Title
Masculinity and Gossip in Anne Brontë’s Tenant
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Fall 2009
Publication Title
SEL Studies in English Literature 1500-1900
Department
English
Abstract
Wollstonecraft's antipathy for women's lives is so palpable that even her most sympathetic readers have suspected her of wishing to make women not equal to but the same as men.2 Wollstonecraft's contention that rather than looking to their mothers, women should imitate "manly virtues, or, more properly speaking . . . those talents and virtues, the exercise of which ennobles the human character," lent support to this suspicion. 3 Her self-correction ("or, more properly speaking") and critique of aristocrats elsewhere make it evident that her target is not exclusively women but also aimless, idle lives that stoke vanity and repulse thought. According to Barbara Taylor, William Godwin's Memoirs made Wollstonecraft a pariah, and most women in the nineteenth century either rejected the "evil book," or, if they were inclined toward women's rights or equality, read it surreptitiously but did not acknowledge or openly ally themselves with Wollstonecraft.6 Anne Brontë appears to be one of those writers who quietly supported Wollstonecraft's ideas about femininity's drawbacks while avoiding Wollstonecraft's name.
Volume
49
Issue
4
pp.
907-924
ISSN
0039-3657
WorldCat Link
Provider Link
Citation
Joshi, Priti. "Masculinity and Gossip in Anne Brontë's Tenant." SEL Studies in English Literature 1500-1900. 49.4 (2009): 907-924. Print.