Oppression of Victorian Women and Expression of Feminist Sentiments Concerning Hysteria - Dissertation Example

? Oppression of Victorian Women and Expression of Feminist sentiments concerning Hysteria By: [Presented to] [City/State] [Date] Hysteria as an expression of feminist sentiments in Gothic genre: During nineteenth century, America and Britain welcomed urbanisation and industrialisation and henceforth, gender roles were re-defined, which as Weinmann explained, were divided between public and private spheres, and males were given excessive authority over women (2010, p.9). Social preferences during Victorian era subjected women to rigid ideals of femininity; stereotypical images forbid them from discovering their true identity, and they were projected as “fragile, emotional and dependent mother-woman” with little or no creative urges (Smith-Rosenberg, 1986, p.186). Victorian women faced multi-faceted oppression by society; however, this was perceived as the only appropriate mode of life for them. Any woman, who dared to defy conventional norms by indulging in an illicit relation, expressed sensual desires, and mouthed discomfort against masochistic behaviours, was socially condemned and regarded as hysterical (Austin & Boyd, 2010, p.496). Utter disregard for womanly penchants and suppression of feminist sentiments produced negative impacts on female psyche which by the end of 19th century was understood as a medical disorder by the likes of Sigmund Freud. It was due to the efforts on Freud’s behalf and the literary masterpieces from the late 19th century that put forth the logic that hysteria was a natural phenomenon resulting from feelings of oppression and belittling of humanly yearnings (Sulloway, 1992, p.47). Feminism which before 19th century was largely encapsulated as the freedom to give birth and enjoy motherhood, was propagated as an urge for attaining social equality, privilege for preferred sensual orientation, and independence for selecting a way of life. Gothic literature primarily focused on enlightening people about the actuality of hysteria and the dislike towards biased moral/cultural norms was voiced strongly (Toohey, 2012, p.242). It expressed feminist sentiments and described the impact of stereotypical gender roles from a female’s perspective. Kate Chopin's “The Awakening” (1899), Charlotte Perkins Gilman's “The Yellow Wallpaper” (1892) and Henry James “The Turn of the Screw” (1898), etc. displayed feminist sentiments concerning hysteria profoundly (Serafin & Bendixen, 2005, p.362). The Awakening, the centre of discussion here, displays a Victorian era society in Louisiana during 1899, and underlines tabooed themes of feminine biological desires and pursuance of self-identity through the protagonist Edna Pontellier. Revealing hysteria as a repercussion of pursuing self-identity in The Awakening: The Awakening is one of those few literary masterpieces that covered the theme of oppression and depression comprehensively. In this novel, forced social obligations and suppressed female emotions were shown as the cause of bringing them to the verge of insanity. It did not deal with any single aspect of oppression but provided an in-depth analysis of how feminist pursuance of self-identity and female individuality was totally crushed in a male-dominated society. Edna was not just searching for freedom to entertain her unfulfilled sensual urges that was an outcome of unhappy and excessively authoritative marital relation, but she wanted to gain freedom for self-discovery. Here it is important to pay attention to the fact the Victorian era men played a significant role in the outbreak of maddening behaviours among women. Danahay explains that in Victorian era, biased gender role distinction primarily on the biological basis was the “most extreme form of segregation yet seen in an industrialised nation” (2005, p.2). Women had no particular rights upon their body or mind whatsoever, hence; it was paramount that there was no acceptance for “permissible sexual activities,” and “range of role choices” (Weinmann, 2010, p.2). Hystera is a Greek word from which hysteria has been derived, and it means Womb (Weissenrieder, 2003, p.57). Hence, during Victorian era, hysteria or insanity was widely accepted as a female malady only. Before Freud’s or gothic explanatory works, it was believed either as a feminist expression of non-compliance towards the accepted gender roles, and/or an abnormality surrounding women’s sensual energies (Weissenrieder, 2003, p.57). However, in gothic genre literature hysteria was portrayed effectively to signify their protest against the derogatory social norms and subversive notions of males against females (Toohey, 2012, p.242). Chopin was greatly inspired by Darwin and the theory of naturalism and hence, she dared to declare through her novel