Feminism in Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Aurora Leigh

1165 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Women in 19th literature

Feminism in Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Aurora Leigh

In Aurora Leigh, Elizabeth Barrett Browning creates an independent, intelligent young woman. Barrett Browning successfully demonstrates the difficult obstacles women had to overcome in the Victorian period. There were preconceived ideas of what "proper" women were suppose to do with their life. Not that this idea has completely been surmounted in our time. Barrett Browning though is optimistic about the goals women can achieve. She wants to demonstrate to women that belief in themselves and their dreams is possible and preferable to the standard.

The poem begins with Aurora Leigh's observations of her aunt. "Her somewhat narrow forehead braided tight/ As if for taming accidental thoughts/ From possible pulses..." (273-275). This quotations shows several things; how specific Aurora Leigh's observations are (necessary to be a good poet) and the type of woman she will have to live with. Her aunt represents Barrett Browning's idea of the type of woman society admires. She was proper and never attempted anything that might be questionable. The almost parody Barrett Browning makes of her tells the reader that she does not approve of this type of woman. The aunt pulls her hair tight and close to her head to prevent what Aurora Leigh thinks bad thoughts from happening. This is an amusing observation. "She had lived/ A sort of cage-bird life, born in a cage,/Accounting that to leap from perch to perch/ Was act and joy enough for any bird" (304-307). Therefore Barrett Browning sees women as trapped in their role.

Since they are born and bred into a preconceived idea of the role of women, they do not see anything wrong with it. They are content to live there lives in restrict...

... middle of paper ...

...erberates still today. As much as our society would like to believe otherwise such ideas about women still exist. The struggle is still there and women must be on alert not become content in what they have so far achieved.

Works Cited and Consulted

Barret Browning, Elizabeth : Aurora Leigh, edited, introduction and notes by Kerry McSweeny, World's Classics edition, Oxford University Press, 1993

Case, Alison : Gender and Narration in Aurora Leigh, Victorian Poetry, Vol.29, no.1, Spring 1991 West Virginia University Press

Kaplan, Cora : Introduction to Women's Press edition of Aurora Leigh, 1978

Mermin, Dorothy : Genre and Gender in Aurora Leigh, Victorian Newsletter, no.69,Spring 1986 Steinmetz, Virginia : Images of "Mother-Want" in Elizabeth Barret Browning's Aurora Leigh, Victorian Poetry, Vol.21, no.4, Winter 1983 West Virginia University Press.

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Ideal Love

    1038 Words  | 3 Pages

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning follows ideal love by breaking the social conventions of the Victorian age, which is when she wrote the “Sonnets from the Portuguese”. The Victorian age produced a conservative society, where marriage was based on class, age and wealth and women were seen as objects of desire governed by social etiquette. These social conventions are shown to be holding her back, this is conveyed through the quote “Drew me back by the hair”. Social conventions symbolically are portrayed as preventing her from expressing her love emphasising the negative effect that society has on an individual. The result of her not being able to express her love is demonstrated in the allusion “I thought one of how Theocritus had sung of the sweet

    Read More

  • Mothers of the Victorian Period

    910 Words  | 2 Pages

    Thaden, Barbara. The Maternal Voice in Victorian Fiction: Rewriting the Patriarchal Family. New York: Garland, 1997.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Novel We Should All Be Feminist

    1117 Words  | 3 Pages

    human race of the 20th century is birth control. It’s because birth control has increased women’s rights by

    Read More

  • Immigrant or Not, When On American Soil We All Have Rights

    628 Words  | 2 Pages

    Emily Bazelon brought up a controversial point, “Republicans in Congress denounced the Obama administration for going soft” (9). Although this statement w...

    Read More

  • Gender Roles in Little House on the Prairie

    2315 Words  | 5 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • A Woman Breaking out of Society and it’s Norms: Virginia Woolf's To The Lighthouse

    902 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Virginia Woolf’s “To the Lighthouse”, the struggle to secure and proclaim female freedom is constantly challenged by social normalcy. This clash between what the traditional female ideologies should be and those who challenge them, can be seen best in the character of Lily Brisco. She represents the rosy picture of a woman that ends up challenging social norms throughout the novel to effectively achieve a sense of freedom and individuality by the end. Woolf through out the novel shows Lily’s break from conventional female in multiply ways, from a comparison between her and Mrs.Ramsey, Lily’s own stream of consciousness, as well as her own painting.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of William Domhoff's Who Rules America

    1118 Words  | 3 Pages

    Domhoff discusses the prevalence of labor unions in the New Deal era. In fact, by 1945, with the help of the liberal-labor alliances, union membership had increased five-fold to fifteen million in that past decade (pg. 172). However, after 1945, the liberal-labor alliances never saw a victory against corporate conservatives. Because of the corporate world’s domination of policy implementation, politicians rules time and again against labor unions because it works in corporate America’s favor. Labor unions serve as many working class Americans’ avenue into the political sphere; denying them a right to unionize is not only a fundamental violation of free speech but also morally and ethically wrong. Overall, Domhoff’s critique of wealthy politicians (primarily Republicans) is merited considering he argues empirically with statistics supporting extremely skewed voting trends against unions. Additionally, Domhoff’s argument exudes sympathy toward those less fortunate; I share Domhoff’s sentiment that is imperative we promote equality amongst classes, one way in which we should do so is through advocacy of labor

    Read More

  • Characters Dealing with Depression in Two Popular Contemporary Novels

    1008 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hader, Suzanne. "The Bildungsroman Genre." The Bildungsroman Genre: Great Expectations, Aurora Leigh, and Waterland. The Victorian Web, 21 February 2005. Web. 6 April 2014.

