1 / 20

The Angel in the House

The Angel in the House. Da Coventry Patmore a Jonatha Brooke (1859-1993). Julia Margaret Cameron’s photograph “The Angel in the House”.

marisa
Download Presentation

The Angel in the House

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. The Angel in the House Da Coventry Patmore a JonathaBrooke (1859-1993)

  2. Julia Margaret Cameron’s photograph “The Angel in the House”

  3. “The Angel in the House was a domestic woman, a woman whohad no existenceoutsideof the contextofher home and whose sole window on the world isherhusband.”Elaine Hartnell, “NothingbutSweet and Womanly: A HagiographyofPatmore’s Angel”, in VictorianPoetry 34.4 (1996): 457-476

  4. Betty Friedan, The FeminineMystique (1963). • Barbara Welter, The Cult ofTrueWomanhood (1966). • “Whenmasculinty and femininity are constructedto generate suchrigid and narrow gender roles, itcontributesto a culture ofviolenceagainst women. People with more resources are more likelytobe abusive towardsthosewithoutresources” Hattery and Smith, The Social Dynamics of Family Violence, (2012). • Simone de Beouvoir, Le deuxiémesexe (1949). • Michel Foucault, Histoire de la Sexualité (1976). • Judith Butler, Gender Trouble (1990); Undoing Gender (2004).

  5. “TrueWomanhood” • PIETY • PURITY • SUBMISSION • DOMESTICITY

  6. Coventry Patmore

  7. Works by Coventry Patmore Poetry • Poems (1844) • The Angel in the House (1854) • The Espousals (1856) • Faithful for Ever (1860) • The Victories of Love, (1862) • The Unknown Eros and other Odes (1877) • Essays • Principle in Art (1879) • ReligioPoetae (1893) • The Rod, the Root, and the Flower (1895) • Courage in Politics, and Other Essays (1885-1896)

  8. Emily Augusta Andrews

  9. The Angel in the House FourParts • The Angel in the House (1854) • The Espousals (1856) • FaithfulForever (1860) • The Victoriesof Love (1862)

  10. Man mustbepleased; buthimtoplease Is woman's pleasure; down the gulf Ofhiscondolednecessities Shecastsher best, sheflingsherself. Howoftenflingsfornought! and yokes Herhearttoanicicle or whim, Whoseeachimpatient word provokes Another, notfromher, buthim; Whileshe, toogentleeventoforce Hispenitencebykindreplies, Waits by, expectinghisremorse, Withpardon in herpityingeyes.

  11. And ifhe once, byshameoppress’d, A comfortable word confers, Sheleans and weepsagainsthisbreast, And seemstothink the sin washers; Or anyeyetoseehercharms, At anytime, she’s stillhiswife, Dearlydevotedtohisarms, Sheloveswith love thatcannottire; And when, ah woe, sheloves alone, Throughpassionate duty love springshigher, As grassgrowstaller round a stone.

  12. Hismerits in herpresencegrow, to match the promise in hereyes, and round her happy footstepsblow the authenticairsofParadise.

  13. “Thiscentralityof the male narratormaybeconstruedassimplykeeping in with the gender relationshipobtainingduring the Victorian era (461).” Elaine Hartnell, “NothingbutSweet and Womanly: A HagiographyofPatmore’s Angel”, (1996). • “Women havebeenassociated in a stereotypical way withbothgood and evil. As anangel in the house, woman hasbeencreditedwithnaturalgoodness, an innate allegianceto a lawofkindness. Butthissamedescriptionextalsheras infantile, weak and mindless. A creature in costantneedof a male supervision and protection. Undertonesofsadismrunthroughout Coventry Patmore’s hymnto the angelwhois in reality a prisoner in the house shegraces (59)”. Nel Noddings, Women and Evil, (1984).

  14. “The Angel in the House is a victorinisationofoneof the major abstractionsofcourtlylyric and romance (Honour)” (140). • “Honoriaisfor Felix (the felixwooer) what Beatrice isfor Dante, but a Beatrice thatfinallymarrieshim , the Queen ofimmaculate, clearlyunadulterousespousals. A transformationhasoccurred: the mistressisalso the wife”(145). Maurice Montabrut, “CourtlyManners in a Victorian Home: Patmore’s The Angel in the House” (1994)

