Feminism in Coleridges Christabel

Feminism in Coleridges Christabel

Christabel is a dark poem which tells the story of a baron, his daughter, and a seductress known as Geraldine. Christabel has usually been associated and interpreted according to its supernatural and mystical qualities. However, there are also aspects of the story that allow the possibility of analyzing Christabel according to its depiction of gender roles and culture. This theory is important to "Christabel" because it is a useful tool in analyzing the interaction between men and women, as well as women and their surrounding culture.

These stereotypical gender roles are illustrated in part I of "Christabel." Sir Leoline is in a position of authority and plays the role of the patriarch. The problem with his role is that he is very passive as a leader. He is ill and asleep when Geraldine first enters the castle. This scene proves to be very important in the poem.

All our household are at rest, the hall is silent as the

cell; Sir Leoline is weak in health, And may not

awaketh be, But we will move as if in stealth.

(Coleridge 116-120)

At this point in the text, Sir Leoline is defined as the Self. He is a

male in power, and this is often how the Self is defined in terms of feminist thought. Similarly, Geraldine is playing the subordinate role of the Other. She is female and lacks the power that the Self possesses. This fits with the feminist definition of the Other. The problem regarding gender roles in the text is that from this point, these roles become convoluted.

As Geraldine is able to grasp more and more power away from the baron, the roles become harder to define. He starts to lose his control, and with it his confidence. Now, ...

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...astity and beauty. She seems to be obedient and dependent on her father for protection. Geraldine is an outsider to the natural order of things who, because of her outcast status, does not follow the laws and ways of that society; this gives her a certain power that Christabel does not understand.

The presence of a woman who does not follow the rules of society is a threat to the control of other women. Wollstonecraft herself was a threat to her male-dominated society, requesting that women be freed from their dependence on men. In "Christabel", this powerful threat is made evil and untamable, spreading from one woman to the other, just as Wollstonecraft hoped her fervor and quest for equality would spread to other women. Christabel brings forth the notion that when men do not keep a close watch on their women, they create a risk of losing their power.