Portrayal of Women

Women characters throughout the texts studied in this course have either been exposed to those in control due their frailty, or characterized as vixens if they hold some sort of control over other characters. The gothic precept of suspense as a result of loss of control or unknown fate is seen through the portrayal of women characters, and their position as sympathetic characters or villains. There is some fear felt by the reader for the poor innocent girl fleeing to protect her chastity as well as for the character caught in the snares of an enchantress. This fear and suspense is due to loss or control of power. Females are described as either being disadvantaged by their gender and under the rule of man or taking advantage of their gender and being outside the realm of his control as something to be feared. The way in which the authors of the texts studied in this course describe women characterizes them as either the sympathetic female or the seductress and both can be used as mechanisms for terror or suspense.

            Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto describes its female characters in terms of chaste maidens and arranges for them to be objects of obsession from the males in control. The story is of course guided or essentially started because of Manfred’s obsession with Isabella after his son’s death. Manfred demands Isabella marry him and uses his position of power to assert his dominance. Isabella is characterized by her purity for her rejection of Manfred, “see heaven itself declares against your impious intentions!”(24). It is established that Isabella is at a loss and under the rule of not only tyrannical Manfred, but God as well.  The concept of control as a tool for suspense is introduced with Conrad’s death. As Guernica proposes divinity intercedes within the novel and there is a theme of fatalism because man can’t overcome God. As an offshoot of this theme the women can’t overcome the male characters and must suffer along with them as possessions, which is seen through the scene with Manfred and Isabella. Man as a whole is not the director of his own fate, but women find their place not only under Divinity’s rule but their male counterparts. Isabella calls to God, which is the only higher power than Manfred. Her inability to control her fate causes the motion of the story as well as the suspense of the novel. Matilda, Isabella, and Hippolita acknowledge and accept their status below God and man. Matilda speaks of her “dreadful obedience” to her father. She will obey her father regardless of whether his actions deserve respect because it is her position as his daughter to do so. In the same way Hippolita will accept her fate as his wife.

            The inability for women to control their own fate has cultural and societal connections to the time at which the writings studied in this course were produced. As shown through the Presentation of Women and the Law, women were in reality not on equal terms with man and seen as the weaker sex. This goes a long way to interpret why women were either portrayed as frail in the texts or as in control and therefore dangerous. It would not have been typical for women to govern their own fate, and therefore women would be stepping outside the guidelines of society to out smart a man. The women who are portrayed as powerful within the studied texts are generally using their femininity and attractive qualities to distract the male characters. While they may be outsmarting their male counterparts they are usually doing it not because of their own ingenuity but because of their gender.

            In direct contrast to the representation of women by Walpole is Sir Walter Scott’s Glenfinlas. The way in which women have the ability to be successful seductresses is through their presumed innocence due to their gender. There is a sort of bait and switch aspect; women were seen as chaste and innocent so in poems such as this there is a shock that comes with the realization that the women are in fact using the position their gender affords them to their advantage. This is in direct contrast to Hippolita as Rose Thassally points out. Hippolita is taken advantage of because of her sex. She gives up everything she has for the benefit of her husband, Manfred. In Glenfinlas The Lady of the Wood uses her femininity to her advantage and controls whom she loves or more accurately whom she destroys. She doesn’t fall in love because by taking advantage of her gender she is setting herself apart from the frail women who chase after love.

            In Keats’ Lamia, the female character is sympathetic because she is under the control of a male figure, Apollonius, and love itself. Lamia employs her advantage as a woman to chase after love. She owes her release from captivity from the form of a serpent to Hermes who is enamored by a woman, which highlights the theme of passionate love. This love consumes Lamia and it is because of this that she is seen in a sympathetic light. She doesn’t control her own fate because she is subjected to the control of Apollonius, her serpent form, and the love she desires with Lycius. The opening of the poem establishes that Lamia is fated for unhappiness, which lends to her being a sympathetic character. Keats describes the setting with “rushes green, and brakes, and cowslip’d lawns” (6-7). “The cowslips represent the deities’ rejection from Fairyland and anticipate the loss of happiness and life that Lamia will eventually face because of Apollonius’s interference” (Parry 179). She is at first described as Hermes’ prey: “Her throat was serpent, but the words she spake Came, as through bubbling honey, for Love’s sake, And thus; while Hermes on his pinions lay, Like a stood’d falcon ere he takes his prey.” Lamia is beautiful, and this beauty makes her easy to spot. She is at once identified as prey to a male and the idea is established that she is a sympathetic character unable to control her fate. As Alanna points out, Lamia is a dangerous beauty that temps through her form. Sympathy, however, can be felt for her as she isn’t in control of her own future and has to await with anxiety the appearance of Apollonius to return her to misery in her serpent form. John Waterhouse’s painting of Lamia depicts her in a sympathetic light:

She looks as though she is at the disposal of the male figure and almost as if she is pleading. This coincides with the sympathetic read of her character and the idea that she is not in control of her own fate.

