Literary Representation of Women in the 19th Century - Essay Example

Literary Representation of Women in the 19th Century Undoubtedly, the role of women in the society has received more than enough airwaves from the times of our ancestors to the current contemporary society. This is because the role of women has been controversial owing to the mistreatment and subjugation that they have gone through especially during the 19th century and earlier centuries. Nevertheless, dramatic transformations over the years have seen women assume a better place and role in the society, unlike the earlier decades. Due to the magnitude of its significance in the society, several literary works dwell on the issue of the role of women in the society. For example, The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman explores the role of women in American society in the 19th century. This story brings out the relationship between wives and husbands, the social and economic dependence of women on their husbands or men, and the sexuality and individuality. More so, it depicts the Victorian Age, which had a great impact on the societal social values. In this era, women’s place was in the domestic front, and they behaved demurely. The story depicts the life of a woman suffering from postpartum depression, and as a result, the husband and brother have put her on complete bed rest despite her wishes. Another literary work that discusses the issue of the role of women in the society is the Woman in the Looking Glass by Virginia Woolf is about the story of a woman scrutinizes herself both on the interior and exterior. The woman is rich, independent, and self-made from the exterior, but from the interior, the looking glass reveals a very different person. The looking glass in this story is a metaphor for the shattered wall that exposes the character within this woman. The two stories not only bring out the issue of women’s place in the society, but they also explore the theme of imprisonment by the society, as well as by oneself, and the desire to attain freedom. In the Yellow Wallpaper, the narrator is imprisoned within the domestic confines of the estate ground. The husband who also serves as the physician decides that the only treatment of the narrator’s condition is to put her to bed rest. This decision does not take into consideration the narrator’s wishes to not to stay in confinement. The narrator says, “Personally I disagree with these ideas…..personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good” (Gilman 2345). Husband acts as the authority figure in the house while, on the other hand, a woman has no voice even on decisions that affect her life. This situation resonates with the larger society especially in the 19th century and beyond when women had no voice in making important decisions, even those that affects their personal lives. The society or men have precedence and authority in making decisions that affect women, and once they do, there is nothing that women can do to reverse or refute. This is clear in the case of the narrator, in which she notes, “If a physician of high standing and one’s own husband assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one, but temporary nervous depression – a slight hysterical tendency – what is one to do?” (Gilman 2345). Therefore, the women are chained and imprisoned under the control of their husbands, and the entire society. The narrator is imprisoned in the upstairs nursery away from her child, and without access to other rooms. Despite numerous plea to allow her relocate to a downstairs room, the husband insists on the nursery, which looks like a prison due to its barred windows, and dragon-like rings decorating the wall. She describes the room, “for windows are barred for little children, and there are rings and things in the walls” (Gilman, 2346). In addition, the husband does not even allow her access to other rooms, and the only opening available is for him to monitor her from downstairs. This just shows how the narrator is powerless because she is a prisoner in her own house, and there is nothing she can do better her situation. This makes one wonder if the husband has the narrator’s best interest at her because it seems he is pushing her to more mental distress than helping her heal off her situation. The author uses the setting of the room to portray the conditions under which women live in the society. They are not only imprisoned, but this happens under such frustrating and inhuman conditions that leave one sympathizing with the women in the 19th century. Nevertheless, as the story progress, the narrator accepts her situation and embraces the confinement, for example, she locks herself to prevent her husband from coming into the room and interrupting her activities. The characters show imprisonment of one-elf or within the mind. This particular reveals itself in the woman trapped in the outer pattern of the wallpaper, as the narrator believes. She recognizes the ugly pattern on the wallpaper, which she believes is an imprisoning cage that imprisons a woman. The narrator believes that this woman is trying desperately to escape from the cages. In an attempt to facilitate escape, she tears the wallpaper from the wall. In this case, the author uses figurative language to represent tearing the bars from the cage to facilitate escape. This confinement instead of helping makes the narrator’s insanity even more heightened to the point that she cannot distinguish herself from the woman on the wallpaper. She feels that, in the wallpaper, no