1

UNIVERSITATEA „HYPERION” DIN BUCUREŞTI

FACULTATEA DE ŞTIINŢE SOCIALE, UMANISTE ŞI ALE NATURII
DEPARTAMENTUL DE LITERE ŞI LIMBI STRĂINE

LUCRARE DE LICENȚĂ

Coordinator științific
Prof. Univ. Dr. NICOLAU Felix

Student
BUGHEANU Larisa Andreea

București
2017
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UNIVERSITATEA „HYPERION” DIN BUCUREŞTI

FACULTATEA DE ŞTIINŢE SOCIALE, UMANISTE ŞI ALE NATURII
DEPARTAMENTUL DE LITERE ŞI LIMBI STRĂINE

LUCRARE DE LICENȚĂ

Rewriting the Victorian Feminine Model: John Fowles and George Eliot

Coordonator ştiinţific
Prof. Univ. Dr. NICOLAU Felix

Student
BUGHEANU Larisa Andreea

București
2017
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Table of Contents

1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................ 4

1.1 Thesis Argument ........................................................................................................................ 4

1.2 Historical Context ...................................................................................................................... 8

1.3 Women’s Question During the Victorian Era ........................................................................ 10

1.4 Victorian Morality and Conduct ............................................................................................. 12

2. THE LIFE OF VICTORIAN WOMEN ....................................................................................... 14

2.1 Love, Courtship and Marriage in the Victorian Era ............................................................. 14

2.2 Women’s Education in Victorian Times ................................................................................. 17

2.3 Victorian Women and Their Working Roles.......................................................................... 19

3. DOROTHEA BROOKE AND SARAH WOODRUFF: HEROINES WHO PAVED THE

WAY TO MODERNITY ................................................................................................................... 21

3.1 Dorothea Brooke a Later-Born ( Saint) Theresa.................................................................... 21

3.2 Sarah Woodruff as an Embodiment of the New Woman ...................................................... 30

4. THE VICTORIAN WOMEN TYPICAL MODEL INTRODUCED BY CELIA BROOKE,

ROSAMOND VINCY IN MIDDLEMARCH AND ERNESTINA FREEMAN IN THE FRENCH
LIEUTENANT 'WOMAN ................................................................................................................. 35

4.1 Celia Brooke – Another Face of Victorian Womanhood ....................................................... 37

4.2 Rosamond Vincy – an Epitome of what 19th Century Seeks in Women ............................... 38

4.3 Ernestina Freeman – Embodiment of Victorian Values ........................................................ 41

5. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................... 43

6. BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................................................... 47
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1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Thesis Argument

The purpose of this study is to present how the female Victorian model was
rewritten by George Eliot and John Fowles in their novels: Middlemarch and The
French Lieutenant's Woman.

I chose these two particular novels because both writers focus on the Victorian
women in their works, managing to draw a realistic and well-defined portrait of the
woman of those times. The description of these female characters creates a chance to
see the representation of women in 19th-century fiction from manifold standpoints such
as women’s educational, vocational, and social circumstances in the society as well as
their response to those circumstances.

The Victorian period was marked by important social and political changes. On
the one hand, the Industrial Revolution was caused by several factors: money, labour,
higher demand for consumer goods, well-developed transport routes. Also, while
economic progress was obvious, so did poverty and exploitation. The gap between the
poor and the rich dwelt as the upper class knew an astonishing development. The
population was divided into social classes, and the roles between men and women were
very different:

Men and women were thought to have completely different natures, owing
largely to Darwin's work in biological determinism, and people saw those
differences as dictating separate and different functions in society. Men were
thought to have natures suited to the public world, women to the private. 1

The society was predominantly patriarchal, with the role of women being limited
to marriage and the management of domestic tasks. The Victorian woman had very few
rights and her role in society was limited. Special emphasis was placed on their
morality, maintaining reputation and respectability in society. Diminishing the role of
women in society has led to various riots and struggles for emancipation.

1
http://www2.ivcc.edu/gen2002/women_in_the_nineteenth_century.htm
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Many writers of that time included the condition of the woman and her role in the
works and books that appeared later. George Eliot was one of these writers who defied
the rules of society and brought to light the problem of the Victorian woman
undermined by the power and mentality of men. When I read for the first time
Middlemarch, I was more than surprised to discover another type of woman. A type of
woman totally different from the rest, a type of woman who was distinguished in a
crowd, a type of woman who not only had her own thinking, but she was driven by her
own principles and ideas. I discovered a model for the then-society that has become a
model for today's society.

Later, I found out that George Eliot was a woman. What a surprise for a teenager
already in love with Dorothea. I read her story and discovered the similarities with
Dorothea, the risks she undertook, the passion that influenced her choices, the maturity
that was hiding in the apparent youth of her age. That was the moment when I found out
that I would love to know more about the women of the 'yesterday', about their role in
society, their thinking, behaviour, education, their lives and their evolution over time. I
read everything I could at that time: Jane Austen, Virginia Woolf, Charlotte & Emily
Bronte, Charles Dickens and many others. Later, in college, I discovered Fowles and
started reading it. I found, reading this novel, another aspect of the Victorian woman in
Sarah Woodruff, a portrait created from the point of view of a contemporary writer, an
improved image of the woman of that era. Apart from the fact that Sarah is portrayed as
a mysterious and ambiguous character throughout the novel, she is known by her
outspokenness and ability to see through people. Fowles manages to rewrite the
Victorian female pattern by adding psychological elements to an ordinary woman, - the
mysterious personality, the strength of character, manipulative character – and Sarah’s
'strangeness' makes her different from her Victorian counterparts in dress, behaviour
and attitude.

The motivation to write about the Victorian female pattern came from these two
novels written almost a century apart from each other, from two completely different
views by two writers who had nothing in common, yet sharing a unique vision of the
ordinary woman of the Victorian Age.
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The main reason why I chose these two novels is the value given by the realistic
elements and the many characters - portraits that are found on their pages, which not
only does it provide an interesting perspective on the social environment of the
Victorian era, but female characters are confronted with issues such as women's role in
society, education, marriage, inter-human relationships, etc. I will focus my work on
analyzing the main characters of the two books mentioned above and I will try to
highlight the main elements on which the female characters Dorothea and Sarah were
built: the evolutionary theory of Charles Darwin, the archetypes of Jung, Freudian
Theory about human minds etc.

In the first chapter I will present aspects of the daily life of Victorian women
using only Middlemarch to outline the pattern of the woman of that era. This parallel
that I will create, between the common Victorian woman and the modern Victorian
woman in the vision of George Eliot and John Fowles, is necessary to highlight how the
two female characters, Dorothea and Sarah, have been redesigned and rewritten.

In the second and third chapter I will examine how Eliot and Fowles have built
their female characters. I will consider several aspects, including Darwin's evolutionary
theory, Jung's archetypes, different modern themes like liberty, independence, fallen
woman, sexuality, imperfect marriages, idealism, superficiality, criticism etc. Eliot has
not only created a strong female character with extraordinary qualities (beauty,
intelligence, desire for self-denial, ambition, unique thinking, etc.) but managed to
rewrite the existing pattern with the help of psychology, science and her own
experience. At Fowles we have a surprise about his vision of the "modern" woman
because we encounter Jung's psychotherapy in the construction of the Sarah character
and elements from the Freudian theory about human minds.

In the fourth chapter I will focus on the analysis of the other feminine characters
in the novels mentioned above and the characteristics that distinguish them from the two
'modern' characters previously analyzed: Dorothea and Sarah. The contrast between the
Victorian female archetype and the archetype rethought and rewritten by these two
writers comes from the differences between the characters. The opposition between
Dorothea and her sister, Celia, but also between her and Rosamond are essential in
demonstrating my point of view.
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The same situation we find at Fowles, the obvious antithesis between Sarah and
Ernestina that helps us to observe the changes that Fowles has brought to the modern
woman. I will conclude my work by drawing some conclusions about the obvious
parallelism between the two types of Victorian women in the views of the two writers
approached in the paper. I found it interesting to bring into the paper the opinion of
these two writers because they reflect the otherness of mentality, time, experience and
gender differences. While Eliot outlines the portraits of female characters having his
own personality and experience as model, Fowles uses his knowledge in different areas
as the basis for the characters' foundation. Both of them have common starting points -
the Victorian woman - but their visions separate them and cause them to create an
unconventional feminine prototype. They reinterpret the existing female pattern under
the umbrella of other mentalities and opinions and manage to build a female hybrid at
the base of which is qualities such as: inner strength, perseverance, desire for self-
overtaking and independence.
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1.2 Historical Context

In order to understand why it was necessary for the Victorian female pattern to be
‘rethought’ and ‘reinvented’, we must have a clear vision of the Victorian period in
which both actions occurred and to find answers at the following questions: what was
the reason why writers like those mentioned in this paper felt the need to create another
type of female model, completely opposed to the existing one? What had this period so
interesting that many of the writers of the past and not only decided to use it as a source
of inspiration?

George Eliot set Middlemarch in the England of the 1830s, a turbulent and
changeable period from the political, religious, cultural, economics points of view. Most
people remained constantly dedicated the moral codes dictated by the Church,
meanwhile others were attracted to Darwin’s theory of evolutionism. Another aspect
worth remembering is that the Middlemarch action takes place during the Industrial
Revolution, aspect that changes the lives of children and women in working classes who
had to work 14 hours a day, still living in the same misery.

