Caitlin Lang's Essay

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== During the semester the British Victorian class sought to study poetry and literature that not only pleased artistically, but also portrayed for a modern reader the reality of the Victorian period. How the men and women interacted, the different advances in thought and technology, and patriotism all affected the Victorian world of literature and gave for readers a glimpse into a life they can only imagine. Different poems that the British Victorian class focused on captured sometimes one or two aspects of the Victorian world. However, a poem that deserves to be read and studied is one that captures a multitude of themes and gives varying outlooks of Victorian life. Amy Levy’s poem “Magdalen” is such a text that illustrates three major themes of the Victorian period such as Victorian ladies and gentlemen, the dominance of religion and the power and affects of British colonization. == The first major theme that the poem addresses is the relations and portrayals of British Victorian ladies and gentlemen. First, the title refers to this theme as “Magdalen” is taken from the name of Mary Magdalen, who is often referred to as a prostitute who repented and was forgiven by Jesus. Mary Magdalen represents the idea of fallen and sexually deviant women repenting, becoming pure and being accepted into good society. For the Victorians, a woman’s status was only as good as her virtue. Pure women were thought to be members of higher society and were respected while impure women were considered to be of lower class and bad breeding, as purity equals education and good religious upbringing which the upper class thought they had. A woman’s purity also affected the course of her life as impure were women shunned from society and also unlucky in marriage, as well bred gentlemen married only pure and chaste women. The idea of gentlemen only marrying women of pure nature and shunning fallen women is depicted in the plot of the poem as the speaker is believed to be within a religious penitentiary for unwed mothers. Because for women status and identity could only be found in marriage to a good husband, for impure women who were unmarried and had no prospects of a good match, they lacked social standing within the Victorian world. Levy’s poem objects to this belief though as she is giving her speaker, an unwed mother, a voice as the narrator of the poem, allowing the fallen woman to share her side of her story which in turn gives the speaker power. == Levy also addresses the problems within the rituals of courtship in Victorian relationships. Levy’s lines 71-72 address the falseness within courting as the speaker states, “But in a hideous masquerade/ All things dance on, the ages through” (340). Another similar instance in which courting is addressed is in line 21 in which when talking about her lover the narrator states, “You were so tender with me, too” (338). Both of these examples depict how men and women when courting are not often in love but partake in courting rituals in the attempt to gain a good spouse. The quote calling relationships a “hideous masquerade” is also a play on line as dancing and masquerade balls are one of the courting rituals in which men and women can flirt and ensnare possible good spouses. However, because the narrator does not reveal specific details about her status or whether the person who they are speaking of was a potential husband, the speaker of the poem could be complaining about the strictness of society on young people which forces men and women to choose ideal spouses over less than fortunate loved ones. The “masquerade” and “dance” that go on could be the rants of a spurned lover of lower class means who was abandoned by an upper class gentleman, especially after she became pregnant. That could explain why the lover that the speaker is complaining of her lovers change from being “tender” to having abandoned the speaker, as is assumed by the tone of the narration. == The religious aspect of the poem once again begins with the title. By using “Magdalen” as a title in the religious sense, Levy could be showing the length to which sinners must take in order to be forgiven by God and society. The speaker is a fallen woman living within a religious penitentiary, in order to be cleansed of her sin. Levy could therefore be illustrating the extensive length impure women of the Victorian period had to go under in order to be forgiven and reentered into society. By the speaker complaining about the penitentiary and the lack of compassion that Victorian religion had for women, Levy could be stating that religion is unfair towards women and unjustly ruled the Victorians in their everyday lives. God is portrayed as a domineering and male figure within the poem, as line 34 states, “How strange, that you should work my woe!” (339). The ambiguity of who the speaker is talking to—whether to the man or to God—suggests that she is referring to a masculine figure; if addressing as God, the speaker could be complaining that if it was not for religion ruling people within society than she would not be in a penitentiary. The speaker also refers to her lack of faith in God or religion, as for example in lines 75-76, stating that “Save only Pain. I have no faith/ In God or Devil, Life or Death” (340). The “pain” that the speaker is referring to could be either guilt for her sins or her lack of guilt. And by claiming that she has no faith in “God or Devil” the speaker is merging both figures into meaningless beings, giving neither one of them the chance to save her from her situation through “life” which could be her salvation in heaven or “death” which could be her damnation. Levy therefore seems to be showing how religion is full of hypocrisy and that by it’s harsh treatment of sinners, people lose faith; sinners are not like Mary Magdalen, full of repentance and begging for salvation. == The third aspect of which the poem can be examined under is the theme of “travel and empire”. For a third time, the title becomes important as refering to Mary Magdalen could be referring to people who are impure and fallen and need salvation, a strong motive for the British colonizers who used the “white man’s burden” as an excuse to expand their empire. The title could also be referring to how Mary Magdalen became a faithful disciple of Jesus’ after he saved her from her impure life which could be in reference to how the British expected loyalty from their colonized people in return for the salvation they gave them.Yet, when using the theme of “travel and empire” on the body of the poem, the speaker’s words could be seen as the lamentations and yearning for a lost life of freedom outside the penitentiary. Lines 38-39 state “The future and the past are dead/ There is no though that can bring delight”, which could be seen as a colonized saying that because their future is that of a colonized nation hope for the future is gone, and that because they are colonized the British have taken away their past by removing their culture through “civilizing” them (339). The use of religion within the poem and the dominance of God could also be a reference to the theme of colonization, as the Christian religion was a tool used by the British to colonize other nations. Line 33 states, “I wonder, did God laugh in heaven?” which can be in reference to the Christian God that the British force the colonized people to accept or could be the god that the colonized worship, who they could saying has abandoned them by allowing them to be colonized (338). == The three themes from which Amy Levy’s poem “Magdalen” can be examined under are Victorian ladies and gentlemen, religion and travel and empire; because such themes reveal much of the Victorian world that is unknown to modern readers, such a poem that can depict all three topics deserves to be examined in order to teach about many different forms of life during the Victorian period. Thus Amy Levy’s “Magdalen” is a poem necessary for students to read in order to grasp Victorian culture. == == == == == ==