Reproductions of Madwoman in the Attic

Throughout the early times of literature, women have been the victims of unreasonable classification. Women were always seen as weak being who had to succumb to their gender opposite, man. Due to the views of the hegemonic society, women were always seen as inferior to the male population. Given that the majority of society sees women as substandard to men, the rest of society then began to view them as such. However, with education on this particular subject, society can change its bias views against women. Susan Gubar and Sandra Gilbert’s The Madwoman in the Attic is an appropriate text to examine society’s injustices towards females. The text concentrates on the examination of literature. Gubar and Gilbert’s text is an influential study of nineteenth century British women writers such as Emily Bronte, Jane Austen, Emily Dickinson, and Mary Shelly. The work analyses how women authors of the nineteenth century were constrained on writing literature that views women as “the extreme images of angel or monsters” (812). Eighteenth century novels, Moll Flanders and Pamela or Virtue Rewarded are both representations of this ideal. Authors Gilbert and Gubar, however, disagree with the notion of women being depicted as either angel or monster, claiming that neither could accurately define a woman. Thus, with the novels like Moll Flanders and Pamela readers can distinguish the reflections and ideals of The Madwoman in the Attic.
The Madwoman in the Attic, which was published in 1979, is a significant novel for the feminism culture. The novel addresses the confines women authors are forced to stay in when writing about female characters. Susan Gubar and Sandra Gilbert’s text argues against society’s normalcy of subjugating female writers. When this course of action started to be received by society, it became difficult for female authors to write outside their normal conventions. The difficulty of writing outside normal conventions rooted back from male writers’ tendencies to classify female characters as either pure angelic women or unruly madwomen. Male writers had a big influence on the way the hegemonic society viewed different facets of life. Male authors had strong tendencies to stereotype their female protagonist into either one of these roles. Two novels that produced this very stereotype are Moll Flanders and Pamela.
Even though the novels came out in the eighteenth century, Daniel Dafoe’s Moll Flanders and Samuel Richardson’s Pamela or Virtue Rewarded convey the very two categories that women were confined to. Dafoe and Richardson are both guilty of portraying their female protagonist as either angelic or sinful. These male authors and many authors of the eighteenth and nineteenth century are the reasons for women having difficulty defining themselves as an individual. They were labeled as either two things, leaving little space to identify oneself as their own person or woman. Women authors were especially affected by the male authors’ categorization of the female population. Women authors had absolutely no space to venture into new ideas or characters. They were forced into dealing their female heroines into the roles of either the saintly female as in the charter in Pamela or the impious protagonist as in Moll Flanders. However, we must first analyze when these injustices towards the female population started to first occur.
The eighteenth century, also known as the time of the industrial Revolution, saw women take on more and more jobs that were commonly occupied by men. Women began to work laborious jobs to support themselves and their own families economically. However, despite this valiant effort, women were now being seen as inferior in the work place. Mary Wollstonecraft, one of the first women writers to come out the eighteenth century, played an important role towards the feminist movement. In her book, A Vindication of the Rights of Women, Wollstonecraft addresses the discrimination women face in society. She goes on to explain the reason for such injustices: “a corrupt process of socialization which stunts their intellect and teaches them that their purpose in life is to serve men” (112). Women were subjugated to an education that taught them how to become better housewives. While men were taught subjects like philosophy, science, and mathematics, women were taught how to knit.
During the eighteenth century, women were not allowed to study the teachings of philosophers such as Aristotle, Plato and Socrates. They were not allowed to learn mathematical methods or science techniques. According to Barbara Kanner, author of The Women of England, these subjects then, were closed to women. Women instead were “…offered training in various skills that contribute to the moral development and the display quality of a wife” (Kanner 120). While women learned subjects such as music, drawing and painting, men were educated on new sciences and philosophies. Due to the fact that men were being educated for higher positions, most women were succumbing to either depend on their husbands or work laborious jobs. Since women were stuck learning subjects that would only allow them to become better housewives, a lot of a females surrendered their wills to becoming something more rewarding. The characters of Moll Flanders and Pamela Andrews both fall under the norm for women during this period. They both followed societies norms for females during the Industrial Revolution. Although these characters are faced with the same predicament, they will handle them differently.
The women of the family now found themselves in the work force that was dominated by men. In addition, eighteenth century novelists Daniel Dafoe and Samuel Richardson became the century’s most definitive authors. Their novels, Moll Flanders and Pamela or Virtue Rewarded, respectively are a loose depiction of an Eighteenth century woman during such a pivotal time in history. Both novels concentrate on a woman protagonist with similar backgrounds, but have different ethical and moral values. Each character from the novels fall under the category that women were commonly placed: good or bad.