that a woman’s sexual desires were natural (Newlin, 2011, p.65). Freud’s theory of subconscious and human psychological development is important to understand before dwelling into Chopin’s disclosure about hysteria and Edna’s inner complexities. In the same period when she wrote this novel, Freud was compiling his case studies and theories to reveal the actuality of hysteria’s occurrence primarily among females. Freud’s psychoanalysis scientifically proved the existence of subconscious realms, since he used his own experiences from his case-studies for unearthing the psychological complexities generated by inert human desires. Freud explained that during infancy, a person developed his or her self-identity, I-e ID, which is crucial for a righteous state of mind (Cardwell & Flanagan, 2003, p.144). Later, Ego and Super Ego start to develop as a continuation of self-discovery and acknowledging of personal preferences. Pain-body was realised as a section of our mind that reserves suppressed desires, negative experiences and incomplete emotional urges and ultimately it bursts out in the form of insanity (Gilman, 1993, p.286). When a person’s self-identity is prohibited from being developed naturally, and he or she has been forced to follow a pattern of life which only others feel is suitable for them, then psychological conditions like hysteria occur (Cardwell & Flanagan, 2003, p.144). Hence, the central objective of Chopin and Freud was similar to the context of entailing hysteria significantly in their works. Freud’s case studies greatly helped in understanding hysteria as not a “female malady” only, and he theoretically explained it as a medical condition that originated when our Pain-Body became flooded with suppressed emotions and sentiments (Gilman, 1993, p.286).Chopin expressed feminist sentiments concerning hysteria vividly, and under natural psychic revelations. Edna’s situation resembles greatly to Freud’s peculiarly famous case-study of Dora, an eighteen year old teenager of Austrian origin. Freud and Chopin both upheld the theory that hysteria among women actually was an after-math of long-ignored craving for social nobility, needs and desires (Gilman, 1993, p.287). Hysteria a consequential imposition of repression in The Awakening: “They were women who idealized their children, worshipped their husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow wings as ministering angels" (Chopin, 1899, p.19). Chopin’s greatness lies within the fact that she explained hordes of sentiments in just few lines (Oakes, 2004, p.80). In this quote, Chopin bluntly described the way women’s psyche had been moulded by the rigid principles of society, and they believed that they were born to comply with the duties of mother-hood. If we analyse Edna’s character, it becomes apparent that in an era when most women submitted to their fates such as Mdame Ratignolle, Edna could not do so since she was not ready to play a mother-woman and an angelic being. Chopin made it clear that early on that Edna was a mere human with desires “I would give up the essential; I would give my money; I would give my life for my children; but I wouldn't give myself” (1899, p.122). Edna utterly rejected the “cult of domesticity” in every way by refraining from public commemorations to living separately and acquiring financial independence (Dewitz, 2010, p.7). She followed her creative dispositions in a society where this was strictly prohibited. Reference from a secondary source could be taken from Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper, which dealt with similar notions of oppression and the impact of suppressed emotions on the female psyche. Gilman also described housekeeping as the only probable profession in this quote “there comes John's sister, she is a perfect and enthusiastic housekeeper, and hopes for no better profession" (1892, p.18). She showed her anonymous protagonist as an inspiring writer who is never allowed by her husband to express her feelings on paper, and that leads her towards insane behaviours. “I think sometimes that if I were only well enough to write a little it would relieve the press of ideas and rest me.” (Gilman & Hedges, 1892, p.16) Chopin also projects similar notion by showing Madame Reisz, a pianist who greatly inspires Edna, as an unmarried woman to represent that such women were socially condemned. This shows that during 19th century, creative independence was a far cry for women (Oakes, 2004, p.81). When Edna decides to leave her husband, the revolt rooting within Edna is clearly portrayed as she throws away her wedding ring and “stamped her heel upon it, striving to crush it" (Chopin, 1899, p.135). However, Edna was not convinced of her own changing perceptions regarding her desires because Chopin initially shows that her heroine has acted as a devoted wife for