Women Writing Masculinities in the Victorian Era
Faculty Sponsor
Ingrid Ranum, Gonzaga University
Research Project Abstract
This paper examines the effects that Victorian constructions of gender have on the way in which men and women form interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships in the narrative poem Aurora Leigh, by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. In the 19th century, a new dichotomy between masculinity and femininity emerged, a phenomenon which David Rosen explains in The Changing Fictions of Masculinity as destructive to relationships and self understanding. By analyzing the evolution of the relationship between Aurora Leigh and her cousin Romney in light of this new dichotomy, I intend to show that the agency and self-definition that Aurora Leigh is able to achieve through her writing allows both her and Romney to transcend the limitations of gendered expectations and participate in a spiritually fulfilling relationship in which they mutually recognize one another.
Session Number
SS9
Location
Weyerhaeuser 305
Abstract Number
SS9-b
Women Writing Masculinities in the Victorian Era
Weyerhaeuser 305
This paper examines the effects that Victorian constructions of gender have on the way in which men and women form interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships in the narrative poem Aurora Leigh, by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. In the 19th century, a new dichotomy between masculinity and femininity emerged, a phenomenon which David Rosen explains in The Changing Fictions of Masculinity as destructive to relationships and self understanding. By analyzing the evolution of the relationship between Aurora Leigh and her cousin Romney in light of this new dichotomy, I intend to show that the agency and self-definition that Aurora Leigh is able to achieve through her writing allows both her and Romney to transcend the limitations of gendered expectations and participate in a spiritually fulfilling relationship in which they mutually recognize one another.
