Doctoral Dissertations
Date of Award
12-1997
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Major
English
Major Professor
John Zomchick
Committee Members
Nancy Goslee, Don Cox, Karen Levy
Abstract
The separation of home and work spheres during the eighteenth century not only narrowed economic opportunities for women, but it also aided in creating definite gender roles. Mary Wollstonecraft's Wrongs of Woman, Elizabeth Inchbald's A Simple Story, Jane Austen's Emma, and Charlotte Brontë's Villette all challenge the boundaries of gender and limitations of the domestic sphere by using varying degrees of gothic elements and by creating atypical heroines who, with the aid of the males who double them, rewrite gender roles and question the sanctity of male authority within the home. By inscribing various spaces with meaning, these authors also educate the dominant male character to the limitations society imposes on the heroine. Through his desire or empathy for her, he comes to aid in expanding her role. In Mary Wollstonecraft's Wrongs of Woman, Maria's mercenary husband, George Venables, incarcerates her in a madhouse, where she finds that gender roles and class demarcations no longer exist. Here she discovers not only true love and real friendship, but also an objective perspective from which to comment on society and the laws governing marriage. Inchbald's A Simple Story covers separately the stories of mother, Miss Milner, and daughter, Matilda, who question the authority of Dorriforth/ Lord Elmwood in different manners. The rebellious and wealthy Miss Milner ventures into the forbidden space of the masquerade while Matilda, at the mercy of her father's financial support and his allotted space within Elmwood castle, trespasses more subtly. Jane Austen's Emma, who is master of her home, finds the limitations of her power once she enters society. Decorum and propriety then replace the gothic tyrant as restricting force of female action in this novel. Charlotte Brontë's Villette presents orphaned and penniless Lucy Snowe, who has no home and no "defining" male. Instead, she finds employment, rises through her industry and with the help of her male double, Paul Emanuel, ends as mistress of a thriving and expanding school, her own space which unites the separate spheres of work and home.
Recommended Citation
Emanuel, Catherine Bowen, "Stretching the boundaries : space, gender, and sentimental education in four novels by British women 1791-1853. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 1997.
https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/9482