English coursework. Analysing 4 short stories

After reading four short stories from the 19th century, we explored how the writers present the female characters in each story, mentioning to what extent the character fit, or challenge, the stereotype of a 19th century woman.

In the short story “Mr Lismore and the widow”, we meet Wilkie Collins’ female character, Mrs Callender, and I could immediately determine one of her main characteristics; her forward attitude. The story begins with Mrs Callender eagerly attending a men’s meeting where she doesn’t fit in, determined to see a man named Mr Lismore, “I want to see him, and that is all”. The way in which she goes only to watch this man, “with such evident interest in Mr Lismore”, proves she is very forward, challenging the typical stereotype of a 19th century woman, who was thought to be shy and timid. As the story progresses, we see many examples of this upfront behaviour, “are you married?”, “or you may be in love?”. When Mrs Callender confidently writes a letter to Mr Lismore and is the one trying to make contact with him, it shows she does not hold back and is clearly the one eager to speak to him, showing a lot of confidence and self-assuredness.

Furthermore, later in the story Mrs Callender’s actions show she is not only forward and full of confidence, but is sexually (opposite of subservient?), defying the stereotype once again. The way in which Mrs Callender ‘kissed him passionately”, shows she does contain sexual desires, and as she “suddenly threw her arms round his neck” shows she has confidence in herself. In my opinion, Wilkie Collins has created a confident character who knows who and what she wants, and this is shown throughout the story.

Although I expected all the female characters we meet to fit the stereotype of a 19th century woman; to be weak, inferior and dominated by males, this did not occur in this particular story. When Mrs Callender invites Mr Lismore to her home, we can see straight away who is in control, as she tells him when to arrive and when to leave, ‘Now go’. This shows that she is not only upfront, as mentioned above, but also in control and very much dominating the friendly relationship between Mr Lismore and herself. This is very different to the stereotypical 19th century woman and man, as women were always thought to be dominated by men, not the dominant. Furthermore, when Mrs Callender informs Mr Lismore of her proposal, which will be a marriage of convenience, the marriage terms are set by her for him to accept. I believe this to be one of the best examples of her being in control, as she is proposing this idea to him, and even to this day I believe it to be rather atypical for a woman to offer a man marriage. In my opinion, this quality shows Mrs Callender to be a strong, honest woman who is in control of her own life. This suggests that she is not dependant on men as the typical 19th century woman is, and we go on to find more evidence to prove this, when we find out about her financial stability.

Soon in the story we find out Mrs Callender is financially stable because of gaining money after her husbands death, therefore meaning she is powerful in society as, ultimately, money is power, “I have twenty times as much money as that, Mr Lismore, at my sole disposal”. Stereotypically, one of the main reasons a women were dominated by men in the 19th century was simply because the vast majority of jobs were aimed towards men – therefore meaning woman were financially inferior and had to rely on men. However, because Mrs Callender is in charge of her own money, she is independent, and does not need to rely on a man.

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Mrs Callender’s appearance is not described at the very start of the story and her identity is kept a mystery. Further into the story she is said to have ‘preserved the remains of beauty’, which, In my opinion, suggests that she is quite old and mature woman, but still has quite a pretty face to a certain extent. However, when relating to Mr Lismore we are told “Mrs Callender had produced her effect on him already”. This phrase suggests that Mrs Callender is a very charismatic woman who uses this quality with intelligence, as she has only met this man once and already she has “produced her effect on him”. The way in which Mrs Callender receives personal, not physical compliments shows that she is not judged by her appearance, but she is judged by her personality. I think that the compliments she receives are used purposely by the author to create independence and respect for Mrs Callender, “You are a noble woman”. This is contrasting to a stereotypical 19th century woman, who was thought to be seen as ‘an object’ and used to satisfy males, which is a quality I think Wilkie Collins is trying to avoid with his female character, Mrs Callender.

Mrs Callender is an extremely clever woman, but to what extent is not fully revealed until the end of the story. Here we find out she tricks the man she loves, Mr Lismore, by disguising herself as an old woman to discover how much he will love her for who she is, rather than her money and physical appearance, “could I have asked you to marry me for my money if I had not taken refuge in a disguise?” This is not just an intelligent plan, but it is rather cunning and proves Mrs Callender must have guile to think of such an idea. Finally, I think that is must have took a lot of mental strength to carry off such a plan for a long period of time, and each of these qualities mentioned point to Sophy being a very strong, clever woman who has a mind of her own and defies the stereotype of a 19th century woman in nearly every way possible.