The veritable part of Middlemarch is reproduced from the writer's perspective,

which uses her life to guide us into the Victorian world, the novel becoming otherwise
subjective from this point of view. She spent her life around intellectuals, her life
partner himself being philosopher, literary critic and psychologist. Her link with the
modern scientific world is indisputable. Moreover, Eliot faced profound life and
religious changes which culminated in her prohibited relationship with Lewes. Her
entire life Eliot was considered a rebellious and unconventional spirit. She struggled
between realism and idealism, trying to self-exceed, even though society was
discriminating women at that time. In Middlemarch, Eliot sought to create a feminine
character characterized by profound knowledge and a generous heart for human beings.
The 19th century was dominated by the supremacy of men from all points of view:
political, economic, educational, and marriage. At that time women were considered to
have no need for education, only to mould their character and become obedient. In the
family they depended on their fathers or brothers, and once married by their husbands.
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With the industrial revolution that allowed women to engage in various fields,
their consciousness was awakened and began to become independent in thought. At age
29, Eliot wins his only existence despite the mentality of the society that expected her to
have a miserable life after his father's death. Instead, she hired as editor at Westminster
Review. Even Eliot’s love life was unconventional; she fell in love with a married man
and living with him despite being ostracized by family and society. Eliot's mentality
tended to modernism, as she thought the woman was able to decide on marriage, even
though not everyone agreed with that opinion.

John Fowles, on the other hand, uses his knowledge of history to create an
unexpected background to contrast with his ideas about the Victorian period. The
Victorian culture was based on the idea of purity, morality, well-being and sexual
repression - element of Utilitarianism, a doctrine very powerful back then. Fowles
thought the Victorian Era was a period of contradiction - the woman was seen as
something sacred but at the same time she could be bought at a low price. Likewise, he
stresses the idea of religious practices in the novel, using Mrs. Poultney who craves for
an after- life in heaven and who is induced to do well to a young woman in need. The
Utilitarianism Doctrine was based on the idea of suppressing sexual desire. It is
believed that appealed to emotion rather than to reason, distracted them from work, and
did not bring improvements to society's progress. Fowles shows his concern about the
issue of human emancipation and sexual restrictions at that time and accentuates these
flaws through his characters.

Life in the Victorian era was not as it was seen by outsiders, the rich or
aristocratic ones enjoyed the luxury and pleasures of a light life, while the poor and the
working class had to find ways to survive misery, poverty and corruption.
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1.3 Women’s Question during the Victorian Era

I will return for a few moments in the past, during the reign of Queen Victoria,
and I will try to paint in a few words images of that world. And because the theme of
this work is the woman in all aspects of her life I will try to describe her life as it is
mentioned in most of the books about that period.

Victorian women lacked many things, including freedom. Freedom to think,

freedom to say aloud what they were thinking, freedom in choosing her own destiny,
freedom to choose a mate, freedom to love, freedom to enjoy education, freedom to
choose what to do with her wealth, freedom to remain unmarried if she wanted so,
freedom to vote. With so many gaps in everyday life, the Victorian woman was a banal
woman, unhappy, unsatisfied and disgusted with mediocre livelihood and the
limitations that were imposed on her. The most important events in her life were
probably marriage, pregnancy and children's growth. The duties of an aristocratic
woman were to take care of the house, organize the servants, and take care of decorating
the houses. Compared with middle-class women, those in the working class suffered
more. They had to do all the work in household: washing, stepping, cooking, and
buying cheap food from the market, working in factories, coal mines or middle-class
homes. After marrying, their possessions became their husbands, including the goods
they entered into marriage. Another aspect worth pointing to is the divorce. In the
Victorian era, if the husbands divorced, him was the one who obtained custody of the
child and could even forbid his wife's visits if he wanted it.

In The Second Sex Simone de Beauvoir believes that Victorian Society `isolated
woman in the home`. Victorian men believed women`s natural place to be is in the
home, in a state of purity and morality which depended on their ignorance of the outside
world.2 Victorian society therefore did not demand much from women. There is not
much to say in terms of education either. The youngsters had superficial education to
allow them a profitable marriage. As for the young women in the working class, they
did not have any education, except for the first years of school, and then they had to
work to help the family's financial support.

2
Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, Jonathan Cape 1956, p. 415
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Also, women in the upper class were concerned about fashion, which shows their
status and position in society. The long and tight dresses, the corsets that highlighted
their waist, the gorgeous jewels, and fashion news were just a few of the things women
talked about in their meetings. Depending on their preoccupation, there were also
groups of women concerned with culture and education who discussed science, religion,
philosophy, history, politics etc.

Throughout the Victorian period, there were several types of women: the typical
woman of the upper class interested only in superficial things, money and fame, the
atypical woman interested in culture, education, politics, sciences and other fields
belonging to men and the typical woman of the working class whose interest was the
provision of daily living. Victorian society attributed the woman a singular role - that of
wife and mother. Being dominated by men, the Victorian society did not believe in the
woman's intelligence and inner strength, and refused them any chance to prove the
opposite. Constrained by these absurd rules, women sought their independence and
freedom at any cost.

Starting from these premises, both novels of Eliot and Fowles begin. From the
premise that the woman of the 19th century had a rather non-existent role in social life,
the only important moments for her being marriage and childbirth. What the heroines in
these two novels have in common is the desire for self improvement and struggle for
independence and freedom. Both writers clearly outline the differences between men
and women. It is clear that society has evolved enormously over time.
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1.4 Victorian Morality and Conduct

The Victorian period was an amalgam of contradictions. In terms of morality,

Victorian society is guided by traditional norms and rules, which were more of a façade.
Society attached morality to the idea of respectability, the label that did not come only
with the idea of good reputation, but also with the certainty that the person fulfilled all
the required qualities. Because reputation was important at the time, it was essential to
keep appearances and show respectable to others. Therefore there were topics that could
be discussed at business meetings and topics that were considered taboo and could
endanger the reputation of the respective person. The Victorian people tended to believe
that things that could not be seen or spoken did not exist. Also, respected men and could
not be seen in areas of lower classes, in brothels or taverns because they were supposed
to be forbidden to drink, gambling or acknowledge sexual desire. According to the book
The Dominant Ideology Thesis:

(…) respectable people were expected to conduct their lives according to

the ethical and moral standards of Christianity. These were concerned to
sanctify family life, family cohesion and patriarchal authority, and to regulate
sexuality. (…) the Victorian moral virtues of chastity, the limitation of sexual
relations to marriage and the limitation of intercourse even within marriage to
the purpose of procreation were important components of personal and familial
morality. 3

Victorian society was based on the idea of morality divided into two categories:
for men, morality implied an honourable life and position. In addition, they did not have
to show weakness in terms of emotions, their role was the 'pillar of the house'; for
women, morality was expressed by obedience, sexual purity, femininity, weakness, and
many other qualities. The woman was considered the ‘angel of the house’ and often
referred to as a decorating element. The very term ‘Victorian morality’ is used with
contempt, because of the imposed restrictions, hypocrisy and pride, the suppression of
sexuality and rigid social behaviour. The moral and physical qualities, purity, passivity
and the domestic role of women were appreciated by Victorian culture. Men divided
women into two categories: the virgins and those who deviated from the actual
behaviour. Delicate and innocent they were suitable for a married woman's life.

3
Bryan S. Turner, Nicholas Abercrombie, Stephen Hill, The Dominant Ideology Thesis (RLE Social Theory),
Routledge, 2015, p. 104
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According to Victorian standards a woman had to embody purity, godliness and

duty towards her husband and family. Anyone who deviates from these rules will be
stigmatized by society and will be considered an outsider. From their childhood, both
women and men were taught that they have to live in a way which will please the God.
According to religious belief body was not for sexual pleasure, being considered
impure, therefore was necessary to refrain from all tempting desires. Prostitution was
considered a sin, women being blamed for it, while men were rarely stigmatized. For
this reason we can say that Victorian society’s view of prostitution is hypocritical.

We cannot refer to morality without considering the religious aspect that people
were guiding in the Victorian era. The influence of the Anglican Church played a major
role in the Victorian period. The Church had control over the population, and therefore
preached the same values and qualities required by Victorians: obedience and
acceptance in terms of human destiny. Women had the future predestined, since
childhood they were educated in order to become good wives and mothers, while men
could draw their own destiny and they could enjoy the pleasures of life. Society was
divided into two sides, those who believed in God and those who agreed with Darwin's
evolutionary theory. Although the religious attributes were considered essential in the
formation of human character, not many were able to keep their mind and soul
untouched by the impurity of the world. Those in higher social classes were
characterized by power, money, and fame. They could do well for the needy, but they
were completely disinterested in offering help. They were supposed to be an example
for the community, but they reflected what was most ugly to the human being:
superficiality, disinterest, hypocrisy and fakeness. Instead, they imitated mercy,
generosity, and they kept their appearances in terms of moral character. Almost
everyone was hiding behind masks that embody the qualities and values required by
society. The whole moral structure of society was based on lies, falsity, hypocrisy and
superficiality.
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2. THE LIFE OF VICTORIAN WOMEN

2.1 Love, Courtship and Marriage in the Victorian Era

The first thing we need to understand in terms of the Victorian era is that it was
extremely long and that there were great political, social, religious, educational,
economic and legislative changes along the way. The Victorian period was first of all a
transition period for all those who lived in those times. The concept of Victorianism is
used to describe the exploitation and sharing of people in social classes, hypocrisy and
superficiality, sexual repression, the values of family life, the hard work of the poorest
people, including children and women in working classes.

English society was divided in social classes, who lived in different areas and
respected certain social habits: middle class, working class and the aristocracy and
landed gentry. Women who were part of the middle and working class worked to
support themselves, besides the domestic tasks they had to do. Therefore, women
worked in laundries, shops, tailors, factories etc, and girls aged 15 to 20 worked as
maids in aristocratic classes. For many girls from the working class life as a servant in a
respectable middle-class household had its benefits: living conditions were more
comfortable, they could save money even if wages were low, their chances of making a
good marriage increased because they could meet different types of men: apprentices,
tradesmen, and male servants.

