Havelock Ellis’ Sexual Inversion was written long after, and obviously makes reference to, The Picture of Dorian Gray, but the imagery that Wilde uses is reflected in Ellis’ description of the sexually inverted boy. There are moments when the resonance in ideas and language is practically uncanny. The third paragraph in Chapter IX of Dorian Gray describes Dorian’s rising infamy in London as well as how that infamy is undermined by his beauty. In the excerpt from Ellis, he is interviewing H.C., a young male sex worker who goes by the name Dorian Gray. Ellis’ description of H.C. is eerily similar to how we read Dorian described early in the novel. The more encompassing connection however, is that for both of them, their outward beauty is a tool and a mask that allows them to commit many sins with seemingly little reproach. Despite his profession in the sex work industry, which even to this day is considered “sinful” and morally corrupt, H.C. is described by Ellis as having the “beauty of an angel” and his voice the “purity of a clarinet.” These kinds of descriptions are commonly reserved for people — particularly women, which connects this to some of the other readings about Urnings having a feminine spirit — who are considered morally and spiritually pure. Similarly, on page 91, Dorian is described as having “the look of one who kept himself unspotted from the world.” His beauty is so pure in fact, that “his mere presence seemed to recall to them the innocence they had tarnished.” These two young men are able to operate, somewhat, successfully as “sinners” because their outward “purity” makes their critics doubt themselves rather than doubt the beauty of the boys.
Victorian Era
John Addington Symonds and a Description of Dorian Gray
There is a passage at the beginning of chapter nine of The Picture of Dorian Gray that reminded me of the description of the homosexual male from John Addington Symonds’s A Problem in Modern Ethics. The passage from Dorian Gray reads: “The boyish beauty that had so fascinated Basil Hallward, and many other besides him, seemed never to leave him…Men who talked grossly became silent when he Dorian Gray entered the room. There was something in the purity of his face that rebuked them. His mere presence seemed to recall to them the innocence they had tarnished. They wondered how one so charming and graceful as he was could have escaped the stain of an age that was at once sordid and sensuous.” (Wilde 91-92)
Symonds wrote in his description that the male “Urning” basically has the body of a man, but the soul of a woman. He says that “his passions, inclinations, sensibilities, emotional characteristics, sexual desires–eludes the observation of the senses.” In the above description of Dorain Gray, Wilde wrote of Dorian’s “boyish beauty,” which leaves the impression that Dorian has an effeminate look about him, in spite of his male body. Wilde also writes about how he catches the attention of the other men in the room, who wonder at his state of innocence that they no longer have, and this also relates to Symonds’s claim about characteristics eluded by the soul. Dorain’s look of purity in his face could also allude to an effeminate nature of him, as purity was something more-so socially expected of women at this period, than men. The description of Dorian as charming and graceful also mark that his presence gave off an air of what would be considered as femininity, and noticeable by others. This would also connect with Symonds’s claim of the homosexual male seeming to have a feminine soul.
Prostitution in Victorian London
Flora Tristan’s account of prostitution in London, published in 1840, is remarkably sympathetic, filled with concern and even compassion for the sex workers of London. Tristan calls sex work “the most hideous of the afflictions produced by the unequal division of the world’s goods” and is very concerned by the “physical tortures” a sex worker faces daily in her occupation. Tristan takes a close look at the causes of women turning to sex work and criticizes societal inequities between men and women:
…let this monstrosity be attributed to our social state and let woman be absolved from it! As long as she is subject to the yoke of man or of prejudice, as long as she receives no profession education, as long as she is deprived of civil rights, there cannot exist a moral law for her! As long as she cannot obtain property only by the influence she has over men’s passions, as long as she has gained through her work or been given by her father, as long as she can have property and liberty only by leading a single life, there can be no moral law for her! And it can be positively stated that until the emancipation of woman has been achieved, prostitution will continue to increase.
Tristan blames men for the societal position of sex workers as well as their poor conditions and short lives. She writes about how disgusting the patrons are for torturing women by getting them really drunk and then giving them a concoction to drink that “almost always gives her horrible convulsions, and the jerkings and contortions of the unfortunate thing provoke laughter and infinitely amuse the honorable society.” Tristan targets the so-called classy English elite and criticizes them for their deplorable behavior and treatment of the women. Tristan brings up the fact that sex workers do not live very long for they are always obligated to drink alcohol with their patrons and they usually come down with pneumonia or contract sexually transmitted infections.
