Relationships Between Women

Relationships Between Women:

Propelling the Plot Through Love and Hate

When discussing work authored by Jane Austen and her contemporaries, it can seem an obvious idea that the relationships between women play an integral part to plot and progression. These relationships between mothers and daughters, siblings and friends function as much to carry the story and the moral subject as women’s romantic relationships with men, if even more. Still, these relationships go much further than meets the eye. Especially in a time when novels written by women were not exactly favored in the eyes of men, the relationship between females propels the story forward and some plotlines could even exist without men at all. These factors are most apparent in Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park and Sense and Sensibility, Amelia Opie’s Adeline Mowbray, and Ann Radcliffe’s Romance of the Forest where female characters exist for a function within the story, whether it is to move the plot along, challenge the reader’s perception, or stop the story in its tracks. These novels had the murmurings of early feminism as seen in female-driven plots that emphasize the complexity of character, unease of familial and political ties, and agency of female characters.  

            In some instances, women may act as the foil to one another. A good example of this is Fanny Price and Mary Crawford. In class, we spoke about how Austen may have been aiming to have two heroines within the novel, one in Fanny and one in Mary because they are opposites who both have their own individual merits. Elise notes in her post Contrast Between Mary and Fanny, that Mary is shown as “rudely over-opinionated yet charming with agency,” while Fanny is “totally passive yet kind and virtuous.” One seems to bring out the qualities in the other, since they are often around each other displaying these differences. Nancy Armstrong’s The Rise of Feminine Authority discusses how both political and social stimulation can affect a character’s yearning for agency. This seems to take Fanny longer to figure out for herself. When the group wants to put on the production of Lover’s Vows, Mary is eager to take on a seductive role, while Fanny refuses though she is pushed by most members of the party. This makes Fanny seem timid yet steadfast in her beliefs, while it makes Mary seem bold and confident yet overtly provocative. Without the other as contrast, these qualities would be less apparent.

This becomes important when dealing with the love triangle between the two women and Edmund, who initially thinks Mary is a match before he realizes that he prefers Fanny instead. When it comes to marriage, Fanny finally decides she will display her female agency by refusing Henry Crawford’s proposals though everyone is pushing her to accept them. As Madison says in her post Female Agency, “Mary Crawford often trampled on the lines of propriety when talking to Edmund” though “he often found [it] more charming than alarming.” At the end, Fanny finally uses her voice and Mary is punished for being too vocal and forward. Joyce Senders Pederson, in her article “The Reform of Women’s Secondary and Higher Education,” may have the answer to Fanny’s change of behavior. Fanny is a more demure, bookish type in a time when “greater emphasis was put on academia rather than social origin,” demonstrating the dangerous territory Mary was dealing with (Pederson, 72). Without the one to foil the other, the characterizations of both women may become subdued, creating less of a moral center to follow and a heroine to enjoy.

The Bertram girls are not to be forgotten when it comes to Mansfield Park and relationships between women, as the sisters have a great influence upon the situation. Maria and Julia do not treat Fanny as a sister, but rather more like a slave to their family. They barely acknowledge her help for their family and instead poke fun at her timid nature and inability to speak for herself. They function in a similar way as Mary Crawford does at the end of the novel, proving to be more of a foil for the heroine than anything else. At the beginning, it is more difficult to decipher who is the heroine, but it seems that Maria and Julia function as an indicator that Fanny is the one to look up to, and also pity in some ways. Though the character and opinion of Mary Crawford changes throughout the novel, and some would argue that the opinion of Fanny changes as well, Maria and Julia are consistent in their bullying and poor choices, acting as the perfect foils to the heroine.  