In the book Daily Life in Victorian England written by Sally Mitchell, we found
that a man or woman until the age of 21 needed the consent of a parent or guardian to
marry. After marriage, women lost any right over dowry, including income, if they
worked. Women were regarded by men as simply a reproductive organ, access to
education was limited, and the only skills they needed were organizational ones. The
most appreciated qualities in girls reaching the age of marriage were beauty, grace and
femininity. 4 Courting was done in public, usually at balls or lunches. Depending on the
social class, couples had fewer or more freedom.

4
Sally Mitchell, Daily Life in Victorian England, Greenwood Publishing Group, 1996, p. 121
 15

There were well-defined rules regarding the courting process. For example, a
woman was not allowed to walk unaccompanied or to address a man's first word
without being introduced. Sexual contact was forbidden before marriage. Because
marriage was considered a business, few marriages were based on the love of husbands.
The main role of the Victorian woman was to be a mother and a good wife. This role
involves taking care of the children and the husband, the preparation or supervision of
the house tasks, the maintenance of the guests, etc. In the book Women and Marriage in
Victorian Fiction, Jenni Calder mentions: It was the wife who made the home, who cared for
her children within it, who brought her husband back to it when work was done, who provided
the hot dinners and created the atmosphere of comfort and protection. 5

Unmarried women were considered a threat to the stability of the Victorian

society, where the first mentality was that the family is the foundation of a home.
However, this aspect cannot be generalized because everything was looked at depending
on the social class in which the women were involved. Except for the working class,
women were not allowed to go out to work; this role belonged to men who became
responsible for family financial security. In another book by Jenni Calder, The Victorian
Home is mentioned that for a woman marriage meant the acquisition of an ‘establishment’,
her own place, financed by her husband, [...], a place where she had at least some freedom of
6
choice and activity, which she might not have had at all in the parental home. A legal
separation from one’s spouse was difficult back then, if women left their husbands, they
did not have any rights to their property and children. The concept of Victorianism is
used to describe the exploitation and sharing of people in social classes, hypocrisy and
superficiality, sexual repression, the values of family life, the hard work of the poorest
people, including children and women in working classes. The first thing we need to
understand in terms of the Victorian era is that it was extremely long and that there were
great political, social, religious, educational, economic and legislative changes along the
way. The Victorian period was first of all a transition period for all those who lived in
those times.

5
Jenni, Calder, Women and Marriage in Victorian Fiction, Oxford University Press, 1976, p. 27
6
Jenni, Calder, The Victorian Home, Batsford, 1977, p. 9
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Another aspect that we found out from Claudia Nelson’s book, Family Ties in
Victorian England, that (…) the Victorian was witnessing a boom in advice manuals, and
specially in advice manuals aimed at women. (…)7 Maternity was considered to be a quality
that you were endowed with; the woman was the one who cared for the children, the
father rarely appearing in the familiar landscape. We find nothing magical in the status
of married woman of the Victorian Age. It seems that everything was limited to
physical beauty, obedience and the quality of being a good wife and mother. Few
marriages were based on love, most were simple business / transactions between
families belonging to the same social class. Sexuality itself was thought to be something
impure, women lost their morality and purity if they were seen in a compromising
position. Therefore, women were considered either frigid or the opposite of frigidity.
Once she got lost, she was considered a fallen woman, and was banished by the whole
society.

We can conclude on these aspects that the social environment of the Victorian Era
was characterized by superficiality, ignorance and indifference in terms of life. The
emphasis was not on love, but rather on financial compatibility. The marriage was made
between individuals who came from the same social or similar classes.

7
Claudia, Nelson, Family Ties in Victorian England, Praeger Publishers, 2007, p. 26
 17

2.2 Women’s Education in Victorian Times

The Victorian period was considered the age of masculine domination in all
aspects of life. Women did not have legal rights, husbands or fathers had all their rights.
According to the time mentality, women had to take care of the children and the
household tasks. Their space was limited to the house.

Women were expected to be fragile, innocent and inexperienced. Victorian

families have grown their daughters in this mentality of obedience to men, so the
children knew the role they had to adopt in society. Thus, higher education was
considered useless by the family and society. Victorian education not only varies with
social classes but also helps determine them. Women's education has been long
challenged by men during the Victorian Era. It was thought that women had to be
educated rather superficially than thorough, as much as they could have a conversation
with someone. Women who wanted to study law, physics, medicine, science were
mocked, ridiculed and dismissed. They were considered "ornaments of society," all that
was expected of them was to be obedient, appealing and passive. Still, those who came
from the aristocratic classes had access to education through public schools that existed
because of their family donations or through home-based education. Victorian readers
were mostly women. Reading was one of their favourite activities, especially women in
rich social classes who had a lot of free time and were quickly bored. It was believed
that fiction can influence readers.

Joanne Shattock in her book Women and Literature in Britain, 1800-1900

describes the danger that those who read anything besides the Bible or light literature
passed through. The reason they thought it was dangerous for women to read was
because they read differently from men. While they were reading with their heads,
women were more involved, they lived the book and felt they had to do something,
8
change something. Therefore, they had access only to frivolous novels, children's
books, and religious books.

8
Joanne, Shattock, Women and Literature in Britain 1800-1900, Cambridge University Press, 2001, p. 277
 18

Levine takes into account John Ruskin's view of the Victorian period and includes
it in her book about Victorian Feminism. Ruskin believed that a woman's education
should be take into consideration a husband's need to share his interest with his wife
and conduct intelligent conversation with her. 9 It was not until 1870 that the girls'
education was taken into account and became mandatory for both sexes. Thanks to this
act, girls have been taught to read, count and write. An important aspect to be
mentioned is that during the victory period most of the teachers were women, despite
the fact that their salaries were very different from those of men. In her book, Lydia
Murdoch mentioned:

No matter what the job, women faced a set of common obstacles in the
workplace. The wages for female workers varied tremendously, as did the nature
of their work, but in practically all professions, women earned less than men. In
1883, for example, the School Board of London specified that the salaries of
female teachers should be three quarters of those for male teachers of equal
qualifications and experience. In 1890, male assistant teachers had an average
annual salary of 117 pounds, while women earned 88 pounds for the same work.
In addition to their subordinate status in relation to men of their profession, all
women workers shared the experience of being judged by the evolving,
contradictory Victorian gender ideal of femininity, which held that women
shouldn’t work outside the home and that women’s paid labor was unnatural 10

Music was considered as part of girls' education. They were taught to play
because it was considered to be a key quality for young ladies and forced to practice the
piano lesson in their childhood. Music, painting and poetry – all of them lead to the
concept of the perfect woman that the Victorians have embraced for a long time.

9
Philippa, Levine, Victorian Feminism 1850-1900, Univ. Press of Florida, 1994, p. 29
10
Lidia, Murdoch, Daily Life of Victorian Women, Greenwood, 2014, p. 143
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2.3 Victorian Women and Their Working Roles

We have discussed in previous chapters that women are deprived of rights and
used as decorators in the lives of men, be they dads or spouses. The role of wife and
mother was the only one that emphasized during the Victorian era. Much of the male
population shared the Victorian vision of women’s role in society; they were drawing
their daughter's future from their childhood, teaching them how to be obedient and good
housewives. The discrepancy between the role of the woman and the man was huge,
starting with their education, work, salary and their rights. Although women in the
working class worked side by side with men, they were paid less well, men diminishing
the importance of their tasks. Young women were captives within a collective masculine
mentality that undermined their importance and made them feel inferior to them.
Neither marriage provided them with many advantages; women losing their rights on
their own incomes, inheritances or personal property. They became the property of their
husband and had their own identity only through it. This gender discrimination has led
to many struggles for women's empowerment and equality. 11

At the same time, the world was divided into social classes, each having different
rights and different rules in which to lead their lives. Although, most women were
related to their houses, and their role were an organizational one, middle-class and
working-class women had to work to support themselves or because the men in the
family did not earn enough to survive.

Workplaces for women were few and poorly paid because the woman was not
supposed to do men’s work. Therefore, they were mocked, humiliated and compelled to
accept any kind of work that brought them something extra. Middle-class women could
work as governors, teachers, nurses, centralist, while the rest of the lower-class women
did not have a choice and were forced to work in factories, mills, coal mines, tailors, or
in the houses of the rich as servants or cooks. Urbanization has helped to create jobs for
women, despite working conditions and low wages.

11
http://webpage.pace.edu/nreagin/tempmotherhood/fall2003/3/HisPage.html
 20

From BBC site we find that women were a cheap, flexible and adaptable source
for work in factories, shops, tailors:

Some new technologies were adapted and modified with young female
workers in mind, while the cheap labour of women and children could also hold
back mechanization in favor of traditional labour intensive methods. Regional
and sectoral variations in the extent to which women were involved in waged
work had a major impact upon regional differences in gender relations within
families and communities, and upon the complexion of local politics and trade
unionism.12

The social status made a difference in terms of women's occupations. While

women in the Working class had different jobs to be able to support, the ones in the
Upper classes only dealt with the internal organization of the house. Most of these had
nannies, governors and maids, to maintain order and fulfil recurrent tasks: washing,
ironing, cooking, sewing etc. A daily task for middle-class women was receiving
visitors and paying visits. There was a well-timed program with the hours you could
visit and the hours you could get visits. Besides visiting, another common activity was
organizing dinner parties for their husbands and family members. Those were special
occasions through which they could prove their qualities and refinement. Many of the
freedoms we take for granted today came from the determination and perseverance of
women to fight against repression, sexual discrimination and patriarchal society.