Although the two female characters analysed in the next story do have a few characteristics similar to Mrs Callender’s, they are portrayed from a very different perspective. Mrs Bigby and Mrs Prodgit are the two female characters analysed from Charles Dickens’ short story, ‘Births. Mrs Meek, of a son’. Before even beginning to read this short story, when hearing the names of the two main female characters I had an idea in my head of what they would be like. “Bigby” and “Prodgit” suggests loud, bossy and large disliked people, and this is soon proved to be correct. I think the way in which Dickens names his characters so the reader already forms an image of them is a very clever technique, as he has already influenced the way in which these characters are going to be viewed.

As with Mrs Callender, Mrs Bigby and Mrs Prodgit are both seen as very dominating women from the start of the story, but the opinions we form of these characters are rather different to what we think of Mrs Callender. The story is told in first person, from a man named “Mr Meek’s” perspective. As his name suggests, Mr Meek is a little, shy man. He introduces Mrs Prodgit into the story by describing her as an “obstruction” and “copious in figure”, a description that is evidence to support my original thoughts of what the female characters would be like. Furthermore, I think that her large appearance suggests dominance, because, stereotypically, larger people are linked with being in control and dominating others, as they are usually physically stronger. This opinion is proved to be correct when we are told “she could storm a town, single-handed”, which suggests a strong and dominant woman.

It is clear that Mr Meek despises Mrs Prodgit and Mrs Bigby, and he makes them sound like nasty, controlling monsters, “brought desolation and devastation into my lowly dwelling”. I think that Dickens used alliteration to emphasise the words “desolation” and “devastation”, making it a more powerful and effective phrase. I believe Dickens done this purposely to make the reader form a stronger hatred towards these female characters. Also, although this is not a serious story and has a light-hearted feel, as does “Tony Kytes, the Arch Deceiver”, this phrase does make us sympathise with Mr Meek, but in a comical way because he is a weak man scared of two women, which makes the reader laugh at Mr Meek. Furthermore, Mr Meek tells us “that female was Mrs Prodgit” I think that by using the words “that female” instead of ‘she’ is very significant, and is an effective way of telling us Mr Meek does not think kindly of Mrs Prodgit. This opinion is shown to apply for Mrs Bigby also, for example when Mr Meek speaks very coldly about her living with them, “who resides with us” it suggests she is an unwanted interference.

The short story, ‘Tony Kytes, the arch deceiver’, introduced us to 3 main female characters – Hannah Joliver, Unity Sallet and Milly Richards, all of whom share some small similarities and major differences with Mrs Callender, Mrs Bigby and Mrs Prodgit.

The start of ‘Tony Kytes, the Arch Deceiver’ starts in an unusual way compared to the other two stories mentioned, “Twas a little, round, firm, tight face”. These are not the words to describe one of the females, as I expected, but is a description of Tony Kytes. The way that the story starts by describing Tony suggests that he is going to be the main focus of the story, which proves to be correct. Throughout the story, we see each female character being totally dominated by Tony when he asks them to hide in his truck and they instantly obey. Unity Sallet is the first woman asked, “Unity Sallet agreed, and lay down”, then repeating the same request with Milly Richards who agrees, “I don’t mind, to oblige you, Tony”, even though “ she didn’t care much about doing it”. Although “Tony Kytes, the Arch Deceiver” is a light-hearted story compared to “Mr Lismore and the Widow”, I believe it represents a greater significance in the way woman were perceived in society at that time. In my opinion, the quite silly request made my Tony to each woman suggests men were extremely dominant and controlling over woman, which supports the typical stereotype of 19th century woman being dominated, completely.

Although Tony is the first person described and is done so in great detail, Milly Richards soon gets introduced into the story, using adjectives that suggest a very weak character “a nice, light, small, tender little thing”. This description also suggests her as being dominated, as her weakness is likely to encourage her into obeying what Tony, or any other man, says. Unity Sallet joins the story as “a handsome girl” and to Hannah Joliver is described as “another young beauty”. Each of the main female characters are described immediately by their physical appearance and good looks, showing Hardy is giving the reader only the girls looks in which to judge them on. This is significant to the stereotype of a 19th century woman who they were thought to be judged on their appearance, as they were seen only as objects therefore their personality wasn’t very important.

