The Victorian Period: A Significant Historical Period
The longest-reigning monarch in British history, Queen Victoria, inspired the name of the Victoria period (1837–1901). Due to Britain's vast global empire, which included a quarter of the world's people, it is a significant historical period. There had been a significant social change at the moment. In Britain and other areas of Europe, industrialization progressed rapidly during this time. Due to the changing nature of work, men had to commute to their jobs while leaving their wives and children to take care of the household duties. The perception in the mainly patriarchal society was that women were not responsible for providing for their families. They were also not allowed to hold any public office. Moreover, the view on marriage was more of a duty to women with the ideal bachelors as the wealthy and noble young men. In the Victorian age, traditional teachings and norms play a key role in subjugating women, keeping them under their husbands and in creating restrictions that made their lives daunting.
The Portrayal of Women's Gender Roles in "The Importance of Being Earnest" and "My Last Duchess"
In the Importance of Being Earnest, marriage was considered a duty to women especially if the husband was a wealthy or noble person (Meijers, 2009). The trivial comedy describes traditions that dictated the role of women in marriage during the late Victorian era. The plot of the play develops around Jack -a young man- who falls in love with a woman of a high class in the society. Jack believes that he would marry her because they are in love. However, Algernon tells him that he thought Jack was getting married for business. Both had a different perception on marriage and in simple terms, it was a debate about business versus love. Algernon’s opinion towards marriage implies that women never married for love but for material gain and reputation. Algernon says, “Well…girls never marry the men they flirt with. Girls don’t think it right.” It is clear that women got married for different reasons apart from (Meijers, 2009).
However, in My Last Duchess, the author exposes the view of gender role of during the time. Women got married so that they could be identified with their husband and a man who had a beautiful wife was highly respected and this is evident by the fact that men married so that women would “decorate their walls” (Babamiri, 2017). Marriage is not seen as the depiction of love between a man and a woman but a partnership with roles divided between the couple. However, women were specifically married to make men’s lives better. Duke illustrates his wife as a painting that decorates his house; women were like pieces of art that were devoid of life, feelings, and passions- they were men’s belongings. Duke looks at a sculpture and says: "Neptune… Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!" It is evident that he thought of his wife as beautiful bronze sculpted to impress him (Babamiri, 2017).
The Role of Women in Marriage and Society
In the Importance of Being Earnest, Lady Bracknell brings to light a new meaning about the role of women in the Victorian age. She ridicules the notion of marriage for love instead of getting married and doing one's duty. When Lady Bracknell hears the engagement between Jack and Gwendolen, she retorts, “Pardon me, you are not engaged to anyone. When you do become engaged to someone, I,…will inform you of the fact.” She views marriage of her daughter as an opportunity to gain wealth and honor hence she discourages her marriages with a poor man-Jack. In trying to chose a suitable partner for her daughter, Lady Bracknell shows that women did not take an active part in choosing their marriage partners but their parents chose for them (Meijers, 2009). Lady Bracknell believes that a man should prove that he is able to support her daughter which supports the perception that women had no role in marriage; they stayed at home and expected their husbands to cater for their needs and fulfill their dreams (Meijers, 2009). Women’s contribution in marriage was not prioritized as they were only expected to care and nurture their families. They were not even supposed to have dreams or be affiliated with politics or even social status (Plesser, 2005).
On the other hand, My Last Duchess portrays the role of traditional teachings and doctrines in subordinating women, and how restrictions placed by such teachings played a significant part in causing immense suffering among women. Duke says that his wife did not have an identity before getting married to him denoting that the identity of women prior to marriage was meaningless and claims that he has given her "a gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name” (Babamiri, 2017). This shows that during the Victorian period men did a favor to women by getting married to them. Restrictions to women were prevalent in this era since there were parameters used to define their behavior and identity. Women were supposed to keep their feelings under control and failure do so would lead to disastrous consequences. Browning writes that "as if she were alive," and this suggests that some offenses done by women at the time could lead to death. Any glimpse of women’s feminine sensuality displayed in public was perceived by the Victorian society as a moral impurity (Rafiq & Noureen, 2015). Duke boasts of the ability to change the views of her wife and he writes that "I gave commands…all smiles stopped together" and this depicts the fact that life under their husbands must have been daunting (Rafiq & Noureen, 2015).
Similarities in Depicting Gender Roles in Victorian Society
In some instances both literary works confirmed that women had no role to play in the Victorian society as they were subordinated by men and traditional teachings. In The Importance of Being Earnest, women lost their identity and social rights because they had to live under the harsh rule and control of their husbands. Both books signifies that the society’s traditional teachings had taken center stage and played a big role in subjugating women. As cited by Plesser (2005), when Oscar Wilde writes, "An engagement should come on a young girl as a surprise, pleasant or unpleasant as the case may be," It means that women did not have an opinion on most aspects of their lives including even choosing marriage partner. Like “The Importance of Being Earnest,” women were subdued in “My Last Duchess” and as portrayed by the arrogant behavior of Duke who depicts through his words that women had no role to play in marriage and portrays them as paintings that he uses to decorate his hallway. Women suffered in the hands of men since they were perceived as “beings with no” feelings and opinions. When Duke says "That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall," he implies that his wife was like the painting was to be prized like any other possession he owned. And even if she is painted as if she were alive in the poem, she appears as incapable of opinions and all other attributes of humans. This makes women more like objects unable to make decisions that would have an impact on their lives (Rafiq & Noureen, 2015). Even though the role of women is not clearly stated in The Importance of Being Earnest, the author points out the fact that "All women become like their mothers..." Clearly, this portrays the fact that women were under the rule of men and by default that was their way of life forever and could not be changed.
Conclusion
The society played an instrumental role in subjugating women as evident in the norms, beliefs, and traditions that were deep-rooted in the Victorian society. The traditions dictated the way husbands behaved and gave strict rules for women to follow. The rules made it hard for women to live under their husbands as they were regarded as their husbands’ possessions and that they were expected to obey every order given. It is evident from the two literary works that women played little or no role in leadership and decision making both in the household and the larger society. The conventional rules and code of conduct in the Victorian age made it hard for women to change their standing in the society as there was nothing they could do to change their position in the society.
References
Babamiri, N., S. (2017). “Power Is For Men” A Relatively Traditional Reading to “My Last Duchess,” a Poem by Robert Browning, Regarding the Victorian Age. Journal of Applied Linguistics and Language Research, 4(2), 101-105
Meijers, L., Y. (2009).“Conventional or Confrontational?” Oscar Wilde’s View on Traditional Victorian Gender Roles in Lady Windermere’s Fan, an Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest.
Plesser, S., L. (2005). “The Reversal of Traditional Gender Roles in the Plays of Oscar Wilde,” A Study of" The Importance of Being Earnest," Salome," An Ideal Husband" (Doctoral dissertation, Brown University).
Rafiq, T., & Noureen, F. (2015). “Representation of the character of men and women in Poetry,” A Critical Discourse Analysis of Robert Browning's Poems. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications.
