Women's Rights
Cult of True Womanhood: also called the cult of domesticity; the concept of womanhood created primarily around the middle class that valorized such ideals as piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity--more information on the cult of true womanhood can be found at http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/386/truewoman.html
Angel in the House: title of poem written by Coventry Patmore to his wife; term came to represent the ideal submissive Victorian wife
I find this cartoon interesting for a number of reasons. First, the very concept of being a cartoon limits the knowledge that we, as readers and viewers, can have on the moment presented to us. Does Ancient Lady comply with Miss Sharp's request to walk alone, smoking? What are the two woman doing together in the first place? What kind of relationship do they have? Because we can only speculate on the answers to the questions, we have to make sense of what we do know. Miss Sharp, as a young, "new woman," desires her freedom, as is evidened by her insistence that she wants to walk alone so that she can enjoy her smoke. The reference to Miss Sharp as "Modern Ditto" is intriguing. The term "ditto" refers to a duplicate copy, and held that definition in the 19th century according to the Oxford English Dictionary. In that case, then, Miss Sharp is being called essentially the "Modern Ancient Lady." If Miss Sharp is a "new woman," and she is at the same time a copy of Ancient Lady, then it follows that Ancient Lady must be as liberal as Miss Sharp. The title "Women's Rights," refers to both women--they are both advocates for the new rights being granted to women in the Victorian era, regardless of how socially acceptable they may or may not be. The difference between the two is that Ancient Lady lived in "ancient" times for women. Miss Sharp is a part of the new generation of women who have rights to walk alone and to smoke. While these acts may not be socially acceptable, they are nonetheless seen as rights, and that is at least a step in the right direction as far as women's rights are concerned.
I, too, find this cartoon very interesting, but for different reasons than the commentor before me. I'm interested in the appearance of both of the women in the cartoon. The old woman seems completely covered from head to toe, even going so far as to cover her head with a shawl. The younger woman, however, is wearing a dress with a plunging neckline, a barely-there cap, and conspicuous jewelry. Although she has her coat in her hand, it is clear that the cartoonist means to draw a distinct delineation between the two by comparing their dress as well as their speech. I am also intrigued by the female maid in the background. It is interesting that she seems to be observing the situation, but is not part of the action. As a maid, she would not have been considered germane to the conversation at hand, her role in society being severly limited. Also notice that she does not speak in the cartoon; she has merely a silent presence, much as the females of the lower classes had in society in the Victorian era. Thus, this cartoon seems to be bringing to light not only the changing roles of women, but also the differences between classes of women in Victorian society.
This article is fascinating, as I'm sure many Punch readers, at the time, found this to be extremely offensive for many reasons, yet the cartoon, along with many others of the time that were so controversial, were continually published, which really means that although they may have been controversial, the cartoons were speaking to people in regards to addressing the idea of a changing world. Though change is always slowly accepted, the cartoon was viewed by many people, including young and mature males and females. I'm curious as to what type of response was received by all readers/viewers. The cartoon itself is very simple, and even the caption is right to the point. I think the fact that the response of the younger female is so blunt is what is shocking. The young woman could have responded in a mature, respectable way, and even turned down the offer without any reference to what her true desire was for walking home alone. The fact that she refused an offer from a mature woman of society who expected respect, then clearly stated her interest in participating in an activity that was socially unacceptable, (female walking home alone), and then to express a desire to take part in a male-dominated habit (smoking), I'm sure, would have been reviewed as unacceptable. But, as any evolving controversial matter, this cartoon probably sparked the interest of many viewers, and even put new ideas and thoughts into young women, especially, on what is expected and acceptable in the society of the time.
Kristin H. 5/4/08
I find the stance of the women fascinating. The "Ancient Lady" is quite an ominous figure, looming over "Miss Sharp" and nearly aggressing into her space. It's almost as if the "Ancient Lady" is a stand-in for a man. This lends the entire scene a fairy tale feel. One could easily imagine, without the captioning, that the Ancient Lady is the Wicked Stepmother, offering Modern Ditto a bite of the apple. As the first commenter noted, the reference to Miss Sharp as "Modern Ditto" certainly does reflect a kinship between the two women, but I don't know that it professes the same type of liberal thinking among both women. It seems to me that the author of the text / illustration could be pointing out the phenomenon wherein older people forget what it was like to be young and, in this case, independent. In that way it could be seen as a critique of the older woman, who has forgotten her own liberal views in favor of enforcing antiquated social norms. Like the second commenter, I am also intrigued by this figure of the maid. Where exactly does she fit in to this idea of Women's Rights? She seems to not even be paying complete attention to the conversation taking place, but instead has her eye trained on some unknown spot in the distance, perhaps planning what she would do with her rights and freedom? She certainly presents a complicated figure as one who, at once, would have had a certain degree of independence from some of the social norms placed on upper class women, but a whole different set of expectations would be placed upon her in her role as servant.
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Kayla Emerson | Western Washington University | English 310 |
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