Women in Victorian Literature

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that the Victorian era was one in which massive inequalities existed between men and women; women were not allowed to vote, and in many cases, their right to own property was tenuous, and their place in society was limited. The author points out that "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" deals in the inequities women face and their serious consequences for the sex. "Sense and Sensibility" deals with the full spectrum of gender issues, while approaching the gendered system as posing problems for both male and female lovers, and "Wuthering Heights" seeks to transcend gender within love altogether, even though its characters, in this sense, often fail. The paper relates that each of these stories deals with the romance of a strong Victorian heroine struggling to survive in a male-dominated world, illustrating the difference in financial power between men and women, the inconsistencies in sexual mores that exist between the genders, and the difference in status made obvious in their different approaches to marriage.

From the Paper:

"In "Sense and Sensibility", the financial difference between men and women affects every one of the characters, and is in fact the cause of the family crisis at the novel's beginning. In the opening scenes, the reader discovers that the Dashwood girls have been left impoverished by their father's death. The family's entire estate has been left to their father's son by his first marriage, due to the patriarchal nature of of inheritance laws in England, which dictates that an estate goes to the nearest male relative. However, it appears the women are capable of having certain property rights, for a woman may inherit money from her parents and pass it on to her husband and children. In this case, Mr. Dashwood had money from marrying a wealthy woman in his first marriage, but on his death that money as well went to her son and could not be used to support his second wife and daughters."

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