The Woman Question Analysis

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Marked by a growing British Empire, extended suffrage, and scientific advances, the Victorian period is characterized as a time of social and political change. These advancements and reforms proved to be influential in encouraging the debate of societal roles that had previously been held without question. This era resolved itself to determine the nature and proper role of women in British society; or, to use the phrase favored by the Victorians, to resolve “The Woman Question.” A number of prominent writers used their texts to explore this question, including H. Rider Haggard in his novel She. Throughout this novel, Haggard positions the feminine persona as unlearned and one to be distrusted. When females, of either prominent or minor roles, claim social or sexual independence in She they are condemned for their choices, and pay the consequences with their lives. For Haggard, the answer to “The Woman Question” is simple: there is no place for the independent woman.
The task of dismissing feminine perspectives from She is evident from the opening pages of the text. While Haggard’s use of a frame narrative is not uncommon—it can be seen in texts such as Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness—the emphasis placed upon establishing this piece as a credible account of history is significant. Considerable lengths are taken by the narrators to ensure that this piece is not approached as a novel, but as an autobiographical record. Within the first paragraph of the text’s introduction, the editor proclaims this account an “extraordinary history” (11), and later asserts that it “seems to bear the stamp of truth upon its face” (14). Not only are readers immediately exposed to the editor’s perspective, they are also quickly shown Holly’s. I...

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...ving and good, Ayesha as powerful and mysterious—a woman who has unlocked the secrets of nature. Yet in the misogynistic universe of She, powerful woman are only an illusion, the power belongs to men. Any attempt to gain this power is unnecessary and will only lead to death. As John Ruskin states, “the man…must encounter all peril and trial…he guards the woman from all this…unless she herself has sought it, need enter no danger, no temptation, no cause of error or offense.” (par. 3) In failing to adhere to warnings offered by individuals such as Ruskin, the New Woman enters into a frightening and shifting sphere. As She demonstrates, once a female character has stepped beyond the protection of a man, neither goodness nor immortality will save an independent woman from her fate. In Haggard’s vision of Victorian England, there is no role for the independent woman.

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