           

The suspense or fear felt in this poem is from the unknown of Lamia’s position. She is at first a serpent, which gives the image of deception. “She seem’d, at once, some penanced lady elf, Some demon’s mistress, or the demon’s self”(56). It is this inability to tell whether Lamia is the seductress (the demon’s mistress) or the frail woman (some penanced lady elf) who was taken advantage of for her frailty that drives the suspense aspect within the poem. However, after the realization that Lamia is merely being driven by passionate love while being held back by her inability to control her form one can see her as a sympathetic female.

            Coleridge’s Christabel presents the character of Geraldine as a damsel in distress. She is described as a “damsel bright, Dressed in a silken robe of white” (428). She takes advantage of her femininity as well as the sweet nature of Christabel to stay in her home with her. Unlike Lamia, Geraldine purposefully uses her femininity to her advantage as a mechanism to take control of her situation for evil purposes, which characterizes her as a seductress. Lamia can be seen as a sympathetic character because she deceives for the purposes of love that she is unable to obtain due to her circumstances. Geraldine is the driving force for the suspense of the poem as a symbol of unknown evil. Geraldine taking advantage of her femininity can be shown in the lines:  “And Geraldine in maiden wise Casting down her large bright eyes, With blushing cheek and courtesy fine She turned from her Sir Leoline” (575-578). Geraldine seduces Sir Leoline and he is unable to see when her eyes turn to that of a serpent, he only sees “eyes so innocent and blue” (614).

Another aspect of terror present in the poem is the idea that Christabel is innocent and has no control over Geraldine. This creates juxtaposition between the portrayal of the sympathetic female character and the evil female character. “The narrator clearly admires Christabel’s virtue and innocence, but at the same time, he constantly fears for her safety, as though virtue cannot protect the possessor from evil” (Berkoben 402). Geraldine describes her being found by Christabel: “And found’st a bright lady, surpassingly fair; And didst bring her home with thee in love and in charity” (276-277). Christabel is unaware that she brought home a woman that in the touch of her “bosom worketh a spell” (267). It is Christabel’s charitable nature that allowed her to trust Geraldine, but that nature could possibly be her undoing because it can’t protect her from the evil that Geraldine seems to embody.

            The seduction of man through a woman taking advantage of her feminity can also be seen in Keats’ La Belle Dame sans Merci. The beautiful woman depicted in the poem entraps a man through her beauty and leads him to her “elfin grot” where he dreams of men she has slain before him. Frank Dicksee’s painting portrays how ardently the man is enraptured with the woman. Her femininity is obvious with her bright colors and beautiful hair. The man seems to be under some sort of spell, and the woman is the one in control.

            The texts from this genre portray women as either being taken advantage of or taking advantage of a man. There isn’t an instance of equal footing for men and women; one always has more control than the other. This portrayal of women coincides with the idea of women during the time period that these authors were writing. Women weren’t equal with man and thus when a woman was in power as depicted in the texts, she is generally using her gender and her attractive qualities to take control. This idea was also used as a mechanism of gothic literature to create suspense and tension within the texts.

Works Cited

Parry, Susan. "Keats's Lamia." The Explicator 59.4 (2001): 178-9. ProQuest. Web. 8 May 2013.

Berkoben, L. D. "Christabel: A Variety of Evil Experience." Modern language quarterly (Seattle). 25.4 n. page. Web. 8 May. 2013. <http://libproxy.library.unt.edu:6224/content/25/4/400.short>.

http://www.artrenewal.org/artwork/029/29/228/la_belle_dame_sans_merci-large.jpg

http://preraphaelitesisterhood.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/lamia.jpg

The Broadview Anthology of British Literature: Volume 4: The Age of Romanticism. 4th ed. London: Broadview Press, 2010. Print

Walpole, Horace. The Castle of Otranto. New York: Penguin Books, 2001. Print.

