Bound Volume Number

3

Degree Type

Honors Capstone Project

Date of Submission

Spring 5-1-2015

Capstone Advisor

Prof. Claudia Klaver

Honors Reader

Prof. Kevin Morrison

Capstone Major

English

Capstone College

Arts and Science

Audio/Visual Component

no

Keywords

Victorian Novel, gender roles, ideology, social norms

Capstone Prize Winner

no

Won Capstone Funding

no

Honors Categories

Humanities

Subject Categories

Literature in English, British Isles | Women's Studies

Abstract

Victorian society reproduced polarized gender roles known as the ideology of the separate spheres in order to confine the authority of women. However, as the Victorian Era progressed social norms were gradually contested, and the consequences of the assertion of female authority led to reform. In reinterpreting the Victorian women’s movement, I will interpret the effects of the writers of the late nineteenth century who argued explicitly against proposed changes in the traditional position of middle-class women. I will most closely examine how the late Victorian novels, A Marriage Below Zero by Alan Dale and The Revolt of Man by Walter Besant end up subverting their own anti-feminist agendas and actually contributing to the political project of late-Victorian feminism by inadvertently demonstrating that the separate spheres of Victorian society were imbalanced and limiting.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

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