Female Frailty

Sense and Sensibility and Mansfield Park by Jane Austen, The Romance of the Forest by Ann Radcliffe, and Adeline Mowbray by Amelia Opie all feature women who suffer from physical ailments. During the time of their publication, “Weakness, frailty, and sensitivity best characterized the image of women in society. The lack of political power that women had, the physically debilitating dress of the times, and the health problems […] all contributed to the idea of the delicate woman. They needed special care and sheltering” (Wells, The Victorian Web). Female frailty, as described here, includes the fainting, blushing, sickness, and death experienced by female characters in many novels of the Romantic period. These instances of physical distress are typically the result of heightened emotions, because “[…] the emergence of a physiological psychology, together with a psychological approach to medicine, fostered the conviction that the health of the body and the health of the mind were interdependent” (Douglas, The Victorian Web).

            Medical experts agreed that the mind and the body were interconnected and that to stay healthy, patients must maintain a balance of the inner and outer parts of their bodies. Victorian doctors furthered the Romantic medical connection between excess emotion and frailty in women. For example, S. Weir

Mitchell, a famous 19^th century physician, “believed that women were fundamentally inferior to men and that their nervous systems were more irritable; both ‘facts’ contributed to a woman’s greater susceptibility to disease. And female irritability was firmly rooted in women’s reproductive physiology and sexuality” (Bassuk 251, Porter Institute). Hysteria, a popular diagnosis of the times, was attributed to an irritation in the reproductive organs that traveled through nerves to the brain. The disease was associated with femininity and characterized by “a specific style of expressing feelings and organizing thoughts. Hysterics [were] flamboyant, expressive, superficially seductive, and prone to inappropriate outbursts of emotion” (250). Doctors, like Mitchell and his predecessors, supported women’s dependence on men because of their physically smaller size and weak nervous systems.

This modern day cartoon makes fun of the over-diagnosis of hysteria in the Romantic and Victorian periods. Women with any type of mental illness were usually written off as "hysterics" and told to remain in bed. Charlotte Perkins Gilman comments on this remedy in the famous story "The Yellow Wallpaper."
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            There is a definite trend of female frailty in many of the novels we have read for class, revealing the backwards thinking of the time in which the authors lived. Authors like Austen, Radcliffe, and Mowbray use female frailty for unique reasons, but the concept plays a large role in each of their works and allows each author to make a statement about Victorian society.

            In Sense and Sensibility, Marianne comes down with a near deadly illness following her breakup with Willoughby. She suffers from headaches, fatigue, depression, loss of appetite, and faintness. Tony Tanner comments that Marianne, the emotional sister, “[…] is indeed sick, sick with the intensity of her own passions and fantasies” (84). Madeline asserts, “Marianne is childish, she succumbs to her feelings and does not recognize that despite her suffering she has responsibilities and her actions have consequences that her family must face as well.” Madeline, like Tanner, proposes that Marianne’s illness is the result of her emotional attachment to Willoughby and her resulting heartbreak.

Austen highlights the contrast between Elinor’s sense and Marianne’s sensibility in how Elinor cares for Marianne during this time:  “Towards the evening, Marianne became ill again, growing more heavy, restless and uncomfortable than before. Her sister, however, still sanguine, was willing to attribute the change to nothing more than the fatigue of having sat up to have her bed made” (Austen 288). When Marianne condition worsens, Elinor finds her “agitation more difficult to bury under exterior calmness” (291). Elinor deems her sister recovered when Marianne “fixed her eyes on her with a rational, though languid, gaze” (292). Laura points out the connection between the mind and the body in these scenes:  “Considering [Marianne’s] mental and emotional states at these times, however, perhaps her illness makes more sense:  the first event, she is enraptured by Willoughby, the second, jaded beyond hope. Perhaps the mind-body connection was stronger without the help of other medicinal remedies that we have today, and affected a patient more.” Austen associates Marianne’s physical state with her mental state, as Elinor only witnesses Marianne’s recovery once she achieves rational thought.

