Category: 360: Victorian Sexualities

The Nuclear Family and its perversions in The Woman in White

Not one family dynamic in Wilkie Collins’ The Woman in White fits into any definition of “the nuclear family” – that is, a married mother and father with children, residing in the same home. Laura, Marian, and Mr. Fairlie reside in the same home, unmarried and related to each other more distantly- when Laura marries, she and Sir Percival have no children, and neither do Count and Countess Fosco. After Laura/Anne’s death, she lives unmarried as siblings with Walter and Marian. Mrs. Catherick “raises” Anne as a single mother. And, as we learn about Sir Percival, he is not even really a “sir” at all. In Mrs. Catherick’s letter, she states “his father and mother had always lived as man and wife – none of the few people who were acquainted with them ever supposed them to be anything else” (530), indicating that his parents were not legally married and therefore he was born out of wedlock. Furthermore, she asserts his mother’s familial structure as far from nuclear, recalling “his mother had been living there just before she met with his father – living under her maiden name; the truth being that she was really a married woman; married in Ireland, where her husband had ill-used her and had afterwards gone off with some other person” (531). Thus, Sir Percival’s mother was not only living as a wife to a man she was not legally married to but was engaging in bigamy by being already married.  

The fact that Sir Percival’s history of perversion of the nuclear family dynamic is the “Secret” that serves as the catalyst for the entire novel suggests that the perversions of the family dynamics of every other character are equally important in understanding the novel. The disorder that comes with the establishment of non-nuclear families is a driving conflict of the novel overall; the dynamics between characters because of their relation (or lack thereof) to each other causes problems. For example, Mr. Fairlie’s distancing of Laura because although he is her legal guardian, she is not his daughter, causes several issues in the initial marriage proposal, as well as later, in failing (or refusing) to recognize her after her supposed “death”. Additionally, there is the added layer of members of a family unit having multiple roles within that unit. For example, Walter, Marian, and Laura are living together as siblings, while Walter and Laura are in love; and though Marian and Laura are in fact legitimately sisters, they have a running theme throughout the novel of having a level of intimacy that indicates potentially something more.  

The fact that the majority of these disorderly family dynamics are kept hidden or secreted in the novel harkens back to Freud’s interpretation of symptoms of neurosis in his “Remembering, Repeating, and Working Through”. His perception of repetition comes from the idea that a specific habit is created by the brain and body working together to divert attention from an unsavory secret, memory, or desire (150). Therefore, particularly in the case of Percival Glyde, his neurotic and obessive tendencies to protect his reputation, to find Anne Catherick, to commit to the plot of taking Laura’s inheritance, and to control those around him reflects this need to cover up the Secret that he is hiding, which is the disorder of his family situation. This can also be reflected in Walter, Marian, and Laura’s living situation, as Walter’s paranoia that they are being watched and followed, and fear of their disordered dynamic being discovered, prompts him to obsessively communicate with Marian via letters whilst he is away.  

Walter Hartright Tries to Sigmund Freud His Way into Solving a Mystery

Our first narrator in the novel, Walter Hartright, is completely obsessed with solving the mystery of the Woman in White. Both scenes in which he encounters her involve some level of psychoanalysis on the part of Walter. The motivating factor in his conversations with the woman in white (revealed to be Anne Catherick) involve understanding her past- who she is, where she came from, and what has happened to her to make her act the way she does. In “Remembering, Repeating, and Working Through”, Sigmund Freud outlines the phases of psychoanalytic treatment which lead to the discovery of the point of origin for a patient’s symptoms. This begins by encouraging the patient to remember forgotten memories, which leads to the patient’s repetition of past events or erratic behaviors and finally allowing them time to work through and process these sensations, overcoming the symptoms (Freud). In a way, Walter Hartright practices psychoanalysis in his observations of all characters, but most predominantly in conversations with Anne. By pressing her with questions meant to unlock her memory, leading her to produce repetitive and erratic behaviors, Walter is able to piece together parts of her story.  