six years, and it was hard for her to comply with her search for identity and psychological needs. “By all the codes which I am acquainted with, I am a devilishly wicked specimen of the sex. But some way I can't convince myself that I am” (Chopin, 1899, 216). Gradually, Chopin presents us a strong woman who is willing to let go of her marital bond to ensure independence of her body and soul which she has been deprived of so far. Chopin makes Edna reject her husband’s advancements and use phrases like “don’t speak to me like that again” or “I don’t wish to go in, and I don’t intend to” to enlighten the reader about the slow and steady transitioning that she is undergoing (1899, p.80). However, it was a savagely unacceptable behaviour from a woman of that era, and that is why Chopin eventually shows the breaking down of Edna. Keith Newlin writes that “Edna’s awakening sexuality is certainly problematic in its threat to her marriage because it leads to her own emotional instability” (2011, p.65). Edna rejecting her social obligations as a mother, wife, and a prisoner of society is one way of expressing the suffocating impact of oppressive norms. Her husband thinks of her changing behaviour as a mental sickness just because “she doesn’t act well; she's odd she’s not like herself” and hence; she required treatment (Chopin, 1899, p.169). Chopin expresses Edna’s stances as not mere insanity but an outcome of her previous repressive experiences that were greatly stimulated again when Robert, her true love, could not live up to her expectations. Edna becomes severely ravaged, and Chopin described her state of mind as “there was no one thing in the world she desired” after this setback (1899, p.300). Robert’s departure "had taken the brightness, the colour, and the meaning out of everything" (Chopin, 1899, p.117). Doyle and Winkiel believe that such feelings of “mortification, and isolation from all other human beings and even from her own anterior existence“returns the female towards embracing her ultimate fate in the form of insanity or death (2005, p.68). As Edna dwelled and resurfaced from the unlimited ecstasies of intimacy, she became perplexed about the fate of her actions and the impact of her supposed social condemnation on her children. The scene between Mr. Pontellier (Edna’s husband) and Dr Mandelet provides us an insight into the psyche of a male-oriented society as the doctor proclaims that Edna “would require an inspired psychologist to deal successfully” (Chopin, 1899, p.172). This shows that when a woman decided to uphold her self-esteem, displayed indifference towards forced social obligations and realised her true preferences, the world started to believe it as a psychological disorder. Chopin explains that Edna was unhappy because she was being socially suffocated and felt misfit… “It did not seem worthwhile to be glad or sorry, to be dead or alive; when life appeared to her like a grotesque pandemonium and humanity like worms struggling blindly toward inevitable annihilation." (1899, p.149) This quote lets reader gains an insight of Edna’s emotional state, and we realise that her psychological breakdown was caused because her inner-self was awakened to the fact that there was no place for women like her in the society. Allison Berg figured out that “Edna gains self-knowledge, only to become aware of the disparity between that self-knowledge and the nature of the world” (2002, p.62). Suicide: a metaphor for expressing hope and freedom instead of a hysterical outburst: It is a preconceived notion that Chopin’s novel ends on an ironic note and shows that Edna decided on self-abandonment instead of fighting for justice. However, Suicide was an important aspect of expressing feminist sentiments against social dejection in gothic literature at the turn of the century. The eventual suicide of Edna was a pre-conceived fate of women who dared in Victorian era. Teresa Neal reveals that “Nineteenth-century women century women were renowned for hypochondria, fainting spells, and even suicide” (2006, p.34). Suicide or death in literature has been wrongly understood as the breakdown or resignation of the victim, instead it is an imagery constituted to depict the re-birth of females (Gentry, 2006, p.80). Madness and suicide have been used as a mode for gaining independence from the patriarchal hegemony, since females could not give in to the demands of society, they chose to die or go insane. Hedges wrote in the after word of “The Yellow Wallpaper” “Such suicides as that of Kate Chopin's heroine and the madness that descends upon the heroine in "The Yellow Wallpaper," are all deliberate dramatic indictments, by women writers, of the crippling social pressures imposed on women in the nineteenth century and the sufferings they endured” (1892, p.54). Another aspect of showing death and