¶ … Jude the Obscure," by Thomas Hardy, "The Awakening," by Kate Chopin, and "The Odd Women" by George Gissing. Specifically, it will show the Victorian women's struggle for emancipation, even if it meant dying for it. Victorian women had to live under many societal constraints which kept them subservient and shackled to their relationships. When women struck out for independence and vitality, they were crushed by an unbending Victorian society whose mores did not encourage personal growth and transformation for women.
VICTORIAN WOMEN
Each of these novels portray a different facet of Victorian women, however, ultimately the females in these three works all suffer from the constraints of Victorian society, and each one struggles for emancipation and equality in her own way. Each woman lives outside the "norm" of Victorian society and works to become self-actualized long before it was a recognized or accepted concept.
In "Jude the Obscure," Arabella typifies what Victorian women were supposed to desire from their lives - a well-heeled man to take care of their every need and whim.
Arabella, however, felt that all these makeshifts were temporary: she had gained a husband; that was the thing -- a husband with a lot of earning power in him for buying her frocks and hats when he should begin to get frightened a bit, and stick to his trade, and throw aside those stupid books for practical undertakings (Hardy 57).
However, Sue does not abide by these beliefs, and so lives outside the norm with Jude out of wedlock, a shocking situation during Victorian...
Meanwhile, Melmotte introduces Marie into the matrimonial arena at an extravagant ball for which, in hope of favors that will come, he gains the patronage of several duchesses and other regal individuals. Marie, believed to be the heiress of millions, has many highly placed but poor young noblemen asking for her hand in marriage. She falls in love with Sir Felix Carbury, who is the most shady of them all.
Women's Isolation Despite representing half of the human population, until very recently women were not afforded the same rights and freedoms as men. Furthermore, in much of the world today women remain marginalized, disenfranchised, and disempowered, and even women in the United States continue to face undue discrimination, whether in the workplace, at home, or in popular culture. However, this should not be taken as a disregarding of the hard-fought accomplishments
(Boardman 100-101) There is a clear sense that men and male children in particular were considered precious, and in many ways comparatively much more precious than women and girl children but this is in part because of women as the position of wife was subservient to the position of mother in law. The assurance that one day the wife would hold the household power of the mother in-law was only
She begins to let her own creativity flow and through her art takes a closer view of her own father, who has controlled her since she was a young child. With her pen in hand, Edna realizes that she need not be caged in and just copy what she sees. Instead, she can draw freehand with her own interpretations. She starts to recognize the power that she has as
Spheres and Suffrage During the period of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, there were two spheres which separated men and women in society. This seems incongruous in our modern time where men and women interact freely and females have achieved positions of power in every branch of business, politics, and research. But, for women living in the 1800s and 1900s, they were limited in their potential by their
Setting of Two Turn of the Century Feminist Tales The use of irony in both tales Women today Women's Role in "The Yellow Wallpaper" and "A Story of an Hour" Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short tale "The Yellow Wallpaper" and Katherine Anne Porter's short story "A Story of an Hour" both depict the constrained lives of middle-class women. The protagonist of "The Yellow Wallpaper" is driven mad when she is refused her books and
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