Daniel Dafoe’s novel, Moll Flanders, centers on the life of protagonist Moll Flanders. Born the daughter of a convict, she was forced to fend for herself since her adolescence. At an early age, she had to support herself by any means necessary. To stay alive, the main character cheated other people and stole copiously. Moll will follow this survival tactic her whole life. In accordance to the angel and madwomen concept, this character would fall under the category of madwomen. Since her mother was transported to America for her crimes, Moll became a household servant. It is there where she would encounter her first and second love interests, a pair of brothers. The set of brothers offered Moll something she had never experienced, a taste of the high life. Moll, being born in poverty, never had the opportunity of becoming a member of the high social class. Many people of the eighteenth century made money, but it was hard to buy your way into high society. As Roy Porter, author of English Society in the Eighteenth Century, observes “…if anything, the English aristocracy was more of a closed circle in the eighteenth century than at any other time in history” (Porter 57). Therefore, Moll Flanders was attempting to marry herself into high class. At an early age, Moll had to figure out ways to survive, and marrying for economical security was merely a means to an end. However, many would find her actions as not as a tactful way of surviving, but as a deceitful approach to the higher class. The heroine decided to value self-sacrifice and rely herself on men for her survival. The Moll Flanders character reflects the perception of her surroundings having an effect of the construction of her personality. Her actions were all a response to how society treated her. “Through the narrative tension between community and protagonist, readers may begin to construct an alternative model of madness as socially produced and as performing a particular social function, for those who surround the “madwomen” can be seen to be ideologically bound subjects mutually engaged in the construction of gender” (Santangelo 122). Therefore, those who were around the main character were responsible for the development of her character. She was simply responding to the category that she was placed in by the dominant society. In this novel by Daniel Dafoe, the protagonist had to literally lie, cheat and steal through life. Unlike Pamela in Virtue Rewarded, Moll was unable to fall back on her family for moral support because she had none.
Samuel Richardson’s Pamela or Virtue Rewarded depicts a similar character to that of Dafoe’s. The heroine, Pamela Andrews also comes from an impoverished background. But unlike Moll Flanders, Pamela valued her ethical and moral values. Thus, the character of Pamela can be seen by many as the likeness to that of the angel concept. She was determined to keep her purity at a time when women were not seen as important. During this period, a woman’s ideas were deemed as insignificant. They were used primarily for their bodies, instead of their minds. A woman’s body was used in either two forms: for sexual pleasure or physical labor. Women in the eighteenth century began to function as laborers within the family economy at the age of six or seven. Women in these times were expected to do the same tasks as men. However, women’s labor was considerably less valuable and “…women almost always left home between the ages of eleven and fourteen to either work on another farm or become a servant in a household” (Kanner 124). This was the exact case for Richardson’s heroin, Pamela. She had to leave her parents’ home to work as a servant for Mrs. B.
As a household servant, Pamela had to take orders from Mr. B, Mrs. B’s younger son; all while enduring his strong passes towards her. Instead of falling under the same temptations that Moll Flanders did, Pamela remained abstinent and denied Mr. B numerous times. Rather than depending on a male figure, she depended on her own strength and will. It was difficult for Pamela at times because there were always easy ways for women to earn money. As Ray Porter points out in his informative book about the eighteenth century society: “women could always earn a living by selling themselves” (Porter 70). Women were expected to earn an income, but how could they? Women, during this period were being neglected from a real education. As a result, women sold themselves for money, just like Moll Flanders. On the other hand, Pamela, being the pleasant woman figure discussed by Gilbert and Gubar, kept her values and standards. She decided to choose her purity over money and was rewarded for her virtuosity. Therefore, Pamela choosing to keep her innocence until she married became the most important aspect that separated her from Moll Flanders.
Even though Pamela Andrews decided to hold off on sexual intercourse until she was married she still had to depend on a male character. At the end of the novel, Pamela is rewarded for abstaining from sex by marrying a man that would ultimately support her economically. Despite the good character that author, Samuel Richardson depicts in his novel, the main character still has to rely on the opposite sex. Once again the reader sees the concepts that are presented to us by Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar. The authors are commented in saying: “…from the eighteenth century on, conduct books for ladies had proliferated, enjoining young girls to submissiveness, modesty, selflessness, reminding all women that they should be angelic.” The character of Pamela may have not submitted to Mr. B’s advances in the beginning of the novel, but in the end she ended up with him. In the start of the novel, Mr. B treats Pamela as his own possession. At the end of the story as both Mr. B and Pamela are talking about their future together, the protagonist is now being submissive to his requests. Now that she is his wife she owes him everything. This novel is another example of the proliferated literature that Gilbert and Gubar speak of. The novel gives the woman reader the suggestion that if they remain pure and virtuous like that of the character of Pamela, one day they will marry someone that can support them financially.
Both novels Moll Flanders and Pamela or Virtue Rewarded are the reflections of the eighteenth century mindset. Women at that particular period were deemed as inferior and not worthy enough for a real education. Since a lot of male authors viewed and portrayed women as only consisting of two types of personalities, society also began to do the same. Women were viewed as beings that should become complacent to the needs of man. This ideal became popular and therefore accepted by society. Mary Wollstonecraft, a prominent writer for the feminism movement, wrote against the social norms that were controlled by the hegemonic society. According to Wollstonecraft “[women] were created to be the toy of man, his rattle…must jingle in his ears whenever” (224). Women were essentially tools for the supposed superior gender, male. Women then were subjugated to less important roles in society where their mental abilities were completely stifled. Instead of viewing Daniel Dafoe and Samuel Richardson’s for what they are: a portrayal of the two categories discussed in The Madwoman in the Attic. They should be viewed as examples one could learn from. The novels are well written that exhibit two strong feminine characters that in their own opinion achieve success and in the end are content with their lives.



Work Cited

Gilbert, Sandra and Gubar, Susan. “The Madwoman in the Attic.” Literary Theory: An Anthology. Julie Rivkin and Micael Ryan. 812-825.

Kanner, Barbara. The Women of England: From Anglo-Saxon Times to the Present. Hamden, Connecticut. 1979

Porter, Roy. English Society in the Eighteenth Century. New York: Penguin Group. 1982 and
1990.

Santangelo, Marta Caminero. “The Madwomen Can’t Speak: Postwar Cultue and Feminist Criticism” Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature. Vol. 55, No.1 (Spring 1996)
p123-146. University of Tulsa.

Wollstonecraft Mary. “A Vindication of the Rights of Women” Boston: Peter Edes, 1792.