Daniel Deronda's Treatment Of Women

George Eliot infamously defied gendered expectations, yet her novel, Daniel Deronda, failed to be quite as controversial as its author. Although known for its empathetic depiction of Jewish communities, the novel also comments on womanhood in this period. Almost each one of Eliot’s female characters defies the patriarchy, a cultural system controlled by and in favor of men; yet Gwendolen, the woman protagonist, also conforms to the patriarchy in her obedience to the advice of Daniel as well as the acceptance of her fate in such a society. Although Eliot is regarded as a great feminist mind of her period, her portrayal of Gwendolen as the ideal woman, instead of the countless other examples she has of resistant women, causes the novel to advocate submission to the patriarchy. Even though her idealization is due to her moral transformation, Gwendolen promotes adherence to the advice of men as that was the method through which she transformed. Gwendolen’s idealism would be easily apparent to a

How drastically her opinion was able to change in response to her marriage reveals how malleable she is to the men in her life. In less than two months, her ability to resist the controlling aspects of Grandcourt is already depleted. However, Gwendolen’s acceptance of the patriarchy was already occurring directly after her marriage. Shortly after Daniel and Gwendolen meet again, she begins confiding in him, to which he offers advice. When her husband asks, she says to him that “I wanted to make him tell me why he objected to my gambling, and he gave me a little sermon” (384). Her acceptance of Daniel’s “sermon” and the substantial impact that it is able to have on her proves that she’s already conforming to the whims of men, and therefore the patriarchy. Throughout the novel, these dual submissions occur, which only advocate for women’s obedience to the