Walter’s interest in discovering the mystery of Anne Catherick begins upon their first meeting on the road to London in the middle of the night. Walter immediately wants to know more about her, automatically acting under the assumption that there is a truth beneath the surface that is hidden. He comes to this conclusion by analyzing the way she answers his questions; when he inquires about her destination, she repeatedly asks him “not to interfere with me”, asking five times very quickly “will you promise?”, until he responds with “yes” (26). Walter reads this behavior as mysterious because of its rapid repetition and panicked nature, leading him to dig further into psychoanalysis of Anne’s character as he attempts to discover the source of her panic. When he meets Anne for the second time in the graveyard, Walter further pushes his psychoanalytic investigation, asking more and more pressing questions until Anne begins to exhibit behaviors triggered by memories. When he questions her about Sir Percival Glyde, he reads her reaction to the name as a symptom- “the shriek at the name, the reiterated look of hatred and fear that instantly followed, told all” (105). He believes that his question has triggered some repressed memory of Anne’s, her reaction to which will be able to tell him what he needs to know both about her character and about Sir Percival’s. Walter’s tendency towards psychoanalysis is reflected in his interactions with several other characters, but most prominently towards Anne, emphasizing the intrigue and mystery of her character that creates the sensation of the novel.  

Freud & The Sensation Novel

Freud says, “At the same time one willingly leaves untouched as much of the patient’s personal freedom as is compatible with these restrictions, nor does one hinder him from carrying out unimportant intentions, even if they are foolish; one does not forget that it is in fact only through his own experience and mishaps that a person learns sense.” (Freud, 153). This passage concerns the vastness of human will and our capabilities to act based on individual experience. Meaning, Humans learn critical thinking skills and emotional intelligence by keeping track of their senses, in connection to what they are feeling. The language in my chosen passage from the novel uses repetition of the phrases “Nature” and “human interest” more than twice in its entirety. The word “Nature” is said 4 times in this passage, which made me think of autonomy and how each individual is fueled by their own interests, heightened by our senses in literature. The concept of the sensation novel is evident in this excerpt because the point of view of perception is independent of nature and perceiving one’s surroundings. 

Diving deeper into the text, Collins writes, “Those lives are most exclusively passed amid the ever-changing wonders of sea and land are also those who are most universally insensible to every aspect of Nature not directly associated with the human interest of their calling. Our capacity of appreciating the beauties of the earth we live on is, in truth, one of the civilized accomplishments that we all learn as an Art; and, more, that very capacity is rarely practiced by any of us except when our minds are most indolent and most unoccupied.” (WIW, 30). I found this quote quite compelling, concerning Freud’s idea of “obsessional neurosis,” (149) getting rid of different “thought-connections” involving phantasies, emotional impulses, experiences, and senses. The sensation novel is comprised of ‘obsessional neurosis” and the five senses to make sense of who we are and our relationship to the world around us. Art is Nature, Nature is Art, and Art is created by Nature which can be manipulated by the human. 

 

Anne Catherick’s Terrifying Touch and the Fear of Female Sexuality

While Anne Catherick is initially described by Hartright as appearing modest rather than sexual, there is nevertheless something sexual about their connection. Anne originally catches Hartright’s attention by touching his shoulder. The word “touch” is emphasized several times, as Anne tells Hartright “I was obliged to steal after you, and touch you” (25). Hartright immediately emphasizes her word choice by pointing out the oddness of how she caught his attention– “Steal after me, and touch me? Why not call to me? Strange, to say the least of it” (25). Mere sentences later, Hartright uses “touch” in an emotional context: “The loneliness and helplessness of the woman touched me” (25). While “touch” in this instance refers to invoking sympathy, the repeated usage of “touch” suggests that this traditionally feminine image of a helpless woman is an image Hartright is physically attracted to.

In the graveyard, Anne touches Hartright’s shoulder once more, and Hartright describes it as “a welcome interruption to be roused by” (97). “Welcome” suggests Hartright has a desire for her to touch him, or at least he enjoys it when she does. Further, following the line of thought that Victorian novels are always talking about sex in subtle, round-about ways, the sexual connotations of the word “roused” seem to very intentionally imply that Hartright is sexually aroused when Anne touches him.