As I discussed in my post “Nature vs Nurture,” both the Bertram girls were raised in a consistent household with a more or less stable and well-to-do upbringing. Fanny and Mary seem to move around all throughout the novel and do not stay in the same household all their lives. They have less of a consistent environment to lead them, but rather must rely on their own innate feelings to guide them, whether good or bad. It was common at the time to move from place to place, but often girls had their mother or a nanny/teacher along with them for the journey, allowing the girl to follow a good example (Levine, 65). Fanny had none of these things. The women had to listen to themselves and their own thoughts and feelings, and in doing so, we see Mary’s overt agency and Fanny’s hesitation to initially speak up. Eventually, they both get what they deserve and end up in different situations.

We see the virtue in Fanny through her control and through thinking about her actions, while we see Mary end with a less than desirable conclusion, one that shows her true colors. There’s no reason but Fanny’s own reasons to deny Henry and want Edmund, and for this she is rewarded. Maria and Julia succumb to their spoiled, politically-driven environment. Essentially, the women cannot save each other from their own innate feelings. Though the Bertram girls and Fanny spend a lot of time together, Fanny does not rub off on them and they do not affect her. Possibly only Mary is the one who would change Fanny, pushing her to marry her brother, but it does not work. Though they are around each other to hear their opinions and feelings about different situations, they are at a loss when it comes to actually being able to do something about it.

The above picture entitled “Young Ladies at Home” drawn by Henry Moses in 1823 depicts women spending time with each other. Because there was not much else to do but read, sew and be in the company of family and guests, women were around each other much of the time, heightening interaction and drama. It made it easy to be involved in each other’s business all the time, as can be seen in Mansfield Park.

In Gabrielle’s post I’m seeing a connection here… she notes that “Mrs. Norris and Lady Bertram are, in essence, Elinor and Marianne plus 10-20 years. They are sisters, first foremost.” These characters from Sense and Sensibility do have many similarities to the sisters in Mansfield Park and function in very much the same way. Lady Bertram has married up in her social class by marrying Sir Thomas, which it can be argued that Marianne did the same thing with Colonel Brandon. Mrs. Norris has married a clergyman, Rev. Norris, just like Elinor marries a member of the clergy. Marrying into the clergy was another way to insure security, if in a less glamorous way. Clergymen made a sound living to stabilize their family’s wellbeing (Rose, 100). Still, Mrs. Norris and Lady Bertram seem much more harsh towards Fanny than Marianne and Elinor would be to her. Though Fanny is in a similar social situation as Lady Bertram, she does not receive any help from the woman and is instead constantly reminded of the place she holds in society and in the household. Women do not always support one another. Though there is sometimes warm and fuzzy feelings between sisters and friends, sometimes the challenge between women creates an unfriendly and tense dynamic, one that a romance could not be without.

Take Marianne and Elinor, for instance. Catherine notes in her post Sisterly Love, “though the sisters do have a strong affection for each other, they also throughout the novel withheld information from each other, only to disclose it when the situation forced them to do so.” This demonstrates that it is not all roses and butterflies for the sisters, though they do respect one another and in this novel, may have the perfect relationship simply with one another. The sisters rarely let their guards down to one another, although they are supposed to have freedom to say whatever they choose to a member of their own family.

Which brings me to my next point: closeness does not always foster honesty. Elinor and Marianne are a prime example of this, though the pattern continues throughout Austen’s novels. Elinor is not honest about the feelings she has for Edward and the grief she feels upon learning of his previous engagement to Lucy. Catherine continues to note that “the intentions of Elinor seem just as she stated her desire to protect her sister’s wellbeing in keeping her own misery from adding to Marianne’s grief.”

Marianne, who seems to keep her heart on her sleeve and her emotions known to all, does not disclose the details of her relationship to Willoughby. When he disappears, Elinor and her mother are left to wonder what happened because Marianne will not tell a soul. In my own post Sisters = Happy Ending? I was curious as whether the reader is supposed to believe that the most beneficial relationship is between sisters. Marianne does not get her first choice in a husband, and Elinor is also someone else’s afterthought, though the sisters get to live near one another in their married life. “Her commentary also seems to go further that the only real companions that you will ever have, the ones that you want that want you, are your siblings.” Perhaps the happy ending is the sister’s relationship with one another because the men in the novel cannot provide real happiness for either of these female characters.

