Tristan, although expressing sympathy for the prostitutes, still feels disturbed by the lives and actions of the prostitutes of the time. She writes, “To brave death is nothing; but what a death faces a prostitute! She is betrothed to sorrow, committed to abjection!- Physical tortures incessantly repeated, moral death all the time, and scorn for herself!” (Tristan)

Prostitutes are perpetually placed in a state of despair, knowing that they are acting against God, committing sin, and shunned by mankind.

Despite this, Tristan heavily blames society for a prostitutes’ place in the world. Their place was created by a division of class as well as a separation of gender. These women were offered no eduction, and even those who were educated had very limited job options. Due to this, Tristan believes that prostitutes could not be deemed immoral for actions that were out of their control.

---

 

Thomas Hood, in his poem “Bride of Sighs” expresses this same sympathy for prostitutes. This view is similar to that of Tristan, but rather than blaming society and class differences, Thomas Hood associates the issue of prostitution with a lacking of family and close loved ones.

He blames the men for mistreating the prostitutes, rather than treating them as women, as humans. He writes, in lines 15-20,

Touch her not scornfully;

Think of her mournfully,

Gently and humanly;

Not of the stains of her,

All that remains of her

Now is pure womanly.

Thomas Hood feels great sympathy towards the prostitute, the subject of his poem, who ultimately kills herself by drowning. He wishes for the men who find her to treat her dead corpse with the same gentleness that he speaks of earlier in the poem.

---

Both Thomas Hood and Flora Tristan note that prostitutes are part of the lower class, and that prostitutes are without a home.. Thomas Hood, however, blames this lacking of a home (lacking of a family) for the desolate & lonely life of a prostitute, where Tristan blames class differences.

Flora Tristan blames Victorian London’s rampant prostitution on a number of factors, including an unequal distribution of wealth and society’s oppression of women. She discusses the prejudices which prevent women from achieving a high social status, such as their lack of professional education and their inability to own land. According to Tristan, if women were allowed the same education and to hold the same occupational positions as men, they would not be subject to the poverty and degradation that ultimately leads them to prostitution. She also states that women, since they are not treated as autonomous individuals, cannot be held accountable to any sort of “moral law”— in fact, they’re taught their whole life the “art of pleasing”, so how could they not, in desperation, turn to prostitution just to get by (Tristan)?

Tristan goes on to give a lengthy description of Waterloo Road, a dangerous area of London where prostitutes and pimps lurk while awaiting clients, and one of the “finishes”, a sort of cabaret/tavern where wealthy men engage in orgies with prostitutes. Tristan explains that these finishes are the “meeting places for high society where the elite of aristocracy assembles”, where these men can indulge in food, drink, and sex, committing all sorts of debauchery she describes as “ revolting and frightening”.

Tristan notes that most prostitutes succumb to disease within three or four years, if not in hospitals, where they are given last priority, then on the streets. In his poem, “The Bridge of Sighs”, Thomas Hood laments the loss of a young prostitute. While he calls upon the reader to mourn for the woman, “loving, not loathing” (14), and treat her body with tender care, he does not offer any sort of critique of society to mirror Tristan’s. Instead, he writes:

Make no deep scrutiny

Into her mutiny

Rash and undutiful:

Past all dishonor,

Death has left on her

Only the beautiful (21-26).

While Hood does ask the reader to forgive her for her crimes, he speaks of the prostitute as a rebel to society, a disgraceful and sinful person. Hood would probably argue Tristan’s point that women are not subject to a “moral law”, and in fact describes prostitution as “evil behavior” (104). He places the blame on the prostitute, not society. Yet the poem is not angry or damning; instead, it emits a sense of sympathy, or at least pity, for the prostitute’s plight. The prostitute is not a victim to society, but she is still a victim who has suffered at the hands of her own actions.

Tristan describes prostitution in the Victorian period as being an issue created by men.  She believes that because women and men are not treated equally, particularly in regards to sexuality, prostitution has become a lifestyle for fallen women.  She is quiet sympathetic to prostitutes and states, “When a dog dies he is watched over by his master, whereas the prostitute ends on a street corner without anyone’s throwing her a glance of pity!”  (Tristan 5).  This illustrates that a dogs life is more valued by society than a prostitutes.  I think the Thomas Hood poem agrees with Tristan’s article, because he too seems sympathetic towards prostitutes.  In his poem, he talks about a dying prostitute and states, “Take her up tenderly / Lift her with care” (Hood 1).  The poem still uses words like sin and mutiny to describe her profession, but uses caring language about how she should be treated in her death.  I think in a way Hood is blaming the women, but also takes the woman’s life history into account.  Tristan’s article blames society and does not blame women at all for becoming prostitutes, but Hood’s poem is harder to determine.  Hood seems to blame homelessness for prostitution because he references a woman not having a home a few times.  He also describes a homeless woman as being cold which I think is his way of giving her reasoning to become a prostitute.  Tristan brings money into the equation the same way that Hood does.  If a woman is homeless than how else is she supposed to live?  I do think that Hood partially blames the woman because of the way he discusses prostitution, but he also seems to be stating the only God can judge her sins, not men.  The last stanza of the poem seems to support this.

The author of the piece in the appendix is clearly against women becoming governesses.  The author believes that it is detrimental for a woman to become a governess because “the miseries of the governess may even swell that sickening glamour about the ‘rights of women,’ in which would never have been raised had women been true to themselves” (570). The author believes that women should not be educated and also makes claims that becoming a governess will make women go insane.  The author also seems concerned with how the role of a governess has upset the class system.  The author states that women who used to work in shops have now become governess and when they decide they don’t want to be governesses, women of lower class have taken their spots at the shops (569).  I think the author is upset that women have found a way to raise themselves up in class without the help of a man.  Bronte clearly does not agree with this portrayal of the governesses.  The author clearly thinks that becoming a governess leads to insanity, but in the novel Jane becomes a governess because, “I remembered that the real world was wide, and that a varied field of hopes and fears, of sensations and excitements, awaited those who had the courage to go forth into its expanse, to seek real knowledge of life amidst its perils” (151).  The author also seems to think women almost brag about their intelligence once they acquire it, but in the novel Jane is quite modest about her abilities.  Mr. Rochester is also fascinated by Jane and speaks with her as if she is his equal.  I think in this sense Bronte is trying to eliminate class differences.  Jane also does not upset the class system thus far in the novel because she was a teacher at Lowood and then becomes a governess which isn’t much of a raise in class.