Monday, February 28, 2011
Female influence an illusion
Lyn Pykett brings our attention to the limits of a woman's influence in the Victorian Era. (472). While Heathcliff and Linton both had a strong desire and need for Catherine, she still was the one who had to bow down to their wishes. Pykett points out that it doesn't matter how powerful a woman of that times influence was, she was still legally controlled by the male gender of the family. This included everyone from the father, to the brother, and the husband. And while they competed for Catherine's affection it wasn't truly her that they wanted, but their version of who she should be according to their rule. It must have been so confusing in those days for a woman having to please everyone by being someone you are not. It's no wonder that so many of these women were plagued with unhappiness, and in Catherine's case even unto death. She claimed that Heathcliff and Linton had broken her heart when they wouldn't succumb to her subtleties and forge a friendship that would please her. What has surprised me is that no one has alluded to the possibility of polyandry being a motive, or solution. Isn't that what really broke her heart, that she couldn't have both the men as she pleased? Hmmm, it makes you wonder.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I appreciate your thoughts on how women were controlled by men, legally, no matter how much "power" they had over them. I think this is the foundation of the story from a legal perspective.
ReplyDeleteDo you think that maybe the men were competing for Catherine's affection in hopes of getting what would be rightfully theirs once they were married? Although I do not think this is necessarily the whole cause, but it may have been a slight nudge in that direction. (For Heathcliff more than Edgar I would assume.)
I think we've also discussed in class how women of this era would die of boredom. How much fun do you think it would have been to sit around in the rainy, dreary moors all day? To me, not so much. I feel that Catherine developed a dual persona. She had two parts of herself that each desired a separate man. One part Linton and the other half Heathcliff. I think that would be enough to drive any woman mad.
It could have been, but the story may have suggested that polyandry was as unacceptable back then as it's frowned upon now. I'm reminded of a West Point cadet who had two men and lied about it. The funny thing is, she wasn't dismissed for having two men. She was dismissed for lying about it.
ReplyDelete