Introduction
1. Literature
and Representation
Now it is important to realize that the long tradition of
explaining literature and the other arts in terms of representation is matched
by an equally long tradition of discomfort with this notion. Plato accepted the
common view that literature is a representation of life, but for that very
reason he thought it should be banished from the ideal state. Representations,
Plato reasoned, are mere substitutes for the things themselves; even worse,
they may be false or illusory substitutes that stir up antisocial emotions
(violence or weakness), and they may
represent bad persons and actions, encouraging imitation of
evil. Only certain kinds of representations, carefully controlled by the state,
were to be permitted into Plato’s republic of rational virtue. (Mitchell, p. 14-15)
In the art-form of the European nude the painters and
spectator-owners were usually men and the persons treated as objects, usually
women. This unequal relationship is so deeply embedded in our culture that it
still structures the consciousness of many women. They do to themselves what
men do to them. They survey, like men, their own femininity. (Berger, essay 3)
·
What are the concerns with reading a text as a
straightforward representation?
·
Plato’s reasoning implies that literature may
carry moral and political significance. How might representation affect the
moral or political message of a text?
·
What methods might a writer use in
‘representing’ their ideas? (eg linguistic techniques, rhetoric, etc)
·
Thinking about Mitchell’s chapter and also
Berger’s third essay, how might the space between ‘representer’ (the writer)
and the reader shape our ideas about women?
·
Does the sex of the author make a difference to
the representation of women?
2. Form
·
Why might Coventry Patmore and Elizabeth Barrett
Browning have chosen to write these works as poems?
·
Both of these poems are book-length; they are in
the form known as epic. Look up epic form and suggest how these poems
conform (or not) to the classical and traditional tropes of epic.
3. The
Angel in the House
When Carol Christ writes that Patmore vacillates between
praising female superiority and male domination in her essay “Victorian
Masculinity in The Angel in the House,” she points to a very
problematic and central paradox within the poem. This paradox is, of course,
mostly due to the verse’s overall idolization and deification of women, which
causes the female characters in the poem simultaneously to become fetishized,
distant, cloistered, mystified and inert.
Sarah Eron, Victorian Web Introduction:
Paradoxical gender Matters in Coventry Patmore’s “The Angel in the
House” and “Victories of Love” (victorianweb.org)
Her disposition is devout,
Her countenance angelical;
The best things that the best believe
Are in her face so kindly writ
The faithless, seeing her, conceive
Not only heaven, but hope of it;
No idle thought her instinct shrouds,
But fancy chequers settled sense,
Like alteration of the clouds
On noonday’s azure permanence;
Pure dignity, composure, ease
Declare affections nobly fix’d,
And impulse sprung from due degrees
Of sense and spirit sweetly mix’d.
Her modesty, her chiefest grace,
The cestus clasping Venus’ side,
How potent to deject the face
Of him who would affront its pride!
Wrong dares not in her presence speak,
Nor spotted thought its taint disclose
Under the protest of a cheek
Outbragging Nature’s boast the rose.
In mind and manners how discreet;
How artless in her very art;
How candid in discourse; how sweet
The concord of her lips and heart;
How simple and how circumspect;
How subtle and how fancy-free;
Though sacred to her love, how deck’d
With unexclusive courtesy;
How quick in talk to see from far
The way to vanquish or evade;
How able her persuasions are
To prove, her reasons to persuade;
How (not to call true instinct’s bent
And woman’s very nature, harm),
How amiable and innocent
Her pleasure in her power to charm;
How humbly careful to attract,
Though crown’d with all the soul desires,
Connubial aptitude exact,
Diversity that never tires.
·
How is the ideal woman characterised in this extract?
Do you see any paradoxes here?
·
What might you infer about men and masculinity
from this? Does the extract depict men and women as binary opposites?
·
What ideological structures might inform the
thinking behind this depiction?
4. Aurora
Leigh
A narrator, of course, does more
than tell the reader where things are heading; she/he also has to suggest what
they will mean, and the two functions are closely intertwined. The stopping
point of a novel become its center of value as well, the telos of a character’s
adventures – a convergence neatly signaled by the dual meaning of the term
“end.” The point of view at which a hero or heroine arrives will
tend, by its mere position, to represent the truth, in relation to which
earlier deviations can be seen as error.
Part of what a retrospective first-person narrator does, then, in
establishing a relation between events narrated and the “end” of the
novel, is to signal a state of error…
Alison Case, “Gender and Narration in ‘Aurora Leigh.’” Victorian
Poetry 29, no. 1 (1991): 17–32. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40002051 (22)
·
Consider Case’s comments, above, regarding the
retrospective narration. This suggests a ‘truth’ in the narration of
(fictional) events, as well as a kind of explanation of events. How does this
complicate the space between writer and reader in the representation of female
characters?
·
Why do you think Barrett Browning made her
heroine a poetess? What imagery does she use in Book 1 to describe her life,
and how does this affect our view of her?
·
What does the poem say about women’s position in
society? In particular, consider Aurora herself, Aurora’s aunt, and Marion
Erle. You might consider education, marriage, and careers.
·
In what literary context was Barrett Browning
writing? What ideological positions is she reacting to?
ASSESSMENT TASK:
Explain the different ways
women are represented in Coventry Patmore’s ‘The Angel in the House’ and
Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s in Aurora Leigh. Explain
representation using the W. J. T. Mitchell text, then illustrate your answer
with examples from both poems. (Work should be inclusive of all quotations and footnotes, but exclusive of bibliography.)
HOW TO WRITE & STRUCTURE THE ESSAY:
Your introductory paragraph should explain your arguments and
structure.
Your arguments are the claims or points you are going to make about
the text to answer the question. (They are called ‘arguments’ rather than
simply ‘claims’ or ‘points’ because you the rest of your essay will
illustrate and explain them by analysing quotations from the literary text,
informed by research into the text and topic.) If you explain these, you will
also outline the structure of your essay, by explaining what your essay will
say, and in what order.
Main body
First,
define your key terms & concepts by choosing and explaining quotation(s)
from an appropriate scholarly text. For this assignment, the appropriate
scholarly text is provided for you and indicated in the question.
The
main body of your essay should be structured into paragraphs that advance
arguments by analysing and explaining quotations from the literary text.
Your
analysis of quotations from the literary text should be informed and enriched
by your reading and research.
Each
paragraph should advance a particular claim, or stage of the argument. Ensure
it is clear how each paragraph responds to the question.
Conclusion
Draw together the strands of your argument, and
explain the significance of what you have demonstrated.
Presentation
1.
Use at least a
12pt font, and 1.5 or double space your work.
2.
Title your
essay with the question so it is clear which you are answering.
3.
Indent new
paragraphs or leave a line between them.
4.
Reference all quotations in line with the
Chicago Style Guide (footnotes and bibliography). A guide is available on
Moodle, and examples are provided in the English Essay Handbook and Example
Essays in the Assessment Resources tab.
5.
Proof-read your
work carefully to avoid spelling, grammatical or punctuation errors. Be
prepared to draft each sentence several times to ensure clarity and
precision.