12
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/womens_work_01.shtml
 21

3. DOROTHEA BROOKE AND SARAH WOODRUFF: HEROINES

WHO PAVED THE WAY TO MODERNITY

3.1 Dorothea Brooke a Later-Born (Saint) Theresa

Even the shortest biography about George Eliot makes it clear that she was not an
ordinary woman of her time. She had to make some crucial decisions that were not
accepted by her family and friends, yet she took the consequences of her deeds and
fought for her principles. Her way of life, choices, education, and the decision to write
under a male pseudonym are incontestable evidence of the "modern" woman who was
George Eliot. Her whole life experience is covered in her writings. She despised the
stereotypical novelist, the unrealistic and stupid romantic stories and tried to write rather
to his unconventional taste than by the preferences of the time.

For this work, I chose to analyze Dorothea Brooke, the main character of
Middlemarch, which looks very much like the writer herself. During her life, she had
many opportunities to observe the behaviour of different social classes and the
responses to life problems. The intrigue of his novels is carefully built to reflect the real
challenges of everyday life and how they shape us.

Middlemarch is the masterpiece of her life as a writer. In her novel she manages to
summarize her entire life experience, her thoughts, struggles and situations she faced in
real life. The characters are constrained by their unachievable expectations, but also by
the conservative society. The novel is remarkable through a deep psychological analysis
and sophisticated portraits. Feminine characters are trapped in the marriage trap,
becoming both conventional wives and mothers. Their personality is largely suppressed,
and the reasons are the money, the morals of time, and their inappropriate preparation
for life. Practically, in a small town, young women do not have too many choices to
choose their husband, just hoping to make a good marriage from a social and financial
point of view. George Eliot allows us to enter into their lives by joining their intimate
thoughts so that we empathize with them and judge their hasty or unfounded choices.
 22

The discrepancies in this novel come from the contradiction between illusion and
reality. Dorothea (the gift of the gods) is the heroine of the novel and has extraordinary
qualities that should lead it to a beautiful, happy life. Inside of Dorothea she put the
both masculine authority and the emotion of femininity. She is an almost perfect young
woman, beautiful, intelligent, independent, preoccupied with philosophy, spirituality, is
different from her semen, she does not want wealth, clothes or a wealthy husband.

Miss Brooke had that kind of beauty which seems to be thrown into relief
by poor dress. Her hand and wrist were so finely formed that she could wear
sleeves not less bare of style than those in which the Blessed Virgin appeared to
Italian painters; and her profile as well as her stature and bearing seemed to
gain the more dignity from her plain garments, which by the side of provincial
fashion gave her the impressiveness of a fine quotation from the Bible,—or from
one of our elder poets,—in a paragraph of to-day's newspaper. She was usually
spoken of as being remarkably clever, but with the addition that her sister Celia
had more common-sense.13

She wants her life to make sense, to become educated, to be nurtured scientific
curiosity, to be able to help his fellow men. She marries Edward Casaubon, who has
more than double his age, because she sees in him an erudite, a person of worldly
historical importance that can guide her spiritually. Unfortunately, Casaubon is different
than the ideal, a man wiped out without his own, sick and slightly mitochondrial, who
cannot value his immaculate personality. When she discovers her husband's true face
does not hate or scorn him, she does not see the relationship as a prison from which she
no longer escapes, but she emulates with him and continues to help him, to comfort him
in her illness. Although a young artist, writer, politician and husband's nephew, Will
Ladislaw, enters the scene, we will not have scenes of infidelity; the whole story is
romantic and so. The purity of the heroine is unspent, and the interactions between the
two are more intellectual.
In the way the portrait is outlined, there are modern elements, from the qualities
with which it is endowed, to the ideas and principles that guide it in life. Dorothea is not
a feminine, romantic and superficial character, like the other characters she is in the
antithesis. She does not share anything similar to Rosamond and other girls. She is an
atypical character, modernized, with particular abilities and inclinations for those times.

13
George Eliot, Middlemarch,Wordsworth Classics, 1994, p. 5
 23

On the one hand we have Dorothea, on the other we have Rosamond (the rose of
the world), a beautiful superficial and egocentric who cannot adapt his life to a
moderate and economical style. The girl made a good school alongside other high-
profile girls and wanted to climb on the social scale, reaching the aristocracy level.

We find in the portrait of the Dorothea central character not only a peculiar
physical beauty, but also a type of inner beauty characterized by empathy towards the
poor and the aspiration to change their lifestyle for the better. Dorothea takes shape and
distances itself from the other women in the novel in her 10 chapters dedicated to her,
but also at the end of the novel. Eliot leads us as a master through the various states that
Dorothea faces, from naivety, to disillusion and maturity. Dorothea is portrayed as a
young woman with strong opinions, showing more interest in culture, education, faith
and intellect than the rest of the women in the novel. She is put in antithesis with her
sister, Celia, and Rosamond, with whom she shares only physical beauty. From a social
point of view, the qualities of Dorothea are not well-seen by others, there are still
preferences for the common type of Victorian woman: silent, obedient, weak-minded
and naive. Her sister, on the other hand, is more suited to the female typology of those
times, and is in all respects in the demands of the Victorian society.

With the help of the contrast between the two sisters, Eliot raises an interesting
and totally new question in those times: if we all need to be faithful copies of society, or
must society learn to accept other human typologies? Another surprising element that
Eliot manages to portray through Dorothea's mentality is how she imagines her ideal
husband that does not fit the typical one accepted by society. Again, we see a visible
discrepancy between the mentality of Dorothea and the society in which it lives. It's as
if Dorothea would totally oppose all the beliefs and rules that Victorian society guides.
Dorothea is full of contrasts, contradicts in thoughts and decisions, and shows naivety
and lack of experience on one side but also maturity on the other. Although she
disagrees with her uncle's vision or women, she still accepts to be Casaubon's
intellectual shadow and help him in silence. She does not trust her qualities and intellect
to do something on her own, but she is quite confident she can find solutions to
everyday problems.
 24

She feels honoured at the thought that a man so clever and respected looks at her
and let it be influenced by imagination in the decisions it takes on marriage. Even if the
people do not agree with her decision and have doubts about the marriage between the
two, Dorothea naturally accepts his request in marriage and goes into it with great
expectations and illusions. Dorothea will have to think very well if she goes on with her
self-denial and sacrifice habits, to the detriment of her greatest happiness and desires.
Even though Eliot shows empathy for Dorothea, he does not hide his defects, and in
Chapter 4 we see his other face through Celia who tells him directly: you always see what
nobody else sees, yet you never see what is quite plain.14

We find in this chapter the theme of hiding in knowledge, immediately after the
loud discussion with her sister, Dorothea retires to read, using the books to hide from
those who draw attention to its defects. The discussion with her uncle about marriage is
another aspect related to how Eliot describes her, she has the impression that she knows
what to expect from marrying with Casaubon and does not listen to the old man who
speaks to her from experience.

Eliot hopes that Dorothea, with all his lack of experience and proof and the wrong
choices she makes, find her way in life, and does not interfere with the character,
keeping an objective tone, allowing her to mature without no help. Only in the
honeymoon, Dorothea realizes that her marriage is not in accordance with her own
expectations and the first conflict between them is taking place. Will's intrusion into the
life of the couple Dorothea - Casaubon, makes Dorothea aware of the difference
between Will and her husband, but also between her and Casaubon. She realizes that she
cannot wait for excitement, fulfilment and understanding from his husband and directs
her attention to Will. The irony is that Dorothea learns more from Will than she hoped
to learn from her learned husband. From this point begins Dorothea's journey of self-
discovery. She opens in front of Will, feeling that she is the only one who really
understands it and starts making the mistakes she has made until then. The return of
Dorothea and Casaubon in Middlemarch is marked by controversial discussions on the
subject of Will. Casaubon asks Dorothea to stop seeing Will, and she opposes the idea
and keeps on standing.

14
Ibidem, p. 29
 25

This scene gives some prediction of the final outcome - marriage breakdown.
With Will's help, Dorothea regains her energy and returns to her old passions. In chapter
39, she discusses the improvements she might make to her property and we can see a
new breath in her behaviour. The relationship between Dorothea and her husband is
getting worse, she finds in Will all the things she was hoping to find in her marriage.
Casaubon, wounded in jealousy and perhaps, a little selfish, assures that Dorothea will
not marry Will after his death mentioning this aspect in his will. Dorothea realizes that
she has lost herself in this marriage trying to please her husband, but continues to give
him her support. In chapter 43, Eliot shows us the differences between Rosamond and
Dorothea, putting them in antithesis. We find a Rosamond who likes to dress in fashion,
placing a great emphasis on vanity in contrast to a Dorothea whose style is more
simplistic, modest. While Rosamond is thinking of flirting with other men, Dorothea is
disturbed by the loyalty theme vs. desire. She wants to be with Will, but on the other
hand it is in her nature to remain true to Casaubon's faithfulness and the principles under
which she is built. It is surprising how Eliot succeeds in turning Dorothea along these
chapters, from a young intelligence who knows what she wants from life into a
depressed woman with masochistic tendencies who knows she can escape from this
harmful marriage, but she does nothing. We can draw some conclusions from all of her
experience, and perhaps the most important of them is that an inappropriate marriage
can leave you without energy, can stir your trust in you, it can break your hope and all
the optimistic thoughts with which you entered in that relationship.