(Presentation notes) Women and the Law; Addressing Inequality, Imprisonment and Madness

Women were viewed by society to be the weaker sex, and faced unequal treatment regarding rights by law, job opportunities, and education. Men had the ability to sue their wives for adultery, gain full custody of children in the case of divorce, as well as a full range of educational and legal resources at their disposal. Women on the other hand were unable to sue their husbands (unless attempting to prove physical danger - which was RARELY proven), were seen as the property of their husbands (along with any assets they owned prior), and faced a lack of educational resources and occupational options.

Mary Wollstonecraft is seen by many critics to be the ‘Mother of Feminism’, drawing from many of her own life experiences to form the basis of many of her feminist and ‘radical’ writings. Mary advocated for the rigorous education of young girls into their adulthood, something that was lacking in her time. She also rejected the idea that women were inherently weaker or less capable than men, and strongly fought against the subjugation of women, both in marriage and society. Coming from a family composed of a violent father and a submissive mother, she strove to avoid facing the same ills, but like many others before her- also faced her own demons when it came to her personal life. Pregnant and unmarried (Mary Shelley is the wonderful result of this pregnancy) Mary Wollstonecraft surrounded herself with friends who strongly supported her publications as a means of supporting herself independently, and only later met someone with whom she found herself an equal. 

“The Wrongs of Woman, or Maria”- the asylum setting parallels the lack of physical and mental freedoms that women experienced in society (i.e. the protagonist is imprisoned by her husband unjustly)

“Was not the world a vast prison, and women born slaves?” ( pg. 167)

Mary felt that by denying women serious, rational pursuits, society relegated them to a lifetime of vanity and weakness/inequality. She uses fiction to address feminist ideas of education and morality, medical theories of the mind, and gender differences in a way that is approachable and instructive to the women readership. This novel also helped to pioneer the celebration of female sexuality and cross-class identification between women. 

The heroine’s inability to relinquish her romantic fantasies of life and character reveals women’s collusion in their oppression through false and damaging ‘sentimentalism’. The novel criticizes the patriarchal institution of marriage and the laws that protect it by aligning women with the insane: a minority to be championed in Romantic society. 

This representation reflects a Societal view rather than an Individual view; addressed the wrongs done to women (repression), and by women (sentimentalism).

'Mary Wollstonecraft' by John Opie

 'A Rake's Progress' by William Hogarth (Bedlam depiction)

 'Mary Wollstonecraft' by John Opie

'The Nightmare' by Henry Fuseli

WORKS CITED:

Black, Joseph, ed. The Broadview Anthology of British Literature- The Age of Romanticism. 2nd ed. Vol. 4. Peterborough, Ont.: Broadview Pr, 2010. Print.

Blake, William. "Drawings for Mary Wollstonecraft's "Original Stories from Real Life"" (c. 1791): Electronic Edition. Library of Congress, n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2013.

"Mary Wollstonecraft." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 04 July 2013. Web. 04 Apr. 2013.

Wollstonecraft, Mary. Mary, A Fiction and The Wrongs of Woman, or Maria. Ed. Michelle Faubert. Peterborough, Ont.: Broadview Pr, 2012. Print.

Negative View of Women in Clare's Don Juan

What I found particularly interesting in John Clare's Don Juan A Poem is the negative view of women throughout the work. In lines 15-16, Clare writes "Wherever mischief is til womans brewing Created from manself--to be mans ruin." Without knowing his past or relationship history, I would guess that he had been heartbroken by a woman or have ill will toward women.
During this time period I know it was common to view women as closer to nature and "hysterical." I also know that women were blamed for the fall of man because Eve ate the apple in the biblical story of how mankind succumbed to sin. I wonder if Clare felt that women were to blame for his misery and thus is "mischief" is about, it is most defintely "womans brewing."(line 16)
This also makes me wonder if Clare viewed woman as wholly more sinful than men, and if so, who does he blame his own sin on? Does he believe that his sin is a result of something that a woman did to him?

"La Belle Dame sans Merci"

I found it interesting, and a little confusing, that "La Belle Dame sans Merci" means "The Beautiful Lady without Pity" since in stanzas 5, 7 and 9 she appeared to be sweet, caring, and nurturing to the knight; almost as if she was taking care of him by providing him with food, a sense of divine purity, love and company.

Then once she puts the knight to sleep, he has this very distressing dream of death befalling kings, princes and warriors - which is why, in the last stanza, he conveys this being his reason for staying where he is. Personally, stanzas 9-12 make it seem that the knight was able to dream because of the faery-like lady - a warning in the form of his dream - so if the lady is to be without pity, why does it appear as if she is warning the knight of the death that could come? Or was she simply showing the knight the sureness of his future, and that there was no escaping it, no matter how long he stayed on that cold hill side?

