Chastity and Transgression in Women’s Writing, 1792–1897: Interrupting the Harlot’s Progress PDF
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Chastity and Transgression in Women’s Writing, 1792–1897 Interrupting the Harlot’s Progress Roxanne Eberle Chastity and Transgression in Women’s Writing, 1792–1897 This page intentionally left blank Chastity and Transgression in Women’s Writing, 1792–1897 Interrupting the Harlot’s Progress Roxanne Eberle The University of Georgia © Roxanne Eberle 2002 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2002 978-0-333-96495-8 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2002 by PALGRAVE Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE is the new global academic imprint of St. Martin’s Press LLC Scholarly and Reference Division and Palgrave Publishers Ltd (formerly Macmillan Press Ltd). ISBN 978-1-349-42815-1 ISBN 978-0-230-50974-0 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230509740 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Eberle, Roxanne, 1964- Chastity and transgression in women’s writing, 1792–1897: interrupting the Harlot’s Progress/Roxanne Eberle. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. English literature--Women authors--History and criticism. 2. Sex in literature. 3. Feminism and literature--Great Britain--History--19th century. 4. Women and literature--Great Britain--History--19th century. 5. English literature--19th century--History and criticism. 6. Feminist fiction, English--History and criticism. 7. Man-woman relationships in literature. 8. Sex role in literature. 9. Chastity in literature. I. Title. PR468.S48.E24 2001 820.9’3538’08209034--dc21 2001036993 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 For my father, Raymond Eberle and in memory of my mother, Grace Vaccaro This page intentionally left blank Contents List of Plates viii Acknowledgments ix Introduction: Interrupting the Harlot’s Progress 1 1 Imagining the Sexualized Heroine: Mary Wollstonecraft, the Feminist Treatise, and The Wrongs of Woman 21 Coda to Chapter 1: “A Legion of Wollstonecrafts” 55 2 “To think, to decide, and to act”: Radical Fictions of Transgression and Vindication 76 3 Diverting the Libertine Gaze: Amelia Opie’s Adeline Mowbray 106 4 Victorian Reclamations: Elizabeth Gaskell’s Protective Fictions in Mary Barton andRuth 136 5 Rewriting the “vile text”: Christina Rossetti and the Poetics of Social Reform 168 6 Reaping the Fruits of Resistance: Josephine Butler and Sarah Grand 202 Coda to Chapter 6: Writing the New Wollstonecraft 235 Notes 244 Works Cited 257 Index 267 vii List of Plates Cover Illustration Nikolas von Heideloff, “Bathing Place” Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection 1 William Hogarth, “The Harlot’s Progress”, Plate 1 (Reproduced by permission of The Huntington Library, San Marino, California) 2 William Hogarth, “The Harlot’s Progress”, Plate 5 (Reproduced by permission of The Huntington Library, San Marino, California) 3 Augustus Egg, “Past and Present”, Plate 1 (© Tate, London 2001) 4 Augustus Egg, “Past and Present”, Plate 2 (© Tate, London 2001) 5 Augustus Egg, “Past and Present”, Plate 3 (© Tate, London 2001) 6 Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Frontispiece to Goblin Market (Reproduced by permission of The Huntington Library, San Marino, California) 7 John Opie, Portrait of Mary Wollstonecraft (By courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, London) 8 William Heath, Engraving of John Opie’s portrait (Reproduced by permission of The Huntington Library, San Marino, California) viii Acknowledgments I would like to gratefully acknowledge the members of my dissertation committee at UCLA, particularly Anne Mellor, who has been the friend and mentor every young scholar longs to find. I’d also like to thank the many friends I made while at UCLA, all of whom willingly and lovingly listened to me talk, read drafts of my work, and gave me the benefits of their fine minds and ready wit: Luke Carson, Tim Murphy, Molly King, Kathy Stansbury, Mike Merrill, Geoff Sanborn, Stephanie Bower, John Nuckols, Danielle Price, and Rachel Lee. I’d like to partic- ularly acknowledge my “kindred spirits”, Kristy Carter and Libby Gruner; together we persevered. While at the University of Georgia, where I turned my dissertation into this book, I have further benefited from personal and professional relationships with a group of wonderful colleagues and students, including Anne Williams, Nelson Hilton, Tricia Lootens, Anne Mallory, Sujata Iyengar, Richard Menke, and Elizabeth Kraft. And, while finishing this book, I have incurred further debts. My sincere thanks go to Claudia Johnson and Laura Green, as well as to Eleanor Birne, my editor at Palgrave. Thanks are also due to the larger institutional bodies that have supported this work: the UCLA English Department, the Clark Library, the University of Georgia English Department, the Huntington Library, and the University of Georgia Humanities Research Center. I’d also like to give thanks to Jittery Joe’s in Athens, Georgia, where I always found ready electricity, great coffee, and a table of my own. I was fortunate enough to be nurtured in a family that cherishes the written word, the free expression of ideas, and little girls who love to read. Thanks go to my mother and my father to whom I dedicate this book, and also to my indulgent grandparents, patient brother, and wise sister. I’d also like to thank some of the many other family members and friends who have listened to me talk about this book for what must have seemed like an eternity: Merryl Alber, Valerie Baird Eberle, Annie Garry, Beth Staebell, my Athens “Play” Group, Jean Taylor, and my extended family, the Eberles, the Rosenbergs, and the Vaccaros (particularly my Uncle Angelo, who actually read most of the dissertation). Finally, thanks and love go to Jason and Seamus, without whom life would be infinitely empty. ix
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