Marianne is restored to good health once she overcomes her love for Willoughby. Once recovered, she admits, “I saw that my own feelings had prepared my sufferings, and that my want of fortitude under them had almost lead me to the grave. My illness, well I knew, had been entirely brought on by myself […] [Willoughby’s] remembrance can be overcome by no change of circumstances or opinions. But it shall be regulated, it shall be checked by religion, by reason, by constant employment” (322-3). Austen supports the case for rationality and reason in Marianne’s debilitating illness, but Tanner proposes that because “Marianne is the one who demands the outward forms exactly project inward feelings; that is the demand for sincerity […],” Austen also seeks to reform society to permit heartfelt emotion without risk of embarrassment, heartbreak, or reprimand (84). In including Marianne’s illness in her novel, Austen acknowledges the connection between emotion and frailty and hopes to eliminate the restrictions on the expression of emotion in society.

We are introduced to female frailty within the few chapters of Ann Radcliffe’s The Romance of the Forest when bandits capture the leading character, Adeline. Radcliffe describes the encounter’s effect on Adeline:  “The violent agitation of mind, and fatigue of body, which she had suffered for the last twenty-four hours, had overpowered her strength, and when La Motte led her back to the carriage, her whole frame trembled with illness” (Radcliffe 10-11). Jane lists the many other occurrences of Adeline’s frailty:  “[…] we see Adeline ill early on in the novel, stalling La Motte’s escape away from Paris. We later see her ill after having to escape the Marquis with Peter. She’s ill after her father betrays her and after her future is almost complete jeopardized by the Marquis.” For example, when the Marquis captures Adeline and then approaches her chamber, Adeline immediately faints at the sight of him. Radcliffe describes as “he endeavored to recover her, and at length succeeded; but when she unclosed her eyes, and again beheld him, she relapsed into a state of insensibility […]” (158).

In my comment on Jane’s post, I agree, “The scene in which Adeline faints at the sight of the Marquis is another prime example of female physical weakness in the presence of men.” In our class discussion, we talked about how Gothic novels feature the “damsel in distress.” This archetype reinforces scripted gender roles, women’s dependence on men, and their susceptibility to the forces around them. Like with Marianne, Adeline’s emotions dictate her physical well-being. Their weakness give men, like Willoughby and the Marquis, respectively, power over them. Jess also makes the connection between Marianne and Adeline, observing, “The idea of sensibility, as portrayed during Austen’s time by romantics as dealing with emotion and unbridled passion, is shown through the character of Adeline […]”  

Elise B. makes an interesting observation about the physicality of Radcliffe’s writing. The physical nature of her prose relates to Adeline’s physical ailments. The harsh nature of the gothic world and the action surrounding Adeline affect her emotions, and in turn, her bodily health. Radcliffe, like Austen, provides an example of a woman rendered dependent on the men around her by her frailty. She survives the evil forces of Radcliffe’s gothic novel, only with the help of Theodore. Like Marianne, she ends up happily tethered to a man, who can claim responsibility for her safety, reinforcing the Victorian value of female dependence on men.

With Adeline Mowbray, Amelia Opie presents a woman, Adeline, who wills herself to her grave, again supporting the connection between the mind and body. At the beginning of the novel, we are introduced to a healthy, headstrong girl, determined to defy society’s expectation of her to marry. Unlike the characters mentioned above, Adeline resolves to not depend on a man for her happiness or to secure her future. Instead, she chooses to live with her love, Glenmurray, unmarried. She endures Glenmurray’s illness, his death, and the criticism from her neighbors for living with and having a child with a man to whom she is not married. Over the course of the novel, however, we witness Adeline cracking under the pressures of society. She fails to uphold her base values and finds herself relying on Glenmurray’s friend, Berrendale, for financial support and as an escape from the judgment of her peers.

Eventually, Adeline loses her resolve, and her health degenerates. Opie explains, “The truth was, that Adeline supposed herself to be declining:  she thought that she experienced those dreadful languors, those sensations of internal weakness, which, however veiled to the eye of the observer, speak in forcible language to the heart of the sufferer” (Opie 241). Adeline sets her mind on dying, and her resulting illness drives the plot for the remainder of the book. Unlike Marianne and Radcliffe’s Adeline, Adeline Mowbray recognizes society’s hold over her, and she decides that her child would fair better if she were dead. Adeline, like Mansfield Park’s Fanny Price, controls her emotions, but her rationality is made irrational by society. Society forces Adeline to become another example of female frailty.

