Volu m e II - Purdue University Calumet

changed the way that Victorian women thought of themselves and their roles in society. Langland further
argues that Victoria was a source of the Angel in the House‟s idealism and contradictions. I agree with
Langland that Victoria was a source of contradiction, but I argue that the Victorian public did not know of
this contradiction. They viewed her as the epitome of the ideal domestic woman. I further argue that
Victoria's role as a female monarch did not change the way Victorian women thought of themselves. Since
Victoria consciously portrayed herself as a traditional angel in the house who happened to be the queen of
England, Victorian women did not question the angel in the house ideal. Victoria's private letters, however,
indicate that she was not the ideal domestic woman. The contradiction between Victoria's public and
private selves demonstrate the paradox of Victorian femininity.
In “Cage Aux Folles: Sensation and Gender in Wilkie Collins‟s The Woman in White,” D.A.
Miller contends that the sensationalism in The Woman in White evokes feelings of “nervous excitability” (111)
within the reader, and thus forces the male reader to develop feminine emotional responses. Collins‟ novel,
according to Miller, is “profoundly about enclosing and secluding the woman in male „bodies,‟ among them
institutions like marriage and madhouses” (112). While Collins characterizes Marian with masculine
features, I do not agree that he “secluded” Marian in a male body. The masculine personality traits that
Marian exhibits actually suggest that the traits are not in fact, masculine; women can be intelligent,
powerful, and independent without losing sight of their femininity. On the other hand, Brooke Allen argues
that Collins condemns Marian to permanent spinsterhood and rewards Laura, the novel‟s heroine, with a
loving husband (130). I argue against Allen‟s claims that Laura is the heroine of The Woman in White and that
Marian is condemned to spinsterhood: Marian is actually the heroine of the novel and Laura is condemned.
The paradoxical masculinity and domesticity that Marian exemplifies renders her as one of the most beloved
characters in the novel while Laura's insipid weakness and innocence demonstrate her inferiority to Marian.
Coventry Patmore‟s poem, “The Angel in the House” and John Ruskin‟s Sesame and Lilies demonstrate the
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