Great Expectations

Emily Augusta Patmore, née Andrews, was the inspiration for Coventry Patmore's iconic poem "The Angel in the House," both renowned and reviled for its depiction of the ideal Victorian woman. Some telling lines in the poem include "Man must be pleased; but him to please/Is woman's pleasure" and "she, too gentle even to force/His penitence by kind replies." Published in 1854, the poem paints a rosy picture of domestic Victorian life. It gained immense popularity in the years to follow, but became increasingly more controversial as western civilization uncertainly transitioned into an era of feminism and women's rights. Virginia Woolf, a 20th century English writer, notably mocked the poem by publishing her own work, a collection of essays entitled Killing the Angel in the House. Though the sentiments in the poem may be outdated now, it serves as a landmark, a reminder of how life was like for women during the Victorian era. Various other literary works published during the time also reflect similar themes, including Charles Dickens's bildungsroman Great Expectations, which charts the development of its main character but also follows women like Biddy and Estella, foils that seem like polar opposites at first but eventually both settle into their destined roles as domestic, inferior, Victorian women. Dickens's characterization of the alpha female Estella and the beta female Biddy in the novel Great Expectations reveals his misogyny and illustrates the Victorian theme that women are ultimately meant to be dominated.

When the characters are first introduced, Estella is depicted as Havisham's protégée — a beautiful but haughty girl who sadistically wields her power over men — while Biddy is portrayed as a poor, unkempt, obliging little...

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... as a compound of pride, avarice, brutality, and meanness" (513). Dickens tames Estella by pairing her with Drummle, someone who possesses Estella's negative traits, "pride," and "meanness," to a much higher extent. Though Estella possesses the qualities of an alpha female, she is still second to Drummle, the male. Drummle "uses [her] with great cruelty," and the word "uses" connotes that Estella is finally inferior, like she is now an object at Drummle's disposal rather than an independent person. Like mother, like daughter: Estella's "taming" also parallels Molly's. Molly, once wild and free, was tamed by Jaggers to become more submissive. Dickens' "taming" exemplifies that he does not believe that women can ever be independent. Though they may start out as such, they always come back to fulfilling their gender roles. As Dickens sees it, it is inevitable destiny.