Author: pugluvrrr

In “The Yellow Drawing Room” by Mona Caird, Vanora, the protagonist, paints her entire drawing room yellow. This is met with appalling reactions from a man who is trying to court her, as he thinks that his ideal woman would be better associated with “a nice tone of grey or blue.” During the Victorian era, it was expected that women were subdued (like these colors) and that they were acting in accordance with the wants of the men in their lives. The yellow drawing room introduces the idea of “the new woman” into Caird’s short story. This is Vanora’s first mentioned deviance from the norm. Throughout the story, we learn of Vanora’s creativity and humor, both of which support her rejection of old norms and reclaiming of her domestic space. 

The fact that her main act of rebellion is in the form of a drawing room which is typically used for entertaining and displaying wealth, demonstrates her rejection of the typical hosting and entertaining duties that come with Victorian associations of the domestic home and womanhood. She also rejects domesticity by knowing that she will not be happy in that environment, despite the assumption that that is what all women should need to be happy. She says that “the threat of being excluded from the realms you mention does not terrify me.” She does not care to conform to the old norms that 

In addition to this, she expresses her personality and uses humor. St. Vincent even says that her “personality seemed to enwrap me as a garment.” This shows that Vanora is sure in her identity and personality and she knows what she wants. This is reflected in the reading from the Victorian Web that states that the new woman deals frankly with sex and marriage. Her confidence stands in contrast to the submissive and reserved nature that was often expected of Victorian women. Through Vanora’s character, Mona Caird critiques the restrictive past of Victorian society and advocates for a new role for women.

On pages 273-74, Marain has a dream in which she sees Walter Hartright in various settings such as stranded on a wrecked ship, in a forest, lying on the steps of an old temple, and in front of a tomb. Throughout this dream, Marian’s subconscious places Hartright into numerous deadly situations. Throughout the situations he becomes more and more alone, and in larger amounts of danger. Throughout this passage, Walter often refers to himself, and the “me” is italicized. It is also used in reference to his fate, usually him being spared. For Marian to think of Hartright in this way shows that she thinks of him as separate from other variables in her life, and he is going to be responsible for solving whatever mysteries are surrounding them. 

In Freud’s “Remembering, repeating, and working through,” he discusses dreams as a way for unconscious desires and memories to come to the surface. Especially in terms of repetition, where he believes that one “repeats everything that has already made its way from the sources of the repressed into his manifest personality” (page 151). Before describing her dream, Marian claims that she has not thought of or talked about Hartright all day, but he just appeared in her mind. This combined with the repetition of him appearing repeatedly in multiple different locations shows that she is experiencing an unconscious fixation on Walter Hartright, despite her conscious denial of thinking about him. The fact that these thoughts only appear when she claims to not be in control of her mind support Freud’s idea that our repressed desires come to us in dreams and other “weakened” states. While Marian appears to be one of the stronger women in the novel, this dream shows her unconscious fears that she does not want to acknowledge, as well as her fixation with Hartright.

“The little beast, cowardly and cross-grained, as pet-dogs usually are, looked up at him sharply, shrank away from his outstretched hand, whined, shivered, and hid itself under a sofa. It was scarcely possible that he could have been put out by such a trifle as a dog’s reception of him, but I observed, nevertheless, that he walked away towards the window very suddenly. Perhaps his temper is irritable at times. If so, I can sympathise with him. My temper is irritable at times too.” (133)

This passage stuck out to me as it is the second time this dog is mentioned, although both are just brief. I believe it is the companion of Miss Farlie, as earlier in the novel Hartwrite refers to it as “the pet companion of all her walks” (92). Dogs are often symbols of loyalty. This dog shows itself to be loyal to Miss Fairlie as not being friendly towards Sir Percival, a man whom Miss Farlie also does not show warmth to. Sir Percival reaches out to the dog as an extension of trust, but the dog does not reciprocate and instead follows this act by hiding. This dog is also characterized as scared and lesser than, while he is the only creature who is properly understanding Sir Percival’s intentions. While the reader already has a negative impression of him so far, this furthers the narrative that Sir Percival is going to be an antagonist in the story. 

Gilmore also claims to be observant, yet seems to not realize the suspicious maneuver of Sir Percival to the windows, he instead thinks this must be due to irritability. This movement of his is also a slight slip of the facade that he has been putting on. He insists that he has nothing to hide and up until this point has exuded confidence. This slip, although it goes right over Gilmore’s head, alludes to the reader that he is hiding something despite no human being able to pick up on it yet. This theme furthers the “reading between the lines” narrative that the book is doing. Just as the reader can discern Sir Percival’s hidden intentions through small clues, this scene suggests that the characters themselves must learn to “read between the lines” to uncover hidden truths themselves.