Capitola, the Mad Tomboy

E.D.E.N Southworth’s The Hidden Hand is a carefully constructed novel that touches on different 19th century issues and presents them in various forms. It was originally written as segments for a magazine, and its goal was to entertain readers. For that reason, Southworth made her story not only full of suspense and drama, but humor too. The humor, however, is not presented in the form of crude, sexual scenes, but instead, the humor is found in the almost mocking tone Southworth has towards the standards set by the 19th century society. She plays with the popular ideas of what society expects by morphing them into almost the opposite of what an ideal would normally be. One of the most twisted issues within the novel is gender and the creation of a female acting as a tomboy because the existence of the masculine female figure is the basis for many of the adventures and trials Southworth creates in her novel. Having this tomboy character creates many humorous situations because Cap participates in activities that a 19th century lady would never have even attempted to participate in. The mockery of the uptight expectations of gender in Southworth’s society gave way to the funny nature the novel presents.

Capitola, Southworth’s main character, is the tomboy of this novel, and from the moment we meet Cap we see that she is not the average, 19th century, prim and proper lady. Instead, she is a girl posing as a boy picking up any jobs from the street that she can to obtain some money to survive (47). She’s portrayed by Southworth as a witty, clever and brave young girl, but readers could often mistake her for a lad because of the way she spoke, acted, and even dressed at some points within the novel. Southworth, by creating a female cha...

... middle of paper ...

... and dream of running around carelessly, instead of being constricted to chairs, wearing dresses, and sewing all night long.

Being a tomboy was not a popular idea or way of life for women of the 19th century, in fact, the word may have not even been created yet. But despite the ideals and expectations of society, Southworth wanted to show a different end of the spectrum—an end that showed that women could portray strength in any situation, and quite possible, an end that Southworth herself wanted to live on. Her ideas may not have been popular at the time, but Southworth didn’t care. Her entire point was to show that being a lady didn’t have to mean you wore frilly dresses, and fell into the arms of captors and suitors alike. She wanted to mock the ridiculous expectations set by the society she lived in, and the invention of her character, Capitola, did just that.