WJEC ENGLISH LITERATURE

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On the other hand, Edna’s polar opposite, Helen Graham, a ‘mother woman’, epitomises the ideal for a 19 th century woman. To protect her son from “one degrading vice at least” she puts an emetic into a glass of wine to deter him from drinking. Despite this, the society in which she lives in persecutes her for acting the way she does towards her son, claiming that she will make “the poor child will be the veriest milksop that was ever sopped” and asking “only think what a man you will make of him.” Despite this, the culture that they have both been immersed in has an effect on the protagonists’ actions towards their children. In the unrestrained Creole society, there is only comment on Edna’s lack of maternal responsibility from her husband. Despite this, Creole society has gendered expectations of Edna, and she enunciates that her self will, will not be confined by society’s demands: “I don’t want anything but my own, That is wanting a good deal of course, when you have to trample upon the lives, the hearts the prejudices of others…” Although Chopin was socially ostracised for her portrayal of Edna as a 19 th Century woman, and Edna was deemed a very controversial character, her actions were the culmination of being married to a husband she didn’t love, dealing with motherhood, and the result of gendered expectations that she could not (and did not want to) fulfil. In contrast to ‘The Tenant of Wildfell Hall’ however, Creole society was lenient with Edna, and how comfortably she let the “pressures” of motherhood provoke her appetite for independence. Helen, the stronger of the two protagonists, in the same way as Edna, did not give into society either. However, the affliction she had to grapple with was that of her abusive, controlling husband. The Matrimonial Causes Act of 1857 gave men the right to divorce their wives on the grounds of adultery. However, married women were not able to obtain a divorce if they discovered that their husbands had been unfaithful, they had to prove that he had committed adultery as well as incest, bigamy, cruelty or desertion. Once divorced, the children became the man’ s property and the mother could be prevented from seeing her children. Nevertheless, it was frowned upon by society if a man divorced his wife, and social expectations saw that this was achieved. This is made particularly clear in ‘The Awakening’. Leonce is working away, and Edna, in the midst of her turmoil, decides that she is going to move out of their home and into the ‘pigeon house’. When Mr. Pontellier hears of Edna’s decision, “he immediately wrote her a letter of unqualified disapproval and remonstrance.” This shows that social expectations had an impact on Leonce’s behaviour. “Furthermore in one of the daily newspapers appeared a brief notice to the effect that Mr. and Mrs. Pontellier were contemplating a summer sejourn abroad… Mr. Pontellier had saved appearances” Chapter thirty two highlights the importance of reputation (and preserving it) within Victorian society. However, for Edna, the ‘pigeon house’ represents everything that their “handsome” residence on Esplanade Street was not. “The Pigeon House pleased her. It at once assumed the intimate character of a home, while she herself invested it with a charm which it reflected like a warm glow.” As Spark notes suggests, “Edna's strength comes from her rejection of her social role. Her new house is more modest, and its small size disallows the en tertaining that was such a part of her former life.” Moreover, it is evident that the types of house the characters live in reflect their social status. Edna’s house on Esplanade Street is very much for the family, however characterising an element of falseness, as it is not the happy family home it seems. Although, in the Pigeon House, Edna is separated from society and is very much alone; thus highlighting her new thirst for independence. Both women fell in love very quickly with their husbands; in both cases Edna and Helen were fiercely independent and wanted to rebel against their parents. Contradictory to this, Helen accepted her role as wife and homemaker although she walked into an abusive marriage 19
with a violent husband, whereas for Edna marriage merely wasn’t everything she expected it to be. Although it could have been a very happy marriage, as Leonce looked after Edna, she still continued to rebel and began to secede from her husband and neglect her children, resulting in negative emotional turmoil; the swan song leading up to her suicide. Similarities between the two protagonists become more conspicuous in the second part of the book, as Helen begins to search for a husband. Helen states that “For without approving I cannot love” and “I ought to respect and honour the man I marry as well as love him, for I cannot love him without”. This is reminiscent of Edna because she needs to have feelings in order for her to be in love. If she feels no passion or romance, she cannot commit herself. This is her justification for pursuing Alcee Arobin. She wanted romance and excitement – two of the attributes Leonce provide. On the contrary, Helen is again shown as the stronger character as she was presented with Mr Boarham a respected member of society that her Aunt approved of and was prepared to give her “everything” he thought she would desire. Despite this, Helen had the strength and forthright will to decline his hand in marriage, whereas it seems that Edna effortlessly agreed to marry Leonce; a rash decision, made only in passion. To conclude, Chopin and Bronte use Victorian society and how it impacts on their main protagonists to critique their position in 19 th century marriages. Both writers provide their novels with daring, thought provoking women to act as the catalyst to the main events within the narrative. ‘The Awakening’ gives us a pioneering heroine who undergoes a sexual awakening, epitomising the changing role of women. Helen in ‘The Tenant of Wildfell Hall’ presents the strongest expression of feminist ideas early in the novel. She and Gilbert debate over the sheltering of girls against the exposure of boys to the real world. The novel is a feminist novel; it voices Helen’s passions despite being initially narrated by a male character. Not only does this make Helen’s actions more credible but makes us put into consideration whether Bronte intended to imply that men could see that the roles of women were changing at the time as well. 20
Page 1 and 2: GCE TEACHER GUIDANCE LT2 Internal A
Page 3 and 4: from the collection were considered
Page 5 and 6: Applying the assessment objectives
Page 7 and 8: • pastiche • modernising origin
Page 9 and 10: LT2 SECTION A: PROSE STUDY Candidat
Page 11 and 12: power. She again becomes an object
Page 13 and 14: LT2 SECTION A: PROSE STUDY Candidat
Page 15 and 16: is perhaps not as acute as Victor
Page 17 and 18: Principal Moderator’s Comments Ho
Page 19: How do Kate Chopin and Anne Bronte
Page 23 and 24: LT2 SECTION B: CREATIVE READING Can
Page 25 and 26: Next day, my fate arrives. The rope
Page 27 and 28: Commentary Having read William Faul
Page 29 and 30: Principal Moderator’s Comments Cr
Page 31 and 32: Foolish Affairs Dearest John, I kno
Page 33 and 34: Commentary “Like giving into the
Page 35 and 36: are brought to question: when Jo sp
Page 37 and 38: LT2 SECTION B: CREATIVE READING Can
Page 39 and 40: Commentary At first, this short sto
Page 41 and 42: Appendix 1 LT 2 SECTION B: Guidance
Page 43 and 44: AS ENGLISH LITERATURE LT2 Section A

WJEC ENGLISH LITERATURE

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