Still, familial relationships are not always positive ones. In Amelia Opie’s Adeline Mowbray, undeniable tension between mother and daughter seems to doom their relationship to an unrecoverable state. As Madison points out in her post Adeline/Mrs. Mowbray… Hero/Villain? “it seems fairly clear that Mrs. Mowbray in not only a terrible mother but also that she’s blinded by her own ‘genius.’” Though Mrs. Mowbray is trying to educate her daughter in a way she sees as fit, she has no ability “to practice the theories she holds so dear.” Indeed, this ultimately drives her daughter away from her when they disagree on Adeline’s living with a man whom she is not married to. Adeline’s mother was initially in favor of her own progressive ideas, which lead her daughter to adopt her own theories and standards of living. Women at the time were not so able to live on their own and have the freedom to decide for themselves the life they wanted to live. So much of their livelihood was based off of their husband, and if they were unmarried, their family (Pederson, 73). As the relationship gets more strained between mother and daughter and Adeline ends up pregnant, she is still without a maternal support system. A woman at the time could not simply move out and live successfully as a single woman, and it takes a toll on Adeline, who is constantly striving for her mother’s approval and acceptance. The relationship between family, and between mother and daughter, was an important one to maintain for financial and social reasons, but also for reasons of love and support (Pederson, 75). Still, England was starting a “slow transformation from a traditional society organized largely around ties of kinship to an urban industrial culture in which bureaucratic types of organization were more common” (Pederson, 61). Adeline was not without financial hope, but she yearned for the love of her mother.

The above picture is entitled “Two of Spades” and was etched in 1803. It depicts a mother and daughter sitting together while the mother reflects on her past and gives advice to her child. It reads “‘Ah Child, when I was at your Age, I never had occasion to go abroad for admirers, the young Fellows used to give me as a toast. Fanny the fair and prodigiously clever at all kinds of curious Work.. that I was..''

“Lord Mamma, I have heard that so often.’”

It displays the appreciation and value of the relationship at the time, and also the relationship that Adeline lost with her mother. Just as mother-daughter closeness is valued today, it was something girls certainly esteemed in Opie’s time as well.

           

Mrs. Mowbray and Adeline are not the only female relationships that develop, however. As Jane mentions in her post Moral by comparison only, “Miss Woodville’s scheming and Mrs. Norberry’s lying… [exaggerates] the after-effects in the eyes of the reader.” Opie uses women within the book to give an extreme view of the consequences of Adeline’s action. These women function to clarify the point that Opie is trying to get across. Without them, it would merely be up to reader to decipher the message for his or herself. Instead, Opie puts a little less faith in the reader by introducing characters that lay everything out on the line. Jane continues that “Miss Woodville’s sins are so extreme that she dies after confession, and Mrs. Norberry only admits to hers on her deathbed.” These characters seem to reach the same end as Adeline, which Opie may be using to really nail it into the reader’s mind the way these women live and the repercussions of their actions.

In contrast, Opie also introduces more acceptable moral guidelines with the relationship between Adeline and Savanna, and Adeline and Mrs. Pemberton. Laura notes in her post Who is the moral center? that although “she is often over zealous in her love for Adeline, Savanna does consistently stuck up for her mistress in those instances where, perhaps, Adeline should have been more proactive.” Though she comes at it in a brash tone, Savanna is always quick to point out what is right and wrong in her eyes, a type of agency that Adeline never displays. Mrs. Pemberton can also be seen as the moral compass in the novel. “She extends grace to Adeline by coming to her aid in her greatest times of need” when Glenmurray dies and when Adeline is soon to die herself. While Savanna is a mulatto servant and Mrs. Pemberton is a Quaker, neither of which “would have been mainstream during this time period,” they still become the ones the reader recognizes as the “good” characters. Opie puts these women in contrast to one another to further her point, while also challenging preconceived notions of who should display morality.

