. It’s also interesting that it wasn’t a knight in shining armor or her other love interest that saved her in the end, but it was another woman. A man was not able to kill her, nor was a man able to save her; definitely not the classic fairy tale that we are used to. The story ends with the young girl having made a living for herself. She has used her dead husband’s fortune to convert the castle into a school for the blind. She did not squander away her wealth, but she invested it into something that would not only make her money, but also make a positive difference in her community. She transforms from a housewife to an independent woman with a career.

  Going back and making all of these feminist connections throughout all of these texts has proved to me once again that the traditional roles of women that were prevalent in that time did not limit the women in literature. It seems as if the literary world was the one place where women could be liberated beings. Whether they were lead characters in a poem or story, or authors, they certainly pushed the envelope and did not settle with the societal expectations placed on them in that historical moment.

Further Readings
• http://www.mckendree.edu/academics/scholars/issue18/appell.htm
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/trail/victorian_britain/women_home/ideals_womanhood_01.shtml

Works Cited 
Henry, Peaches. "The Sentimental Artistry Of Barrett Browning's "The Cry Of The Children." Victorian Poetry 49.4 (2011): 535-556. Academic Search Complete. Web. 7 May 2013.

Lokke, Kari. ""Bluebeard" and "The Bloody Chamber": The Grotesque of Self-Parody and Self-Assertion." : Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, Vol. 10, No. 1 (1988), pp. 7-12. (2012): n. page.