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George du Maurier: The Last Straw

Page history last edited by Leandra 15 years ago

 

 

 

 

 

The Last Straw (image above) was drawn by George du Maurier in 1897.

 


According to the Victorian Web this comic was displayed, at some point in time, in Punch. However, no information, other than the artist who drew the image and date the image was drawn, is given. After reading the blurb on the side of the image as to what the ladies were discussing, I noticed how it can be compared to the role of the mistress that is described in chapter one of Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management by Isabelle Beeton. This paper will discuss how the image compares with the different portions of chapter one in the book by Beeton.

Beeton states that the first rule of being the mistress of a house is that “Her spirit will be seen through the whole establishment” and “for on these [household duties] are perpetually dependent the happiness, comfort, and well-being of a family.” So, is the depressed attitude of this woman in the above image causing her family to fall into despair? According to Beeton’s first rule to being a proper household mistress, it seems as if this woman is the cause of the family’s fall. However, even though it seems this woman’s family is facing despair at the moment, there might be a simple explanation as to the depression of the woman. Beeton states in the second rule:

[T]hat to be a good housewife does not necessarily imply an abandonment of proper pleasures or amusing recreation; and we think it the more necessary to express this, as the performance of the duties of a mistress may, to some minds, perhaps seem to be incompatible with the enjoyment of life.

On the other hand, if this woman is too busy taking care of the household with no help due to her nurse being ill, she has no time for herself. With this woman having to do all the work without any help, could this be the cause of her exhaustion? This is a possibility as to why this woman is near having a break down, especially without having a confidant, other than the husband, to converse matters with.

Victorian Web gives a description of the meaning behind this image, but the description is contrary to the description of a mistress given in Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Mangement:

The Last Straw mocks the supposed economic naivté of women, who are supposedly above the sordid financial realities of life. Here du Maurier also implies that women are also unredeemedly, childishly self-centered and depend completely on men. This very Victorian attitude obviously refers only to women of the upper and upper-middle classes, since throughout the last three-quarters of the nineteenth century many working-class women not only worked but, if married, handled the family finances as well.

A good point the description above makes is that this woman in the image would be one to come from an upper to upper-middle class family because a working class woman would most likely not be able to afford help, such as the nurse with influenza that is described. Yet, the idea that women are selfish and depend entirely on men is not necessarily true, and as Beeton describes in her book, women are to keep track of the housekeeping account-books. Beeton states in rule sixteen, “A housekeeping account-book should invariably be kept, and kept punctually and precisely” and “should be balanced not less than once a month; so that you may see that the money you have in hand tallies with your account of it in your diary.” This alone proves that women are not ignorant of the money coming in and out of the family expenses, but instead are actively involved in keeping track of the books.

Beeton also makes a few other points regarding women and finances. To begin, rule five states, “Frugality and economy are home virtues, without which no household can prosper” (Beeton). Rule twelve regarding purchasing apparel states the most important thing to note is “that it [the apparel being purchased] be not too expensive for her purse” (Beeton). Also, rule fifteen states “that the best articles are the cheapest” and that the mistress “should purchase all provisions and stores needed for the house” (Beeton). So, how can women be ignorant of the finances if they are the ones expected to do it? On the contrary, the image could be argued that the woman in the above image says “my husband declares that ruin is staring us in the face,” which could be analyzed that the woman was not the one in control of the finances. If it was her husband that did the bookkeeping, it would make sense as to why she seems ill-mannered.

The woman also makes a statement that she has an “unbecoming frock.” According to Beeton, this would be unacceptable. There are two ways that the woman’s statement could be interpreted. Firstly, if the woman was not keeping the finances, the husband may have overdrawn the account. This may likely cause purchasing of the latest fashions not to be one of the top priorities on the budget. Secondly, as Beeton quotes from Shakespeare’s Hamlet in rule thirteen on the dress of the mistress:

“Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,

But not express’d in fancy; rich, not gaudy;

For the apparel oft proclaims the man.”

The woman may fear that her looks could be displaying that she is not an upper class woman because her husband may have inaccurately calculated something in the account book causing her not to afford the latest fashions.

Overall, this image strongly displays the role a woman should have in her household, which is given in the chapter one’s, “The Mistress,” from Isabella Beeton’s Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management. Being it was an image, the above interpretations were just a few ways of making sense of what was happening in the picture. Beeton’s book was helpful with “decoding” the situation that might have been taking place in the woman’s household, and it also counteracted the description given regarding the image and upper class women in Victorian times.


Works Cited

Maurier, George du. The Last Straw. Victorian Web. 27 January 2009. http://victorianweb.org/art/illustration/dumaurier/32.html.

Beeton, Isabella. “Chapter 1—The Mistress.” Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management. 1861. MrsBeeton.com. 2007. 27 January 2009. http://www.mrsbeeton.com/01-chapter1.html.

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