Here is an excerpt from Tess of the D'Urbervilles. After reading through, point to specific sections where we see hints as to Hardy's attitudes towards sexual indiscretion. Thoughts on this?
Starting bottom of page 65:
The only exercise that Tess took at this time was after dark; and it was then, when out in the woods, that she seemed least solitary. She knew how to hit to a hair's-breath that moment of evening when the light and the darkness are so evenly balanced that the constraint of day and the suspense of night neutralize each other, leaving absolute mental liberty. It is then that the plight of being alive becomes attenuiated to its least possible dimensions. She had no fear of the shadows; her sole idea seemed to be to shun mankind--or rather that cold accretion called the world, which, so terrible in mass, is so unformidable, even pitiable, in its units.
On these lonely hills and dales her quiscent glide was of a piece with the element in which she moved. Her flexuous and stealthy figure became an integral part of the scene. At times her whimsical fancy would intensify natural processes around her till they seemed a part of her own story. Rather they became a part of it; for the world is only a psychological phenomenon, and what they seemed they were. The midnight airs and gusts, moaning amonst the tightly-wrapped buds and bark of the winter twigs, were formulae of bitter reproach. A wet day was the expression of irremediable grief at her weakness in the mind of some vague ethical being whom she could not class definitely as the God of her childhood, and could not comprehend any other.
But this encompassment by phantoms and voices antipathetic to her, was a sorry and mistaken creation of Tess's fancy--a cloud of moral hobgoblins by which she was terrified without reason. It was they that were out of harmony with the actual world, not she. Walking among the sleeping birds in the hedges, watching the skipping rabbits on a moonlit warren, or standing under a pheasant-laden bough, she looked upon herself as a figure of Guilt intruding into the haunts of Innocence. But all the while she was making a distinction where there was no difference. Feeling in herself in antagonism she was quite in accord. She had been made to break an accepted social law, but no law known to the environment in which she fancied herself such an anomaly
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Monday, January 31, 2011
Hardy's "The Ruined Maid"
This poem treats a slightly different version of the fallen woman than the others. Here, rather than being a street prostitute, "Melia" seems to be more of a "kept woman" or mistress, whose steady patron is a wealthy gentleman.
1) What can we tell about the speaker of this dramatic monologue? What is her social class?
2) In like manner, then, what do we learn about Melia's past life?
3) In this case, what does being "ruined" entail? What seems to be the advantages or changes?
4) While the speaker has one view of Melia's actions, how is the reader supposed to view the entire situation? From this, are we supposed to assume, then, that being "ruined" is really a good lifestyle change, since it provides such women with finery? Or, does this poem provide more of a commentary of society in general, of a society that would produce such a species of fallen woman?
1) What can we tell about the speaker of this dramatic monologue? What is her social class?
2) In like manner, then, what do we learn about Melia's past life?
3) In this case, what does being "ruined" entail? What seems to be the advantages or changes?
4) While the speaker has one view of Melia's actions, how is the reader supposed to view the entire situation? From this, are we supposed to assume, then, that being "ruined" is really a good lifestyle change, since it provides such women with finery? Or, does this poem provide more of a commentary of society in general, of a society that would produce such a species of fallen woman?
Rossetti's "Jenny"
Much like Morris's "The Defense of Guenevere," the dramatic monologue "Jenny" has a distinct narrator, a John who is in the company of his sleeping mistress. Here are some factors to consider when dealing with this poem.
1) How does the speaker characterize Jenny? Also, what do such characterizations actually tell us about the speaker? What sort of man is he?
2) What do we learn about Jenny's past? How does the knowledge of this past impact our impression of the woman? Take a look around line 240 for help.
3) The speaker gives us hints as to how Jenny is treated in society. What do we learn?
4) Several of the other poems have dealt with the issue of whether or not fallen women and virtuous women are somehow connected, and "Jenny" participates in this trend. Take a look again at lines 96-282 (technically on the same page). What does the speaker specifically fear? What "makes a goblin of the sun"?
5) In a similar vein, lines 313-24 deal with how other women view or interact with such fallen women. Why or why not should a lady come into contact with them?
