Feminism in “Far from the Madding Crowd” and “Tess of the d′Urbervilles”:
comparing the two heroines

by

Afua Agyin

Inhalt

1. The Victorian Age... 3

2. Bathsheba and Tess... 4

3. Thomas Hardy′s Women... 8

Bibliography... 10

1. The Victorian Age

During the Victorian age social mores were originally strictly enforced, but as WWI developed, women began to reject them to find work. Victorian social mores were paid less attention to by women in the years of the war, for women were needed to work and manufacture supplies for the war. As social mores were being questioned, women′s organizations were making the situation worse for social mores by pushing for prohibition, the right to vote and suffrage. Victorian social mores faced many challenges around the turn of the century but the most prominent obstacles were women. World War I had a large effect on women overcoming Victorian social mores. Canada was unprepared for WWI, as it was expected to be a very short war but ended up being over 4 years long. As a result, Canadians manufacturers and suppliers could not cope with production demands.
Manufacturers and producers needed more workers, but many able-bodied Canadian men were off fighting for their country; this is when women stepped in. Women broke through the rules that guided their lives to help out their country when it was in its greatest need. Canada needed workers for manufacturing plants and women were those workers. Many women came together and found work in assembly lines, munitions factories, and the civil service. Approximately 2400 women took an even greater leap of defiance and enlisted as nurses who served in British hospitals and in field hospitals. Many women abandoned the social mores to aid their society. Due to the demand for workers, coupled with the fact that Canada′s men were at war, women began entering the workplace and going against social mores more rapidly than ever before. Women accounted for 25 percent of all manufacturing and mechanical workers, and most women whom formerly worked in domestic positions later lost interest in low-wage domestic jobs that were being taken by immigrant workers. Many women did the unthinkable; they found jobs and took the places of men when men were needed to fight overseas. Developing women′s organizations and powerful female leaders gave Victorian social mores a beating around the turn of the century. Organizations such as the Women′s Christian Temperance Union and the National Council of Women of Canada had a huge impact on social mores. These organizations and their leaders, such as Nellie McClung, pushed to give women the vote, the prohibition of alcohol and social reform. This was against the so-called "rules" of the Victorian social mores, women were not supposed to argue; they were supposed to behave and not fight back, they were to be meek. However, these women did not pay attention to the social mores; instead, they pushed ever harder for women′s right to vote and be declared legal persons. Nellie McClung and the Political Equality League staged a "mock parliament" which made the audience understand that something was changing, and while doing so, also managed to incorporate some humour so there could be talk of a serious matter, yet in a humorous way. The play pushed the issue of equality and fairness between men and women in politics, while using humour to gain the support and understanding of the public. "Flappers", women who strongly ignored mores, also had an impact but were a relatively small power compared to the influences of Nellie McClung and other powerful female leaders. Flappers went out in public and went against the conventional mores by wearing skirts that reached only their knees and dancing to jazz music. Around the turn of the century, women began to rebel against Victorian social mores. Women and their will of resistance was the downfall of the Victorian social mores. WWI had its impact on social mores, stimulating women into going out and finding jobs to fill in for the shortage of able-bodied men. As demand for munitions increased, more and more women went to work in production facilities and it became more acceptable for women to work regular jobs because of the need for manpower. An enormous influence upon the disregarding of these mores was female political organizations, which constantly prodded and pushed for such "unheard of" things as: women having the right to vote, the prohibition of alcohol and women′s suffrage. The Victorian social mores were shunned and nearly forgotten after women finally got what they were after, respect.

2. Bathsheba and Tess

The way in which Bathsheba is introduced, admired, and controlled by the male point of view is entirely relevant to her characterization in the large sense. Her complex struggles with the various male “looks” she confronts are mirrored by her difficulties with the patriarchal society. Her story shows both the possibilities open to, and the limitations imposed upon, a spirited woman who tries to affirm her individuality in a society unready to accept unconventional behavior, particularly on the part of a woman. From the very outset, Bathsheba reveals her ambivalence about becoming, like most women, a visual and sexual possession; she wishes to live by her own rules and to take charge of her life. She early asserts that she has no sweetheart because “I hate to be thought men′s property in that way” and that she is interested in “being a bride at a wedding [only] if I could be one without having a husband” (Hardy 32, 33). She possesses almost always an emblem of superiority in Hardy′s fiction, teasing and criticizing Oak in their early encounters, and she is, says Hardy′s narrator, a “novelty among women—one who finished a thought before beginning the sentence which was to convey it” (Hardy 23).

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