            In contrast, the relationships between women in Romance of the Forest create more tension than anything else. Adeline is a sweet girl without much agency, while Madame La Motte is her somewhat adopted mentor of shorts, at least by default since she is forcefully taken under the wing of the family fleeing from Paris. In her post Radcliffe, mentor to Disney, Kathryn makes the point that Madame La Motte falls into the “jealous stepmother” role while Adeline “is so sweet and innocent and perfect, she ‘abhors’ things slightly unvirtuous.” Madame La Motte is jealous of Adeline and believes her husband to be attracted to her, making her fury even worse and giving Adeline no chance of making friends with her. Though Adeline has done nothing wrong to her, Madame La Motte still is jealous and dislikes her greatly. Adeline fills the role of the damsel in distress with her “sweet, demure, strikingly beautiful but betrayed by the world” nature. This relationship is a testy one and creates an air of distrust between the women, not to mention between the whole family because Madame La Motte does not trust her husband to be faithful either. The relationship between Adeline and Madame La Motte seems to exist for drama’s sake in the always dramatic gothic novel.

            Jane Austen and her contemporaries display many variations on the theme of female relationships with one another whether it is love, distrust, distaste or indifference. In Mansfield Park, Fanny and Marry are foils to each other, but their character cannot be fully displayed without the other one, and the moral of the story cannot be fully fleshed out with Mary there to contrast Fanny. The intensity of Mary’s voice and boldness eventually loses out over Fanny’s initially timid, but stronger and thoughtful at the end personality. The Bertram girls also get what is coming to them based off of their moral character in relation to Fanny, while Lady Bertram and Mrs. Norris exist to show that women do not support one another even when it seems they should. It leaves Fanny to fend for herself as the only heroine. In Sense and Sensibility, Marianne and Elinor are of course opposites of one another and function in the story to display those differences that they share, though they are constantly changing roles. Their ending suggests that the love between siblings maybe the real happy ending when love for men does not work out in the most ideal of ways. Such is also the case Opie’s Adeline Mowbray, in that love does not work out how it should and the relationships between females emphasizes the problem, and sometimes the support that is necessary to overcome it. Adeline can no longer lean on her mother because of the situation she has put herself in, but finds allies in Savanna and Mrs. Pemberton, though they are not popular figures for the time. Madame La Motte and Adeline in Radcliffe’s Romance of the Forest demonstrate the opposite end of the spectrum: a relationship between women of jealousy, unnecessary distrust and unneeded distaste. These more shallow characters show the extremes of a volatile female relationship. Throughout these novels, one thing cannot be denied: the dynamics, intricacies and repercussions of social and political life are greatly, if not best, displayed through the relationships between women.

Work Cited

Armstrong, Nancy. “The Rise of Feminine Authority in the Novel.” Novel: A Forum on Fiction Vol. 15 No. 2 (1982): 127-145. Web. 20 April 2012.

Levine, Philippa. “Love, friendship and feminism in the later 19^th century England.”

            Womens Studies Internation Forum Vol. 13. No. 1 (1990) 63-78. Web. 20 April 2012.  

Moses, Henry. "Young Ladies at Home." Idealized classicized engraving, 1823. <http-//www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/rgnclfil.html#men>

Nixon, John. "Two of Spades." Depicting a mother-daughter dialogue for the "Mestasis Transformation of Playing Cards," 1803. <http-//www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/rgnclfil.html>

Pederson, Joyce Senders. “The Reform of Women's Secondary and Higher Education: Institutional Change and Social Values in Mid and Late Victorian England.” History of Education Quarterly Vol. 19, No. 1 (1979) 61-91. Web. 20 April 2012.

Rose, Sonya O. Limited Livelihoods: Gender and Class in Nineteenth-Century England.             Berkeley: The Regents of the University of California, 1992. Print.