How Does Vivie Break Gender

Similar to Clara, I am going to talk about Vivie breaking stereotypes. However, I want to specifically talk about Vivie breaking Victorian gender-conventions. I want to show that Vivie, while she certainly makes me mad with her lack of empathy, is an empowered woman.

The first piece of evidence I see for Vivie breaker gender conventions is when she shakes the hand of George Crofts. He says, after shaking her hand, that “She has a powerful fist” (Shaw 1789). Here, Crofts shows that he expects the handshake of a “lady” to be soft; yet is is taken aback when Vivie gives a strong handshake. This, according to Victorian (and even modern) gender conventions, is masculine. Vivie, then, breaks the gender convention by stepping outside what she is

“supposed to do.”

Another reason why Vivie breaks gender conventions is because she is independent. A great example of Vivie showing her independence is when she refuses a gender-specific kindness from Praed. He observes that her chair is hard, and he offers to switch chairs because, according to Praed, “I like hard chairs” (Shaw 1784). However, she abruptly replies “So do I. Sit down, Mr Praed” (Shaw 1784). I think this shows the independence of Vivie well. She does not need a man to facilitate her life. She does fine by herself, as we can see with her great education (i.e. her education, wittiness, and intelligence, are other related reasons why she breaks Victorian gender-stereotypes).

Essentially, I think it is quite obvious that Vivie breaks Victorian gender-stereotypes. This is perfect, though, because at the time of this play, the Era was dying. Women would slowly start gaining civil liberties through social battles. Perhaps Vivie foreshadowed women in the 20th century-- this is not to say that all women were able to enjoy civil liberties in the 20th century: that is, unfortunately, not the case.