Shannon Storey's Essay

[“The Woman’s Cause is Man’s”] by Lord Alfred Tennyson; A Necessary Addition to any VBL Cannon Although the spring semester 2011’s Victorian British Literature course covers several of Lord Alfred Tennysons works, one piece in particular from Tennysons repertoire remains overlooked. [“The Woman’s Cause is Man”] makes for a necessary addition to this courses future repository. This piece is applicable to the topical focus points discussed in class and falls especially well under the topic of Victorian Ladies and Gentlemen. Tennyson clearly presents a stance on gender equality that can be discussed and compared through past and present contexts. In relation to gender, [“The Woman’s Cause is Man”] contains significant progressive concepts from the British Victorian Age in respect to Tennysons reflection of women’s importance in society and the mutualistic reliance that both men and women have on one another. Tennyson’ s [“Women’s Cause is Men’s”] is an excerpt from a longer, narrative poem, “The Princess.” In Tennyson’s narrative poem he express ideas of women’s rights and issues of the time. Throughout the poem, the Princess narrates a dramatic monologue, telling of her desire to never get married and her wish to open a women’s college. In this excerpt, the Prince gives his concluding speech after the Princess decides to marry him instead of pursuing the formation of a women’s college. Throughout this excerpted piece, Tennyson uses the Prince’s voice to convey the value of women within there gendered role. During the British Victorian Age, society strictly defined gender roles for men and women. “Most ladies and gentlemen endeavored to conform to the ideologies of separate spheres that dominated Victorian thinking about gender. Middle-class women were to preside over the domestic sphere, the home and the family, while men entered the fray of the world.” (The Longman Anthology, British Literature, 1520) In [“Women’s Cause in Man’s,”] Tennyson truthfully depicts the division of spheres that was defined by Victorian society. For the Victorians, “it was a way of life that at once exalted middle-class women and paralyzed them. They could not work outside the home; they could not vote; they had no legal rights, even over their own children; they could not attend university or enter the professions.” (The Longman Anthology, British Literature, 1520) Not only were women’s options limited, but women furthermore lacked the respect of Victorian Gentlemen. “Legally, they were classed with criminals, idiots, and minors. Rejecting women’s education, the painter Edward Burne-Jones argued, ‘The great point is, not that they should understand us, but that they should worship and obey us.’” (The Longman Anthology, British Literature, 1521) In spite of these traditional views, “definitions of masculinity and femininity were earnestly contested throughout the period,” (Longman Anthology, British Literature, 1521) and Tennyson’s poem provides a clear example of that contested definition. Written within such a context of gender discrimination, Tennyson’s poem controversially identifies and praises the importance of women within their gendered sphere. Furthermore, Tennyson depicts the reliance of men on women and visa versa. Each gender is portrayed as two different and separate parts, where neither can flourish independently. In our own lives, and this proud watchword rest Of equal; seeing either sex alone Is half itself, and in no true marriage lies Nor equal, nor unequal: each fulfils Defect in each, and always thought in thought, Purpose in purpose, will in will, they grow, The single pure and perfect animal, The two-cell’d heart beating, with one full stroke, Life.”(lines 283-290) Tennyson implies dependance as mutualistic between a man and a woman. This implication contrasts with the common Victorian outlook that women were purely dependent upon men. In addition to mutualistic dependance, Tennyson also uses the Prince to convey respect for the Princess, and all women, through his idealistic concepts regarding women equality. For woman is not undeveloped man, But diverse; could we make her as the man, Sweet Love were slain; his dearest bond is this, Not like to like, but like in difference. (lines 259-263) There is an appreciation expressed from men to women in Tennyson’s poem. The respect and dependance that Tennyson introduces in this poem challenges the constructs of Victorian society. Conveying these concepts through his poetry, Tennyson opens the doors for further advancements in gender equality throughout the rest of the 18th and the 19th centuries. Since the Victorian Age, people have challenged not just the value of women in society, but the domestic sphere as well. Written at a time when gender rolls and equality was just coming into questions through poetry and art, this poem is progressive in regards to gender equality and women’s role in society. The concepts of mutualistic dependance and respect premiss further ideas behind women’s rights movement in the decades to follow. Tennyson’s progressive concepts on women’s role in society, evident in this poem, playa crucial role in gender reforms to follow. The significance behind this poem lies in it’s direct connection to women’s roles and rights in society throughout the 18th and 19th centuries.

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