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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.

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  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.

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