Lady Audleys Secret Concealed by Gender and Sexuality - Essay Example

Lady Audley’s Secret Concealed by Gender and Sexuality The Victorian age is most appropriately characterized as an age of profound change. During this period in history, the Industrial Revolution introduced the modern age. Cities were built, people gathered in large numbers to work in factories instead of fields and long-held cultural traditions were beginning to break down as a result of this shift. Social structures started to crumble as fortunes were measured at the business table in cash rather than by King’s favor and landed property. Women were also questioning their social position as opportunities and realities began revealing themselves in the emerging urban jungle. In many ways, though, women came to represent the good ideals of the past for the men who were moving forward into the ideals of the future. Expectations for the gender included the ability to uphold old chivalric ideals of purity and piety regardless of the hardships or sacrifices. Women who did not meet these ideals in any way were only able to succeed to the extent that they were able to conceal their true personality under a veneer of expected behavior. For women such as the character Lady Audley in Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s novel Lady Audley’s Secret,1 her ambition for comfort and her strong inner sexuality demonstrate within the first part of the novel why social change was necessary in relation to women as well as how the expectations held by society contributed to the ultimate negative results achieved. The Victorian era held very rigid ideals regarding the proper behavior of women. They were expected above all else to remain pure in body and spirit. This concept incorporated the idea that acceptable women did not have carnal thoughts of physical pleasure nor would they dream of having sexual relations with anyone other than her legally and religiously appointed husband. Purity of this type would be revealed in the woman’s appearance as is illustrated as Lucy is first introduced. Finally, the Victorian woman of decent breeding had to have a certain level of accomplishments, namely the ability to entertain the men in the evenings through her beautiful appearance, her pleasant attitude and her artistic or musical talents. As her position with the Dawson family is described, Lucy is seen to be the perfect embodiment of the Victorian well-bred woman: Her accomplishments were so brilliant and numerous, that it seemed strange that she should have answered an advertisement offering such very moderate terms … she taught the girls to play sonatas by Beethoven, and to paint from nature after Creswick, and walked through a dull, out-of-the-way village to the humble little church, three times every Sunday, as contentedly as if she had no higher aspiration in the world than to do so all the rest of her life (47). As this passage reveals, Lucy is pious in her devotion to the church and well-educated in her talents as she instructs the girls. Her behavior throughout the town is revealed to the reader as almost suspiciously designed to appeal to their expectations. “Miss Lucy Graham was blessed with that magic power of fascination, by which a woman can charm with a word or intoxicate with a smile. Every one loved, admired and praised her” (47). Yet no one chooses to look beneath the expectations they have of her gender to discover anything more about Lucy than what they expect. However, even at this early introduction, Lucy’s character is hinted to be something more than her gender might normally incorporate. “The truth was that Lady Audley had, in becoming the wife of Sir Michael, made one of those apparently advantageous matches which are apt to draw upon a woman the envy and hatred of her sex” (46-47). While this was seen as a relatively common practice, a closer look at Lucy’s behavior reveals a deep, unwomanly ambition in her to achieve something greater than her present status. She reveals this as she responds to Michael’s proposal, telling him up front that she is not in love with him and may even be unable to love anyone, but that she is unable to consider his offer without realizing the much greater comforts a position as his wife would provide her. “You cannot tell; you, who are among those for whom life is so smooth and easy, you can never guess what is endured by such as we. Do not ask too much of me, then. I cannot be disinterested; I cannot be blind to the advantages of such an alliance” (52). The life of a woman without a husband to support her and care for her or without parents to support her until this husband might be found was dismal, offering few real opportunities for her to support herself particularly if she had a child. However, by abandoning the child at his grandfather’s house and truthfully presenting herself as a young woman in need of supporting herself, Lucy is able to allow the conventions and assumptions of the times to work for her. No one presumes she has ever been anything but an innocent young woman trying to make her way in the world even when she attempts to make her ambitions and selfishness clear. Her response to Sir Michael’s proposal is accepted in the manner in which it was given, as Sir Michael leaves the house realizing “he must be contented, like other men of his age, to be married for his fortune and his position” (53). Because of her gender, she is forced to accept his offer as the only means by which she might escape forever from the poverty and struggle she has known as Helen. That Lucy is merely acting in response to the limitations of her gender rather than her own sexuality is made clear as she reveals the treasured objects secured around her neck, a ring and a yellowed parchment. It was expected, even in Victorian society, that an older