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Home CCSU Theses & Dissertations Indoctrination of Desire: A Study of Women, Sexuality, and Marriage in Eighteenth-and...

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Indoctrination of Desire: A Study of Women, Sexuality, and Marriage in Eighteenth-and Nineteenth-Century British Domestic Fiction

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Identifier	Thesis 1650
Author	Jarvis, Kelly
Title	Indoctrination of Desire: A Study of Women, Sexuality, and Marriage in Eighteenth-and Nineteenth-Century British Domestic Fiction
Publisher	Central Connecticut State University
Date	2002
Resource Type	Master's Thesis
Notes	The purpose of this thesis is to chart the development of marriage as seen in eighteenth-and nineteenth-century British literature. The domestic fiction of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries clearly shows a shift from marriage as an aristocratic institution regulated by family interest to an institution, largely shaped by middle class values, that recognizes the value of the individual woman while confining her to a realm domesticity. A close study of domestic fiction further shows that the very movement toward individuality that empowered the middle class woman with a sense of desirability eventually led to the growth of intellectual curiosity in the female who was forced to sacrifice her personal desires to fulfill her physical and emotional role as wife and mother. The "Introduction" to the thesis provides a comprehensive study of the historical and philosophical development of marriage in eighteenth and nineteenth century England. Citing Lawrence Stone, Michael Mason, Michel Foucault, Jeffrey Weeks, and Nancy Armstrong, the introduction provides the historical background necessary to explore the representation of marriage in literature. Chapter I, "Rewriting Desire: The Assertion of Narrative Power in Pamela" explores Samuel Richardson's work in indoctrinating his readers with the idea of individual feminine desirability. Richardson effectively established a middle class female character who rewrites the idea of marriage and successfully converts the aristocrats in the novel. Chapters II and III, "Elizabeth's Independent Choice in Pride and Prejudice" and The Importance of Marriage in Emma", focus on the works of Jane Austen and her contributions to the world of domestic fiction. Austen's female characters need not simply convert the immoral aristocrats but must deal with and change their own misperceptions in order to find true happiness in marriage. Despite the heroine's significant stands against the expected societal order, Austen ends her novels much like Richardson did, with a return to male power and female subordination as symbolized by traditional domestic unions. Chapters IV and V comprise a look at later domestic fiction that rebels against the traditional order of female subordination that earlier domestic fiction emphasized. Chapter IV, entitled "The Reversal of Male Dominance in Jane Eyre", explores Charlotte Bronte's vision of marriage and women. The novel clearly overturns the patterns of male power by placing Jane in control of both her narrative and her invalid husband by the story's end. Bronte's heroine remains independent despite her position as wife and mother. Chapter V, "The Sacrifice of Many: Middlemarch's Dorothea as a New Domestic Woman of the Victorian Era", shows George Eliot's novel as a culmination of nineteenth century domestic fiction. Although Eliot's heroine sacrifices her personal desires to fulfill her role as wife and mother, she does so knowingly and is portrayed as representative of thousands of women who make similar sacrifices. Eliot's novel shows that the very code of feminine desirability that made women into individuals eventually leads women to desire more than the domestic role society has laid out for them. The "Conclusion" ties together the recurring patterns and emerging intellect of women in domestic fiction and points toward a necessary restructuring of thoughts on marriage and women in twentieth-century literature and beyond.
Subject	Women in literature -- 18th century Women in literature -- 19th century
Department	Department of English
Advisor	Barnett, Stuart
Type	Text
Digital Format	application/pdf
Language	eng
OCLC number	713734066
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Home CCSU Theses & Dissertations Indoctrination of Desire: A Study of Women, Sexuality, and Marriage in Eighteenth-and...

Indoctrination of Desire: A Study of Women, Sexuality, and Marriage in Eighteenth-and Nineteenth-Century British Domestic Fiction

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