{"id":1854,"date":"2021-11-05T20:08:02","date_gmt":"2021-11-05T20:08:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/?p=1854"},"modified":"2021-11-05T20:08:02","modified_gmt":"2021-11-05T20:08:02","slug":"mirroring-expectations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/2021\/11\/05\/mirroring-expectations\/","title":{"rendered":"Mirroring Expectations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lacking expectations may quite simply mean not fulfilling someone’s desires, whether that be ones’ partner or society as a whole. While this inadequacy may include notions of sexuality, appearance, or personality in contemporary times, in the Victorian era, all<\/em> of these components when put together, define womanhood<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

“Expectation” from the Trout Gallery<\/p>\n

The piece displayed above, provided by the Trout Gallery, exemplifies the two-fold of fulfillment and lacking, as well as expectation versus reality. In the artwork, one notices the typical woman showing redundant ‘tuberculosis-chic’ characteristics. The doe-eyed creature looking into the distance further characterizes her as lacking impurity and upholding a sense of virtue. With her flowing, dark hair contrasted to the whiteness of her gown, the viewer sees the way in which a Victorian woman is supposed to appear as, thus showing the expectation<\/strong> of women during the time. \u00a0However, reality<\/strong> soon plays a part in the piece, as we can see that the women is framed both literally and metaphorically. By having the focal point of the artwork, the woman, reside within a mirror, it allows for a greater message to unfold throughout the piece itself. The viewer and the woman within the piece are contrasted, because as the woman looks out<\/em> of the mirror, us as the viewer, look in<\/em>. Thus, while the woman is looking beyond, because she already upholds Victorian characteristics of womanhood, the viewer is looking inward, as they may not.<\/p>\n

Alike to “Expectation”, where the viewer and woman in the artwork are on opposing ends, in Christina Rossetti’s poem, In An Artist’s Studio,\u00a0<\/em>the ‘self-same’ figure and the male painter also contrast one another, when Rossetti states,<\/p>\n

“One face looks out from all his canvases,<\/p>\n

That mirror gave back all her loveliness.<\/p>\n

A queen in opal or in ruby dress,<\/p>\n

A nameless girl in freshest summer-greens,<\/p>\n

The same one meaning, neither more or less.<\/p>\n

He feeds upon her face by day and night,<\/p>\n

Not as she is, but as she fills his dream” (1).<\/p>\n

In the excerpt, the reader can see that the woman within the paintings all relate to one another, not necessarily because they are women, but because they all appear similar. Despite the role that they play in society, whether that be a ‘queen’ or a ‘nameless girl’, Rossetti makes it clear that these women are redundant, almost shape-shifters of one another. By having the male mold these women, and ‘feed’ upon them, it further shows the distinction between expectation and reality. In the piece “Expectation”, similarly, the woman stuck within the mirror is on display for those to gaze at her. Although she holds a higher ‘standing’ than the woman in “In An Artist’s Studio”, as she upholds Victorian beauty standards, regardless, altogether represents the desires of society. In Christina Rosetti’s poem, these women may be queens and saints, but to the painter, to him, they are only pieces<\/em> to fulfill his desires as well as society’s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lacking expectations may quite simply mean not fulfilling someone’s desires, whether that be ones’ partner or society as a whole. While this inadequacy may include notions of sexuality, appearance, or personality in contemporary times, in the Victorian era, all of these components when put together, define womanhood. “Expectation” from the Trout Gallery The piece displayed … Continue reading Mirroring Expectations<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4635,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[135983],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall-2021"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4635"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1854\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}