Ruskin and Dickens: The Nature and Role of Women

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Amidst the controversy related to `the woman question' in the Victorian age, many writers still agreed that women and men were essentially different and ought to complement each other, not compete for equality. This `separate spheres' ideology, derived from Puritan conceptions of marriage and family, was especially popular in mid-19th century, and put an emphasis on home as the only haven from the harsh industrialised world (Oxford Companion to Dickens, 2000:188).

"Of Queen's Gardens" by John Ruskin is the elaborate statement of this ideology, supported by examples from world literature. The domestic ideal as presented by Ruskin is in various ways portrayed and discussed by Dickens in Dombey and Son. In this essay, I am going to look into the parallels between Ruskin's lecture on the role and function of women and the practical representation by Dickens of the character of Florence Dombey. In my opinion, the domestic arrangement praised by Ruskin is also idealised by Dickens, and Florence's portrayal is intended as a role model and an example of woman's intended function.

According to Walter E. Houghton, there were three basic conceptions of women in the Victorian period. The best known and the most conservative one was "that of the submissive wife whose whole excuse for being was to love, honour, obey - and amuse - her lord and master, and to manage his household and his children." The most radical one was "demanding equal rights with men: the same education, the same suffrage, the same opportunity for professional and political careers" (Houghton, 1985:348). A middle position, which also Ruskin adhered to, was a mediating one, and while agreeing that women should be freed of their legal disabilities and become more educate...

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...function of women.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Dickens, Charles, Dombey and Son, ed. Alan Horseman (Oxford, 2001).

Flint, Kate, Dickens (Brighton, 1986), pp.112-133.

Gissing, George,"Dombey and Son" in The Immortal Dickens (London, 1925). URL: <http:// lang.nagoya-u-ac.jp/~matsuoka/ GG-Dickens.html> Accessed 16.02.2004.

Houghton, Walter E. The Victorian Frame of Mind. 1830-1870 (New Haven and London, 1985), pp. 348-353.

Oxford Reader's Companion to Dickens, ed. Paul Schlicke (Oxford, 2000).

Ruskin, John, "Of Queen's Gardens" in Sesame and Lilies (New York, 1878), pp. 74-119.

"The `Woman Question': The Victorian Debate about Gender" in The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol.2, gen. ed. M.H. Abrams (New York, London, 2000), pp. 1719-1724.

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