    Read More

  • Feminism In Kate Chopin's Of An Hour

    1636 Words  | 4 Pages

    Today women have more rights and are treated differently than before. Society back then didn 't see how valuable women were. They didn 't see that women are capable of many things. They have suffered the most and always will. Men should give women their space and freedom. Feminism fights for equality between men and women, in the short story “Of An Hour’’ the main character fails to meet her expectations and how feminist is today 's changed. Certainly, feminism has always been a dilemma in the society . “A lack of economic opportunities , and the absence of voice is one of them”(The Women 's Rights movement 1). Before no one believed in women as being something else. They would just see them as a housewife , they would have them

    Read More

  • A Feminist Perspective of The Lady of Shalott

    2170 Words  | 5 Pages

    In an essay on feminist criticism, Linda Peterson of Yale University explains how literature can "reflect and shape the attitudes that have held women back" (330). From the viewpoint of a feminist critic, "The Lady of Shalott" provides its reader with an analysis of the Victorian woman's conflict between her place in the interior, domestic role of society and her desire to break into the exterior, public sphere which generally had been the domain of men. Read as a commentary on women's roles in Victorian society, "The Lady of Shalott" may be interpreted in different ways. Thus, the speaker's commentary is ambiguous: Does he seek to reinforce the institution of patriarchal society as he "punishes" the Lady with her death for her venture into the public world of men, or does he sympathize with her yearnings for a more colorful, active life? Close reading reveals more than one possible answer to this question, but the overriding theme seems sympathetic to the Lady. By applying "the feminist critique" (Peterson 333-334) to Tennyson's famous poem, one may begin to understand how "The Lady of Shalott" not only analyzes, but actually critiques the attitudes that held women back and, in the end, makes a hopeful, less patriarchal statement about the place of women in Victorian society.

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of To The Lighthouse

    1839 Words  | 4 Pages

    Lily definitely undergoes a transformation, from being unable to make sense of her painting to an artist who completes her painting, through which she finally establishes her homosexual identity aesthetically through art. From “the Lighthouse had become almost invisible, had melted away into a blue haze, and the effort of looking at it and the effort of thinking him landing there, which both seemed to be one and the same effort, had stretched her body and mind to the utmost. Ah, but she was relieved” (169), Woolf highlights Lily’s enthusiasm when she was able to eliminate Mr Ramsay from her physical, emotional and psychological realm. By mentioning that the Lighthouse has melted away, Woolf metaphorically emphasizes the deconstruction of the patriarchal conditions through which Lily has come to terms with her homosexual identity. Lily clearly feels liberated and independent, although after undergoing great amount of emotional and psychological torment where she suppressed her homosexual desires in the face of patriarchy. By expressing and figuring out her emotional and psychological turmoil through art and her painting, Lily is able to visualise her immense independence autonomous of the patriarchal conditions. Hence, Lily finally asserts a masculine ambiance similar to the men in patriarchal order, where she can eventually be who she wants to be without any external pressure, particularly from male hegemony, that tells her how she is expected to act like a woman. Thus, Lily does not simply advocate gender equality, but radically promote acceptance of homosexuality as the truer reality of woman empowerment and

    Read More

  • Elizabeth Barrett Browning Essay Writing

    848 Words  | 2 Pages

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning was born on March 6, 1806 near Durham, England to Edward Barrett Moulton. Elizabeth’s family was from Jamaica. Her father’s health was derived from extensive sugar plantations in Jamaica; this was the proprietor of “Hope Island”. Her father began to suffer from financial losses, and could no longer afford to maintain the Hope Estate. She was the eldest of twelve children. Elizabeth was an English Poet who was known for her love poems. Elizabeth’s childhood nickname was “Ba”. She spent most of her childhood at a country house in MarrenHills, Worcestershire. At the age of four she composed verses. She began to write poetry at the age of six. Before Elizabeth was ten she read the histories of England, Greece, Rome, and several other Shakespeare plays. Elizabeth was educated at home. At the age of fifteen she was seriously ill as a result of a spinal injury and heart palpitations that plagued her permanently. Doctors treated her with morphine that she would have to take for the rest of her life. Elizabeth wrote her first book by the age of fifteen. Unlike her two sisters she immersed herself in the world of books. By the age of twenty she was offered to the public with no induction of au...

    Read More

  • Perspectives On Women In Browning's Poetry

    1196 Words  | 3 Pages

    is one who has passed or is yet to be born as then she is able to

    Read More

  • What Is The Mood Of In Memoriam Tennyson

    1945 Words  | 4 Pages

    Rundle, Thomas J. Collins & Vivenne J. The Broadview Anthology of Victorian Poetry ad Poetic Theory. Concise. Toronto: Broadview Press Limited, 2005.

    Read More

  • The Role of Women in Society

    374 Words  | 1 Pages

    Women have always been essential to society. Fifty to seventy years ago, a woman was no more than a house wife, caregiver, and at their husbands beck and call. Women had no personal opinion, no voice, and no freedom. They were suppressed by the sociable beliefs of man. A woman’s respectable place was always behind the masculine frame of a man. In the past a woman’s inferiority was not voluntary but instilled by elder women, and/or force. Many, would like to know why? Why was a woman such a threat to a man? Was it just about man’s ability to control, and overpower a woman, or was there a serious threat? Well, everyone has there own opinion about the cause of the past oppression of woman, it is currently still a popular argument today.

    Read More

More about Feminism in Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Aurora Leigh

Open Document