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\u2019s attention by touching his shoulder. The word \u201ctouch\u201d is emphasized several times, as Anne tells Hartright \u201cI was obliged to steal after you, and touch you\u201d (25). Hartright immediately emphasizes her word choice by pointing out the oddness of how she caught his attention– \u201cSteal after me, and touch me? Why not call to me? Strange, to say the least of it\u201d (25). Mere sentences later, Hartright uses \u201ctouch\u201d in an emotional context: \u201cThe loneliness and helplessness of the woman touched me\u201d (25). While \u201ctouch\u201d in this instance refers to invoking sympathy, the repeated usage of \u201ctouch\u201d suggests that this traditionally feminine image of a helpless woman is an image Hartright is physically attracted to.<\/p>\n
In the graveyard, Anne touches Hartright\u2019s shoulder once more, and Hartright describes it as \u201ca welcome interruption to be roused by\u201d (97). \u201cWelcome\u201d 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 \u201croused\u201d seem to very intentionally imply that Hartright is sexually aroused when Anne touches him.<\/p>\n
Interestingly, Anne\u2019s 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– \u201cstealthy and sudden\u201d– expressing the unexpectedness of a modest-looking woman provoking such sexual feelings (97). Anne\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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\u2019s attention by touching his shoulder. The word \u201ctouch\u201d is emphasized several times, as Anne tells Hartright \u201cI was obliged to steal after you, and touch you\u201d (25). Hartright immediately … Continue reading Anne Catherick’s Terrifying Touch and the Fear of Female Sexuality<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5595,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[111380],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-360-victorian-sexualities"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1975","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\/5595"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1975\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}