Passion or Duty?: An Analysis of the Use of Feminism within Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Novel-Poem, Aurora Leigh

           The role of women during the Victorian Era is very different from the role of women today. Today women are given the rights to choose what they want to be, where they want to go, and how they want to live their lives. However, this was not the case for women of the Victorian Era. Helen Nickson discusses the life of women in the Victorian Era in her article, “Life of Women in the Victorian Era.” Nickson states that, “The life of women in Victorian era was generally centered on family commitments. Women were seen as temples of love and purity- and so, could not be used for physical exertion… The only role of women in the Victorian era was to get married and look after the homely chores” (1). Although there was not much reform against the role women at this time, the Victorian Era is a time which also marks the start of significant change in the overall role of women. Barbara Ewell highlights this change within her article, “The Role of Women and Mother,” as she states that, “In the later nineteenth century things for women began to change. No doubt this had something to do with modernity and its intrinsic insistence on change, and no doubt it had something to do with the actions of women themselves, with their desire to break out of the limits imposed on their sex” (1). Elizabeth Barrett Browning was one of the women during this era that began to break out of the limits that were imposed upon her. Not only did Barrett Browning begin to push against the patriarchal roles within her own life, but she also began to push against these roles within her writing as well.

            Specifically within Barrett Browning’s novel-poem Aurora Leigh, readers see Barrett Browning’s call for reform against the patriarchal roles, as well as the overall roles and views of women within the Victorian Era. Barrett Browning does not call for reform within this text by deliberately stating that the Victorian Era’s ways are wrong, but instead calls for reform by providing her women characters with different scenarios throughout the texts that allows the characters to develop in different ways. Barrett Browning uses the women characters within Aurora Leigh as a way to express her call for reform against the patriarchal ways of her society. Not all of Barrett Browning’s women characters are breaking out of the roles that society has set for them however; in fact two of the women characters, Lady Waldemar and Aurora’s Aunt, seem to represent the “typical” Victorian woman and her “average” way of life. The woman characters within Aurora Leigh are, Marian, Aurora’s Aunt, Lady Waldemar, and of course Aurora, each experience different trials within Barrett Browning’s text. However, it is these trials that shape Barrett Browning’s characters, as well as her text.  By using trials to allow her characters to break away from the patriarchal roles, Barrett Browning also establishes a statement of her own, with her character Barrett Browning establishes reform against the patriarchal ways of the Victorian era. Barrett Browning allows her woman characters to do something that most Victorian women were never given the chance/ ability to do, these women were given the chance to choose passion over duty, these women were given the ability to reform their lives.

            One of the characters that is able to remove the objectified label from herself and create meaning within her life is Marian. However, when readers first meet Marian, there is a slight disregard of her overall purpose within life. Marian is not talked of fondly at the beginning of the text, especially by Lady Waldemar. As Lady Waldemar talks about Marian to Aurora, readers get a sense that Marian is viewed as more of an object rather than a subject in the world around her. Lady Waldemar does not see Marian as a suitable match for Romney, who is considering to marry Marian, and is discussing with Aurora why she, [Aurora], needs to make sure that Romney does not fall into the “pit” that Marian has set up for him.

……………………
For when he’s [Romney] fairly married, he a Leigh,
To a girl of doubtful life, undoubtful birth,
Starved out in London till her coarse-grained hands
Are whiter than her morals—even you
May call his choice unworthy.’ (III.534-38)

Although Lady Waldemar knows nothing about Marian, she feels that Marian is unworthy and sinful because she is of a lower class. This particular view point of Marian, and women like Marian, was not one that Barrett Browning had made-up as a way to set the stage for the plot in her story, however; many women who were of a lower class, tended to be considered “fallen” and “tainted” by others in society, especially those who are of the higher class. As the text continues, Marian becomes more “tainted” in the eyes of the Victorian world. When Lady Waldemar sends Marian off to Paris, she is rapped and later bares a child. Although Marian was forcefully put into the position to have a child out of wedlock, in the eyes of society Marian was a disgrace and tainted beyond return. Even Aurora begins to think of Marian differently when she first sees Marian with her child.

