Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market” and Anne Bronte’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall serves to demonstrates the importance of self-effacement and self-sacrifice in Victorian England. The two main protagonist in both texts, Lizzie and Helen, self-efface themselves to be virtuous and to be a proper woman in victorian society. Lizzie effaces herself in “Goblin Market” to remain a pure woman and Helen efface herself to be the proper mother and wife to her small family. Through this self-effacement the women have become virtuous enough to attempt to sacrifice themselves to redeem their loved ones. The only issue to this self-sacrifice is it can cause much unhappiness if the fallen cannot be redeemed due to being unwilling to repent for one’s sins. …show more content…
In Victorian England only the people that are already practiced in the art of self-effacement are the most virtuous which allows them to perform self-sacrifice for a fallen loved one. To start off, one needs to understand the definitions of self-effacement and self-sacrifice. To begin, it is important to define self-effacement in order to analyze its importance in Victorian literature.A reliable definition for self-effacement is as follows: “The action or state of keeping oneself or one's behaviour inconspicuous or in the background, esp. in order to avoid claiming attention or attracting praise” (OED Online). In both of the texts the best characters are the ones who self-efface. Lizzie and Helen are the two good protagonists that both share the Victorian ideal of self-effacement. Lizzie from Rossetti’s “Goblin Market” effaces herself to protect herself from the dangers of the world. In this view if one does not view dangerous situation one will be protected from the potential harm. Helen from Bronte’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall effaces herself to preform as a proper Victorian wife, woman and mother. Therefore, self-effacement was an important skill to the virtue of Victorian women. Furthermore, self-sacrifice needs to be defined in the context of Victorian England.
Self-sacrifice can be, and had been, defined as: “Sacrifice of oneself or one's life; the giving up of one's life, interests, happiness, etc., in order to help others or to advance a cause” (OED Online). Self-sacrifice is a theme in both “Goblin Market” and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. The two protagonist that both practiced self-effacement are also the characters that sacrifice themselves for the other characters in their respective texts. In “Goblin Market” Lizzie ends her self-effacement to sacrifice herself for her sister. She no longer hid herself from the goblins and faced their attack to help redeem her sister. In The Tenant of Wildfell Hall Helen’s self-sacrifice can be seen as a part of her self-effacement. To care for her husband and child she sacrifices her happiness. Therefore, self-sacrifice is apparent and preformed in different ways in the two …show more content…
texts. Moreover, self-effacement in “Goblin Market” is done to stick to the Victorian morals. To start off, to avoid becoming a fallen woman Lizzie effaces herself. When Lizzie and Laura first begin to hear the Goblin calls they have vey different reactions to the calls: ‘O! cried Lizzie, Laura, Laura, You should not peep at goblin men.’ Lizzie covered up her eyesCovered close lest they should look. (Rossetti 48-51) Temptation is very easy to come across in Victorian England. It was socially acceptable for men sleep with as man women as they pleased. Women, however, were seen as fallen if they were to sleep with a man outside of and before marriage. to remain pure Lizzie performs self-effacement to not be seen or be seen by the Goblin men. In this poem dealing with the goblin men for their fruit is a metaphor for women sleeping with men before marriage. Therefore, to remain in the pure in Victorian society Lizzie effaces herself to not see or be seen by the Goblin men. In addition, Rossetti uses dress to suggest self-effacement. Another stark contrast between the two sisters is how they choose to dress, “Lizzie most placid in her look,/ Laura most like a leaping flame” (Rossetti 217-218). It is clear that compared to Laura, Lizzie has dressed in a way to dissolve into the background. Flames are bright and flicker, grabbing the attention of all theses around it. Dressing in a placid look is pleasing but, for the most part, does not attract the attention