In Amy Levy’s poem “Magdalen,” Levy also addressed the issue of illness, disease, and sex work, however it is from the point of view of the sex worker herself. While Tristan’s piece is very sympathetic and calls for the emancipation of women to end the suffering of sex workers, Levy’s poem is even more sympathetic because the reader is listening directly to the voice of a sex worker. The woman is in a hospital designed for sex workers who have sexually transmitted infections to stay, locked away from the outside world in order to prevent the spread of disease, while the men, particularly the sailors, themselves were spreading disease. The speaker of the poem is shocked that she has contracted an illness from a man she slept with, the person to whom she is talking to throughout the poem. The hospital in which she is kept is miserable, where she hears other women cry at night:
At night, or when the daylight nears,
I hear the other women weep;
My own heart’s anguish lies too deep
For the soft rain and pain of tears.
The speaker of the poem also declares that she does not care to die because life has been so painful and death will finally be a time to rest. Like Tristan’s piece, Levy is bringing to light the physical and emotional hardships that sex workers deal with, however Levy’s “Magdalen” has her own autonomy. At the end she concludes that although this man has given her the disease that will end her life, in the end he does not define what her life was: “That all is done, that I am free; /That you, through all eternity, / Have neither part nor lot in me.”
Female Body as Commodity
Tristan begins her chapter on sex workers of London in the Victorian Period with an explanation of why they exist in the first place. Her argument is that all sex work is survival sex work. She says that their existence stems from the inequality of the sexes, particularly in England. The culture that places stigma on pre-marital sex for women, but does not instill that stigma for men invites this job as a remedy. It means that men can seduce or abuse young women with no risk to themselves, but at the cost of destroying those women’s lives. A woman must marry in order to assure a living for herself , because she is not allowed the same “occupations and professions” that allow for a living wage. However, in doing so she gives up her existence. Tristan describes this as choosing “between oppression and infamy.”
Tristan also blames the materialism and capitalism of an industrialized England. The more money accumulated by the upper classes, the poorer the poorer classes get. The more money these men get, the more they have to spend on the sex workers that they are creating by exploiting the poor classes that they come from. She describes seeing in a “finish” a beautiful Irish girl, who later that night she saw on the floor, her dress ruined, because people kept throwing drinks on her. She also describes seeing men create orgies in these finishes, in clear view of others, because they paid so much money that they should have that right. Tristan is describing a market of women’s bodies; where, rich men use them as things to consume and throw away, a growing symptom of the wastefulness of the industrial age. The actual humanity of these women do not matter, and is in fact ignored. When a sex worker is found struggling for breath after a john abuses her for allegedly giving him a disease, the man is not charged with any crimes towards the woman, but rather a crime for disturbing the peace of the neighborhood.
Hood’s poem, describing the body of a sex worker who committed suicide by jumping into the river, takes a stance on the “purity” of this woman. The speaker says to think “Not of the stains of her, / All that remains of her / Now is pure womanly.” And in the final stanza says “Owning her weakness, / Her evil behaviour, / And leaving, with meekness, /Her sins to her Saviour!” The implication of these words is that only through death could this woman receive any kind of forgiveness. She has done the noble thing by taking herself out of this world and placing her soul in the hands of God. Tristan says in her essay “To brave death is nothing; but what a death faces a prostitute! […] moral death all the time, and scorn for herself! I repeat: there is something sublime in it, or else it is madness!” The poem sees something sublime in her death, but sees her life as pitiful. It demands respect for her dead body that she would not have been given in life.