……….
To make you wholly easy—she’s not dead,
But only…damned.’
            Stop there: I go too fast;
I’m cruel like the rest—in haste to take
The first stir in the arras for a rat
And set my barking, biting thoughts upon’t. (VI.364-69)

The first area that readers see Barrett Browning begin to call for reform within the views of Marian, and women like Marian, is at this point within the novel. The first thought that Aurora has of Marian when she sees her with her child is that she is damned, but she quickly pulls herself back from this assumption. As the text continues on, many characters, including Aurora, question Marian about her child, but instead of claiming that she has fallen and is tainted, Marian rises against these claims and takes full ownership and love for her child. While many novels and short stories of this time portray a fallen and tainted woman, much like Marian, most do not portray these women as Barrett Browning does.  Marian overcomes society by making herself a subject instead of allowing herself to be an object to the world. By empowering Marian, Stefanie Sevcik believes that Barrett Browning has “link[ed] religion and society — the physical and the metaphysical. She paints something of an essentialist portrait of women, but Barrett Browning adds complexity to the traditional view and endows women with the choice to obey passion or duty” (1). Marian chooses passion over her duties, she chooses to love her child and live her own life over marrying Romney and having him choose her life for her. According to Joyce Zonana in her article, “‘The Embodies Muse”: Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Aurora Leigh and Feminist Poetics,” by Marian choosing passion over duty she teachers Aurora “that all individuals must be perceived as subjects, never as objects” (521). By using Marian as a character that not only teachers other characters, but also empowers herself on her own terms, Barrett Browning establishes one of the many uses of feminism and patriarchal reform within her text.

            Another character that Barrett Browning uses to establish her call for patriarchal reform is Aurora. Most women during the Victorian Era were expected to marry and live a life that was arranged for them by their husband. The woman very rarely left the house and was expected to maintain all of the house hold duties. Aurora, however, did not feel the need to marry nor did she feel the need to remain subjected to withhold the womanly roles that were established for her by society. Stefanie Servcik states within her article, “Reforming the Feminine in Aurora Leigh,” that Barrett Browning’s use of feminism is “empowered through vocation to reveal the organic connection between God, man, culture, and society which have been obscured in a secular world, the ideal poet is made a woman poet in Aurora Leigh” (1). Barrett Browning obscures the secular world within Aurora Leigh by creating Aurora to be a powerful woman who has her own voice and wants to create a life for herself based upon her poetry. Although it is her poetry that makes her happy, some of Barrett Browning’s other characters within Aurora Leigh do not understand Aurora and feel that she should not try to break away from the societal norms. Even Romney takes the time to tell Aurora that she needs to reconsider her desire to be a poetess because it does not follow/ adhere to her societal duties.

………………….
With eager utterance—‘you translate me ill.
I do not contradict my thought of you

Which is most relevant, with another thought

Found less so. If your sex is weak for art

(And I who said so, did but honour you

By using truth in courtship), it is strong

For life and duty. (II.369-75)

Within this portion of the text Romney claims that women are weak for art, but that they cannot allow themselves to fall a victim to their weakness. In the eyes of Romney and other figures within the text, Aurora has fallen subjected to her weakness. While this may be a view of many of the Victorian readers as well, Barrett Browning has used Aurora’s poetry as a way for her to establish her reform against the patriarchal society. Aurora is used to establish this reform also as she rejects Romney’s marriage proposal and takes her own life into her own hands.

……………
I who have written much in prose and verse

For others’ uses, will write now for mine,--

Will write my story for my better self. (I.2-4)

Marjorie Stone states within her article, “Genre Subversion and Gender Inversion: The Princess and Aurora Leigh,” that,  “Aurora emphasizes twice [within this particular portion of the text] not only that she will write (as opposed to the simple future “I shall”), but that she writes for herself” (497). Aurora is not writing for Romney, for her Aunt, or for society, she is merely writing for herself. Barrett Browning shows Victorian readers that a woman is capable of living, working, and being a subject without a male figure representing her. Stefanie Sevcik enhances this concept as she states that, “Barrett Browning creates a new feminine writing that enriches essentializing ideas regarding women. She dares to tackle controversial subject matter with a unique form to challenge the popular conception of women’s writing and its possible expressions” (1). Many during Barrett Browning’s time did not feel that women could function on their own without male figures directing their paths, let alone write and write well. By allowing Aurora to excel in her writing, Browning was also allowing her to excel as a female in a Victorian society. Marjorie Stone also states within her article that, “In keeping with Aurora’s credo, Barrett Browning represents a detailed and cutting satire of the kind of education genteel young women” that should and could be perceived in Victorian England (495). Barrett Browning creates the new Victorian woman by empowering both Aurora and Marian, and by giving them the ability/ choice to choose their passions over their duties.