from those around her, especially when her sister is dressed in an attention grabbing way. It was important to dress modestly in Victorian England as to not attract unwanted male attention. Dressing like Laura could suggest that a woman would have no trouble in offering herself to male pleasure for a fee. Therefore, Lizzie dressing placidly is a way in which she effaces herself to protect against the potential dangers of Victorian life. To continue, self-sacrifice in Rossetti’s “Goblin Market” is done in a way that encourages religious redemption. To begin, Laura take the steps in repentance which allows her to be redeemed by her Christlike sister. It is noted that one must suffer to be worthy of redemption, “The body, however, must first undergo a process of chastening and cleansing to make it capable of such union” (Hill 465). Hill correctly interprets the process that Laura undertakes after her poor decision to partake in the feast of the Goblin fruit. Lizzie loses all joy and fire she once held in great amounts while she waited for redemption. It was not until Laura was near death from her suffering that Lizzie decided it was time for her to act. Therefore, one can only be saved in Victorian England if one truly repents and suffers from their their sins. Furthermore, Lizzie takes on a Christlike persona when sacrificing herself for her sister. It is made clear to Rossetti’s readers that Lizzie is Christlike persona is more than her act of sacrifice, “like Christ, she saves both be her self-sacrifice and by her example” (Mermin 112). The way Mermain and many others interpret Lizzie’s sacrifice is in a sort of Christ Eucharist way. Lizzie first enters the Goblin market alone and must face their beating alone. The beating Lizzie endures can be read a similar to the beating Jesus received while caring his cross. Once the beating has finished and Lizzie has the bitter juices of the Goblin fruit on her body she offers her body and the juices to her sister. Offering her body and the juices to Laura is a redemption for Laura. By consuming the juices on Lizzie’s body she is being redeemed in the way all Christians are redeemed when they eat the body and blood of Christ. Therefore, Lizzie’s virtue was so strong she was able to make her self-sacrifice appear as if it was a religious sacrifice for one’s sister. Moreover, the idea of redeeming a fallen woman through self-sacrifice or any other means may have been considered shocking in Victorian England.
Traditionally fallen women were not depicted as redeemable, “The most radical suggestion Rossetti’s poem makes is that Laura (or other fallen women) might be completely redeemable” (Rappoport 868). While for the most part Rappoport is correct that the reception of a fallen woman was surprising religions was especially important in Victorian England. Prostitutes were considered less than dirt in Victorian England. It was of the upmost importance that a woman should remain virtuous throughout life and never lower herself to having sex out of or before marriage. However, religion was very important in Victorian England. It was important that everyone attend church on a regular basis and hold themselves to the believed proper Christian standard. If a fallen woman was to suffer enough and realize the error of her ways it should then be possible for redemption. Therefore, self-sacrifice for one who deserves it was not necessarily radical in Victorian England due to strong presence of the redeeming aspects presented in the
church. Furthermore, self-effacement in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is done to conform to the virtuous a woman ought to have in Victorian England. To start off, Helen performs self-effacement to become the perfect wife and mother for Arthur Senior and Arthur Junior. It is widely known that a wife must make sacrifice to perform her duties properly, “Helen has embraced the nineteenth-century ideal wherein the wife takes on the responsibilities for running a household and nurturing others—the children, the poor, the husband—rather than herself” (Diederich 27). Diederich is correct in noting the importance of being the perfect mother and wife in Victorian England. By taking on the responsibilities for her small family Helen effaces herself to get the job done properly. She forgets her needs for a time while caring for others. To nurture is to forget oneself in order help another. Therefore, to be a good mother and wife in Victorian England one had to efface themselves.