Dorothea gives the impression of a martyr, which sacrifices for others, without
waiting for anything in return, only that she is waiting for attention and love and their
lack in her life turns her into this woman without the will we no longer know anymore.
In Chapter 49, Casaubon dies, but not before asking Dorothea to do his will even after
his death. Dorothea’s response is delayed, thus absolving her conscience from giving a
response that would not please him. Chapter 50 brings the two sisters face to face, Celia
cheerful than ever, dressed radiantly in opposition to Dorothea who wears mourning
clothes for a husband she has not loved. We believe that everything will begin to change
with the death of Casaubon, but Dorothea continues to live in the same conditions,
according to the same rules, and although he is longing for Will, she does nothing to
begin a relationship with him.
 26

At home at Celia, she is suffocated by the attention and love that her sister wears
for her child, and she feels she has to move away so she can put her mind and life in
order. Even at the meeting with Will, Dorothea did not show her affection for him, on
the one hand because of pride, on the other because Sir James did not approve of the
relationship between them. Will leaves disappointed with Dorothea's behaviour and the
fact that she did not admit that she feels anything for him. Dorothea eventually succeeds
in passing the test of the society, who advises her to live with another widow according
to their rules, motivating that she cannot manage without the support of a man. She
begins to realize that lately she has done the will of others, and less her will, and refuses
any help, returning to her principle, that a woman can succeed alone in life. She no
longer wants to get married because she realizes she's different from the other women
around her and she's turning to help others instead.

Finally, we can see Dorothea's strong and determined character, which

differentiates her from the rest of the female characters in the book. It seems that the
journey to maturity has come to an end for Dorothea, who seems to have learned her
lessons and is ready to triumph as a completely independent, powerful woman and
determined to succeed in life. Pride is the only thing that stands between Dorothea and
Will, once removed they can be happy together.

In Chapter 72, Dorothea is tested again in her attempt to help Lydgate. She is
struggling to support her plan to help Lydgate, but she is sabotaged by men who
consider women to be weak minded, unwise and less intelligent. Even her sister, Celia,
is the same opinion, considering that women should obey men and accept their will.
Dorothea must maintain her position and do as conscience dictates, so she risk losing
herself as she did when she was married to Casaubon. The end result of Dorothea's
transformation we only see at the end of the book, in chapter 77, where we can see that
Dorothea has become herself and is determined to live her life in accordance with her
principles. She is no longer interested in what people around her think of her because
she is aware of her ability to manage her business, money and property without the
support of a husband. She has more confidence in her and is determined to struggle to
be happy, as it emerges from chapter 80 - give up mourning and begin to wear colour
clothes.
 27

Dorothea is an amalgam of contrasts, feelings, and all-encompassing experiences,

such as the jealousy and anger that encompasses her when she sees Will with
Rosamond, then calm down and realize she really loves Will. In Chapter 81, Dorothea is
able to give advice to Rosamond, speaks to her from her own experience, and has the
strength to return to the past and talk about her feelings. The storm in Chapter 83
symbolizes the dismantling of all the barriers between Dorothea and Will, and finally
Dorothea has truly become herself and has learned how to make life-saving decisions.
Its transformation is complete. From the naive young woman in the past to the strong
woman who admitted she was in love with Will and gave up everything for him. The
last chapter captures Dorothea and Will together, we find out that they have a child,
Will has entered politics and that Dorothea is finally happy. An end that has succeeded
in bringing all the attempts by which Dorothea has gone and symbolizes the struggle of
the woman for self-overtaking in a society that does everything to undermine women's
inner strength.

Dorothea differs strongly from the other female figures in Middlemarch, but also
from the women of the Victorian period. Eliot has rewritten the Victorian woman's
usual pattern, putting inside of Dorothea all the dreams, ideals, and feelings of women
who were looking for something more than the values imposed by Victorian society.
Dorothea is an atypical character, endowed with physical, moral and intellectual
qualities that place it above other characters. The attempts by Dorothea are familiar to
us; we can say that they have maintained their actuality and that they are cases in which
we find ourselves in this character and in her story. She is beautiful, but she is not
hateful, she has qualities, but she does not pride themselves with them, she is rich, but
not selfish, she has problems, but that does not prevent her from thinking about others.
He is a noble, simple, humble, brave character with a high degree of morality.

Religion occupies an important place in its life, perhaps, and for this reason
remains faithful to its principles and suffers like a martyr along the novel. She is smart
and keen to learn more, which makes her get involved in various projects: create better
places for her workers, help Casaubon with his work, help Lydgate at the hospital, etc.
She successfully portrays the portrait of today's business woman, the woman who thinks
she can succeed on her own and does her best to prove it.
 28

Dorothea's choices throughout the book prove the naivety and the lack of
experience that constrains with her strong and determined nature. It would seem like she
learns from mistakes, she is able to mature and make wise decisions, but the final
surprises her by making herself the same mistake as the beginning, turning into a victim
of circumstances. She chooses marriage at the expense of her dreams that could have
made her happy and fulfilled. Eliot shows disappointment about the choices his
character makes, but she does not intervene to correct her steps. She accepts the idea
that in life you cannot have everything you want and that no matter what your choices
you cannot be fully happy: (…) a pity that so substantive and rare a creature should have
been absorbed into the life of another, and be only known in a certain circle as a wife and
mother.15Another aspect that deserves to be mentioned is the influence of Charles
Darwin's theory, which plays an important role in the stories exhibited in Middlemarch,
but especially in character building.

In Chapter 4 of The Origin of Species, Darwin presents the idea of sexual

selection in the animal world. Eliot uses this idea in characterizing his characters,
especially in feminine behaviour. Darwin points out that the appearance is what matters
for both sexes, but Eliot adds to this idea, emphasizing additional aspects such as
money, fame, title etc. Even Dorothea accepts Casaubon because she feels he is closest
to the idea of "perfect husband" in her mind. Casaubon is a scholar, rich, prestigious and
can help to fulfil her intellectual needs. The relationship between man and woman, the
code of conduct between the two sexes are aspects mentioned in the Middlemarch, Eliot
being careful to describe their behaviour thoroughly. Even Darwin's idea of the survival
of the strongest is exposed in the book, women being considered by men biologically
weaker. Eliot does not hesitate to show the opposite of this idea and makes her feminine
characters strong characters, regardless of the situations they are exposed to. Through
the antithesis between Dorothea and Celia, Eliot point to Dorothea as the strong and
dominant personality of that relationship. Celia fully embodies Darwin's idea of
sexuality. She dresses nicely to attract men, emphasizes physical appearance, is
obedient, sometimes superficial, but manages to remain a pleasant presence throughout
the book.

15
Ibidem p. 686
 29

This behaviour does not please Dorothea, who tells her: It is so painful in you, Celia
that you should look at human beings as if they were merely animals with a toilette, and never
see the great soul in man's face.16 Because Celia's mind was rather childish, she follows
the pattern of the usual Victorian woman - she marries a rich man, has a baby, and a
quiet life together with him. Dorothea's independent and determined nature helps her
take the role of the man in this sister-sister relationship. In the book George Eliot's
Creative Conflict we meet the Freudian theory's presence in the maturing process,
fantasy analysis and defence mechanism of the character Dorothea Brooke. Not many
writers of the times wrote about the conflicts within the human being, nor did they show
interest in what is happening in the consciousness of each of us.

Eliot manages to be familiar with these inner aspects of human life, most likely
feelings borrowed from his own life experience. Dorothea's character shows a
tremendous inner power along the book, always leading a struggle against her feelings,
mentality and desires that are not accepted by the society she lives in. Although, she is
aware that she is a particular woman, Dorothea is influenced by the opinions and
prejudices of others as to how to be a married woman. She strives to appear obedient,
humble, shy about the knowledge she possesses, but this conflict causes suffering and
unhappiness. She disagrees with the statement that men are smarter than women, that
they are stronger and that they can achieve more than women. She suffers because she
has to succumb to the will of her husband who does not have the slightest desire to
17
infuse knowledge or to please her. It is set aside and treated as if it were a feeble,
unnecessary woman with opinions that do not deserve to be shared. The hardest hit
comes from the fact that she is not understood and accepted by the husband she chose.
She realizes late that she has lost herself because of the desire to please others and
struggles to find herself during the book. Eliot's characters are not self-sufficient, they
go through inner states through situations and challenges that help them mature, change,
evolve. Is Eliot's psychological vision of human consciousness, the seriousness with
which she treats soul subjects, the subtle analysis of human character, and the reasons
behind the choices we make in life that make her a modern writer.

16
Ibidem p. 16
17
Emery, Laura Comer, George Eliot’s Creative Conflict., Berkeley and Los Angeles: University Press of
California, 1976 p. 182
 30

3.2 Sarah Woodruff as an embodiment of the New Woman

The reason why Sarah Woodruff is my second choice is mainly due to John
Fowles and his postmodernist vision of Victorian society. John Fowles is a profound
writer who succeeds in portraying through the love story between Charles and Sarah the
image of the Victorian society with its pluses and minuses. The demarcation of social
classes is one of the main themes of the novel. Every character is aware of the class he /
she is part of and behaves as such. Fowles uses the twentieth-century perspective to
criticize Victorian society from a moral point of view. The universe represented by the
Victorian society is guided by superficial values, where duty, reputation and moral
conduct are more important than goodness and honesty. The preoccupation of characters
to live life according to appearances is harshly criticized by Fowles by mirroring the
behaviour of Sarah Woodruff who lives in accordance with her principles of life and not
by the requirements of the community.

