ENGL 360 Romantic Women, Victorian Men
Course Aims and Learning Goals
This course in 19th-century literature will use gender as a lens through which to view this revolutionary era. How did male authors talk about female subjects in these works? How did female authors invest authority in male and female voices? What current stereotypes about gender can be traced to Romantic and Victorian literary works? Rossetti will claim that goblin men sell a dangerous fruit that women often buy. Hardy will call an out-of-wedlock mother “a pure woman.” Society will damn him for that description: why? We will work to understand the sources of contemporary critical interest in—and scholarly discussion of—these authors and texts from a variety of critical perspectives. Study of these works will provide the basis for independent exploration of these and other Romantic and Victorian writers and prepare English majors for their ENGL 403 & 404 year.
Required Paper Texts
Norton Anthology of English Literature, The Romantic Period, Volume D
Norton Anthology of English Literature, The Victorian Era, Volume E
Frankenstein, The Norton Critical Edition
Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Ed. Beth Newman. Bedford St. Martin’s
Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. Norton Critical Edition.
Hardy, Thomas. Tess of the D’Urbervilles. Ed. Scott Elledge. Norton Critical Edition
Websites for Romantic Women, Victorian Men
Romantic Circles
Romantic Chronology
Women of the Romantic Period
A Romantic Natural History
The Victorian Web=
The Victorian Women Writers Project
The Victorian Canon
Course Requirements
Students will be expected to come to class prepared to discuss the assigned readings for each day. Discussion will form an important part of class work, and students will sign up for two (2) discussion introductions based on our weekly reading schedule. Students will be evaluated on the basis of class participation, two critical essays (6-8 pp., 14-16 pp.), and a comprehensive take-home final exam. Class participation will include written exercises and discussion introductions. Two (2) unexcused absences will be grounds for lowering your grade in the course. The first essay will allow you to work closely with a single text; the second will require that you provide a critical context for research into works by a single author. Assignment sheets for both essays will be distributed three weeks before the essay due dates. The comprehensive final exam will be composed entirely of essay questions.
Schedule of Readings and Discussions
January
26 T Syllabus as text: men and women, expecting the literary unexpected; 29 F Blake 112-148
FEBRUARY 2 T Wordsworth 270-292 & 330-342 and Dorothy 402-415; 5 F Coleridge 437-487
9 T Percy Shelley 748-779, 832-855; 12 F Frankenstein
16 T Frankenstein; 19 F Keats 901-951
23 T (Essay #1 due); 26F Jane Eyre 1-123
MARCH 1 T Jane Eyre 124-293; 4 F Jane Eyre 293-441 + Jane Eyre, the critics 445-501
8 T Mary Wollstonecraft 194-198 + 208-252; 11 F Anna Aiken 589-593, Ann Radcliffe 598-601, Felicia Hemans 884-900, Letitia Elizabeth Landon 996-1014
15 T SPRING BREAK; 18 F SPRING BREAK
22 T Byron 612-622, 672-725, 742-744, John Clare 869-883; 25 F Great Expectations 9-163
29 T Great Expectations 163-264; APRIL 1F Great Expectations 264-359
5 T “The Woman Question” 1607-1635, Emily Bronte 1328-1338 ; 8 F Tennyson, 1156-1185, John Stuart Mill 1086-1122
12 T Browning 1275-1321, E. B. Browning 1123-1137, 1152-1155; 15 F Arnold 1369-1387, Christina Rossetti 1489-1511
19 T Darwin lecture 1560-1579; 22 F Tess of the D’Urbervilles 1-119
26 T Tess of the D’Urbervilles 119-219, Hardy’s poems 339-351; 29 F Tess of the D’Urbervilles 219-314
MAY 3 T Pre-Raphaelites 1463-1470, Morris 1512-1524, Swinburne 1525-1536; 6 F LAST CLASS Final Essay due in class: take-home exam review
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MAY 16 Monday–Final Exam due (12:00 NOON, 192 KAUFMAN)
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Questions and Comments About Romantic Women, Victorian Men
My own sex, I hope, will excuse me, if I treat them like rational creatures, instead of flattering their fascinating graces, and viewing them as if they were in a state of perpetual childhood, unable to stand alone. – See more at: http://www.bl.uk/collection-items/mary-wollstonecraft-a-vindication-of-the-rights-of-woman#sthash.OQ1IKnCq.dpuf
—Mary Wollstonecraft
What makes Jane Eyre such a unique 19th-century heroine? What makes Tess of the Durbeyfield such a typical one?
Jane Eyre unsettled views as to how women should act and behave, suggesting, in Lady Eastlake’s eyes, almost an overthrowing of social order. Unlike the long-suffering heroines in Charlotte Brontë’s early writings, who pine away for the dashing, promiscuous Duke of Zamorna, Jane demands equality and respect. ‘Do you think’, she demands of Rochester, ‘I am an automaton? – a machine without feelings?’. She speaks to him as one spirit to another, ‘equal – as we are’. – See more at: http://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/jane-eyre-and-the-19th-century-woman#sthash.VaJOaX2O.dpuf —Sally Shuttleworth
What was so revolutionary about Jane Eyre as a female heroine in 19th-century fiction?
The two sexes now inhabited what Victorians thought of as ‘separate spheres’, only coming together at breakfast and again at dinner. The ideology of Separate Spheres rested on a definition of the ‘natural’ characteristics of women and men. Women were considered physically weaker yet morally superior to men, which meant that they were best suited to the domestic sphere. Not only was it their job to counterbalance the moral taint of the public sphere in which their husbands laboured all day, they were also preparing the next generation to carry on this way of life.
– See more at: http://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/gender-roles-in-the-19th-century#sthash.TOflFX1W.dpuf —Kathryn Hughes
Are there still traces of “separate spheres,” or a “double standard,” in relationships between the sexes in 2016?
Calm Lab (if this is your first 300-level class in the English Department)
If this is your first 300-level class in the English Department, you need to make sure that you registered for English 300, the “Critical Approaches and Literary Methods Laboratory,” colloquially known as CALM Lab. Please make sure you have registered for this lab (in the way that you regularly register for a class), enrolling in English 300.
The syllabus for that lab includes two class meetings (in the evening) and written assignments connected to these meetings. If you have questions about the CALM Lab, please contact Chris Bombaro [bombaroc@dickinson.edu] in the Waidner-Spahr Library. She is the instructor for the CALM Lab and can answer any questions you may have. I will work closely with her on your CALM lab sessions and will attend at least one of the evening classes.
Academic Honesty
The Dickinson plagiarism policy will be strictly enforced. This class adheres to the college’s Community Standards, which clearly state: “Students are expected to do their own work. Work submitted in fulfillment of academic assignments and provided on examinations is expected to be original by the student submitting it.” Please review the Community Standards document for more information. Please do not hesitate to ask me any questions you may have about citation, documentation, or academic honesty.
Accommodating Students With Disabilities
Dickinson College makes reasonable academic accommodations for students with documented disabilities. Students requesting accommodations must make their request and provide appropriate documentation to Disability Services in Biddle House. Because classes change every semester, eligible students must obtain a new accommodation letter from Director Marni Jones every semester and review this letter with their professors so the accommodations can be implemented. The Director of Disability Services is available by appointment to answer questions and discuss any implementation issues you may have. Disability Services proctoring is managed by Susan Frommer at 717-254-8107 or proctoring@dickinson.edu. Address general inquiries to Stephanie Anderberg at 717-245-1734 or e-mail disabilityservices@dickinson.edu.