Subjugation of Women in Victorian Society With Reference to Thomas Hardys the Mayor of Casterbridge
Year: 2020
Type: article
Abstract: Discrimination and biasness in social, political, familial and economic life has been faced by women faced since time immemorial. The struggles for rights and freedom from social norms have been long and enduring ones. Women even in the most progressive societies of the world have experienced low status, exploitation, subjugation, and loss of freedom. Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886) brings to light the harsh reality of treatment of women in Victorian society. This aspect of the novel may be illustrated by comparing present-days conditions of women in the society with how Susan Henchard, Lucetta Templeman, and Elizabeth-Jane Newson are treated in the novel. In The Mayor of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy attempted to make Victorian society more aware of its treatment and attitude towards women. This object can be realized through the chief female characters of the novel, as well as through such minor figures as Mrs. Goodenough (the furmity seller), Mother Cuxsom, Mrs. Stannidge and Nance Mockridge of the Three Mariners Inn. Whether of high or low estate, women are consistently revealed either as insignificant workers or as pawns in male power-games in this late Victorian novel. The condition of women even today in this so called modern and highly advanced world in no better than before and she is still treated like an object/commodity/puppet in the hands of this male dominated and pretentious society.
Source: Journal of Critical Reviews
Authors: Sangeeta Jhajharia, Kiran Shekhawat
Language: English
Subfield: Literature and Literary Theory
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W3202714232