Helsel

Andrew Helsel
Kaitlyn Pierce
24 May 2016
AP English IV
Thesis Paper: The Changing Societal Role of Women Romanticism to Victorian Era
In the most ancient of times, women were seen as having one main purpose: to serve
man, and propagate a mans bloodline. This was their societal role, and this was the universally
accepted truth. The societal role of women has progressed massively over the centuries, going
from the lowest of recognized classes, to equal standing with men; the Romantic era womans
transition into a Victorian era woman exemplifies this progression, and can be seen reflected in
literature from those time periods; the small changes in society propagated literary themes that
then created a perpetual cycle of change in society. Classic English literature from the Romantic,
Gothic, and Victorian eras shows this perfectly, with books such as Wuthering Heights, Dracula,
and Jane Eyre being just three examples of this. These, as well as many other works of literature,
utilize compelling characters and situations to show the role of women in an exemplary manner,
and to influence the tides of change within society.
The Romantic era began around the year 1785, and continued on up until the year 1832.
It stretched from the end of the Augustan era up until the beginnings of the Victorian era.
Romanticism was most easily defined by the changing political, social, and mental views, as
with any literary period. Britain was transitioning from being a major agricultural power, into
being more heavily focused on the manufacturing side of things. This was opening more
factories and creating more jobs. This was also moving more into a stage of practicality and

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rationality. People were relying more heavily on logic than anything else, and emotion became
something that was, more often than not, put on the back burner. Another major aspect of the
Romantic era was the up and coming social class divisions. Britain was separated very unequally
into two separate sects; those sects were the rich and the poor. The rich were heavily in minority,
and also heavily in control, giving way to great amounts of strife and social imbalance in the
country. The jobs created by the industrial revolution were significant, but not plentiful enough,
and pay was low enough that it was simply impossible to properly balance the poverty level.
Essentially, this country was divided in two major classes, and that was only on one level. On a
different level, Romanticism was characterized by the literature it propagated, which was also
separated into two major ideas, those being the ideals of independence versus traditional
submission, about womens societal role. The literature advocating for social change was far
more discreet at this time, with the more prevailing style heading into the era advocating for no
change in the roles of women at all. This was a trend very thoroughly expressed throughout
literature. While one trend of the literary style was to portray people as far more emotionally
berserk than reality would reveal, women were shown to be by far the worst off from this plight.
Women in Romantic era novels tended to simply swoon and faint at the slightest of embarrassing
or stressful things, showing them as weak individuals who had no chance among a more
competitive crowd of men. This idea began to slowly change over the era, however, and was
molded eventually into the main ideals of the Victorian era. Some of the novels best suited for
citation on this trend would be Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre. The former perfectly displays a
dynamic of a early Romantic era character transitioning into a more Victorian woman, whereas
Jane Eyre is more focused on outwardly declaring the independence of women with greater
devotion. This is done through particular writing styles for female characters, which shows the

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different sides of a Romantic and Victorian era woman, such as Catherine Earnshaw and Jane
Eyre.
The character of Catherine Earnshaw in Wuthering Heights is an exemplary character as
far as the earlier times of the Romantic era go. She begins as an exceedingly weak and wishywashy character, with her emotions rampantly running all over the place and controlling her
almost every action, but all the while her decisions inevitably boil down to the point of using
rationality in order to determine what must be done in any given situation, assuming that she
thinks about it from a ladys perspective. Even as she does this however, she is mentally
struggling to remove any doubt that she has regarding her decisions, as a part of her instinctively
rebels and tries to advocate for her own independence. This is the very beginnings of a transition
into Victorian mindset. She is the perfect example of an early Romantic era woman, who lives
through the beginnings of change in the Victorian era. While she does show a small amount of
this transition though, she always keeps the base model of a Romantic era woman. She never
grows out of her tendency towards dependency entirely, and up until the end of her life she is
still relying on others to both make her decisions, in some cases, and to provide her with
happiness. One trend that is often expressed within novels such as Wuthering Heights, where the
woman is a character showing potential to become strong, is the trend of death among female
characters. Female characters would often be shown to die in order to prevent the illusion that
they could indeed change their position in society by becoming a Victorian woman. This
prevented spreading, to a degree, the ideal of changing womens role.
Despite the slight disconnect of theme between the Romantic and Victorian eras, when
compared to the Gothic era, the Gothic period had a lot to do with the womens rights movement
that was already so largely influenced. In the Gothic era, women were taken from a more ancient

