Skip to main content

Victorian Era "Feminism" - the façade of female independence

 I'm assuming that I'm not alone when I say that, thus far, Sally Seton is my favorite character in Mrs. Dalloway. Her rebellious attitude mixed with her confidence and progressive ideas makes her by far the most captivating character in the novel. It was so refreshing to see a female character in Victorian-era British high society pushing traditional gender roles. Then, we learn from Peter that Sally "married a rich man and lived in a large house near Manchester" (Woolf 70). At first, this felt like a betrayal. How could Sally, the one who I adored for her nonconformity, settle into such a supremely conformist livelihood? However, I soon realized that she probably didn't really have a choice.

First, a quick history lesson. The Victorian era was a period in which femininity was emphasized. The ideology of separate spheres for men and women (women do "domestic" work and men engage in the "rougher" public sphere) really emerged, so the enforcement of traditional gender roles was pretty much at an all-time high. There was no space in the "respectable" circles of society - that the entire cast of Mrs. Dalloway seems to be a part of - for independent women. We catch a glimpse of this when Peter talks about Clarissa, too. Her identity has been shaped around the role that society expects her to play, but Peter remarks that she is actually quite intelligent and has dumbed herself down to fit a role. We can assume that Sally faced a somewhat similar circumstance, and chose security over continuing to swim fruitlessly against the current.

It's depressing to think about how much female ability and potential has been (and continues to be) wasted by sexist societal conventions. Just imagine if Clarissa and Sally had been encouraged to use their brains instead of hiding them behind polite smiles. I'd much rather have one of them working at court than airheaded Hugh Whitbread.

Comments

  1. Lucas Wood20 September 2020 at 18:55

    I can't help, but draw comparisons between this and the father knows best episode we watched in Mr. Leff's class. While society found rebelliousness from women endearing and entertaining in youth, at a certain point they were expected to get serious and conform to gender roles.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mitchell21 September 2020 at 10:50

    The Sally-Clarissa relationship is especially poignant to contemplate in the era of marriage equality. I often feel like I need to strongly drive home how thoroughly inconceivable the idea of *marrying* Sally Seton would have been to an 18-year-old Clarissa Parry. The idea of a sustained romantic relationship ("love") with Sally itself, apart from marriage, would have been far outside the realm of anything that Victorian society would have enabled Clarissa to contemplate. Instead, she views marriage to a man as an inevitability, with the only variable being her choice of a partner. And as we've observed, her choice has little to nothing to do with romantic feelings, attraction, affection. There's something very sad about the idea that this fleeting, magical, surprising kiss with Sally remains the "most exquisite moment of her life" this many years later. Marriage for Clarissa is not about "exquisite moments," and yet when she tries to ponder whether she's ever experienced "love," it's the first thing her mind goes to.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous5 February 2022 at 01:04

    Sands Casino | California Casino in Eastside | USA
    Located just minutes from the Fremont Street Experience, Sands Casino offers the finest casino action in 샌즈 카지노 the Fremont Street Experience. With over 2,500 gaming machines

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Will the Party lose steam?

In terms of optimistic book passages, I can't say this one is at the top of my list. Basically what we learned from chapters III-V of Part Three is that the Party will rule the world for all of eternity, and there is no situation in which they will not succeed. Winston protests when O'Brien tells him this, arguing that the Party will self-destruct at some point, or at least some spiritual force in the universe will prevent the eternal rule of the Party. However, O'Brien just mocks Winston. O'Brien makes a very convincing case for the Party, but there is one potential loophole that could topple the Party - decreasing devotion to the cause.  In revolutions, the most passionate generation is the one that actually revolts (obviously). In 1984 , that is the group that is currently running the Party. However, as authoritarian regimes pass down through the generations, this revolutionary fervor dies down, and those in power either loosen their grip enough to destabilize themse...
11 comments
Read more

Isolating the variable: setting in The Plague

Today in class, we talked a lot about how Camus establishes the setting for The Plague . To be honest, a lot of the first section of this book blended together for me - the middle-class French men with unmemorable names, the rats (and then humans) gruesomely dying in the streets, the conversations among medical professionals - many of the finer details are difficult for me to recall. However, the description of Oran stuck with me. The narrator describes one of the blandest and ugliest towns I have ever imagined, with not very nice humans living in it.  At first, I thought it was strange that Camus had selected such a boring setting for his book. Then I realized how intentional it was, and how important. Camus is using the story of the plague as a medium through which to analyze fascism and the Nazis. That is his primary focus, and in order to fully focus on the plague he needs to eliminate all distractions (e.g. a noteworthy setting). He is isolating the variable by placing it in a...
9 comments
Read more

Billy's psychological baggage

Arguably the most defining line of Slaughterhouse-Five is "so it goes". Billy Pilgrim uses this phrase freely throughout the novel, usually in the context of something which would normally be seen as tragic or sickening. The Tralfamadorians use it to remind themselves that time isn't linear, so they shouldn't feel sad or upset when bad things happen. However, Billy tends to use "so it goes" more dismissively, using it to push his problems and traumatic experiences aside. This toxic adaptation of Tralfamadorian culture hurts Billy, as it prevents him from reflecting on and working out his wartime trauma.  From the beginning of the book, it's pretty clear that Billy has some level of psychological damage from the war. He shows recurring symptoms of PTSD, and his uncontrollable time travel could easily be interpreted as traumatic flashbacks. Every time Billy is haunted by his memories of the war, he pushes them away by simply stating, "so it goes...
9 comments
Read more