Comparing Women In The Dead And Mrs. Warren's Profession

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“We have worked hard and usefully, won friends, reputation, and independence, seen the world abundantly, abroad and at home, and, in short, have truly lived instead of vegetated,” wrote Harriet Mortineau in 1855 (1592). During the Victorian era, writers and intellectuals debated whether or not women were fit for the demands of professionalism in the public sphere. As women gradually gained new opportunities in professions, writers of the time often presented female characters as examples of either the business minded “new woman” or the overly sentimental female. One of the most significant “new woman” characters is Vivie Warren from George Bernard Shaw’s Mrs. Warren’s Profession, and Cecily Cardew of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being …show more content…
Vivie seriously commits herself to her education and living independently. Cecily, on the other hand, lives in a dream world and commits herself to her diary and the prospect of romance. These two extreme stereotypes may not accurately present the reality of women during the Victorian era. From another view of the woman question, James Joyce presents Gretta in “The Dead” as a balance between an assertive new woman and a woman controlled by emotions. Similar to Marineau, Cecily, Vivie, and Gretta reject a vegetative lifestyle. To do this, the characters navigate between superficiality and reality, reason and emotion, and strength of character in contrast to the frail “Angel of the House.” Additional Victorian writers, including Christina Rossetti, Virginia Woolfe, Emily Brontë, George Eliot, and Siegfried Sassoon, also present female characters who struggle to find their own definition of what a woman’s life …show more content…
In “The Dead,” Gretta also works to contain her emotions and daydreams. When she hears The Lass of Aughrim, she drifts into dreams of her past romance with Michael Furey. Unlike Cecily, Gretta does not tell everyone about her emotions. However, she also does not so strictly contain her emotions like Vivie. Rather, Gretta provides an example of a “new woman” who finds a balance between dreaming and reality. She listens to the song in silence and only reveals her emotions later upon Gabriel’s inquiry. Another work which explores the line between fantasy and reality is Virginia Woolfe’s “The Mark on the Wall.” In this short story, Woolfe brings readers through her stream of consciousness. She shows the value of this inner navigation, but also comes to reality in the end by unveiling what the mark really
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