Essay on Feminist Criticism in 19th-Century Literature: Re-evaluating the 'Angel in the House' - 275 words

The Myth of the Domestic Ideal

The Victorian era enshrined the "Angel in the House," a term derived from Coventry Patmore’s poem, as the ultimate standard for womanhood. This ideal demanded total selflessness, purity, and domestic devotion. However, applying feminist criticism in 19th-century literature: re-evaluating the 'angel in the house' reveals that these literary depictions often masked profound psychological confinement. While the "angel" was celebrated in theory, 19th-century authors frequently used their narratives to expose the suffocating reality of such rigid social expectations.

Subversion and the Madwoman

In Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, the protagonist rejects the passive role of the "angel" by asserting her moral and economic independence. While Jane seeks a balanced domesticity, her counterpart, Bertha Mason, represents the violent consequences of total repression. As Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar argued in their seminal work of feminist criticism, the "madwoman in the attic" serves as a potent symbol for the fractured female psyche under patriarchy. Bertha is the "angel’s" dark mirror: she embodies the rage and agency that the Victorian social code sought to erase. Similarly, Kate Chopin’s The Awakening portrays Edna Pontellier’s rejection of the "mother-woman" archetype, illustrating that the domestic sphere was often a site of existential struggle rather than sanctuary.

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