A Room of One's Own (Chapter One) by Virginia Woolf

A Room of One's Own (Chapter One)

In chapter one of "A Room of One's Own," Woolf is discussing the topic of women and fiction. According to Woolf, "...a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction." Woolf's narrator is reflecting on the aforementioned topics on the banks of Oxbridge (fiction setting of Oxford and Cambridge). Woolf compares the predicament of women and fiction to fishing and her narrator's interaction with a university Beadle. As soon as a woman in this time period was able to mentally secure an idea to write, a man would come along and interrupt the idea, much like the university Beadle did encouraging the narrator to return to a designated path for women. 

The narrator goes on to contrast Oxbridge to Fernham, a newer women's college. The meals at Fernham are uninspiring and unbalanced, whereas the meals at Oxbridge are full of life and conversation over a hearty, varied spread of food. Also, the narrator points out that male universities have been financially supported for centuries, while women's colleges often scrape by on whatever they receive monetarily. This problem of continual female poverty was caused by the fact that women were not allowed by law to hold property as they were themselves considered property. Finally, Woolf concludes by reinstating that having one's own space encourages dignity among many other positive attributes. 

In an Artist's Studio by Christina Rosetti and The Blessed Damozel by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Background

• Pre-Raphaelite paintings:
• Lizzie Siddal was the subject of a lot of Gabriel Rossetti's paintings and the subject of his poem "The Blessed Damozel"
• "In an Artists's Studio"
• It doesn't really matter who he is painting because in Gabriel's poem, it's all the same face (could mean Siddal is the subject of all his works?)
• "The Blessed Damozel"
• An idealization of Rossetti's other artistic works

When assigned to bring a picture of a woman to class, I immediately thought of Marilyn Monroe because of her similarities to the women we have studied in Dr. Linker's class. Monroe is still to this day, one of the biggest sex symbols the world has ever seen and ultimately succumbed to her drug addiction in 1962. In my opinion, Monroe is a sort of Roxana figure, as both courted many wealthy, powerful men in efforts to maintain their relevance, although Monroe never had to try THAT hard to remain in the spotlight. I also chose a picture of Monroe because she is such a controversial figure in the entertainment industry and while she was often caught up in Hollywood style drama, she is still an admirable role model for many people, myself included, for her ability to have fun with her work and break down gender conventions/stereotypes.

Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti

Background

• The Gothic inhabited novel forms
• The Gothic was the most successful form of the novel
• The Gothic novel rose to fame in the 1750's
• The Gothic novel has a damsel/virtue in distress
• The Gothic novel has a villain
• The Gothic novel has a hero
• The Gothic novel has a femme fatale (helps villain; haunts hero)
• The Gothic novel and Medieval Romances share many characteristics 
• The knight is most often successful in saving the damsel
• Frankenstein is an example of a Gothic novel
• Edgar Allen Poe is a Gothic writer
• The setting of a Gothic novel is gloomy/scary and often a castle, abbey, ruin
• Many Gothic novels contain elements of the supernatural 
• Christina Rossetti wrote Goblin Market around 40-50 years after Jane Austen wrote Pride and Prejudice
• Victorian era:
• Emphasized socialization
• Emphasized solving social problems
• This era was very prudish
• 25-40% of women in the Victorian era were prostitutes 
• This highly sexualized culture was encouraged by opium/laudanum addictions

Goblin Market

Goblin Market contains many elements that make it a gothic poem. The goblins are the villains, Laura is the damsel in distress, and Lizzie is the hero. The setting is in the dark of night with the stars and the moon shining in an urban space on the steet/marketplace. This poem also contains elements of the supernatural such as the goblin men, addictive fruits, and the animalistic sounds of the goblin men. Laura's sister Lizzie is the hero, although the hero is typically a masculine male. 

The religious and homoerotic elements of the poem are considered to be interpretive. Overall, the sexualization found in this poem overpowers the religious aspects of it. Religious aspects found in this poem include the forbidden fruit and Lizzie serving as Laura's "savior" from death. The fruit juices also could be equivalent to the blood of Christ in religious services. Through this poem and the sisters, Rossetti may be asserting that homosexuality is ok and even preferable to being romantic with the goblin men. 

Hanging out with Goblins was not a typical social convention of this time. It's important to not socially reject fallen women like Laura because we are supposed to save them. Most often, fallen women were forced into their occupation for monetary reasons. 