At first sight, The French Lieutenant’s Woman is a love story, focusing on the
relationship between Charles and Sarah. The action of the novel begins with Charles - a
scientist - who visits her fiancée in Lyme. The thread of the narrative is interrupted by
the appearance of a mysterious woman, named Sarah Woodruff, who manages to attract
Charles's attention. Initially, Charles's interest in Sarah is similar to his interest in any
irrational issue. He is curious about her, and the mystery that surrounds her accentuates
Charles's desire to decipher her. Throughout the novel, his interest in Sarah grows and
turns into love. Charles wakes up in a situation where he has to make a crucial decision:
to marry Ernestina or to break up and ask Sarah to marry him. It's a difficult choice,
because Sarah is not the ideal woman's prototype, but on the contrary, she's the opposite
of everything that means to be a good wife and mother. Despite the fact that Sarah is an
outcast of the society, that she does not have a good social position and no good
reputation, Charles chooses her. In fact, by choosing Sarah he chooses liberty,
independence and the opportunity to create his own path in life. The Narrator finally
surprises us about Charles's relationship with Sarah. It turns out that their love story was
a Sara's manoeuvre to obtain freedom and independence.
 31

It seems that Sarah was not the French lieutenant's mistress as it was thought of,
but she assumes this role to win her freedom. Charles is completely troubled by the
discovery that Sarah was actually innocent and does not know how to react. That
moment of reflection gives Sara the chance to run out of town, leaving behind a
disoriented Charles. He continues to look for her, calls on detectives and acquaintances;
he does the best to find her and propose marriage. The narrator takes us by surprise once
again, letting us decide on the end of the story. He proposes three different endings and
leaves us "free will" in this regard. Somewhere in the background of this love story, the
narrator takes care to capture the image of the Lyme community under the influence of
Victorian values.

The novel is centred on Sarah Woodruff - a feminine, mysterious character since

the beginning of the narrative. Sarah is a woman who breaks the patterns of a rigid
society and who, even though she lives almost 100 years ago, thinks and behaves like a
woman who lived a century later. She lives her life according to her decisions; she is
stubborn to acquire her freedom and opposes all rules of social and moral conduct. She
deliberately defies the rules of her community and deliberately transforms into a
mysterious and outcast character.

Sarah's story is known to the entire Lyme community, who knows that she's lost
her virginity, and she's the bastard of a French lieutenant who left her. People's
prejudice turn Sarah into an outcast character, is marginalized, has no friends, finds no
decent work, and lives in loneliness, trying to cope with the little money saved. In the
eyes of society, Sarah has lost any privileges he would have had due to his education.
She is a fallen woman, ignored by society, maligned by the whole community. This is
the stain he carries with serenity and acceptance. Her bad reputation it does not
influence Charles's judgment, which sees pain and suffering in her eyes and seems to
understand her. Sarah's modernism comes from the desire for freedom and
independence that characterizes her, differentiating it from Ernestina. She has the ability
to see through people, which removes her from the world and makes her way of life
difficult. 18

18
Brooke Lenz, John Fowles: Visionary and Voyeur, Amsterdam – New York, 2008, pg. 102
 32

Fowles spends a lot of time in Sarah's mind, but he does not fully understand it.
She is a complex character, built with ambiguous thoughts and a complex mind. It is not
influenced by the stereotypical and traditional roles of the ideal woman. In search of
freedom, she does not hesitate to use her image as a fallen woman. All she wants is to
be alienated from the patriarchal ideology of time, according to which the woman must
fulfil two roles: that of wife and mother. From a fallen woman she turns into a new,
modern woman, helped by her association with Rossetti, but also by stubbornness that
rejects the idea of marriage. Sarah is built from the images, opinions and judgments of
others about her. We can see it through the eyes of Charles, Ernestine, Mrs. Poultney
and the other characters she comes into contact with. For Ernestina, Sarah is a
disturbing presence, especially because of the alleged sexual conduct and her unusual
behaviour. The fact that Sarah is able to defy the entire community and live outside their
rules makes her look odd and incomprehensible, both by Ernestina and by those with
whom Sarah comes in contact. Both Mrs. Poultney and Ms. Fairley define Sarah as “a
public scandal”19 and a “wicked Jezebel” both traditional labels for those who challenge
the values of Victorian society and moral conduct. Dr. Grogan looks at Sarah from a
scientific point of view, and he believes that her reckless behaviour is caused by illness,
melancholy and hysteria, all because of her suffering. Charles is the only one who sees
something else in Sarah:

There was something intensely tender and yet sexual in the way she lay; it
awakened a dim echo of Charles of a moment from his time in Paris. Another
girl, whose name now he could not even remember, perhaps had never known,
seen sleeping so, one dawn, in a bedroom overlooking the Seine. He moved
round the curving lip of the plateau, to where he could see the sleeper’s face
better, and it was only then that he realized whom he had intruded upon …. It
irked him strangely that he had to see her upside down, since the land would not
allow him to pass round for the proper angle. He stood unable to do anything
but stare down, tranced by this unexpected encounter …. He came at last to the
very edge of the rampart above her, directly over her face …. It was precisely
then, as he craned sideways down, that she awoke. 20

Charles observed the visible contrast between Sarah and Ernestina. The unusual
combination of severity, highlighted by conservative clothing and sore hair, strongly
constrains Ernestine's feminine and fashionable nature.

19
John, Fowles, The French Lieutenant’s Woman, New American Library, 1969, p. 104
20
Ibidem p. 224
 33

Charles is fascinated by Sara's unconventional behaviour and becomes obsessed

with her face: It was as if after each sight of it, he could not believe its effect, and had to see it
again. It seemed to both envelop and reject him; as if she was a figure in a dream, both standing
still and yet always receding.21

Sarah is a 'necessary' character, both in Charles's evolution, and also to highlight

the mentality and prejudice of the Victorian society. Sarah's complexity also resides in
the inner strength that Fowles has endowed with. She finds the power to rise after she
has been criticized and marginalized and even continued with her life in the same
community that stigmatized her. She is a young intelligent, vivacious, who sees in
Charles the solution to all her problems and weaves around him a sad story that seduces
him. Fowles is uncertain about the love of the two, it seems that Charles alone is the one
who loves and tries to escape Sarah from the burden of the soul he carries as a martyr.
But this whole story is just a sneaky game of Sarah, which we can only understand at
the end of the novel, when Fowles shares Sarah’s vision of accomplishment, happiness
and peace of mind. Despite all the things that happen to her, Sarah is a survivor who
gives us an impressive lesson about the courage to start looking for freedom and defy
the unwritten rules of Victorian society. Sarah strongly contrasts with the female
Victorian model and, to a great extent, with Ernestina who embodies all the qualities
required by a woman's society. It has neither the beauty, nor the grace, nor the money,
nor the obedient character imposed by society; it is the modern element of the novel that
embodies the idea of freedom and emancipation of all women. Sarah is perhaps the only
character that does not change during the book. She remains faithful to her principles;
she knows what she wants and how to get that.

Both Sarah and Charles are built on Sartre's theory, which has as its starting point
the idea that man first exists, is confronted with himself, appears in the world and is
defined afterwards. The beginning is surprising in the roles given by society: a
gentleman and a prostitute, then each of them faces various experiences and situations -
Sarah is stigmatized by the society, Charles is troubled by the thought of breaking her
engagement with Ernestina; one of the endings finding them separate, Charles in search
of Sarah, Sarah living a completely different life with her daughter.

21 Ibidem p. 98
 34

Fowles takes Sarah through various situations in order to portray her, but also to
highlight the shortcomings of the community. Appearances need to be kept within the
community and when Sarah recognizes the body's decadence loses its job and place
within the Talbot family. Almost immediately becomes a pariah of society. She is
treated with indifference, she does not find work, and she has to survive from the
savings. Only the priest's intervention and Mrs. Talbot's recommendation help her find a
job to Mrs. Poultney. We tend to think that Sarah got rid of gossip and financial burden,
but working for Mrs. Poultney is a test that proves too much for her. The fact that she is
spied on by servants and treated ugly by Mrs. Poultney strengthens Sarah and causes her
to seek solutions. These attempts are designed to test her inner strength and
consciousness, because she has to make crucial decisions about her. Sara's portrait is
built from the trials, challenges, and humiliations that he has to endure. Although
society wants her obedient and does its best to show her what the ideal woman should
be, she defies the opinions and advices of others and guides herself according to her
own principles.

We can say that Sara is the facilitator of Charles's evolution but also his liberator.
It is the opposite of all the values embodied by Victorian society, symbolizing the
mystery, the wilderness, the taboo, the passion, the desire, and the forbidden things.
 35

4. THE VICTORIAN WOMEN TYPICAL MODEL INTRODUCED

BY CELIA BROOKE, ROSAMOND VINCY IN MIDDLEMARCH
AND ERNESTINA FREEMAN IN THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT
'WOMAN

This chapter complements my demonstration of how the main female characters

in the two previously mentioned novels were rethought and rewritten. Both Eliot and
Fowles believed in the existence of atypical women in the Victorian era, modern in their
thinking and intellect, but also in personal desires and needs. Being so different from the
rest of the feminine society, they have not been able to withstand too much under the
pressure of time rules and conduct and have sought to free themselves from community
constraints at any cost.

This is why Dorothea and Sarah, who defied the society and its absurd rules and
made bold and commendable choices, were at the heart of my election. By choosing
Will, Dorothea renounces her fortune left by will and violates any existing rules at that
time, thus regaining her freedom to make decisions as far as it is concerned. The
sensation of captivity, of uselessness, collapses when it finds itself and is able to make
crucial decisions regarding her person. Sarah, through her decision to remain alone,
actually chooses the freedom to live her life as she thinks, without restrictions, without
rules, without feeling ostracized and marginalized by the community. It is an important
decision, taken as a result of the situations it has passed and the experience that has
strengthened it from a mental and soul point of view and turned it into a woman who
fights with all weapons for what he thinks will make her happy.