Despite the “Tony Kytes” female characters being dominated, overpowered by Tony and judged only on their looks, they are not shy and show confidence in themselves, alike Wilkie Collins female character, Mrs Callender. “can you say I’m not pretty, Tony?”. This forwardness is shown again when Hannah tells Tony, “I like riding with you”. This upfront behaviour from Hannah Joliver’s not only oozes confidence, but suggests keenness to find a husband as it is her informing Tony of her fondness for him, rather then the other way round. A reason for this forwardness on Hannah’s part may be because it was thought that finding a husband was essential, “I wouldn’t say no if you asked me”.

The first similarity I noticed between Thomas Hardy’s ‘The Sons Veto’ and ‘Tony Kytes’ was that they both introduce the female characters into the stories by describing their looks. Sophy’s appearance, in “The Son’s Veto”, is focused mainly on her hair, which gets described in full detail, “the nut-brown hair was a wonder and a mystery”. As mentioned in the story analysed previous, I believe the way in which female are described by their looks to suggest that, stereotypically, satisfying males was expected. Furthermore, Sophy is described further into the story as “kitten-like”, a simile that brings a weak, tender, image to my head, suggesting Sophy is a very weak character.

Similarly, Thomas Hardy also presents his female character Sophy as being dominated by males, although we sympathise with her a lot more than the females in ‘Tony Kytes’. When Sophy is introduced into the story, we are told almost immediately that she can’t walk and is confined to a wheelchair, “she was a young, invalid lady”. Straight away this tells us that she is very likely to be dominated by someone but under circumstances to which she cannot control, and we soon find out that this someone is a male, Mr Twycott. Furthermore, I think that the word “young” has purposely been added to that phrase in order to create sympathy for the character, therefore making the way we perceive Sophy very different to our opinions of the female characters in ‘Tony Kytes, the Arch-Deceiver’.

Throughout he Sophy is dominated greatly by two male characters in the story, her husband “Mr Twycott” and “Randolph”, her son. When Sophy agrees to marry Mr Twycott, I could tell immediately they didn’t have a passionate relationship, because when describing the proposal we are told plainly “He then asked her to marry him”. There is no passion or sense of devotion in the sentence, and the story goes on to tell us she agrees not because she loves him, but because “she hardly dared refuse”. This suggests she didn’t want to accept Mr Twycott’s proposal, telling us Sophy is, stereotypically, a very weak and voiceless character, qualities which are partly the reason why males dominate her. Furthermore, immediately after the marriage Sophy and Mr Twycott move to a “narrow, dusty house in a long, straight street”. This description suggests that this is not where Sophy wants to live, but again, Mr Twycott’s dominance over Sophy means she did not question this, “an exchange of livings had been arranged”. After Mr Twycott’s death, we are told Sophy continuously gazes out of her window every day, all day, for an extremely long time, “nearly two years passed without an event”. I believe the way in which Sophy “looks out upon” the street from her window represents Sophy’s life just passing her by, “her life became insupportably dreary”. This, along with Sophy’s unwanted marriage, makes me sympathise with the female character because I believe she would have been much happier and content with her life if she married her first love, Sam Hobson.

The reader’s wishes for Sam to come and find Sophy does happen, but Randolph’s dominance over Sophy leads to a very unhappy and miserable ending, very different to that in “Mr Lismore and the widow”. As fate eventually brings Sophy and Sam to meet again, it seems she is a much happier woman, “Sam’s presence had revived her”. As the reader, this brings me joy for Sophy as she seems to deserve a bit of happiness. However, when Sam asks Sophy to move away with him, Randolph erupts at the thought of it, “I’m ashamed of you! It will ruin me!”, simply because Sam is not “a gentleman”. Sophy immediately says she will “struggle against it”, which shows not only Randolph’s selfish and cruel personality, but also his dominance over his mother. With 5 years and many reproaches to the question in hand, Randolph “maintained his ascendancy” and made Sophy swear not to marry Sam Hobson, to which she obeyed, and then died an unhappy woman. This cruel ending shows Sophy being dominated by men throughout her lifetime, eventually ending in an unhappy death because others controlled every aspect of her life. This great dominance is alike Tony Kytes’ power over the woman, although “The Son’s Veto” portrays it in a more serious but also effective way that, in my opinion, creates a more powerful short story that that of “Tony Kytes, the Arch Deceiver”.

Although the female characters in “Mr Lismore and the Widow”, “Births. Mrs Meek, of a Son”, “Tony Kytes, the Arch Deceiver” and “The Son’s Veto” had some similar characteristics, each of the four short stories mentioned portray their female characters in a different way from the others, making it interesting to write about their similarities and differences. The different styles and genres in which the authors wrote made each of the four stories very different to the next, with each female character fitting, or challenging, the typical stereotype of a 19th century woman to a different extent.