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (Part Two)

Pride and Prejudice (Part Two)

Over the course of this novel, Darcy overcomes his pride and Elizabeth overcomes her prejudice. Darcy says Elizabeth is not pretty enough to dance with him initially. Elizabeth discovers that Darcy paid for the marriage between Lydia and Wickham, saving the Bennet family from financial ruin.

Lydia and Wickham eloped and Wickham asks Mr. Bennet for a small income to marry Lydia. The Bennets believe this income is supplied by their relatives, the Gardiners. Darcy secretly pays Wickham the 10,000 pounds he requires. Lydia and Wickham are totally oblivious to the financial problems they have caused with the Bennet family.

Lady Catherine comes to visit Elizabeth and she tells Elizabeth not to accept Darcy's proposal to Elizabeth because Elizabeth's family is not wealthy enough to be tied to Darcy's family. Elizabeth tries not to lose her temper with Lady Catherine despite de Bourgh's rude nature. Lady Catherine tells Elizabeth her family will pollute the walls of Pemberley because the Bennets are basically trash. Lady Catherine acknowledges the need to keep the upper classes and their bloodlines separated from the lower classes. This shows that Austen was in such a powerful position that she was able to critique all social classes in society. 

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (Part One)

Background

• Mr. Darcy is a jerk at the beginning of the book and kind in the second half of the book
• The Bennet's property will go to Mr. Collins after Mr. Bennet's death because of entailment laws
• Mrs. Bennet is obsessed with getting one of her daughters to marry Mr. Collins so they basically will not become homeless
• The Bingleys look down on the Bennets even though the Bennets are respected by most of their other neighbors

Pride and Prejudice (Part One)

Defoe's Roxana is very similar to Austen's Pride and Prejudice because Roxana chases after money to maintain her lifestyle and the Bennet sisters must chase after men in order to maintain their lifestyles. The idea of companionate marriage is introduced in Pride and prejudice. 

Mr. Collins is the heir to the Bennet family's wealth and is considered an to be an air head. Mr. Collins is "employed" by Lady Catherine de Bourgh as a clergyman. Mr. Collins proposes to Elizabeth, although he wants to propose to Jane, but Mrs. Bennet asserts that Jane will be marrying Bingley.

For all intents and purposes, Darcy acts like an ass in Pride and Prejudice as evidenced by his bluntness and comments about Elizabeth not being the pretty Bennet sister. His feelings toward Elizabeth are shown when Darcy says he won't dance with Elizabeth. Darcy is so egotistical that he cannot understand how a woman of such a low social standing like Elizabeth is so uninterested in Darcy. 

Miss Bingley is very obnoxious and tries very hard to show off to Darcy and tries to shut down Elizabeth to keep Darcy for herself. Mr. Bingley is very charming and wealthy. As previously stated, the Bingleys even make fun of the Bennets for their comparatively low social standing. Bingley become infatuated with Jane and sends her letters. Throughout the novel, Miss Bingley tries very hard to sever the ties between the Bingleys and the Bennets. 

In a social situation involving Mrs. Bennet, she is very boastful about her daughters' beauty to cover ip their lack of familial wealth. The Bennet family as a whole acts very low class and is judged because of Mrs. Bennet's actions. Austen wants to point out that especially in these times, you are judged by your family's actions. Mr. Bennet is constantly dealing with his wife's nerves and is somewhat mean to Mrs. Bennet. Elizabeth Bennet is very intelligent and possesses much common sense. Elizabeth is the heroine of the novel, but is not the prettiest daughter even though she is the most liked daughter by her father. Jane Bennet is the prettiest daughter and is sweet and reserved. Lydia Bennet is very gossipy and man-crazed. Jane is so coy that Mr. Bingley doesn't even know that she is interested in Mr. Bingley. 