6) Ultimately, what is the speaker's tone when talking to Jenny? At certain points he seems to deeply and sympathetically question Jenny's complex position in society, and at other times he seems less than thoughtful. For instance, after really struggling with how Jenny is treated by the rest of society, the speaker states in 166-7: "Come, come, what use in thoughts like this?/ Poor little Jenny, good to kiss." What does such a statement show?
1) How does the speaker characterize Jenny? Also, what do such characterizations actually tell us about the speaker? What sort of man is he?
2) What do we learn about Jenny's past? How does the knowledge of this past impact our impression of the woman? Take a look around line 240 for help.
3) The speaker gives us hints as to how Jenny is treated in society. What do we learn?
4) Several of the other poems have dealt with the issue of whether or not fallen women and virtuous women are somehow connected, and "Jenny" participates in this trend. Take a look again at lines 96-282 (technically on the same page). What does the speaker specifically fear? What "makes a goblin of the sun"?
5) In a similar vein, lines 313-24 deal with how other women view or interact with such fallen women. Why or why not should a lady come into contact with them?
6) Ultimately, what is the speaker's tone when talking to Jenny? At certain points he seems to deeply and sympathetically question Jenny's complex position in society, and at other times he seems less than thoughtful. For instance, after really struggling with how Jenny is treated by the rest of society, the speaker states in 166-7: "Come, come, what use in thoughts like this?/ Poor little Jenny, good to kiss." What does such a statement show?
Hood's "The Bridge of Sighs"
Here is some background information that might be helpful when reading this poem:
Fallen women, and specifically prostitutes, were commonly associated with suicide by drowning. Weighed down (figuratively, if not literally) by shame and despair, but unable to escape her situation, the prostitute throws herself into the water in a last act of desperation and escape. Thus, the River Thames, which runs through London (a hotbed of prostitution), was often portrayed as a place where prostitutes went to die.
Here are some popular nineteenth-century paintings related to this figure:
Augustus Egg's "Despair," which depicts a prostitute's loneliness and her association with the river
Illustration from Dickens's novel David Copperfield, which portrays the fallen woman Martha about to attempt suicide by drowning. She is saved by the two men you see behind her.
Illustration of Hood's "The Bridge of Sighs," showing sympathetic men pulling the drowned woman from the water.
Now that you have this background, take a look at Hood's actual poem.
1) What is the tone of the poem? Is the speaker angry, sympathetic, mournful?
2) The speaker spends a great deal of time describing the dead woman's physical presence. Here are some representative lines:
Look at her garments/ Clinging like cerements (look up word);/ Whilst the wave constantly/ Drips from her clothing (9-12)
Wipe those poor lips of hers/ Oozing so clammily./ Loop up her tresses/ Escaped from the comb,/ Her fair auburn tresses (29-33)
Why provide such detail? Would such descriptions be shocking, and if so, why?
3) Consider the following stanza, lines 21-26:
Make no deep scrutiny
Into her mutiny
Rash and undutiful;
Past all dishonor,
Death has left her
Only the beautiful
These lines indicate a certain degree of forgiveness, and the woman is supposedly left with "only the beautiful." My question is whether or not the woman has to die to become cleansed. Would a reformed prostitute, one who doesn't kill herself, be as easily forgiven or deemed beautiful?
4) The nineteenth century saw increasing movements to help reform prostitutes who had few opportunities in life and who may have come from decent homes but got sucked into the underbelly of London life. How does the speaker humanize this dead woman? Even further, who is the intended listener? What sex? To help answer this question, look to lines 89-92. How is this listener to blame?
Fallen women, and specifically prostitutes, were commonly associated with suicide by drowning. Weighed down (figuratively, if not literally) by shame and despair, but unable to escape her situation, the prostitute throws herself into the water in a last act of desperation and escape. Thus, the River Thames, which runs through London (a hotbed of prostitution), was often portrayed as a place where prostitutes went to die.
Here are some popular nineteenth-century paintings related to this figure:
Augustus Egg's "Despair," which depicts a prostitute's loneliness and her association with the river
Illustration from Dickens's novel David Copperfield, which portrays the fallen woman Martha about to attempt suicide by drowning. She is saved by the two men you see behind her.
Illustration of Hood's "The Bridge of Sighs," showing sympathetic men pulling the drowned woman from the water.
Now that you have this background, take a look at Hood's actual poem.