one including John can imprison her. This means that the woman in the wallpaper is a manifestation of her creative imagination, which allows breakage of the rigid expectations required by the domestic sphere. However, the consequence of escape of her imagination means she can never attain any level of rationality. Hence, freeing the woman on the wallpaper will leave the narrator trapped in the insanity forever. Women in the society during the 19th century embraced subjugation to the point that this has entered into their heads. They believe that it is the right of men and the general society to treat them as they do, and any desire to escape remains in their imaginary thoughts, which creates a bondage of the mind. There is imprisonment everywhere in the sphere of domestic confines. Gilman presents the story by emphasizing that the domestic sphere is a prison for the narrator. Similar to a woman trapped on the wallpaper, so is the narrator trapped within the nursery. Other women in the story are imprisoned behind a figure of the domestic sphere. These include the domestic duties labelled on women such as cleaning and taking care of the children. In addition, how John treats the narrator propagates the domestic sphere as a prison. Moreover, John views her wife as writing as insignificant, hardly takes her anxieties seriously, and even refers to her as, “little” denoting the diminutive concept. Thus, it is clear John does not perceive her wife as more than the house chores, including her roles a mother and a wife. Further, the narrator is imprisoned under the domestic sphere because Mary and Jennie take up her role and identity as a wife, as well as a mother. Thus, she lacks identity as every identity available in the society is already taken, and there is none available for. Similarly, Jennie and Mary are also confined to the domestic sphere, and they are used to this to the extent that they do not have any future dreams and aspirations beyond the domestic sphere of bondage. The most unfortunate fact is that they do not recognize the situation as a prison. The social norms of the society imprison women in the society labelling the duties for women in the society as mothers, and wives, and also requiring them to stay contented in their existence. Similarly, in the Woman in the Looking Glass, Isabella is a woman in bondage. Isabella is a self-conflicted woman because, despite all the peace, happiness, and facade of comfort, she is a troubled woman imprisoned by herself and her past. In addition, she is imprisoned by the love for self that does not allow her to acknowledge other people around, and the worst part is that she does not want to let go of this behavior. In this epitome of modern narrative fiction, Woolf explores the self-disillusion life that that Isabella experiences because of only caring for herself, that putting her in the life of self-imprisonment. Every time she looks in the mirror, she sees only what she wants to see, but not what she needs to do in order to make her a better person. The author uses the technique of split-self, which helps the reader understand the contrasts between the interior and the exterior characters of Isabella. For instance, the first picture that the author presents is the interior of the house and the exterior as seen through the broken glass. In this representation though split-self, the inside is chaotic with things not staying steel for two second. On the other hand, the outside is very still, as Woolf describes, “But outside, the looking-glass reflected the hall table, the sunflowers, and the garden path so accurately and so fixedly that hey seemed held there in their reality unescapable, (2551). This means that the exterior is the polished character that is seen by the outside world. On the other hand, exterior represents the hidden character the author would not wish revealed. Nevertheless, with a deeper understanding of the meaning, the story is a reflection of Woolf’s own life. The characters express the desire to move out the bondage and attain personal freedom. For instance, Isabella undergoes a self-realization, which gives her opportunity to face her bondage. Thus, Isabella tries to confront her past, fears, and get out of the shell in order to become a better person. This allows her to overcome the issues that had been imprisoning her, and thus, attain freedom. This makes her a different person, as the author notes, Her mind then was field with tenderness and regret” (Woolf 2552). This portrays her knew character. Similarly, in the Yellow Wallpaper, the narrator has a desire to attain freedom from the bondage of her husband. This is why she resorts to the yellow wallpaper thinking that it is the only means to her freedom. Therefore, both characters are in the journey to attain freedom from the different bondage that they are in. Resonates with the desire in the larger society especially in the i9th century where women desired to break away from the bondage of the society that imprisoned them. The Woman in the Looking Glass and the Yellow Wallpaper are literary works that tell the issues that women faced in the 19th century. The essay shows that there are two types of imprisonment, for example, imprisonment by one’s own husband or the society, and self-imprisonment of the mind and other things relating to oneself. The women have the desire to breakage the bondage and attain freedom. Work Cited Damrosch, David, & Pike, L. David. The Longman Anthology of World Literature, Compact Edition. Longman Publishing Group , 2007. Print Read More