insanity as the heroine’s ultimate fate is to reveal their conviction towards the cause they stood for, and also the righteousness of their stance. Had they been shown as succumbing to the demands of society, or returning to their previous lives, the purpose would not have been served. Chopin described choosing sea as the location for committing suicide because Edna wanted to become a “new-born creature, opening its eyes in a familiar world that it had never known” (1899, p.301). Hence, death and suicide is used to depict the end of life, instead a depiction for the feminist hopes of a new-era where women will be given equal rights or re-birth of a more enlightened generation of females. Symbols that represent psychological confinement as the perpetrator of hysteria and antipathy: Symbols and metaphors play a prominent role in depicting themes of repression and a female’s perception of society in various gothic genre literatures. For instance, Henry James in his work The Turn of the Screw (1898) used ghosts as a symbol for depicting the hidden fears of its central character, the governess. Helen Reakes (2011) explains that these fears could be “her fear of sexual knowledge, especially regarding the children, and a portrayal of sexual repression in Victorian society.” Another perspective of understanding the presence of Miss Jessel and Peter Quint as ghost is to portray the dangerous fate that awaited those who succumbed to their intellectual demands and psychological or sensual desires in the Victorian society. Chopin has used Parrot, caging of the bird, and sea as important symbols to depict several oppressive feelings of Edna. Sea projects Edna’s longing for liberation and as a metaphorical concept for a better world where happiness awaits for her (Weinmann, 2010, p.21). It can also be referred to as the depiction of the womb, to project the re-birth of Edna. Since Edna has always longed for a mother-like figure, she considered sea as her protector from the worldly ordeals and oppression just like a mother protects her children. Edna’s profound happiness is evident when she learns to swim, since she considers sea as a world which allows her to enjoy equality, freedom of expression, and lets her control herself the way she wants. Edna’s urge for self-identity is also depicted through imagining sea as her own introverted world in which “She wanted to swim far out, where no woman had swum before" (Chopin, 1899, p.71). Sea, for Edna, provides all those psychological privileges that she could not afford to relish in the outer-world. “A green and yellow parrot, which hung in a cage outside the door," this quote provides us the symbolic presentation of confinement in The Awakening, which is the caging of birds (Chopin, 1899, p.1). Edna feels herself as prohibited from indulging into acts of self-discovery or sensual urges, and at various occasions, Chopin uses caged birds to depict her inner state. The bird is described as representing Edna, and that it is pleading “Allez vous-en! Allez vous-en! Sapristi!” I-e “go away for God’s sake” (Chopin, 1899, p.1). The Spanish version is used to show that like the bird, Edna’s pleas also get ignored for the simple fact that people could not understand the psyche of women. In that period, women were not supposed to voice their feelings and their sentiments were not understood. Birds also represent freedom in this tale, and the symbolism entails that a woman has to be strong for striving to achieve her true stature in society, while the weaker ones always have to succumb to their fates ultimately. Chopin clearly inscribes this aspect in this quote: “The bird that would soar above the level plain of tradition, and prejudice must have strong wings. It is a sad spectacle to see the weaklings bruised, exhausted, fluttering back to earth'" (Chopin, 1899, p.217). When Edna reaches the sea after deciding to die, Chopin described her state of mind by picturing the scene around the solitary seashore in this sentence: “A bird with a broken wing was beating the air above, reeling, fluttering, circling disabled down, down to the water" (1899, p.301). This shows that the symbol of bird, and its flight has been used throughout the novel to depict Edna’s feelings of resentment, objectivity against suppression, strive for independence, and finally to depict the repercussions of social dejection on her personality. Reference List Austin, W. & Boyd, M., A., (2010) Psychiatric & Mental Health Nursing for Canadian Practice ed. 2, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Berg, A., (2002), Mothering the Race: Women's Narratives on Reproduction, 1890-1930, University of Illinois Press. 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Weissenrieder , A., (2003) Images of Illness in the Gospel of Luke: Insights of Ancient Medical Texts, Mohr Siebeck. Read More