To further my interest and confusion of her being known as  "The Beautiful Lady without Pity;" why is it that she was crying, and sincerely portraying the emotion of sorrow in stanza 8 if she truly has no pity? In my opinion, those with no pity would not shed a tear in such situations, or even have a remorseful thought on the matter.

The Innocent and The Temptress

Cristabel is initially described as a helpless, innocent, girl who needs a man's protection and guidance.  There is no such pretence in Lamia.  She is automatically described as the seductress that even Nymphs and Satyrs cannot resist.  Hermes swears his allegiance to her and is bound to her.  She and Geraldine are in a way sisters.  They both have an unnatural and supernatural command over men. I think Lamia's power is greater than Geraldine's because mythical creatures and Gods are held to a higher standard than a mere mortal. The fact that Lamia can bewitch them so easily is proof of her greater power.

Difference in Lamia

-->

Keats Lamia is described as something beautiful that has turned into something dark, sinister and miserable, but still holds a bit of the former beauty. Like line 55 and 56 where is says she seemed “some penanced lady elf, some demon’s mistress”. This is different from Geraldine because Geraldine has two looks. She can look like a damsel or the serpent. There is no in between. She had shrunken serpent’s eyes when not the damsel, that were dull and full of malice and dread. Keats description of Lamia makes me feel sad about the tragic beauty the being has that makes them so good at tricking their targets. While Coleridge’s description of the serpent woman make me feel distrustful of her and wary. Something about her seems off and the hissing does not help. What stands out about the descriptions is the different feel you get from reading them. They impress upon me different warnings, Keats dangerous beauty while Coleridge trickery and  not always believing what you see and hear.

Suggested horror vs. the horror in the details.

I found the differences between the two transformation scenes quite interesting. In Christabel, Coleridge does not describe what is under Geraldine’s robe. Lines 252-254 say, “Behold! Her bosom, and half her side – A sight to dream of, not to tell! O shield her! shield sweet Christabel.” It is as if the horror underneath those robes is too much to bear for Christabel, so the reader is put into that same position of turning away from it. Coleridge leaves it to the reader to imagine what horrifying things are under that robe. 

In contrast, Keats description of Lamia is very detailed with multiple colors, stripes, spots and peacock eyes. For this reason, Lamia doesn’t come across as scary as Geraldine does. With Geraldine, there is a fear of the unknown, but with Lamia, especially with the description of lines 47-67, there is no fear because you are too busy trying to imagine what this creature with a snake’s head, but a woman’s mouth looks like. There is more revulsion than fear. 

That continues when you get to witness the transformation of Lamia in lines 146-170. You would think the transformation of a serpent-like creature into a woman would be a magical experience, but Keats is very specific about what goes on. It’s almost like a chemical reaction with the way she foams at the mouth and the release of phosphorus and sparks. Keats uses volcanic imagery so there is this feeling of burning away her old form to create the new one. Before this, Lamia seems a bit devious because of the way she bargains with Hermes to get herself turned into a woman, but I found myself more sympathetic towards her after this description of her painful transformation.

Difference in Descriptions

Keats describes Lamia with contradictions. She is not just one color but variations of colors. She has characteristics of a zebra but also that of a leopard. The moons are dissolv’d or shine bright. In line 53 lustres contradicts the connotation given in the word gloomier. In lines 55 and 56 she is a lady elf, as wells as a demon’s mistress or a demon’s self. Keats description prepares for the idea that Lamia is not what she seems and although she appears in a certain state and manner it is a deception. The description makes the reader wary of this deception. Coleridge, however, describes Geraldine in correlating terms. She is a damsel bright in white silken robes. She is stately and glitters with gems in her hair. Geraldine is surprising because of her exceeding beauty. In lines 146-170 Lamia is somewhat exposed. She is described in negative words that bring about the typical image of a serpent. The mixed colors and animal images from before are replaced here with the picture of pain scarlet, yellow, and hot. 

