The Not So Domestic Goddess

Ungendered Virtue

Just the other day, for my 18th Century class, I posted a question on my blog wondering whether being chaste was a gendered virtue and then, low and behold, in this week's readings Lady Mary Wroth has responded to my query.

In from Pamphilia to Amphilanthus Wroth takes the sonnet tradition and turns it around so the narrator is a woman speaking to a man. Even though the role of narrator is switched, Wroth chooses to have the woman be inactive and helpless, the victim of another's behaviour, the same position a woman holds in a traditional sonnet. I then remembered my question about gendered virtues. Wroth was not interested in exploring or challenging gender roles, she was only interested in writing a sonnet that reflects the anguish all humanity feels over unrequited love. When Wroth does not focus on the physical attributes or roles of the people in her sonnet as she is much more concerned with the emotional inner turmoil of the participants. As readers, we can identify with the speaker whether we are a male or a female.

Getting back to my question, Lady Mary Wroth has shown me there is inner turmoil that is not always articulated in the works we read. Oft times writers are focused more on the roles people play and their appearance rather than the helplessness of human beings in the grip of passion, whether they be male or female. There may be men out there that see male chaste as a virtue but because of societal restraints they do not articulate these feelings. By underplaying gender, Lady Mary Wroth has the freedom to explore so much more in her sonnet.

posted by Lucy @ 7:22 AM