Poems by Phillis Wheatley

Biography & Background

• First published African American poet
• First African American woman whose writings helped create the genre of African American literature
• Born in Gambia
• Became a slave at age 7
• She was purchased by the Wheatley family of Boston
• Wheatley family taught her to read and write and helped encourage her poetry
• Wheatley wrote about religion and morality
• Praised by George Washington
• Wheatley was emancipated by her owners and stayed with the Wheatley family 
• Wheatley was a supporter of American independence 
• Married, but her husband left her
• Died at age 31 during childbirth
• Wheatley's poetry revolves around Christian themes and many poems are dedicated to famous personalities 
• 1/3 of her poems are elegies

Poems

In Wheatley's poem, "On Imagination," she describes herself as a slave thinking of freedom by using her imagination. Imagination is a mental faculty and as Wheatley said, "and soft captivity involves the mind." Wheatley says she is involved in a softer captivity than most slaves who cannot read or write. Hard captivity is much less desirable than soft captivity.

"On Virtue" is a poem by Wheatley where she compares herself to a jewel and asserts that virtues lead you to a better life, or one of charity. Many slaves were religious and saw the afterlife as a promise of ultimate freedom and a better living situation than their identity on earth promises. 

In her poem, "On Being Brought from Africa to America," Wheatley called Africa a "Pagan land." Wheatley says she is happy she came to America because even as a slave, she has a better life in America and she views her identity as a slave in a spiritual manner. Essentially, she is making lemonade out of lemons. She is also happy she came to America because if she had remained in Africa, she would have never become a Christian. One cannot be a Christian if they support slavery, but in this poem, Wheatley does not take an anti-slavery view. 

In "His Excellency General Washington," Wheatley discusses her admiration and reverence for President George Washington. 

Wheatley is very different from many of the women writers we've discussed this semester because she writes about things that others are experiencing, not just about her own experiences. Also, Wheatley's poetry was encouraged by her owners, so her situation was very different from any other writers we have studied. Like Wheatley, Margaret Cavendish also lost several children and was left by her husband. Lady Mary Chudleigh was also similar to Wheatley in that both authorized their art forms religiously and both women wrote about the importance of virtue. At the time of Wheatley's life, many high-born women lived lives similar to slaves because both were considered to be the property of a man. 

Poems by Lady Mary Chudleigh, Mary Astell, and Anne Finch

A Serious Proposal to the Ladies: Mary Astell

• Talks about marriage and education 
• Mistakes of society lie in lack of education for women
• Ignorance is the cause of sin
• A liberal education is a way to secure a virtuous future
• If you are the mother of sons, it is better to be educated for the benefit of the children's future
• Astell's audience is both men and women

Song: Lady Mary Chudleigh

• You should focus on virtue, not beauty

The Wish: Lady Mary Chudleigh

• Chudleigh describes the good characteristics of a desirable man/lover
• Discusses arranged marriages 
• Companionate marriage: based on feelings and compatibility 

To the Ladies: Lady Mary Chudleigh

• Compares role of a wife to the role of a servant 
• A wife must fear her husband as a god
• Once you enter the marriage, the man changes and becomes more commanding 
• Once a woman marries, her husband takes all her property
• This may not be a situation that Chudleigh experienced, but heard of and felt compelled to write about 

The Tree: Anne Finch

• Anne Finch was interested in nature
• Nature is often feminized
• The tree protects people
• The tree is cut down for firewood
• The tree provides so much, but no one gives back to the tree 
• Nature is a metaphor for talking about life
• Nature focuses your attention on sound, not sight, at night 

The Answer: Anne Finch

• This is a response to Alexander Pope's "The Rape of the Lock" (very erotic)
• Finch is describing what Pope wrote
• Finch critiques society's views of women and expectations and limitations of women

Poems by Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift, and Lady Montagu

Background

• Pope says women have no character
• Swift shows inferior qualities of women to show the nastiness of women
• Montagu defends women

Poems

Epistle to a Lady: Of the Characters of Women: Alexander Pope

• All females are not the same
• Chloe wants a heart
• Established a relationship between male and female poets
• There is a set way that women should act
• character: unique; perspective
• At this time, women were thought to be vain and lacking reason
• Alexander Pope is the leading writer of his period 
• Only one woman in this poem has character and is considered a "softer man," because at this time, men were only thought to have character
• This poem was part of a series 
• Pope believed philosophically that women have no character

The Lady's Dressing Room: Jonathan Swift

• Very dirty
• Talks about the roles of women 
• Literally talks about ladies' dirty laundry 
• 18th century beauty practices weren't very clean
• Beneath makeup and wigs, there is a dirty woman at the end
• London is analogous to women because it looks like a shiny city, but the streets were lined with the contents of chamber pots

