Dorcas Lester

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Is Dorcas Dene an accurate depiction of a Victorian woman? Dorcas Dene, born Dorcas Lester, is a character created by George R. Sims. Sims was born in1847 and died in 1922, but during his lifetime he wrote two volumes of short stories called Dorcas Dene, Detective: Her Adventures (Greene 110). These short stories were Sims's most important work and were published between 1897 and 1998 (Greene 110). The short story focused on for the purposes of this analysis is "The Haverstock Hill Murder", which was featured in Detection by Gaslight. To answer the question "Is Dorcas Dene an accurate depiction of a Victorian Woman?" I would have to say no, in fact, she's far from it. Dorcas Lester was an actress before meeting the man she was going …show more content…

However, they did sell to the common housewife and the market did focus on women because they would be stuck at home all day doing house work. Literature works for woman were centered around things, such as polishing silverware, being beautiful, arranging flowers, etc. Collected volumes would appear to be polished and beautiful and because the volumes arranged and preserved the beautiful, one might relate it to the beautification practices expected from a housewife (Rieger 238). Therefore, the literature that woman read would drive home what was expected of them and would repress their thinking further into believing they were inferior to the men. The short stories that were created with Dorcas's character was the opposite of what was commonly depicted of women however. The short stories of Dorcas Dene, Detective: Her Adventures, took an unconventional turn to where women stood compared to men and empowered women to be something more than just a housewife. Fiction often depicts real human characteristics and ideals. However, Dorcas's short stories didn't follow that route. The science of human behavior can be found in literature and shares the aspects of the lives of human beings because through literature, readers come to see the universals of human experience (Ryan 412). Fiction, in this view, provides accurate depictions or representations of mental characteristics (Ryan 412). While I can't say that the …show more content…

In the short story, Dorcas was called upon by Mr. Hannaford's mother to look further into the murder of Mrs. Hannaford. At this point in time, Mr. Hannaford had been found to be guilty by the police and the investigation has been closed. Mr. Hannaford had been sent to Broadmoor because of his mental breakdowns due to the circumstances. Therefore, Dorcas Dene was hired, after much persuasion by Mr. Hannaford's mother, to look further into Mrs. Hannaford's murder because she believed her son was innocent. Throughout the story, Dorcas disguises herself to track suspects and pick up on leads. Eventually, she finds evidence that connects a character named Flash George to the murder. Although, Dorcas doesn't believe that Flash George committed the murder. She finds that Flash George had recently come into wealth conveniently some time after the murder took place. This is because he has fell into the possession of bank notes that once belonged to Mrs. Hannaford's late first husband, Charles Drayson. Dorcas enlists the help of the narrator and Mr. Drayson's old "friend", James Holmes, to help her solve the ending of the case. The narrator and herself find that Mr. Drayson had kept bank notes hidden in a bear lamp within his home that nobody but himself knew about. Then, Mr. Holmes, Dorcas, and the narrator set up a

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