Interestingly, Anne’s touch is also something that Hartright associates with fear. The emphasis on Heartright’s bodily feelings of terror, such as “petrified me from head to foot,” emphasize this connection between sexual attraction and fear. Her touches are always unexpected– “stealthy and sudden”– expressing the unexpectedness of a modest-looking woman provoking such sexual feelings (97). Anne’s description as a modest-looking woman, dressed in all white (a color associated with purity and chastity), and her fragile mental state all emulate traditional ideas of femininity. Hartright’s attraction to this “weak” womanly image suggests an idea that is terrifying and dangerous to men. No matter how innocent a woman looks, she can still gain sexual power over him.

Unfemininity, Masculinity, and Miss Halcombe

Wilkie Collin’s The Woman in White may have a lot to offer contemporary debates surrounding trans identities. In particular, the ways in which Walter Hartright describes and then alters his description of Marian Halcombe highlight some surprising attitudes towards gender expression and gendered expectations in Victorian Society. In brief, Hartright’s perspective of Miss Halcombe initially rests on her hips (literally). Upon noticing her “ugly” (34) face, his narrative shifts from her feminine traits to her masculine personality. What makes this significant is that Hartright first acknowledges Miss Halcombe’s female anatomy before writing her as a man. In a world where trans identities are routinely denied because of their reproductive parts, what could this example imply for the history of gender identities? And what might it mean that Marian’s gender seems to radiate, not from her hips, but from her head?

At this point, it is worth acknowledging that Miss Halcombe is not a Victorian era, trans man. The concept of a trans (or even gender non-binary) identity did not exist in Victorian society like it does today. Despite this, Marian Halcombe still presents an interesting example of gender-nonconformity. In fact, her character may even suggest that Victorian society viewed gender as connected to the mind (or individual), rather than genitalia. For example: although Miss Halcombe first enters the narrative through the male gaze (Hartright notably comments that “her waist” was “perfection in the eyes of a man” (34)), she manages to use her own wit and will to distinguish herself from Victorian femininity. Marian, through her own action, aided in making her character seem more masculine. Hartright’s narrative may have ceased to depict her in overtly sexual and feminine terms, but she took her own steps to ensure that she would been seen as unfeminine. Miss Halcombe comments how, “[she doesn’t] think much of [her] own sex” (36), and that “[she doesn’t] know one note of music from the other; but [she] can match [Hartright] at chess” (38). In both instances, she focuses on her unfemininity through her use of negation. In doing so, her sentence structure emphasizes her identity, in part, as unfeminine.

For Hartright, and a Victorian audience more generally, this must raise some questions. If Marian is not quite feminine, then what is she? This societal anxiety appears in how Miss Halcombe must offer an alternative gender performance. Rather than offer to play music, she offers “chess, back-gammon,” or “écarté” (38). These games all connote some type of logical thinking which traditional gendered expectations attribute to men. Yet, because Marian cannot fulfill traditionally feminine, Victorian standards, these games become, in part, a form of her gender expression. They become a tool for Marian to distinguish herself and for her to perform a type of overt masculinity and craft an identity for herself. Interestingly, these games all tie back to her unfeminine head. So, despite her ‘perfect feminine waist,’ Miss Halcombe is able to perform, identify and exist outside of Victorian femininity and despite her anatomy.

Archive Project: Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s Painting of The Bride

In Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s painting, which has many different titles associated with it from “The Bride” to “The Beloved” to “The King’s Daughter” where the focus is supposed to be on the pale woman at the center of the painting, but race is weaved throughout every detail of this piece. There are some symbols, some explicit, and some hidden aspects of race and colonialism embedded into the deeper meaning Rossetti’s work of art.

For one, the little Black girl is at the closest one to the audience in the painting. While she is at the forefront of the image, she is also tucked in the corner of the painting. She seems to be the flower girl, but she has  a lot of gold jewelry on while the rest of the women in the painting are more simple. This is playing up the historical aspect of British colonizing of African land for resources such as gold as well as the colonizing and controlling of Black bodies during slavery. While the girl is covered in gold, she is the only individual in the painting who has a naked torso, which queers the Black female body as a spectacle or as something to be looked at- there is sexualizing and fetishization of a young Black female body before she even reaches adulthood or goes through puberty.