Victorian Views of Prostitution
Flora Tristan’s article not only sympathizes with prostitutes, but it outright and shamelessly condemns English society for forcing unmarried, entailed, and/or impoverished women to resort to a “job” that risks their health, safety, and sense of well-being. She sees the desperate act most clearly as a result from an unjust society, claiming, “…this revolting degradation is brought about by the disastrous effects of prejudices, poverty, and slavery” (2). Tristan also comments on the lack of options for women to support themselves, “Girls born in the poor class are pushed to prostitution by hunger. Women are excluded by work in the fields, and when they are not employed in factories, their only resource is domestic service or prostitution!” (2) Tristan also talks about the conditions in the whorehouses where women are played cruel tricks on when they’re drunk, such as being forced to drink a nasty mixture or glasses of all different kinds of beverages thrown on them when they are drunk. Tristan shows that the “fall” into the role of prostitute is not the worst part about being one, which leads me to think about Thomas Hood’s poem, “The Bridge of Sighs.”
Tristan wrote about the horrors of prostitution. Hood’s poem portrays a different perspective. While the poem is about the suicide of prostitutes, I feel that Hood, while sympathetic in some parts, does not quite grasp the whole reality that a prostitute is forced to live in and how she is ultimately, driven to her death. The first three lines of the third stanza show a sense of sympathy: “Touch her not scornfully;/Think of her mournfully/Gently and humanly;” Observing these lines, one might think that Hood holds a deep feeling of compassion towards the prostitute, and there is no doubt a sense of compassion is there, however, just as quick as Hood seems to be able to show this sympathy for these “fallen women”, he also condemns them, implying them as “One of Eve’s family” (1) and “Owning her weakness/Her evil behavior,/And leaving with meekness,/ Her sins to her Saviour!” My first question with these lines is, what weakness? It almost seems as if Hood is suggesting this woman wanted to be a prostitute for lustful reasons or something other than the sheer necessity of trying to survive as a lone woman in this world as is stated in Tristan’s article. The next part of this stanza, which states her “evil behavior,” once again condemns the woman and the woman alone. What about the men who used prostitutes? They were not condemned like this. Was their behavior not thought of as evil? As in Tristan’s article, they most certainly were.
Overall, Hood seems to try to sympathize with prostitutes, but more so for the sake of Christian forgiveness (still blaming the woman for her fall) rather than sheer empathy and compassion. Whereas, Tristan’s view completely understands and sympathizes with the prostitutes and condemns societal structures.
Jane Eyre and Fraser’s Sympathy for Governesses
This article, “Hints on the Modern Governess System” from Fraser’s Magazine presents the conflict of isolation in the role of the governess. While it does not outright combat the morality of whether a mother should teach lessons to her own children (as opposed to trusting them in the hands of a “stranger”), there are instances in the article that certainly seem to object to the idea of governesses, not because of any inadequacies, but because of the conditions of which they work under. The author writes, “Day by day the governess is worn by the disappointments the most promising child must inflict upon its teacher; but to whom can she, in her weariness, turn for sympathy?” (573) The writer indicates that the parents of the children do not want to hear of their child’s shortcomings, especially by a “third person,” so it leaves the governess in a complicated position. The indication of the governess as a “third person” also establishes her sense of inferiority to the rest of the household. This is just one aspect of the governess’s loneliness. She is also condemned to mere isolation when she is not with the children, “It is only the governess, and a certain class of private tutors, who must hear the echoes from the drawing-room and the offices, feeling that, in a house full of people, they dwell alone” (574).
Perhaps this idea of loneliness of the governess expands further than just her job at an estate. In Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, when Jane becomes a governess at the Thornfield estate, she is initially insulted and demeaned by Mr. Rochester (“No wonder you have rather the look of another world” (192)), even though Jane nonetheless, returns his insults with clever wit, this still confirms Jane as an inferior, given her position in the household. However, Jane has a more clever insight: “It is in vain to say that human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquility…Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel: they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts just as much as their brothers do” (178). I feel that this quote responds to the condition of women in general of course, but in terms of governesses specifically, it connects with the claims made in Fraser’s article, as these women who are deemed “odd” by Victorian society are subject to even greater loneliness even more when they support themselves.
Works Cited
Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre Ed. Richard Nemevari.Peterborough, Ont: Broadview, 1999. Print.
“Hints on the Modern Governess System.” Fraser’s Magazine. November 1844: 567-577 Print.