            It is not only with the empowerment of Marian and Aurora that Barrett Browning establishes her reform against the patriarchal roles however. While Barrett Browning creates Aurora’s Aunt and Lady Waldemar as characters that represent the typical Victorian woman, she does so rather negatively, both in the characters’ description and in their actions. As readers are introduced to Aurora’s Aunt they get a negative feeling about her almost automatically. She is not portrayed as a character that Barrett Browning wants her readers to relate to or take pity on. In fact, she is a character that most readers probably take no interest in because she is dull, crude, and extremely pessimistic. Barrett Browning even takes the time to describe Aurora’s Aunt as a caged-bird who has not done anything with her life beside live with what she was given.

……….

Preserved her intellectual. She had lived

A sort of cage-bird life, born in a cage,

Accounting that to leap from perch to perch

Was act and joy enough for any bird.

Dear heaven, how silly are the things that live

In thickets, and eat berries! (I.304-09)

Barrett Browning does not give Aurora’s Aunt much life within the text; she creates Aurora’s Aunt to represent the bird that she describes. While Lady Waldemar is not described as a caged-bird, she too is not portrayed to readers as a character that Barrett Browning wants her readers to like and relate to. Lady Waldemar is extremely crude, very materialistic, and extremely judgmental, especially of Marian. When Lady Waldemar sends Marian off to Paris, Barrett Browning establishes a tone within her text that makes readers feel for Marian and hope that Lady Waldemar does not succeed in her crude/ malicious plans. Barrett Browning establishes a tone that makes readers feel for the women that are breaking away from the traditional Victorian ways and dislike the women that represent the average Victorian woman. By the end of the text Barrett Browning establishes this particular theme by creating Marian and Aurora to be the two women who succeed and flourish within their lives. While Aurora’s Aunt and Lady Waldemar have the money and have the materialistic goods, they are stuck in their lives like caged-birds. They remain pessimistic and do not experience any growth or revelation(s) by the end. They are pinned down by the patriarchal roles that society has created for them and will be for the rest of their lives.

            What is interesting about Aurora Leigh and Barrett Browning’s use of characters to establish her reform against the patriarchal roles within the Victorian society is that she is not just using her characters to establish this reform. Barrett Browning is (was) establishing this reform within her own life as well. While Barrett Browning’s poems were accepted very well amongst her viewers, many critics still felt that she was not worthy of writing about some of the subjects that she did simply because she was a woman. It seems that Barrett Browning uses Aurora Leigh as way to advocate for herself, as well as all Victorian women who wanted to break out of the chains that society had placed upon them.

            Stefanie Sevcik believes that Barrett Browning “had dared to parade before her astonished readers a lascivious aristocrat, a raped working-class girl, and an intellectually independent heroine” (1). Barrett Browning established her characters purposefully; she put her characters through each of their trials with the idea and hope that she would bring to her readers’ attention the fact that women do not have to adhere to the patriarchal roles that were established for them. Barrett Browning made a statement with the poem-novel, Aurora Leigh, and she also made a statement within her own life. Barrett Browning made a statement against the Victorian Era’s patriarchal roles and showed her readers that women can succeed on their own. Barrett Browning showed her readers that even a fallen woman can pick herself up and live without a male figure establishing the path for her. Barrett Browning wrote a text that advocated for women all around the world and essentially changed the view of women in the eyes of many Victorian individuals.

Works Cited

Browning, Elizabeth B. Aurora Leigh. New York: Oxford World's Classics, 2008. Print.

Ewell, Barbara. "The Role of the Wife and Mother." Kate Chopin. N.p., 2009. Web. 1 Dec. 2013.

Nickson, Helen. "Life of Women in the Victorian Era.” Ezine Articles. N.p., 2009. Web. 30 Nov. 2013.  

Sevcik, Stefanie. "Reforming the Feminine in Aurora Leigh." The Victorian Web. N.p., 21 Mar. 2010. Web. 1 Dec. 2013.

Stone, Marjorie. "Genre Subversion and Gender Inversion: The Princess and Aurora Leigh." Elizabeth Barrett Browning: Aurora Leigh: Authoritative Text Backgrounds and Context Criticism. Ed. Margaret Reynolds. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1996. 494-505.Print.  

Zonana, Joyce. ""The Embodied Muse": Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Aurora Leigh and   Feminist Poetics." Elizabeth Barrett Browning: Aurora Leigh: Authoritative Text Backgrounds and Contexts Criticism. Ed. Margaret Reynolds. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1996. 521-533. Print. 

 

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