There is one woman in the back of the painting, who for the most part is hidden from the audience’s view expept for part of her face. She seems to be either a mulatto woman, perhaps Egyptian, perhaps Muslim, perhaps Latina… It really is hard to tell exactly where she could be from, but her skin complexion gives off the impression of exoticism. It significantly represents how race is coded in Victorian English texts, just like sex, and not explicity talked about. Even when looking for a poem to pair with this painting, it was difficult to find one that related to race because Vitorian poets like Rossetti don’t explicity name the ethnicity of the female subjects.  And we see here the race of this woman, her full identity, is literally hidden from the audience while the little Black girl is positioned at the forefront, holding flowers- a symbol of life and fertility.

The bride seems to be wearing not the traditional white wedding gown, but what resembles a luxurious kimono and that could be a coded reference to Orientalism and colonialism. As an audience, we do not know where the painting’s setting is supposed to be or where this wedding is located geographically. There is definitely a sense of racial otherness, foreignness, and us vs. them in this piece because there are representations of non-Western culture all clumped together in one painting. There is not just reference to one race or geographical location, the symbols are recognizable enough to make a broad guess as to what part of the world is being referenced, but also too vague to tell what specific culture or community is being represented.

http://vqa.dickinson.edu/poem/brides-prelude

 

Citation:

Rossetti, Dante G. The Bride. 1865-1866; 1873. Tate Gallery, London. http://www.rossettiarchive.org/docs/s182.rap.html

Archive Project: My Secret Life

For my Victorian Queer Archive project, I chose to include the second preface of My Secret Life. Privately published in 1888, this 4,000 page and originally eleven volume memoir features an incredibly detailed account of one man, “Walter”‘s, experiences with sex and sexuality, beginning when he but a small child. My Secret Life gained notoriety for both it’s unapologetically  detailed (and somewhat crude) descriptions of sexual encounters, sexual desire, masturbation, interactions with prostitutes, and obsessive nature of the text itself. Every single detail: every passing thought, every single time Walter is sexually aroused, every time Walter lets his “prick” make his decisions for him is carefully documented with a special attention to every single gory detail can be read in its entirety online on Project Gutenberg, which I will link down below.

Because it was published anonymously, it is difficult to discern how much of the text is fact and how much is fiction, and due it’s obsessive nature, it is easy to dismiss My Secret Life as nothing more than the world’s longest erotic novel. While we as readers will never be fully able to discern the fact from the fiction, that does not take away the text’s value as insight into a few aspects of Victorian Queerness, which Holly Furneaux defines as “that which differs from the life-script of opposite-sex marriage and reproduction”. With this definition in mind, My Secret Life could perhaps be seen as an epic retelling of one man’s experience with queerness as it pertains to deviations from the typical heteronormative Victorian marriage plot. To put it simply: if Walter’s well-intended mother were to read about his experiences with masturbation, sexual awakening by his wet-nurse, experiences with prostitutes (which he refers to as “gay women”), it’s possible that she would have a heart attack.

Instead of choosing one of Walter’s sexual encounters as the excerpt to post to the archive, I instead chose to include the author’s second preface, in which he addresses the issue of whether or not his memoir should even be published. What I found particularly interesting about the preface was the author claims that “it would be a sin to burn all this, whatever society may say it is but a narrative of human life, perhaps the every day life of thousands, if the confession could be had” (Anonymous 21). That is, the author contends that his memoir is not so much about chronicling his own experiences with sexuality, but instead chronicling his experience with a side of society which he is not alone in interacting with. My Secret Life therefore serves a dual purpose: to tell the story of Walter’s queer sexuality and to shed light on an area of Victorian society that is oftentimes left unexplored because it is not consistent with heteronormative ideals.

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/30360/30360-h/30360-h.htm

Victorian Queer Archive

Citation: Anonymous. “Second Preface.” My Secret Life , 1st ed., vol. 1, Auguste Brancart, Amsterdam, 1888, pp. 21–22.