1) What is the tone of the poem? Is the speaker angry, sympathetic, mournful?
2) The speaker spends a great deal of time describing the dead woman's physical presence. Here are some representative lines:
Look at her garments/ Clinging like cerements (look up word);/ Whilst the wave constantly/ Drips from her clothing (9-12)
Wipe those poor lips of hers/ Oozing so clammily./ Loop up her tresses/ Escaped from the comb,/ Her fair auburn tresses (29-33)
Why provide such detail? Would such descriptions be shocking, and if so, why?
3) Consider the following stanza, lines 21-26:
Make no deep scrutiny
Into her mutiny
Rash and undutiful;
Past all dishonor,
Death has left her
Only the beautiful
These lines indicate a certain degree of forgiveness, and the woman is supposedly left with "only the beautiful." My question is whether or not the woman has to die to become cleansed. Would a reformed prostitute, one who doesn't kill herself, be as easily forgiven or deemed beautiful?
4) The nineteenth century saw increasing movements to help reform prostitutes who had few opportunities in life and who may have come from decent homes but got sucked into the underbelly of London life. How does the speaker humanize this dead woman? Even further, who is the intended listener? What sex? To help answer this question, look to lines 89-92. How is this listener to blame?
Tennyson's "The Lady of Shalott"
Here are some thoughts to consider, since we didn't get a chance to discuss this poem in class.
1) This poem is a bit different from the others, in that we don't get an explicit fall from grace, at least in an overtly sexual sense. However, we do get more of an allegorical fall.
What does the lady of Shalott spend her time doing in her tower? Why must she stay there?
Is she able to look on the world directly?
While she does not overtly fall sexually, think a bit about what actually makes her defy her fate and get up from her weaving loom and look directly on the scene below? Could she be romantically motivated?
2) Lines122 marks a distinct break in the narrative. Read these lines out loud. How do they sound? Why repeat the sentence structure five times, starting with "She left/made/saw/saw/look'd/"? What types of verbs or words are these and what sort of action to they connote?
3) The Lady of Shalott is ultimately punished for her sins. Why does she have to die? What was her crime?
1) This poem is a bit different from the others, in that we don't get an explicit fall from grace, at least in an overtly sexual sense. However, we do get more of an allegorical fall.
What does the lady of Shalott spend her time doing in her tower? Why must she stay there?
Is she able to look on the world directly?
While she does not overtly fall sexually, think a bit about what actually makes her defy her fate and get up from her weaving loom and look directly on the scene below? Could she be romantically motivated?
2) Lines122 marks a distinct break in the narrative. Read these lines out loud. How do they sound? Why repeat the sentence structure five times, starting with "She left/made/saw/saw/look'd/"? What types of verbs or words are these and what sort of action to they connote?
3) The Lady of Shalott is ultimately punished for her sins. Why does she have to die? What was her crime?
Morris's "The Defense of Guenevere"
We didn't have a chance to finish our discussion of this poem last Thursday, so here are some areas to consider.
1)Take a look at lines 118-131, where Guinevere calls attention to her physical appearance. Given the nature of her relationship with Arthur, which she references earlier in the poem, why would it matter to her that she was beautiful? Why does this thought make her "mad"?
Next, take a look at lines 223-238. She again references her appearance, but to what end? What does she mean when she warns, "say no rash word/ Against me, being so beautiful"?
2) On a related note, look back at Rossetti's "Goblin Market," and specifically at lines 376-390. Lizzie and Laura are "Golden head by golden head/...Like two flakes of new-fallen snow," and they are "Locked together in one nest." What qualities are usually associated with "golden hair" and "new-fallen snow"? While we might understand if Lizzie is associated with these qualities, is it odd that Laura is as well here? Given the Victorian fear that good women and corrupt women come from the same stock or might be indistinguishable, how does the poem comment on this?
Now, go back to "The Defense of Guenevere" and look at lines 236-241:
will you dare
When you have looked a little on my brow,
To say this thing is vile? or will you care
For any plausible lies of cunning woof,
When you can see my face with no lie there
What does Guenevere insist that beauty represents? According to her, can a beautiful exterior hide something "vile"? Given what we know of the woman's past behavior, is this statement surprising or ironic?