Obsessions and Crazy People

“The Brownie of the Black Haggs” is one of the most interesting stories I’ve ever read, by far. Any time there is some true insanity and mental instability in a story, I get intrigued. Especially interesting is how much more perturbed Lady Wheelhope seems thanks to the contrast in her surrounding characters. She’s the only insane one in a relatively large cast of perfectly normal, if not plain people. What most interested me, though, is the specific way that Lady Wheelhope’s insanity manifests itself. She’s not Ophelia walking around speaking nonsense, or Lady Macbeth being haunted by hallucinations. She is obsessed, fully consumed by an emotion. It really reminds me of Wuthering Heights, which deals with a similar obsessive madness. I won’t spoil the story, but trust me, it’s...well, I’ll call it a 19^th century, high-class, English Jerry Springer.

The symbol of the thorn

That Wordsworth's poem is about more than a simple thorn on a simple hill is easily enough discerned in the text. The tale of Martha Ray and her woeful cries on the hill that may hold the body of her infant child is one of betrayal, anguish, and love lost. It is a tale of a thorn. The thorn becomes a symbol for her whole ordeal. It is the prick of her lovers betrayal.  It is the stab of finding herself alone and with child. The thorn, overgrown, is the child she may have killed. Just as the story of betrayal is an old tale, so is the thorn itself. This is not the thorn of a rose, balanced with the sweet smell of the flower.  This is the thorn of bitter anguish, without redeeming grace. The scarlet of Martha's cloak echoes the blood this thorn draws.  Just as the thorn is bound with moss to the hill, so is Martha bound to the hill. This is something that transcends the mortal realm. The hill itself has become a symbol, something wholly "other". The hill itself rebuffed the townspeople's intent to find the bones of the infant, it rebuffed mortal intrusion into its otherworldly realm. We can but look upon the hill, we can but mark this sad tale, unable to change it. We are observers, who may, if we are fortunate, glean some lesson from the hill, the moss, the thorn, the pond, and the woman. While Martha may have once been mortal, she is now wholly symbol, undying, unchanging, like the hill itself. And the thorn, which never lives, yet never really dies, like her pain, and the death of her child.

Portraying Women: Otranto vs Glenfinlas

In the tale of Glenfinlas by Sir Walter Scott, two men are seduced by a women in green who bears a striking resemblance to the mythological seductress archetype of the "otherworldly" women. This is in clear contrast to the women of The Castle of Otranto who are forced to manipulating events or quietly accepting their fate. The fact that The Lady of the Wood is in charge of her femininity, in that she is complete control of who she loves and is accountable to no one but herself for her actions. Contrasting this is Hippolita who gives up everything of herself for her husband who leaves for a younger woman. These women portray to opposite but important sides of how women were thought of by society, where as Hippolita portrays self sacrifice for the so-called good of her family the Lady of the Wood is purely unchecked desire with no thought or caring beyond what she wants.

Women and Power

As SMJ points out, in “The Castle of Otranto” women have a subservient role. Isabella, Matilda, and Hippolita endeavor at all times to do what is right by God and their male authorities. A key component of the plot is that Isabella acts in a manner that seems rebellious to Manfred by running from him. She, though, is serving a higher authority, which is Providence, and protecting her innocence.

All three women find themselves at one point torn between what the male authorities ask of them and what is right. Manfred and Frederic both have moments where their priority is to obtain a young woman, and they use their power to try to do so. It is fitting then that Theodore keeps his passion in check, and although seemingly of lowly status he treats the female characters with the most respect.

Walpole seems to be making a political statement and commenting on those in power following their misguided whims as opposed to what is right. Manfred and Frederic both act on their passions without regard for those involved. Theodore, however, can’t act on his love for Matilda and is not in the place to force her into marriage as Manfred and Frederic have the power to do with whomever they desire. Perhaps Walpole is using the female characters as a vehicle to portray the corruption caused by excessive use of power?

Fatalism in The Castle of Otranto

The "The Castle of Otranto" by Horace Walpole revolves around fatalism such as the prophecy of the ruling families demise. Fatalism or determinalism tends to have a dark effect since as human beings we like to believe we have a will that is free. The events in the story are the mechanical workings of the higher power that operates the universe rightfully called both God and Nature. Superstitious elements enter into the story when God is given the characteristics of humanity; the will of God is quite human insofar as it concerns the morality of the human characters (punishment). Within the story, God is the effective cause of everything and even seems to be acting transiently or with abrupt and impulsive actions such is the case with the moaning statue as a reaction. By giving God human affections, Walpole creates a superstitious atmosphere, where we can and will be judged at any moment by an all powerful and vengeful God. The fatalism present within the story operates in a way that is contrary with our logic on some regards; however, the adaption of a higher power concerned with our actions conforms to our broken, egocentric logic. This I believe to be superstition.