 

Beauty & The Beast: Looking at the Use of Sexual Assault in a Narrative

"Salammbo" (1889) by Gabrial Ferrier
“Salammbo” (1889) by Gabrial Ferrier (Image provided by Dickinson College Trout Gallery)
"The Goblin Market" (1933) by Arthur Rackham
“The Goblin Market” (1933) by Arthur Rackham (Image provided by The British Library)

Many works of art and literature from the Victorian period, in particular illustrations for children’s novels, represent a method used to justify colonialism or at least xenophobia. Arthur Rackham’s 1933 (while not Victorian, it draws heavily on the text) illustration of Christina Rossetti’s poem “The Goblin Market” is one such example. He depicts a young girl, Lizzie, moments into her assault by the goblin merchants, depicted as grotesque anthropomorphic creatures that attempt to force the girl to partake of their fruit. The goblin merchants have a mystifying and almost hypnotic air about them, as Lizzie’s sister Laura has already fallen prey to them.

Another illustration that portrays the entrancement of a maiden and a beast (or at least can be interpreted that way through the Victorian male gaze) is Gabrial Ferrier’s 1889 print Salammbo. Beasts enwrap the titular character, like Lizzie, in this case a black serpent that coils around her frame. Her pale and nude figure is exposed in what can be seen as a sexualized, yet relaxed, position. This is not the case with Lizzie, as she is clearly distressed and afraid as the goblin merchants swarm around her. Thus the question I ask is why use these sexualized images and metaphors with animals, in particular portraying them as powerful and mystifying figures?

Colonialism is a part of the answer, as you can distance other people and cultures by portraying them as animals, making it easier to justify colonizing them or at least fearing them. Combining this racism and xenophobia with sexism further complicates the images, because while the stories to have sexual tones (and in the case of Rossetti’s story it has a moral lesson), strange creatures assaulting women and young girls further enforces the authority of an Anglo-Saxon man. However, if the concept is to justify colonizing and “improving” the lives of people in other cultures then why portray them as powerful? Part of this has to do with the gender of the creator/illustrator.

Christina Rossetti’s poem, while it does carry racial overtones, presents a moral tale for young girls regarding relationships, how the bonds of sisterhood are everlasting and can withstand the forces and desire of men. Rackham’s illustration fits well with her poem, although the age he has given Lizzie remains ambiguous. She resists the goblins for the sake of her sister, and it is made clear they care not for money but rather for power over women and possession of their bodies.

“If you will not sell me any

Of your fruits though much and many,

Give me back my silver penny

I tossed you for a fee.

 

No longer were they wagging, purring,

But visibly demurring

Grunting and snarling.” (Rossetti 11)

Overall the difference between the two images is whether or not the woman gives in to her temptation, yet both cases remain for the male gaze, even if Salammbo presents a more familiar image of the nude, or rather any image available for the pleasure of men. A better way to understand her narrative would be to look at the novel the print is based on. Gustave Flaubert is the author of the 1862 novel Salammbo, and his identity brings to light an interesting comparison. Christina Rossetti is the only woman among these four creators, so her narrative contains the most moral view (even with the racial tones). Thus we can see how the male gaze twists this narrative to justify colonialism while exploiting women and the violence inflicted upon them, calling for men to come save these pure and pale women from foreigners.

Peter Pan is Lewis Carroll

A boat, beneath a sunny sky
Lingering onward dreamily

In an evening of July—

Children three that nestle near,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Pleased a simple tale to hear—

Long has paled that sunny sky:
Echoes fade and memories die:
Autumn frosts have slain July.

Still she haunts me, phantomwise,
Alice moving under skies
Never seen by waking eyes.

Children yet, the tale to hear,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Lovingly shall nestle near.

In a Wonderland they lie,
Dreaming as the days go by,
Dreaming as the summers die:

Ever drifting down the stream—
Lingering in the golden gleam—
Life, what is it but a dream?

-Lewis Carroll, 1871, Through the Looking-Glass

Carroll’s poem “A Boat, Beneath a Sunny Sky” is a more sophisticated re-write of the childhood nursery rhyme, “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” which punctuates the transformation that Alice goes through from adolescent youth to a matured young adult.

On a website I found online (http://shenandoahliterary.org), which told the background of Carroll’s writing of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass, Alice Pleasance Liddell was an actual person and not a fictional character.Carroll was friends with the Liddell family and would tell the Liddell children (there were three of them) stories about his own adventures while they would all hang out on a boat and Alice became his “muse”. This poem at the end of Through the Looking-Glass is just an autobiographical account of his relationship with Alice and the Liddell children as being something that engulfed his memories and haunted his dreams.

