The Murder of Helen Jewett by Patricia Cline Cohen
In The Murder of Helen Jewett, Patricia Cohen uses one of the most trivial murders during the 1800’s to illustrate the sexiest society accommodations to the privileged, hypocritical tunneled views toward sexual behavior, and the exploitation of legal codes, use of tabloid journalism, and politics. Taking the fact that woman was made from taking a rib from man was more than biblical knowledge, but incorporated into the male belief that a woman’s place is determined by the man. Helen had the proper rearing a maid servant, but how did she fall so far from grace. Judge Weston properly takes credit for rearing her with the proper strictness and education. Was Helen seduced at an early age and introduced to sexual perversions that were more persuasive that the bible belt life that the Weston’s tried to live? Was Helen simply a woman who knew how to use what she had to get what she wanted? Through personal correspondence, legal documentation, census reports, paintings, and newspapers we are able to make our own determinations. Cohen provides more than enough background and history to allow any one to make their own opinion how the murder of a woman could be turned into a side show at a circus.
Helen Jewett, a prominent New York prostitute, was murdered and not only was this rare but a heinous crime. Helen’s murder brought to the forefront the industry of prostitution. This would include the owners, managers, and the clients.
In the Victorian era, in New York City, men and women roles within the society were as different as night and day. A man regardless of his extra curricular activities could still maintain a very prevalent place in society. A woman’s worth was not only based family name which distinguished her class and worth, but also her profession if that was applicable.
During this time in society the industry of prostitution was an economic gold mine. The women operate the brothel while very distinguished men in the community own and take care of the up keep. The brothel keepers are seen as nothing more than common home wrecking whores. However, the owners of the brothels are viewed as successful business men.
For example, John Livingston, brother to President Jackson’s, Sec of State, own the 41 Thomas St brothel. Men of great wealth and statue were frequent to...
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...use. This was customary for Richard to do. As the young suitor made his way up the steps Helen greeted him by saying, Richard I’m glad that you could make it. Helen retired to her room with her suitor and they remained there for the some time.
Helen emerged from her room around 11:00 pm asking for a bottle of wine and Mrs. Townsend delivered the wine and engaged in brief conversation while noticing the young man lying on the bed reading. She was very familiar with Robinson and was able to say without a doubt that he was the one that was in the bedroom with Helen. No one saw him leave nor did anyone let him out. Mrs. Townsend testified that a man had knocked on her door asking to be let out, but told him to have his woman to come and get the key. No one returned for the key so there is no possible logical explanation of how Richard got out of the house, nor was a logical possibility of how anyone else could have gotten in the house.
There were also several eye witnesses to the fact that Robinson was the owner of the cloak and that the hatchet used in the murder resembled the hatchet missing from Hoaxie’s store. Hoaxie just so happened to be Robinson’s boss.
In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley highlights on the experiences her characters undergo through the internal war of passion and responsibility. Victor Frankenstein lets his eagerness of knowledge and creating life get so out of hand that he fails to realize what the outcome of such a creature would affect humankind. Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, highlights on how Frankenstein’s passion of knowledge is what ultimately causes the decline of his health and the death of him and his loved ones.
After reading ‘The Murder of Helen Jewett” it gave me insight on how crime in New York City was in the 1830’s and another view on how life for men and women differed. The book starts off talking about Dorcas Doyen famously known as Helen Jewett and how she was highly thought of but then the news comes out of nowhere with several stories about her past some twisted to make her seem as bad as a prostitute who has bounced around a few times could be seen. But her actual story was that she was born in 1814 in Temple, Maine to a regular working family. She lost both of her parents at a young age her mother died when she was at the early ages of her life and he father who was an alcoholic died shortly after her mother. She was put in a home, orphaned
Jack the Ripper, John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, the Boston Strangler, Jeffrey Dahmer. Despite the years of history that separate these names, they remain indelibly preserved within our collective societal consciousness because of the massively violent and calculated nature of their crimes. Serial killers, both men and women, represent social monstrosities of the most terrifying variety. They are human predators, cannibals in a figurative and, often, literal sense, and are therefore uniquely subversive to society's carefully constructed behavioral tenets. They frighten because they are human in form but without the social conscience that, for many, defines humanity. They capture the public eye because they terrify, but also because they elicit a sort of gruesome curiosity about the human potential for evil; as Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde alleges, wickedness lies within each heart, waiting only for the proper time and impetus to break free.