Stir-Crazy Governesses
According to the article, governesses were those women who were unhappy with their current state in life and who left “their quiet homes for the school-rooms of halls and castles” (569). The problem with these women is that Victorian society took advantage of the fact that there was a surplus in the number of governesses versus the number of positions. These women, who only hoped for a better education and maybe a better life, were left with low paying salaries and the burden of being the “hired strangers” (570). Governesses became the lowest class:
Many ladies would not dare treat their maids as they behave to the teacher of their children. Why? The maid had a broad field before her; she can afford to turn upon her mistress. The governess must endure all things. A low marriage or a slow death are her only loopholes of escape. (575)
The article then goes on to discuss the dissatisfaction that governesses deal with throughout their lives. They are unable to return home and unwilling to be paid any mind by their employers; “Governesses are usually a fretful, discontented race” (574).
Though Brontë’s character, Jane, is absolutely one of those discontented women that the appendix article talks about, she is saved when she attends Lowood. Jane had a very rough start in life, being orphaned and raised by an abusive family, and only dreamed of venturing out and knowing more of the world. Lowood gives Jane the tools she needs to apply and get her position at Thornfield Hall. Instead of following the “norm,” Jane is saved when she leaves the Reeds’. All that awaited her there was abuse with no affection, save that of Bessie, one of the maids. Jane truly benefits when she attends Lowood, especially after the typhus incident when other members of the community get involved and Mr. Brockelhurst is removed as sole caretaker of the girls. Jane never once regrets leaving her lavish home behind for the simplicity of Lowood.
Jane is happy at Thornfield Hall — Jane had “heard of the treatment of governesses” (Brontë 163). After some time, she finds that she still “desire[s] more of practical experience than [she] possessed, more of intercourse with [her] kind, [and] acquaintance with variety of character” (Brontë 178). It is right at the point that Jane begins to feel stir-crazy, the way the article predicted, that Mr. Rochester comes into the picture. Mr. Rochester does not treat Jane in the conventional way; instead of ignoring Jane he takes pleasure in her company and she in his. I feel as though the introduction of Mr. Rochester at this point in time is Brontë going against the ideas in the Fraser Magazine. Jane is not the crazy governess who will have to be sent to the asylum, she is witty and perceptive. The relationship between Jane and her employer is very odd, but Jane finds that she dreads the day Mr. Rochester departs because she will know what it truly is to be alone.
Works Cited
Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Ed. Richard Nemesvari. Toronto: Broadview, 1999. Print.
“Hints on the Modern Governess System.” Fraser’s Magazine November 1844: 567-577. Print
Victorian Governesses
The Victorians looked down on the idea of governesses because they upset the social balance. They were educated women who broke away from their life course in order to explore paths that were not previously open to them. It was stated that “many left their quiet homes for the school-rooms of halls and castles” (569). Many governesses turned their back on their old comfortable lifestyles. This ended up costing them because they were forced to work for an income or resort to a marriage beneath their ranks in order to live in comfort. Therefore, they were taken advantage of by the families who hired them because of their desperation. Becoming victims of their own circumstance, governesses were seen as unhappy women who were wasting away their youth on the education of families of varying social rank. Their position held little prestige because of its overabundance on the market. All they accomplished was upsetting the social order of things.
Brontë’s portrayal of governesses goes against the societal views. It offers a circumstance where being a governess is better than the alternative. While Jane is a ward of the Reed’s, her life is very bleak there. She is unhappy and poorly treated by her peers on a regular basis. It is not until she moves to Lowood that she is able to pursue her own education and start up a life based on her own wants. Jane remarks: “I had the means of an excellent education placed within my reach; a fondness for some of my studies and a desire to excel in all…” (149). While before she was just a girl living in ignorance and isolation at the mercy of her guardian, now she is set on a path toward independence and is happier than she ever imagined possible. If one had to pick from the two options available, the one that she chose certainly appears to be more agreeable.
Age Old Issues on Rape
I chose to learn about the Age of Consent/Children as Victims in Lee Jackson’s “Victorian Dictionary”. One letter was written in “The Times” on November 29, 1849, in which the author, “A Man” describes an appalling incident in which a little girl was pursued by a fifty year old man and the police officer, before finally pursuing the incident first claimed “he had no right to interfere”. It was shocking to me that the authorities would be so blazé, especially considering the rigid social propriety. Towards the end of the letter, the man goes on to state that the policeman “was familiar with occurrences like this”. Clearly this is a major unaddressed issue, right?