Ulrich shows a progression of change in the way that women’s sexuality was viewed in New England. First, she starts with a society that depended on “external rather internal controls” and where many New Englanders responded more to shame than guilt (Ulrich 96). The courts were used to punish sexual misconducts such as adultery with fines, whippings, or sometimes even death. There were certain behaviors that “respectable” women were expected to follow and “sexual misbehavior” resulted in a serious decline of a woman’s reputation from even just one neighbor calling her names such as whore or bawd (Ulrich 97-98). Because the love between a man and his wife was compared to the bond between Christ and the Church, female modesty was an important ideal. “Within marriage, sexual attraction promoted consort; outside marriage, it led to heinous sins” (Ulrich 108). This modesty was expected to be upheld even as death approached and is seen with the example of Mary Mansfield in 1681. Ulrich describes Mary to have five neck cloths tucked into her bosom and eleven caps covering her hair. “A good wife was to be physically attractive…but she was not to expose her beauty to every eye”. Hence, even as she died, Mary was required to conceal her sexuality and beauty. However, at the end of the seventeenth century and throughout the
In the eighteenth century, the process of choosing a husband and marrying was not always beneficial to the woman. A myriad of factors prevented women from marrying a man that she herself loved. Additionally, the men that women in the eighteenth century did end up with certainly had the potential to be abusive. The attitudes of Charlotte Lennox and Anna Williams toward women’s desire for male companionship, as well as the politics of sexuality, are very different. Although both Charlotte Lennox and Anna Williams express a desire for men in their poetry, Charlotte Lennox views the implications of this desire differently than Anna Williams.
The concerns of Victorian England about the status of faith and manhood have left a deep mark in the literature of the period. The Picture of Dorian Gray and Dracula are good examples of this concern. In both books there is an emphasis in the corruption of the body and of the soul as maladies that haunt the greatness of England. The aristocracy is pointed as the social strata from where this decadence will spread. These books show a population of youth that lacks the guidance of parents and are apparently deprived of fertility as a consequence of the disorientation that reigns among them. This corruption is shown in conjunction with a lack of religious faith and an excess of sin that will result in the transference of England to the forces of evil.
The idea of self-sacrifice seems relatively common-sense to most of us: we forgo some current potential good in order to maximise either the good of someone we care about, or our own later good. Richard Brandt (1972) includes altruistic desires in his definition of self-interest: "if I really desire the happiness of my daughter, or the discomfiture of my department chairman ... then getting that desire satisfied ... counts as being an enhancement of my utility or welfare ... to an extent corresponding to how strongly I want that outcome." The key point here is that by this definition of self-interest, an altruistic act must have a number of conditions in order to be classed as self-sacrifice. Ove...
Emily Brontë’s novel Wuthering Heights, set in the countryside of England’s 1700’s, features a character named Heathcliff, who is brought into the Earnshaw family as a young boy and quickly falls into a passionate, blinding romance with the Earnshaw’s daughter, Catherine. However, Heathcliff is soon crushed by this affection when his beloved chooses the company of another man rather than his own. For the remainder of the novel he exudes a harsh, aversive attitude that remains perduring until his demise that is induced by the loss of his soulmate, and in turn the bereavement of the person to whom the entirety of his being and his very own self were bound.
By the late eighteenth century, the ideological formulation of the newly reformed Nation was in transition as Americans attempted to maintain order and instill proper codes of conduct. In A Model of Christian Charity by John Winthrop we see carnal love represented as separate parts of a Puritan society, “love” being the only act capable of keeping the bonds of society rigid. This would not only be necessary for the survival of the Puritan people but as evident in “Money & Morals in America: A History” by author Patricia O’Toole, “If they [Puritans] succeeded in loving one another, Winthrop promised, God would bless them in all ways. If they turned their hearts away from heaven, they would perish.”(O’Toole 6). In later decades to come, The Coquette by Hannah Webster Forster dealt with the freedom and oppression unfettered passion and pleasure created for heiress Eliza Wharton who is ultimately left vulnerable and at the mercy of others because of of her radical choices. The central character Eliza Wharton, becomes a martyr of carnal sin and Winthrop's anti-thesis by willingly positioning herself as the juxtapose of the Puritan ideal whom regarded marriage and family life as the moral institution based upon set standards in which neither humility, poverty nor charity was as vital to either the performance or the perception of a holy life.
Christina Rossetti also provides an insightful look into the problem of the “fallen woman,” and of the perception of this kind of woman, in Goblin Market. Unlike Eliot, who uses realistic characterization and carefully detailed prose, Rossetti relates her views through fantastical characters and highly energized poetry. Although they work within different genres, however, Eliot and Rossetti both challenge the stereotypical understanding of what it means for a woman to be “innocent” or “experienced.” Through the contrasting natures of sisters Laura and Lizzie,...