When describing women during this time period Wilson says, “They were non-people, being the same legal status as American slaves, regardless of social class” (Wilson, The Victorians, pp. 306). One extreme double standard could be seen within British prostitution. Wilson said that it was “taken for granted” that British soldiers and sailors would need prostitutes. Yet, no matter how many men indulged in these acts only the women were seen as diseased and sources of contamination that needed regulated (Wilson, The Victorians, pp. 308. Women began to take notice, and they were not having it and they began to take action. The women of the upper middle class started the nineteenth century women’s movement. These women would go on to forever alter the lives of their sisters and daughters by advocating for equal educational rights, equal parental rights, and for political suffrage (Wilson, The Victorians, pp. 312). Not only did they advocate for these rights, their campaigning invoked change to begin. Wilson says, “The Women’s Suffrage Movement could be seen as the final confirmation of the haute bourgeoisie, not the first blast on the trumpet of revolution” (Wilson, The Victorians, pp. 313). Throughout the period Women gained more and more rights and they eventually would have created a great deal of change in the lives for every women who was to come
The author's thesis is that by examining the plight of widowed middle-class women a better understanding of Victorian era beliefs can be had. Victorians believed that there were separate spheres for the sexes, men had the public arena and women had the home. Victorians also believed that thrift was essential and poverty was always the fault of the poor individual, the poor could choose to better their situation. Not only is Curran looking to further the understanding of middle-class Victorian values but she is also trying to argue against the historical view that middle class women were cared for if widowed through either family generosity, their late husbands life insurance, or remarriage.
The first theme to be discussed is the social mobility during the pre-Victorian Era. This will focus on the social ranks, and the differences in treatment, particularly the women. While Queen Victoria ruled, a woman’s
The perception most Romans had regarding prostitution seems to be incredibly contradictory. On one hand prostitution was seen a necessary part of society that was extremely valuable to the preservation of marriage (Laurence, 71). On the other hand Roman laws and social customs put prostitution at the bottom rung of society (Flemming, 56).
Motivation is the main element towards success. Students, scientist, teachers and/ or any individual who wants to reach a goal needs to be motivated/ambitious. This motivation/ambition is what guides and keep people going. This ambition may be geared towards inventing/creating something, obtaining more money, and/or succeeding. The ambition people have are good, but sometimes lead to bad consequences. These consequences set the relationship between action and ambition. But, no matter what the goal is people with ambitions will not stop until their goal is met. Ambition towards obtaining something is what motivates people. For example Victor Frankenstein wanted to create a human being. As Mary Shelley writes in "Frankenstein", Victor Frankenstein wanted to be "the first to break through life and death ideal bonds"(231). His ambition was to create a human and to break these boundaries. But most importantly, he wanted to be recognized as the first individual to do this. This recognition would make him famous forever. The only thing he thought of was to break the boundaries of life and create a human creature.
During the Victorian Era, society had idealized expectations that all members of their culture were supposedly striving to accomplish. These conditions were partially a result of the development of middle class practices during the “industrial revolution… [which moved] men outside the home… [into] the harsh business and industrial world, [while] women were left in the relatively unvarying and sheltered environments of their homes” (Brannon 161). This division of genders created the ‘Doctrine of Two Spheres’ where men were active in the public Sphere of Influence, and women were limited to the domestic private Sphere of Influence. Both genders endured considerable pressure to conform to the idealized status of becoming either a masculine ‘English Gentleman’ or a feminine ‘True Woman’. The characteristics required women to be “passive, dependent, pure, refined, and delicate; [while] men were active, independent, coarse …strong [and intelligent]” (Brannon 162). Many children's novels utilized these gendere...
