{"id":2221,"date":"2025-03-25T17:24:51","date_gmt":"2025-03-25T17:24:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/?p=2221"},"modified":"2025-03-25T17:24:51","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T17:24:51","slug":"angel-in-the-house-not-sexy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/2025\/03\/25\/angel-in-the-house-not-sexy\/","title":{"rendered":"Angel in the House = Not Sexy"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Mona Caird\u2019s \u201cThe Yellow Drawing Room,\u201d Clara is depicted as the archetypal \u201cangel in the house.\u201d This term stems from a Coventry Patmore poem describing the ideal woman as tame, docile, and living to serve men. The main character of this story, Mr. St. Vincent, comments that this ideal woman should be \u201cretiring, unobtrusive, indistinguishable even until you come to know her well, and then she is very much like what every other true woman would be under the same conditions\u201d (103). St. Vincent expresses \u201cCertain suspicions which I had harboured that Clara Haydon was my ideal woman grew stronger as I watched her quiet English face bent over the tea-tray\u2026 If I <\/span>was<\/span><\/i> to give up my liberty, the reins should be handed over to a kind, sensible young woman like Clara, who would hate to make herself remarkable, or her drawing room yellow\u201d (104). In other words, a woman who would not actually take the reigns or distinguish herself in any way.<\/span><\/p>\n

Though St. Vincent clearly feels that Clara checks all the boxes of his perfect wife, it is not Clara that St. Vincent falls for. It is her total opposite– the wild, “new woman” Vanora, who stands out as much as the bright yellow walls she chose for the drawing room. He is incredibly sexually attracted to her, describing her figure as \u201crobust, erect, pliant\u201d and he expresses feeling \u201cpenetrated\u201d by her \u201cglowing atmosphere\u201d (105-106). In sexual contexts, the word \u201cpenetrates\u201d is usually an action a man does to a woman. Interestingly, here it is Vanora penetrating him, suggesting that she challenges his power and masculinity (not just through her personality, but also her sexuality). In comparison, Clara is physically described with much more boring terms, with a \u201cstraightforward look\u201d and \u201cblue eyes and a fair complexion\u201d (104).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

St. Vincent\u2019s contempt for Vanora\u2019s behavior and attitude only seem to increase his sexual attraction towards her. He says, \u201call the dominating instincts of my manhood roused into activity by this hateful experience,\u201d the sexual connotations of the phrase \u201cmy manhood roused\u201d connecting his hatred to his lust (108). Further, this desire to dominate her suggests that he is turned on by Vanora\u2019s disobedience and wants to “tame” her (both emotionally and physically).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ultimately, St. Vincent confesses that he loves and wants to marry Vanora. Clara, fades into the background of the story, still \u201cgentle\u201d when wounded by St. Vincent\u2019s choice.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

St. Vincent\u2019s feelings for Vanora, despite Clara meeting every one of his standards for the ideal woman, implies that as the \u201cnew woman\u201d emerged, not only were men challenged, but the \u201cangel in the house\u201d was challenged. St. Vincent\u2019s aggressive attraction to Vanora suggests that some Victorian men were intrigued by the \u201cnew woman,\u201d desiring the sexual satisfaction of \u201ctaming\u201d these women, presenting conflicting guidance for how women should draw in men.<\/span><\/p>\n

This double standard continues today, as men are often sexually attracted to archetypes like the \u201cfemme fatale\u201d that challenge their control. Simultaneously, they don\u2019t want their power challenged, and also to some extent want \u201ctraditional wives.\u201d Which is more appealing: an outspoken woman in a tight dress, or a loving, modest woman doing your laundry for you?<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Mona Caird\u2019s \u201cThe Yellow Drawing Room,\u201d Clara is depicted as the archetypal \u201cangel in the house.\u201d This term stems from a Coventry Patmore poem describing the ideal woman as tame, docile, and living to serve men. The main character of this story, Mr. St. Vincent, comments that this ideal woman should be \u201cretiring, unobtrusive, … Continue reading Angel in the House = Not Sexy<\/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":[135984],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2025-posts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2221","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=2221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2221\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}