In contrast to these two complexes, powerful and modern characters, there is the
'model' woman of the Victorian society, embodied in Middlemarch by Dorothea’s sister,
Celia, and Rosamond, which I will analyze below. As far as the novel The French
Lieutenant's Woman, I will examine Ernestina Freeman in contrast with Sarah
Woodruff, both helping Charles in the process of evolution. Why are they important to
mention? Because through them we have a clear picture of how the ordinary Victorian
woman should be, the woman wanted and accepted by society, the woman who
embodies all the values, qualities and abilities of a community model.
 36

I would like to remind you of those qualities and values imposed by Victorian
society to see how they are related to our female characters. The ideal woman was
primarily supposed to be feminine, intelligent, obedient and very well acquainted with
the role she would fulfil - that of her wife and mother.

We may also notice that the Victorian vision of the woman is superficial; the
qualities desired by society do not help women to find fulfilment and happiness in life.
The characters end up alone or caught in relationships that do not bring any kind of
fulfilment to them. They are limited to do just what they have been taught since
childhood, simulating obedience to men, preserving appearances and taking care of their
reputation. These characters are the opposite of Dorothea and Sarah, but with their help
we manage to truly understand the real face of Victorian society and the obstacles that
many women faced over time.
 37

4.1 Celia Brooke – Another Face of Victorian Womanhood

Celia fits perfectly with the period in which she lived. It is not highlighted by
other women, it is a character characterized by obedience, grace, moderation and
simplicity. She is attracted like any of her age of material things, fashion and other
superficial subjects, but she possesses integrity, good sense and a dose of
perceptiveness. Celia does not approve her sister's intellectual wishes because she
believes that society expects women to have poor opinions.

She is the opposite of all Dorothea's views, including the opinion she has about
Casaubon. She does not understand her sister's fascination with this old scholar who has
nothing attractive and rejects from the start the idea that Dorothea might marry him. 22
Her vision of the ideal man is embodied by James Chettam with whom she marries and
has a baby. She is relieved of disturbing inner living and bold wishes, the only roles she
longs for are the role of wife and mother. Eliot puts it several times in the book in
opposition to her sister to highlight the differences and constraints between the two
characters. Behavior, thinking, clothing are just some of the elements of antithesis
between the two sisters. Even if she seems to have naive thinking and is considered a
weak character, Celia demonstrates a few times that she is a sharp-witted mind and
knows how to read between the rows. Celia is a character built of qualities and defects,
imitating human nature very well; she is naïve, sometimes superficial, interested only in
the human surface, not the profound human nature. But, she is young and still has the
opportunity to learn and mature.

Perhaps Celia does not have a special place in the book, being just a shadow of
her sister, with whom she is often compared to, but she remains a graceful, delicate
female character, an example of a Victorian woman and the values of those times.

22
Devin, Griffiths , The Age of Analogy: Science and Literature between the Darwins, John Hopkins University
Press, 2016, p. 189
 38

4.2 Rosamond Vincy – an Epitome of what 19th Century Seeks in Women

Rosamond is a delightful and feminine presence that immediately delights the

doctor arriving in town. Embodying all the values of the Victorian woman, she contends
with Dorothea in all respects. Eliot criticizes her quite harshly throughout the novel,
highlighting her defects and less beautiful parts through the situations in which she is
exposed, but also through the choices she makes consciously. She relinquishes her
origins, wants something more from her life, and longs for belonging to a social class
more important than the middle class she is part of. He does not know the value of
money, although he aspires to a financial status through which she can satisfy his needs
and the whims of a spoiled young woman. The connection between Rosamond and
Lydgate seems to be just a relationship without emotion and love; she sees Lydgate as a
good perspective. We can see that in the relationship of the two, described by Eliot,
predominates elements of Darwinist theory, because both are young, beautiful, from
good families. What is attractive to Rosamond are good manners and physical beauty,
but her personality is unpleasant and not appealing. Lydgate is blinded by these
qualities and feels in love with what is on the surface without realizing that these
abilities are simply learned and practiced over time.23

Rosamond's portrait is a critique of feminine values demanded by Victorian

society, with which Eliot disagrees. Although it embodies almost all the qualities
required for a good wife and mother, Rosamond is a disappointment; she does not know
how to be a good wife and mother. She plays different roles, both with Lydgate and
Will, she cannot please with what she's got, the money is not enough to fulfil her
whims, she does not feel loved by her husband, she does not know what she wants or
how to react to the various situations to which she is exposed. Compared to Celia and
Dorothea, Rosamond is not characterized by naivety or lack of experience, but is
portrayed as cunning, intelligent, narcissist and ambitious. Rosamond's manipulative
behaviour results from the way he treats those around her.

23
Lee Anna, Maynard, Beautiful Boredom: Idleness and Feminine Self-Realization in the Victorian Novel,
McFarland & Company, Inc. Publishers, 2009, p. 73
 39

To get her father's consent to marry Lydgate she threatens him: You would not like
me to go into a consumption, as Arabella Hawley did. And you know that I never change my
mind. 24 She also promises, Lydgate she will not ride, but she does not intend to keep her
word:

I beg you will not do anything of the kind, Tertius,” said Rosamond,
looking at him with something more marked than usual in her speech. “It will be
treating me as if I were a child. Promise that you will leave the subject to me.”
There did seem to be some truth in her objection. Lydgate said, “Very well,”
with a surly obedience, and thus the discussion ended with his promising
Rosamond, and not with her promising him. 25

She is described as a duplicitous character that sees her own interest, unable to be
empathic. She plays excellently the role of a naive and submissive woman to impress
and attract Lydgate in order to marry him. Her disappointment in marriage causes her to
focus on Will. Inspired by his devotion to Dorothea, she imagines she could change his
feelings in her favour.

Rosamond felt herself beginning to know a great deal of the world,

especially in discovering—what when she was in her unmarried girlhood had
been inconceivable to her except as a dim tragedy in bygone costumes—that
women, even after marriage, might make conquests and enslave men…How
delightful to make captives from the throne of marriage with a husband as
crown-prince by your side—himself in fact a subject—while the captives look up
forever hopeless, losing rest probably, and if their appetite too, so much the
better! 26

The moment Dorothea surprises her with Will is decisive for her transformation. Eliot
describes the inner change produced in her in detail: (…) the terrible collapse of the
illusion towards which all her hope had been strained was a stroke which had too thoroughly
shaken her: her little world was in ruins, and she felt herself tottering in the midst as a lonely
27
bewildered consciousness Wiping her female charm on a man who does not appreciate
it leaves her weak, powerless, hopeless and with low self-confidence. This blow leaves
her vulnerable and open to Dorothea's words, with which she empathizes for the first
time in the novel.

24
George Eliot, Middlemarch, Wordsworth Classics, 1994, pg. 291
25
Ibidem p. 480
26
Ibidem p. 410
27
Ibidem p. 734
 40

Dorothea's experience and inner feelings, the way she spoke to her, touched her and
made her aware of certain things, including the fact that she can decide for herself. The
scene that surprises them by talking is symbolic; they save one another from pride and
vanity and offer each other a new chance of happiness and love.

Rosamond, taken hold of by an emotion stronger than her own – hurried along
in a new movement which gave all things some new, awful, undefined aspect –
could find no words, but involuntarily she put her lips to Dorothea's forehead
which was very near her, and then for a minute the two women clasped each
other as if they had been in a shipwreck. 28

Rosamond's transformation is not permanent, its relationship with Lydgate is not

improving, but it still marks the trajectory of her life, bringing little improvements to the
way she lives her life.

28
Ibidem p. 655
 41

4.3 Ernestina Freeman – Embodiment of Victorian Values

She is Charles’s fiancée. She is portrayed as the typical Victorian woman,

embracing both rules and values of those times. She is young, attractive and has all the
qualities that Victorian society requires from a woman. “She is really pretty” “has
exactly the right face for her age” and dresses according to fashion trends. 29

In addition, it comes from a good family, has a peculiar education and a

substantial fortune. It is clear why Charles sees in her the perfect woman with whom he
imagines will be happy. With her around, Charles feels comfortable. Still, Ernestina,
despite being outlined as a typical Victorian woman, has her own drawbacks. She is
naive about sex, what she knows is from hearing or what she sees in nature, she is
scared and horrified that one of her obligations as a married woman is to agree with
what she considered a bestial version of Duty. 30

Fowles built his characters based on Jung's archetypes and Freud's theory of
human mind, and Ernestina is no exception. Both she and Sarah are female archetypes
designed to help Charles in the process of evolution. Charles is in love with the idea of
(…) waking up on…a morning, cold, grey, with a powder of snow on the ground, and seeing
that demure sweetly dry little face asleep beside him – and by heavens legitimately in the eyes of
both God and man beside him , while Ernestina is in love with the idea of freedom. Just
like any single-parent child, coming from a wealthy family, Ernestina has been
pampered, loving and protected by them, being from childhood the centre of their
existence: Since birth her slightest cough would bring doctors; since puberty her slightest
whim summoned decorators and dressmakers; and always her slightest frown caused her mama
31
and papa secret hours of self- recrimination She considers the care of her parents as
cumbersome and wants to distance themselves from them. Even if at first Ernestina
looks like a sweet, feminine and naive young woman, she loses her charm in the process
and looks like Mrs. Poultney or any other lady in the high society who likes to gossip
and distribute rumours.