  15. “And while I waswritingthisreview, I discoveredthatif I weregoingtoreviewbooks I shouldneedto do battlewith a certainphantom. And the phantomwas a woman, and when I cametoknowherbetter I calledherafter the heroineof a famouspoem, The Angel in the House. Itwasshewhousedto come between me and mypaperwhen I waswritingreviews. Itwasshewhobothered me and wastedmytime and so tormented me that at last I killedher. Youwho come of a younger and happier generation maynothaveheardofher--youmaynotknowwhat I meanby the Angel in the House. I willdescribeherasshortlyas I can. Shewasintenselysympathetic. Shewasimmenselycharming. Shewasutterlyunselfish. Sheexcelled in the difficultartsof family life. Shesacrificedherselfdaily. Iftherewaschicken, shetook the leg; iftherewas a draughtshesat in it--in short shewas so constitutedthatsheneverhad a mind or a wishofherown, butpreferredtosympathizealwayswith the minds and wishesofothers. Aboveall--Ineednotsayit---shewas pure. Herpuritywassupposedtobeherchiefbeauty--herblushes, hergreatgrace. In thosedays--the last of Queen Victoria--every house hadits Angel. And when I cametowrite I encounteredherwith the very first words. The shadowofherwingsfell on mypage; I heard the rustlingofherskirts in the room.

  16. Directly, thatistosay, I tookmypen in myhandtoreviewthatnovelby a famous man, sheslippedbehind me and whispered: "Mydear, you are a young woman. You are writingabout a book thathasbeenwrittenby a man. Be sympathetic; be tender; flatter; deceive; useall the arts and wilesofour sex. Neverletanybodyguessthatyouhave a mind ofyourown. Aboveall--Ineednotsayit---shewas pure. Herpuritywassupposedtobeherchiefbeauty--herblushes, hergreatgrace. In thosedays--the last of Queen Victoria--every house hadits Angel. And when I cametowrite I encounteredherwith the very first words. The shadowofherwingsfell on mypage; I heard the rustlingofherskirts in the room. Directly, thatistosay, I tookmypen in myhandtoreviewthatnovelby a famous man, sheslippedbehind me and whispered: "Mydear, you are a young woman. You are writingabout a book thathasbeenwrittenby a man. Be sympathetic; be tender; flatter; deceive; useall the arts and wilesofour sex. Neverletanybodyguessthatyouhave a mind ofyourown. Aboveall, be pure." And shemadeasifto guide mypen. I now record the oneactforwhich I take some credittomyself, though the creditrightlybelongsto some excellentancestorsof mine wholeft me a certain sum ofmoney--shallwesayfivehundredpounds a year?--so thatitwasnotnecessaryfor me todependsolely on charm formy living.

  17. I turneduponher and caughtherby the throat. I didmy best tokillher. Myexcuse, if I weretobehad up in a court oflaw, wouldbethat I acted in self-defence. Had I notkilledhershewouldhavekilled me. Shewouldhaveplucked the heart out ofmywriting. For, as I found, directly I put pentopaper, youcannotrevieweven a novelwithouthaving a mind ofyourown, withoutexpressingwhatyouthinktobe the truthabouthuman relations, morality, sex. And allthesequestions, accordingto the Angel of the House, cannotbedealtwithfreely and openlyby women; theymust charm, theymust conciliate, theymust--to put itbluntly--tellliesifthey are tosucceed. Thus, whenever I felt the shadowofherwing or the radianceofherhalouponmypage, I took up the inkpot and flungit at her. Shedied hard. Herfictitious nature wasofgreatassistancetoher. Itis far hardertokill a phantomthan a reality. Shewasalwayscreeping back when I thought I haddespatchedher. Though I flattermyselfthat I killedher in the end, the strugglewas severe; ittookmuchtimethathadbetterhavebeenspentuponlearningGreekgrammar; or in roaming the world in searchofadventures. Butitwas a realexperience; itwasanexperiencethatwasboundtobefallall women writers at thattime. Killing the Angel in the House was part of the occupationof a woman writer.” Virginia Woolf, Professionsfor Women (1942).

  18. “Formanyyears I sufferedfrom a severe and continuousnervousbreakdowntendingtomelancholia-andbeyond. Duringabout the thirdyearofthistrouble I went, in devoutfaith and some faintstirofhope, to a notedspecialist in nervousdiseases, the best known in the country. Thiswise man put me tobed and applied the rest cure, towhich a stillgoodphysiqueresponded so promptlythatheconcludedthattherewasnothingmuch the matterwith me, and sent me home withsolemnadviceto `live asdomestic a life aspossible,’ to `havebuttwohours’ intelligent life a day,’ and `nevertotouchpen, brush or pencilagain’ as long as I lived. Thiswas in 1887. I went home and obeyedthosedirectionsfor some threemonths, and came so near the borderlineofuttermentalruinthat I couldseeover”. Charlotte PerkinsGilman, The Yellow WallPaper and OtherStories (1892)

  19. American Feminist folk duo The Story publishes the album The Angel in the House in 1993

More Related