This is all very reminiscent of the tale of Peter Pan to me. Carroll was clearly saddened by the fact that Alice grew up and her youthful self still haunted him. Carroll is essentially begging Alice to never grow up, but that is only possible in his dreams and memories of her. He essentially took her and her two siblings to Wonderland through his stories, which is completely parallel to Peter Pan in the sense that Peter took Wendy and her two brothers to Neverland (Similar names for a childhood fantasy world… coincidence? I, personally, think not!). In both cases there are three children taken to an adolescent fantasy world where they frolic and roam free, with the little girl in the story being the center of attention and the fantasy for the man who is telling the story, yet alas, the girl must grow up eventually and leaves her mark on the guy who awakened her maturity or guided her through her transition. Carroll, like Peter Pan, realizes that children must grow up and be adults at one point- also there is the creepy factor that Carroll was an older man who probably spent a bit too much time with adolescent female children. Peter Pan could also be read technically as a really old man who chose to never “grow up” which may be symbolic of something else- but I digress.

So looking at Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland  tales with the context behind it now in mind, the text just seems to be autobiographical, or at least a retelling of events that actually occurred in the form of a “fictional”, fun children’s novel. Carroll is essentially keeping his memories of Alice in a metaphorical glass jar of sorts. He seems to embody the character that he saw Alice as, so her own personal narrative and personality is re-written by Carroll and that is the Alice we as a modern audience gets aquainted with.The children’s novel is Carroll’s way of keeping Alice youthful eternally, throughout time. An interesting connection between time and Alice is that in the modern movie directed by Steven Spielberg, Alice Through the Looking-Glass, Time is a personified character and Alice is running out of time throughout the movie to grow up and face the real-world where she is expected to marry and be a Victorian wife.

 

Also, here is a link to see some of the pictures that Carroll took of ALICE (who was brunette, by the way…).

Alice’s real fear

In class we’ve talked a lot about Alice growing and her desire to stay a child. At the beginning of Through the Looking-Glass Alice is talking to her cat about punishment and utters, “suppose each punishment was to be going without a dinner: then, when the miserable day came, I should have to go without fifty dinners at once! Well, I shouldn’t mind that much! I’d far rather go without them than eat them!” (116) One reason this statement is problematic is simply because one needs food in order to live. A second reason that this is an important part is that it makes evident Alice’s hopes to not grow, and perhaps shows her desire to avoid being nourished in a sexual way. Though it is not stated directly that the food eaten for these dinners would be sweet, the idea of fifty dinners is a whole lot of food. Eating that would be like a desperate attempt to satisfy some sort of desire. After experiencing quite unpredictable growth in the first half of the book, it makes sense that Alice is scared to become bigger and maybe even outgrow her home. Shortly after that statement, Alice speaks to the kitten about the weather. She says, “Do you hear the snow against the window-panes, Kitty? How nice and soft it sounds! […] I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says, ‘Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again.’ And when they wake up in the summer, Kitty, they dress themselves all in green, and dance about — whenever the wind blows — oh, that’s very pretty” (116-17). There are a lot of different things going on in this passage. First, the fact that she likes that the trees wake up in a changed state, as green beings, reveals something that our assumptions about her may have gotten wrong. Perhaps it’s not the actual act of growing up that Alice is afraid of, maybe she is moreso afraid of the rapid speed at which this growing is taking place. The fact that Alice enjoys the uncontrollable weather, the snow, further suggests that she is not afraid of the inevitable change her body is going through. Adding to this argument her enjoyment that arises about the trees sleeping for such a long time, through a whole spring season. This insinuates that it is, in fact, the rate at which she will experience this change that terrifies her.

A second part of this passage that, when examined, reveals Alice’s beliefs is the banal idea of whiteness representing purity. Snow is the white quilt that would hypothetically cover the trees as they sleep and mature into changed beings. As they emerge into the summer season, the snow is gone. This loss of snow could represent a loss of purity. It is as if snow’s kiss is a goodbye to a young Alice; she is undergoing a change that dictates the rest of her life.