Author Lacy Sloan claims, “There is no difference in work in which a women sells her hands, such as a typist, and a work in which a women sells her vagina, as in sex work.” In today’s society many people believe that prostitution is an immoral act. It is the world’s oldest profession and due to the social construction of reality it has been long condemned causing sex workers to be stigmatized from mainstream society. The act of purchasing sex between consenting adults should not be prohibited by the government, but regulated for society's overall best interests. Prostitution is illegal and as a consequence prostitutes are often victims of violence and sexual assault; nevertheless, prostitution should be legalized and regulated to ensure the safety of sex workers.
The industrialization of the nineteenth century was a tremendous social change in which Britain initially took the lead on. This meant for the middle class a new opening for change which has been continuing on for generations. Sex and gender roles have become one of the main focuses for many people in this Victorian period. Sarah Stickney Ellis was a writer who argued that it was the religious duty of women to improve society. Ellis felt domestic duties were not the only duties women should be focusing on and thus wrote a book entitled “The Women of England.” The primary document of Sarah Stickney Ellis’s “The Women of England” examines how a change in attitude is greatly needed for the way women were perceived during the nineteenth century. Today women have the freedom to have an education, and make their own career choice. She discusses a range of topics to help her female readers to cultivate their “highest attributes” as pillars of family life#. While looking at Sarah Stickney Ellis as a writer and by also looking at women of the nineteenth century, we will be able to understand the duties of women throughout this century. Throughout this paper I will discuss the duties which Ellis refers to and why she wanted a great change.
Peterson, M. Jeanne. "The Victorian Governess: Status Incongruence in Family and Society." Suffer and Be Still: Women in the Victorian Age. Ed. Martha Vicinus. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1973.
She elaborates on her study of American male adults’ immersion with prostitution and successfully quotes a significant number of males associated with paid sex services. Kelly begins her essay with a personal account of her experience during her fieldwork in a legal, state regulated brothel in Mexico. She discusses her close encounters with the women who sold sexual services, their respective clients and the government officials who ran the brothel. Kelly also reveals the major factors contributing to people indulgence in prostitution to include, economic crisis, divorce, etc. She further reiterates that, apart from prostitution providing means of livelihood, the women enjoy the flexibility of time and rate and can make decisions on the particular acts to perform. Kelly discusses the attitudes of the male customers as well which includes, preference for unprotected sex and violent approach to the acts. Finally, In the second half of her essay, Kelly elaborates on the laws of different lands. She upholds a realistic approach in providing legal right to sex trade workers. However, she faults most of the laws for their inability to protect the women while acknowledging the New Zealand’s 2003 Prostitution Reform Act. Kelly concludes her essay with an opinion of the clientele of prostitutes and a focus on considering prostitution as a legitimate business while disregarding societal moral
There have always been class divisions in England’s social groups, but it was not until the nineteenth century that they were labeled. The lower class was often uneducated and overlooked and mostly servants and prostitutes, the middle class generally had steady jobs and members of the higher classes were born to old money and did not have to work. The French Lieutenant’s Woman written by John Fowles is a complex “Victorian novel filled with enchanting mysteries and magically erotic possibilities” (Canby) in which, Fowles describes a Victorian society in 1867 that is still largely separated by class, which creates strong restrictions with respect to sex and marriage. Notably, conflict in the novel involves scandals where these restrictions are disregarded. Fowles shows that sex and marriage were still largely dictated by whether a person belonged to the lower, middle or upper class in order to highlight that there were more restrictions for higher-class men and women.
Frankenstein has been loved for well over a hundred years by millions of people across the world. This is a story that contains a little of everything. One of the more unique aspects about this novel is the philosophical issues and meanings creatively sown into the story. Mary Shelley has written an amazing work that makes its readers think. This novel does well in pointing out a few morals and characteristics that humans possess and never really reflect upon. Frankenstein reveals to its readers how unaccepting and unfair humankind is. Humans are all superficial; and immediately judge people based on their looks. If humans do not like what they see, they will not even give those people a chance. This is a terrible quality that only a few want