3) Finally, take a look at the final three stanzas, lines 287-295. We are told that Guenevere stops talking and listens to a coming sound, Lancelot actually coming to rescue her from execution. What do her mannerisms (She lean'd eagerly,/ And gave a slight spring sometimes") show about her emotional state? Given the somewhat disconnected nature of her discussion, could she have simply been stalling, biding her time until she is rescued? Which of her statements can we ultimately trust as true?
4) Finally, is Guenevere punished at the end of this poem?
1)Take a look at lines 118-131, where Guinevere calls attention to her physical appearance. Given the nature of her relationship with Arthur, which she references earlier in the poem, why would it matter to her that she was beautiful? Why does this thought make her "mad"?
Next, take a look at lines 223-238. She again references her appearance, but to what end? What does she mean when she warns, "say no rash word/ Against me, being so beautiful"?
2) On a related note, look back at Rossetti's "Goblin Market," and specifically at lines 376-390. Lizzie and Laura are "Golden head by golden head/...Like two flakes of new-fallen snow," and they are "Locked together in one nest." What qualities are usually associated with "golden hair" and "new-fallen snow"? While we might understand if Lizzie is associated with these qualities, is it odd that Laura is as well here? Given the Victorian fear that good women and corrupt women come from the same stock or might be indistinguishable, how does the poem comment on this?
Now, go back to "The Defense of Guenevere" and look at lines 236-241:
will you dare
When you have looked a little on my brow,
To say this thing is vile? or will you care
For any plausible lies of cunning woof,
When you can see my face with no lie there
What does Guenevere insist that beauty represents? According to her, can a beautiful exterior hide something "vile"? Given what we know of the woman's past behavior, is this statement surprising or ironic?
3) Finally, take a look at the final three stanzas, lines 287-295. We are told that Guenevere stops talking and listens to a coming sound, Lancelot actually coming to rescue her from execution. What do her mannerisms (She lean'd eagerly,/ And gave a slight spring sometimes") show about her emotional state? Given the somewhat disconnected nature of her discussion, could she have simply been stalling, biding her time until she is rescued? Which of her statements can we ultimately trust as true?
4) Finally, is Guenevere punished at the end of this poem?
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
19th Century Art
Here are some 19th century depictions of the poems you've read for today. Thoughts on these?
John William Waterhouse, "The Lady of Shallot" (1894)
John Willam Waterhouse, "The Lady of Shallot" (1888)
John Sydney Meteyard, "The Lady of Shalott" 1913
John Knight, "The Lady of Shalott"
Arthur Rackram, "Goblin Market"
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, "Goblin Market"
John Byam Liston Shaw, "Goblin Market" (1899)
William Morris, "Queen Guinevere" (1858)
Monday, January 24, 2011
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Class Discussion 1/20
So, I was quite pleased with today's class discussions. To take a step further, think about what the two prints--"Good Counsel" and "Evil Counsel"--show about notions of Victorian femininity. On the one hand, we get a version of womanhood that is chaste and wise, able to provide valuable and presumably moral counsel. The older woman's sexuality is all but obscured by her clothing and stature. In the other, we get womanhood that is capable of being corrupted and of corrupting others. This version is also overtly sensual, with the tempter's hair flaring out and her countenance beseeching and beguiling her younger and more vulnerable companion.
Keep this dichotomy in mind as you read about Victorian notions of femininity for Tuesday. What qualities are associated with the "Angel in the House"? Does sexuality count as one of these qualities? Were women viewed as being corruptible? Although the "Counsel" prints provide us with dichotomous, seemingly opposed portrayals of womanhood, is it possible for that dichotomy to break down or become slippery? Is it possible for the good counselor in the first image to harbor the disturbing qualities associated with her evil counterpart? Just some thoughts to keep in mind.
Keep this dichotomy in mind as you read about Victorian notions of femininity for Tuesday. What qualities are associated with the "Angel in the House"? Does sexuality count as one of these qualities? Were women viewed as being corruptible? Although the "Counsel" prints provide us with dichotomous, seemingly opposed portrayals of womanhood, is it possible for that dichotomy to break down or become slippery? Is it possible for the good counselor in the first image to harbor the disturbing qualities associated with her evil counterpart? Just some thoughts to keep in mind.
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