I continued onto the article concerning police duties in 1903, in which the process of rape prosecution was discussed.. There were many astounding facts within’ the reports, though I think there was definitely more that I wasn’t able to grasp because of the language and wording of the document. In the case of a rape, the attacker could only be prosecuted “within three months of the commission of the offense”. There also required additional evidence not including the original “defilement or attempted defilement of a girl under thirteen years of age” (Women and Children). Woman needed more proof than their own bodies. When you also consider the information in the Virginity section concerning the number of girls “fallen at, or under, the age of sixteen” to their own family members due to financial struggle, resorting to “juvenile prostitution” is astounding (Sherwell).
The articles opened my eyes to the overwhelming lingering lack of action our species has taken concerning such a disgusting act. Considering the amount of incest revealed in “Life in West London: A Study and a Contrast”, rape was a very prevalent situation in the young women of the Victorian era. I was also very surprised at the lack of propriety concerning this issue, especially after learning of all the social retaliation due to indecent decisions concerning virtue, like Lydia’s sham marriage with Wickham. These articles made me realize Pride and Prejudice definitely showed a nicer perspective of society from the era.
Works Cited
Childs, H. “Women and Children.” ‘Police Duty’ Catechism and Reports. Victorian London Dictionary. Web. 14 February 2016.
http://www.victorianlondon.org/publications3/catechism.htm#WOMEN
“Sex – Age of Consent / Children as victims – attitudes towards.” The Times. Victorian London Dictionary. Web. 14 February 2016.
http://www.victorianlondon.org/sex/childrenvictims.htm
Sherwell, Arthur. “Life in West London: A Study and a Contrast.” Victorian London Dictionary. Web. 14 February 2016.
http://www.victorianlondon.org/publications/westlondon-3.htm#firstsex
Victorian Opinions on Abortion
Abortion is a topic that has been argued both for, and against, for hundreds of years; nowadays the argument is pro-life versus pro-choice. The article that I read on Lee Jackson’s “Victorian Dictionary” is basically a very long rant that negates the practice of abortions. Augustus Gardiner, a physician in 1894, is the author of such an article. From the very first line we see his viewpoint on the topic of abortion; “Of all the sins, physical and moral, against man and God, I know of none so utterly to be condemned as the very common one of the destruction of the child while yet in the womb of the mother.” The article then goes on to talk about all the places in the world that practice infanticide and the reasons for such a practice. He mentions places like Greece and China and Sparta, places that practice infanticide due to deformities or religious practices, etc. These places are meant to serve as juxtaposition to England because the women in England were getting abortions due to “selfish” reasons. Gardiner states that the women would rather face “the heinousness of the sin; the possibility of death immediate and painful; the likelihood of prolonged illness and future debility; [and] the chance of a blighted being constantly before the sight…” rather than have their children. Gardiner really plays on the ethos of the people of the time by focusing on the fact that killing a child is an act against God.
The only credibility Gardiner has is that fact that he is an actual physician who probably encounters women seeking abortions on a daily basis. Unfortunately, it is known that the Victorian era was a time when women were seen as property whose only real purpose was bearing children and staying at home to cook and clean and raise those same children. Though I am not condoning abortions, I feel as though the women who were brave enough to seek abortions or even desperate enough to attempt to do it themselves were really women speaking out and taking back a piece of themselves that was given away the second they said, “I do.” Gardiner also contradicts himself at times. He states, “we can forgive the poor, deluded girl-seduced, betrayed, abandoned-who, in her wild frenzy, destroys the mute evidence of her guilt…But for the married shirk, who disregards her divinely ordained duty, we have nothing but contempt…” If abortion were truly evil then wouldn’t it make sense that it would be a sin to every woman who had one? Not just the married ones? This quote further supports my idea that his real anger is directed at the married women who did not really exist in the eyes of the law and of men.
Works Cited
“Victorian London – Sex – Abortion – Opinions.” The Conjugal Relationships as Regards Personal Health & Hereditary Well-being. Victorian London Dictionary. Web. 14 February 2016.
Lee Jackson’s Abortion Article: Here