One of the roles Eliza must play is the role of a proper young woman. She is expected to behave a certain way, treat men a certain way, and be married by a certain age to a Reverend. She feels that she must do this in order to please her family and friends, “To them, of course, I sacrificed my fancy in this affair; determined that my reason should concur with theirs; and on that to risk my future happiness”(5). She is sacrificing her happiness so; therefore, she is conforming to the proper role of being a young woman in society.
Astell, Mary. "A Serious Proposal To The Ladies." The Broadview Anthology of British Literature: The Restoration And The Eighteen Century. Joseph Black [et all]. Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview Press, 2006. Print. Pages 291-296.
The existence of a “dark double” abounds in many literary works of the Victorian Era. These
In the ordered English town of Highbury in Jane Austen’s Emma, people live a well constructed life, which shapes the views of social classes in their world. Despite the fact that Emma is a nineteenth-century novel, it represents a time when women depended on economic support from men. This method is observed through the main character Emma, who spends a great deal of her time agonizing about wealth and potential power. In the novel, readers are introduced to Emma as a young prosperous woman who manages her father’s house. Since she is younger than her two sisters, she is introduced to various female characters, which influence her social development and exemplify a range of gender roles available to her. In Emma’s household women are superior to men, as her father demonstrates feminine tendencies and the women are portrayed as masculine. This could be the reason Emma prides herself in being an advocate of structuring prosperous relationships within her community. When Emma considers prosperous relationship, she begins by categories people by their power and beauty. In Emma’s mind, power and beauty is the ideal combination to developing a perfect society. In Jane Austen‘s Emma, the main character Emma uses her obsession with beauty and power to create her own utopia. Emma’s utopia reconfigures the social system so that hierarchy is defined by looks and character instead of birthrights. However, when Emma’s attempt to create her own utopia fails, Austen challenges readers to accept the existing order and structure of the early nineteenth century English society.
Religious believers in the Victorian society had amazing fervor for the word of God and believed that everything that occurred in life came from the hands of God. A good majority of the works written during the Victorian era expressed a belief that through the endurance of pain and suffering on Earth, the individual will be forever rewarded in Heaven. The Prisoner. A Fragment, by Emily Bronte is a clear demonstration of this belief as a heroic female prisoner demonstrates hope that her creator will save her after she endures her unjust punishment. The speaker in this work is a man visiting the prison, which is located in his father’s castle. He narrates the story looking back on his visit to the prison. He makes the audience aware that he never really cared nor did he pay attention to the lives that were slowly coming to an end in the crypts. He makes a comment to the jailor and is given a re...
Jane Austen wrote Northanger Abbey as a satire and when the reader turns every page, it is clear that Jane Austen was making fun of the society she was living in. It’s the satire of the Gothic novel that was surrounding her at the time. What Northanger Abbey does so well in terms of satire is subvert the system of Western patriarchy by the gothic genre and questions the structure of women and nature. Like many of the tales in England of the heroine, Northanger Abbey tells the story of the daughter, who heroic acts are modesty and submission. This essay will focus on what gothic heroine meant at the time, while analyzing why Jane Austen was making fun of the meaning.
The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Victorian Age: Introduction." The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Victorian Age: Introduction. 2010. Web. 23 Feb. 2014
The nineteenth century saw rapid development and reform across the whole of the country; with the Industrial Revolution transforming life in Britain. For working class women life was an endless struggle of passivity and labour; as soon as they were old enough they worked on farms, in factories or as servants to the middle classes (Lambert, 2009). For women in general, life was oppressive; constantly overshadowed by the male gender who were considered dominant leaders. In a Victorian household, the male was head of the family; his wife and children respected him and obeyed him without question. This critical analysis of two nineteenth century novels - Hard Times by Charles Dickens and Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, will discuss the representation of the two female protagonists in the context of the Victorian period and question whether they do indeed portray an endless struggle for survival and independence.