man would have sexual desire for a young, pretty woman such as what is represented in the novel. His feelings toward his young wife are immediately described as being housed primarily in physical sensations: But this was love – this fever, this longing, this restless, uncertain, miserable hesitation; these cruel fears that his age was an insurmountable barrier to his happiness; this sick hatred of his white beard; this frenzied wish to be young again, with glistening raven hair, and a slim waist, such as he had twenty years before … all these signs gave token of the truth, and told only too plainly that, at the sober age of fifty-five, Sir Michael Audley had fallen ill of the terrible fever called love” (48). However, the shrewd reader is aware that all of these feelings are associated with the body rather than with any actual inner qualities of either Lucy or Michael. For her part, though, Lucy is supposed to have never considered the possibility of a love between herself and anyone of her association. When Mrs. Dawson brings the subject forward, Lucy tells her, “I had no idea of this. It is the last thing that would have occurred to me” (50). She is portrayed as soft and demure, even shy, in her dealings with men outside of the house as Michael gains only the merest glimpses of her through the windows of the Dawson’s home. In addition, it is generally considered that whatever the man wants, the man should get. “Indeed, the simple Dawsons would have thought it something more than madness in a penniless girl to reject such an offer” (51) despite anything Lucy might be feeling or any potential issues that might be lurking in her past. However, reality indicates, even in the first chapter, that Lucy has hidden passions of her own that society would never recognize or accept. Although Lucy was expected to have little interest in exploring her own physical feelings, she is encouraged to consult her feelings by Sir Michael within his marriage proposal. As she listens to his speech, she evidently remembers the love she once shared with George Talboys: Lucy Graham was not looking at Sir Michael, but straight out into the misty twilight and dim landscape far away beyond the little garden. The baronet tried to see her face, but her profile was turned to him, and he could not discover the expression of her eyes. If he could have done so, he would have seen a yearning gaze which seemed as if it would have pierced the far obscurity and looked away – away into another world” (51). Even though the audience is not yet aware of George Talboys, this passage makes it clear that Lucy’s attention and passion are locked away somewhere else, ‘in another world.’ The only times she shows any emotion at all is when this earlier past is unknowingly alluded to by the other characters as the idea of a new marriage presents itself. She is seen to reach to the black ribbon and trinket she wears around her neck every time the subject comes up. She is seen to have passion, but not the kind of passion Sir Michael was hoping for. This passion “lighted up her face with a new and wonderful beauty which the baronet perceived even in the growing twilight … Beyond her agitation and her passionate vehemence, there is an undefined something in her manner which fills the baronet with a vague alarm” (52). This alarm is felt by all of Victorian society at the prospect of a female passion that seems somehow disconnected or uncontrolled by the male influence. Had Lucy been immediately overcome by passion at the prospect of marrying Sir Michael, it would not have been thought odd, but the strange way in which it grew on her as she considered the possibilities, coupled with the way in which she accepted his proposal, reveals to Sir Michael that there is a part of Lucy that he will never touch. As this first chapter reveals, there is a large discrepancy between society’s expectations of the female gender and the reality of her identity and emotions. Lucy is expected to be quiet, demure, submissive, pious, pure and accomplished in the finer entertainment arts. Because she can pull off this appearance, she is accepted as an innocent woman perfectly suited for a wealthy old widower. However, her own identity strives for something more than her society will normally allow her to have. Being a woman, she is unable to find suitable employment for herself as an abandoned wife and young mother, but can find support and even someone to love her by removing those elements of her appearance, namely the presence of her son and the ring, that symbolize her fallen status. By placing her natural ambition and desire into a socially acceptable mold, Lucy is able to achieve the greatest of her material desires although she finds it necessary to sacrifice her personal desires. As the rest of the novel reveals, though, she had few options available to her and was forced to make a choice that would eventually drive her mad. Lucy is unable to achieve full expression of her individuality or to find a means of living acceptably with her son after her husband abandons her and is thus forced to consider options no woman should have to choose, forcing the audience to consider where society should be changed to prevent this kind of situation from recurring. However, once her deceit is discovered, the only means by which society can contain this kind of ‘undue’ passion in a woman is to have her committed as mentally insane. Thus, through this single character, Braddon is able to both call for necessary social change that allows women greater opportunity and control over their own lives as well as reveals the ways in which women are held to specific expectations based on their gender and perceived sexuality. Works Cited Mary Elizabeth Braddon. Lady Audley’s Secret. Ed. Natalie M. Houston. New York: Broadview Press, 2003. Read More