In the blog, Kate notes how illness is prominent in Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Park, and Adeline Mowbray. She believes that Opie uses illness to further the plot and to emphasize Adeline’s personality. In my comment on Kate’s post, I express my irritation for the number and degree of illness in these novels, and “I wish that, as female authors, Radcliffe, Austen, and Opie would portray strong female characters who stand by their decisions without constantly fainting into a man’s arms.”

In Mansfield Park, we encounter an example of female frailty that extends beyond emotional distress. Fanny is physically small, independent of her nerves, and her size, combined with her meek nature, forces her reliance on Edmund. Raised as a servant within the Bertram home, Fanny has been taught not to voice her opinion because she is the lowest in rank, and therefore, ought to remain invisible. In my post about Mansfield Park, I discuss the scene in which Mrs. Norris overworks Fanny in the rose garden, and Fanny develops a headache. Fanny’s weakness in this moment allows Edmund to assume power and responsibility over her, and he becomes Fanny’s voice, chastising his aunt for her inconsideration. Edmund assumes Fanny’s voice for the remainder of the novel, and Fanny inevitably falls in love with Edmund, her protector and advocate for her best interest.

This illustration depicts a man assisting a woman who has fainted, reminiscent of Edmund helping Fanny after he finds her listless on the Bertrams' couch. Fainting occurred often in Austen's time and was considered a sign of femininity.
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Fanny hides her love for Edmund and controls her feelings of inadequacy. Her submissiveness within the household attracts the attention of Henry Crawford, and David Southward notes another instance of Fanny’s difficulty with speaking up for herself when she tells her uncle that she does not want to marry Henry: “Perhaps because of her intense shyness and introversion, Fanny’s mind nearly shuts down when confronted with the mortifying twin prospects of speaking about her own betrothal and refusing the wishes of her imperious uncle” (Southward 771). Here, Austen presents another view of female frailty: the restraint of emotion. Unlike Marianne, Fanny keeps her emotions under a tight reign, never revealing her dislike for Mary Crawford or her undying devotion to Edmund. Again, through the extreme of Marianne, Austen seeks to reform a society that functions on false formalities and suppresses raw emotion. 

In analyzing this sampling of novels from the Romantic period, we find that some of them, like The Romance of the Forest, reinforce Mitchell’s claim about the connection between the nervous system and female frailty. Others, like Sense and Sensibility, Adeline Mowbray, and Mansfield Park, feature women that become frail because of the expectations society places on them. Through the medical belief of the mind-body connection, Austen critiques a society that does not allow genuine expressions of emotion and punishes women for their sensitivity. Her contemporaries join in on the discussion of female frailty and how it relates to social mores and female dependence on men.

Works Cited

Austen, Jane. Mansfield Park. Ontario:  Broadview, 2001. Print.

Austen, Jane. Sense and Sensibility. New York:  Penguin, 2011. Print.

Bassuck, Ellen L. “The Rest Cure:  Repetition of Victorian Women’s Conflicts?” Poetics Today 6.5 (1985): 245-257. Print. JSTOR. Web. 26 April 2012.

Douglas, Lauren. “Victorian Attitudes About Health.” The Victorian Web. 1991. Web. 25 April 2012.

Opie, Amelia. Adeline Mowbray. Ontario:  Broadview, 2010. Print.

Radcliffe, Ann. The Romance of the Forest. Oxford:  Oxford UP, 2009. Print.

Southward, David. “Jane Austen and the Riches of Embarrassment.” Studies in English Literature 36.4 (1996):  763-784. Print. JSTOR. Web. 25 April 2012.

Tanner, Tony. Jane Austen. Cambridge:  Harvard UP, 1986.  75-102. Print.

Wells, Erin. “Strength in Times of Sorrow.” The Victorian Web. 1993. Web. 25 April 2012.