A Letter from Artemesia in the Town to Chloe in the Country: 

• Is a satirical poem
• Men have more education so their writing is more important than the works of women
• Calling someone a whore is as bad as calling someone a poetess 

The Reasons that Induced Dr S to write a Poem called The Lady's Dressing Room: Lady Montagu

• Montagu sticks up for women 
• Montagu tears Swift apart
• Women are in a catch 22 because women are criticized for chasing beauty, but are also criticized if they don't chase beauty

Poems by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu

Biography & Background

• Montagu had small pox
• Brought back small pox vaccine 
• Was a well-concealed aristocrat
• Never published any of her work
• Was beautiful and brilliant in youth
• Her daughter burned most of her diaries/journals
• Was a friend of Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift
• Pope and Swift were misogynistic 
• Montagu did not choose her husband and was unhappy
• Montagu travelled to Turkey with her husband, a Turkish ambassador
• A town ecologue is an oxymoron because these are two different forms (it is a satire)
• Ecologue: virgil form; references Greeks and Romans
• Montagu wrote epistolary poems
• Heroic epistle: told in heroic couplets
• Rhymed in couplets
• Rhymed iambic pentameter

Poems

Epistle from Mrs. Yonge to Her Husband:

• Her husband can travel the world and sleep with other women, but Montagu must remain by her husband's side
• An enlightenment text because it's a change of thought
• Arranged marriages were a pre-enlightenment idea
• Concentration on the self is an enlightenment idea 
• Questions all systems (sciences, marriages, government, etc.)
• Concentrates on divorce and the happiness of the self
• The idea of breaking a marriage contract was a pre-enlightenment idea

Town Ecologues: Monday; Roxana or the Drawing-Room:

• Defoe may have based his novel on this poem
• A kept woman; lady of luxury; attached to aristocrats
• Attacks Roxana's vice and attacks all court's vices
• Roxana represents wealth, sex, beauty, low morals
• Roxana figures are like the Kardashians

Town Ecologues: Saturday; The Small-Pox:

• Flavia is the speaker and she has small-pox
• Small-pox caused fever; you were tied to your bed so you didn't scratch your body
• Small-pox was the stealer of women's beauty
• This poem addresses beauty and materialism 
• Montagu is mourning the "death" of her good looks
• Flavia is now going to hide herself away

A Receipt to Cure the Vapors:

• Hysteria was belief that womb could flow to your head and make you go insane
• Vapors were meant to fix hysteria
• Hysteria was a gender-specific bias
• "fit of the vapors" meant she was about to go crazy

Roxana by Daniel Defoe (Part Three)

Background

• Fantomina and Roxana end up the same way: pregnant and tracked down by their estranged children
• Roxana and Amy were punished for their murder, but the punishment is ambiguous
• The women writers we have read so far have been punished by the body for sins by the body

Roxana (Part Three)

Roxana is constantly in pursuit of an escape wither to acquire money or to be with another man. Roxana can never really escape her woes. Roxana's daughter Susan pursues her and gets too close for comfort, thus punishing Roxana. 

Roxana is fearful of the men leaving her and is forced to confront her ex-husband, which she has tried to avoid for a long time. Roxana pursues different identities and her children force her to face her real identity which she is not comfortable with. 

Susan thinks that Amy is her mother and Amy begins to dress and act like Roxana. Roxana's real name is Susan. Roxana admits in part of the novel that she wishes Susan were not present and Amy takes this very seriously. Roxana is trying to kill her old identity as Susan and by killing her angry, aggressive daughter (Susan) she would get rid of the old identity. Roxana's daughter Susan wants to reveal Roxana's true identity because Susan is mad that Roxana is living a privileged life and Susan is living life as a poor maid. 

Roxana is brought up with a lot of money, loses it in the middle of her life, and gains the money back later in life. The more money Roxana acquires, her disguises and actions become more and more bold. Roxana bases the value of her relationships with the men in her life off of how much money they have to offer. Towards the end of the novella, Roxana no longer has to sell her body for money, but she continues to do so because she is addicted to the money. 

Roxana goes through a lot of strife in the novel, but we never know what happens to her. Novels of this time period typically have nice closure, but Roxana never gets any closure. Roxana is left with five children after her husband left her, so this may have turned her emotions and caused her to enter survival mode.