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perspective. They were not so much objects, nor were they independent. They were the damsel in
distress. They were the maiden to be rescued. Gothic ideals of women centered around their
sexual purity, and their spiritual value. However, this was the Gothic style of old. Influences
from Romanticism spurred a new idea in Gothicism. The sexual purity made a drastic switch to
sexual freedom, with the purity now being something sought after for often darker purposes. This
is exemplified in Dracula, wherein virgins are targeted by Dracula for his use in his plots for
revenge. He recognizes the societal view on that sexual purity, as well as their position without
it. He uses the almost unheard of scandalous behavior he forces them to commit when under his
control as a means of controlling men to a degree as well. The portrayal of women as sexual
beings within the novel was a rather new idea, and one that struck the public in a new place. It
opened up new ideas about what was and what was not acceptable in society, as well as what was
acceptable for women. It introduced the trend of sexual freedom in women, and thereby
influenced and added an entirely new aspect to the changing of womens role in society.
The Victorian era was one of major reform, perhaps even more so than the Romantic era.
The transition that had been steadily coming into fruition since the beginnings of the Romantic
era were finally setting in and taking hold, with strong characters such as Jane Eyre, as well as
strong female authors such as the Bronte sisters, providing a reinforcement of that opinion. The
Victorian era was characterized by the final stages of Britains transformation into the modern
era. The industrial revolution came into fullness, and womens role in society did a 180. Women
were no longer simply confined to home environments. They were no longer simply responsible
for household amenities. While household duties remained a portion of their responsibility, they
were also able to reach out from the suppression. They were able to get jobs that did not include
being a governess, maid, or housewife. The opening job opportunities in factories were filled by

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women now, and that gave way to greater confidence that women were not simply the obsolete
gender.
The novel Jane Eyre is the perfect example of the Victorian eras newfound ideals. The
novel concerns the story of a young girls growth into adulthood, and her coming of age in a
Romantic era society, where women were not supposed to be independent or free-thinkers. She
grew up in an orphanage, and experienced even greater oppressive treatment than average. She
was a naturally sassy young woman, and when she grew up, her disposition towards
independence caused her to become a standard for the idea of a strong female character. She
thought against the ideas of man. She thought in an almost devious way. She wanted to find the
truth for herself, and she was content to explore it to her hearts content, without the assistance of
a strong male figure. This was one of the first times that someone had openly written a character
like this, and it had an impact. She was the perfect example of a Romantic era woman that would
be found in the later years of the time period, or one that would be found in the beginnings of the
Victorian era. Janes strong-willed nature was something that was found to be very controversial,
particularly in the case of that specific character. She was intensely contradictory, and questioned
what many have believed to be sound logic about womens inferiority. Despite the fact that she
was simply a character in a book, her influence on the real world was visible.
Perhaps the greatest and most influential source of all, that literature had upon the
changing of societal standards, is the power of the authors. Before this time period, it was
frowned up, and darn near unheard of, for a woman to publish a book. It was considered wrong
and inappropriate, and when women did do such things, it was always under a pen name that
would give the appearance of manhood. Either this would occur, or some women's husbands
would take the book and publish it under their own name. Women were not allowed in many

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cases to publish, and if they tried, they would most likely get their attempts rejected, regardless
of the content of the book. On occasion, books would be sent back from publishers with requests
that certain elements be changed, so as not to portray female characters as too strong-willed or
capable. The resistance against the change from Romantic era ideas to Victorian ideas was great,
and prevented many people from publishing. Many famous authors are known now by their true
name, but the release name their novels were under was different than what history remembers
them as now. This was part of the effect that writing this style had. The greatest effect of all was
the morale boost that was provided to women who felt oppressed. The encouragement provided
by reading even one of these books was massively empowering, and spurred action from a
greater pool of individuals, which further fueled the wheel of change.
In conclusion, the Romantic era was a time of great gender-based inequality, and great
resistance to change in the social standing of women in particular. The traditional viewpoint of
women as weak and dependent people was shattered slowly by the aggressively addressed view
of the majority of the public, and the propagated cycle of literature and real life change that
continually was renewed through both those things helped to force society to adapt to changing
standards, and usher in a new age of greater equality among gender and class. The Gothic era
brought about new ideas about what was acceptable in society, and drug into question the value
of innocence in women. This spurned one of the most influential aspects of the womens rights
movement. The Victorian viewpoint brought about the beginnings of womens rights as we know
them today. The effect that novels such as Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights had on this process
cannot be understated, nor can the effect that was contributed by both the Bronte sisters, and the
innumerable other authors who helped by saying their piece.

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Ambrus, Victor G. Dracula. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1980. Print.
Attwood, E. M., and Emily Bronte. Wuthering Heights. Harlow: Pearson Education, 1999. Print.
Bronte, Charlotte, and Stevie Davies. Jane Eyre. London: Penguin, 2006. Print.
Buckingham, Kathryn. "The Role of Women Within Gothic Literature." Story of a Phoenix.
2014. Web. 25 May 2016.
"The Romantic Period." Volume D:. Web. 25 May 2016.
"Victorians | Victorian Era History Guide." Victorians. Web. 25 May 2016.
Wolf, Tiffiny. "Wake Review Literary Magazine & Club." Wake Review Literary Magazine
Club. 2015. Web. 25 May 2016.