29
John, Fowles, The French Lieutenant’s Woman, New American Library, 1969, p. 32, 34
30
William, Stephenson, Fowles's The French Lieutenant's Woman, Continuum, 2007, p. 47
31
John, Fowles, The French Lieutenant’s Woman, New American Library, 1969, p. 84
 42

The education received does not escape the superficiality with which he treats
every aspect of his life. Including in the process of Charles’s seduction she shows
archness and cleverness proving some abilities in addition to the other youngsters who
were looking to seduce him. She does not seem attracted to Charles's passion for
palaeontology, but on the contrary, he is indifferent to his hobbies, thus managing to
draw attention to her. She cautiously showed a gently acid little determination not to take
him very seriously… She would, she murmured, send him any interesting specimens of coal she
came across…or she made sure other attractive men were always present. 32

Subject to the strict rules imposed by his parents and society, Ernestina shares her
life between her parents' house, Aunt Tranter and the occasional visits she makes. She is
not a sexual person like Sarah, much because she has been taught to suppress her
desires. After kissing Sarah, Charles no longer feels any desire for Ernestina, the kiss's
passion cancels any sexual thought about his fiancé. Ernestina does not feel a special
attraction for Charles, but she accepts him because that's what her mind dictates. He is
an eligible bachelor, respected in society and therefore a good husband for her.
Ernestina shows her true face to the end, when Charles breaks the engagement and
admits he cheated her. She is angry when she hears that she has been cheated and
threatens Charles to hurt him in society and will do so to be treated as an outcast. She
looks disgusted by Charles's behaviour and worries about the story he's going to have to
say to his friends and the world. She does not suffer from love, but rather from shame.
Her perfect life that she imagined broke up in a moment and she cannot imagine how
her life will look like.

Ernestina really knows how to make her enjoyable and how to emphasize her
femininity in order to be admired. She was taught how to behave like a real lady, but all
she can do is copy and imitate social conventions. Ernestina is built on the basis of the
values and moral conduct of Victorian society, embodying the prototype of a woman
lacking passion and sexual as well as a society that rewards moral behaviour, but she
fails because it's not genuine in the role it has to play.

32
Ibidem, p. 82
 43

5. CONCLUSION

In conclusion I would like to resume the key points of my paper. I started from the
basic idea that the woman was considered by the Victorians as ‘the angel of the house',
nothing more than a silent and obedient accessory. The traditional Victorian society was
known for preserving moral values in terms of relationships between people, placing
great emphasis on origin, reputation, wealth, and education regarding men only. The
role of the woman was already established, she was educated from an early age
regarding to the role she would later fulfil – that of wife and mother.

The ideal portrait of the Victorian woman was a mix of qualities, abilities and
values that she had to fulfil. Origin was very important in establishing the social class.
Depending on this, society’s expectations were higher or lower. From those in the
Upper Classes, society demanded both physical and moral qualities. Beauty, delicacy,
femininity, obedience were just some of the qualities required for young women
preparing for marriage. It required a minimum of education in terms of music, foreign
languages, reading and counting, but only for those in the upper and middle classes.
However, women considered to be 'weaker sex' are required to have a strong character
and to be the husband's support, but also those who are in charge of organizing the
house.

Therefore, the role of the woman is much wider than we imagine and becomes a
burden with time especially for those who were born with another mentality. There are
women who are endowed with the qualities of a good wife and mother, and women who
feel "captive" in the role that has been predestined to them. The two female characters
analyzed in this paper are examples of unconventional women who defied the rules of
the Victorian Society in the desire to make their own way in life. They are complex,
profound prototypes designed to emphasize human consciousness and to make light
regarding the rules after which Victorian Society is oriented. They disagree with the
erroneous mentality of the society that defines them as "weak sex" or "the angel of the
house"; they had other desires and objectives, were guided by other principles and taken
into account other aspects in achieving the desired life.
 44

The two characters are built in order to surprise and "awaken" human
consciousness. For this reason, they go beyond the "traditional" sphere of Victorian
model society and create their own way in life, defying at the same time the rules, social
norms, values and opinions of the community in which they live. Loss of reputation and
outlawed 'quality' are just a few risks they have to take in order to gain access to
freedom and independence that only a life outside the rules can offered them.

In their desire to surprise with ‘modern’ creations, the two writers also managed
to capture the image of the Victorian Society shattered by the idea of preserving
traditional moral values and the idea of progressing. Both Eliot and Fowles had tried to
draw their characters as an extension of their personal experience and vision. Eliot
merged Shelley's sublime with Darwin's theory of natural selection and used them to
outline the portrait of Dorothea. Fowles rises by introducing existentialist elements,
evolutionist theory and Jungian psychoanalysis in terms of the human mind. Eliot puts
his mark on the portrait of Dorothea. She turns a naive young woman into a woman who
is struggling for personal independence.

In Fowles' novel, the master stands in front of his creation. Traditional meets
unconventional in a perfect combination of characters, living and conflicts. Sarah
embodies existentialism being rejected by the entire community. By assuming this role,
she gains both freedom and a place in society. Sarah is thought of as a dual being, with
many battles inside her. It awakens Charles's conscience and causes him to evolve, but
also causes chaos around her, through defying social norms, moral conduct, destroying
the relationship between Charles and Ernestina, scandalizing the community through its
unconventional behaviour and Charles’s disillusion. Through Charles's eyes, we see
another Sarah compared to what the narrator introduces to us. A woman who embodies
all of Charles's unspoken expectations: life’s mystery, enchantment, freedom, adventure
and sexual fulfilment.

In addition, both characters represent the characteristics of male behaviour caused

by the absence of a maternal figure. They were raised by men who imbue them with
intellectual curiosity and aspirations beyond the limit imposed by society, which has
developed their attractiveness and curiosity for activities associated by Victorian period
with men.
 45

Attracted by education, the two characters rather reject than attract eligible men
for marriage, leaving the impression that they would invade their intellectual territory.
Because of her interest in science and education that exceeds the limit imposed by
society, Dorothea endured an unsuccessful marriage and isolation, and Sarah assumes
her role as a community outsider and a ‘fallen woman’ in order to obtain liberty.

Victorian society expects a young woman to seek a suitable husband, who has the
desirable qualities of proper social and economic position. Once a woman marries
becomes a symbol of her husband’s social status. Dorothea's desire to bring
improvements to the community comes in contrast with the role of the wife and her
duties to deal with the house's chores and the organization of internal tasks.

The same contrast is found in Sarah Woodruff who, in the desire to gain freedom
and independence, violates the norms of society, raises questions about her reputation
and doesn’t hesitate to manipulate Charles. Both Eliot and Fowles used in building their
characters their personal experience, their knowledge in various fields, and their beliefs
about the Victorian period.

Fowles even used Rossetti and the Pre-Raphaelite movement at the end to
highlight the imperfections, hypocrisy and hollowness of the Victorian society. In the
book, Conversations with John Fowles, he supports his point of view on equality
between men and women, and points out that this is just one aspect he has deprived of
Victorian society. 33 Eliot, on the other hand, she uses her entire experience and the
obstacles she had to face in order to succeed as a woman writer, to create a character out
of ordinary, unique through his thinking and behaviour, capable to defend his ideas and
principles.

My work shows the struggle against the patriarchal society in which they lived
and who does not recognize their rights, the desire for education that is not allowed, the
need for freedom that society is unable to offer, and the ways in which they fight against
these restrictions. Also, the purpose of my work was to show how both writers have
managed to give life to characters capable of defying time through the uniqueness of
their thinking.

33
Dianne L. Vipond, Conversations with John Fowles, Univ. Press of Mississippi, 1999, p. 42
 46

Fowles mentioned in the interview he gave for the book Conversations with John
Fowles that he also used elements from Sartre's and Camus's philosophy to describe the
34
characters. There are many aspects that show us the superiority of the characters
Dorothea and Sarah in relation to the women of Victorian Era.

We can therefore conclude that both Sarah and Dorothea are atypical characters,
redesigned and rewritten from a totally opposite point of view to Victorian values and
principles. I wanted to demonstrate through this work that the woman is not the weak
sex, nor the angel of the house, and in no way inferior to the man.

34
Idem 32
 47

6. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Allen, Dennis W. Sexuality in Victorian Fiction, Norman and London: U of Oklahoma

P., 1993

Beauvoir, Simone, The Second Sex, Jonathan Cape, 1956

Lenz, Brooke, John Fowles: Visionary and Voyeur, Amsterdam – New York, 2008

Calder, Jenni, Women and Marriage in Victorian Fiction, Oxford University Press,
1976

Calder, Jenni, The Victorian Home, Batsford, 1977

Chesterton, G. K. The Victorian Age in Literature, London; Oxford University Press,

1961

Cooper, Pamela, The Fictions of John Fowles. Power, Creativity, Femininity, Ottawa,
Paris: University of Ottawa Press, 1991

Emery, Laura Comer, George Eliot’s Creative Conflict. Berkeley and Los Angeles:
University Press of California, 1976

Fowles, John, The French Lieutenant’s Woman, New American Library, 1969

Griffiths, Devin, The Age of Analogy: Science and Literature between the Darwins,
John Hopkins University Press, 2016

Qiming, Ji, Freedom in “The French Lieutenant´s Woman. Theory and Practice in
Language Studies, Vol. 3, 2013

Levine, Philippa, Victorian Feminism 1850-1900; Univ. Press of Florida, 1994

Maynard, Lee Anna, Beautiful Boredom: Idleness and Feminine Self-Realization in the
Victorian Novel, McFarland & Company, Inc. Publishers, 2009

Murdoch, Lidia, Daily Life of Victorian Women, Greenwood, 2014

Mitchell, Sally, Daily Life in Victorian England, Greenwood Publishing Group, 1996

Nelson, Claudia, Family Ties in Victorian England, Praeger Publishers, 2007

Palmer, William, The Fiction of John Fowles: Tradition, Art and the Loneliness of
Selfhood, Columbia: University of Missouri Press. 1975

Stephenson, William, Fowles's, The French Lieutenant's Woman, Continuum, 2007

 48

WEBOGRAPHY

http://www2.ivcc.edu/gen2002/women_in_the_nineteenth_century.htm

http://webpage.pace.edu/nreagin/tempmotherhood/fall2003/3/HisPage.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/womens_work_01.shtml