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The Sensation Novel In Lady Audley's Secret

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The second half of the nineteenth century was a time in which several transformations occurred in England at social, economic, and political levels. During Queen Victoria’s reign that lasted 64 years, from 1837 to 1901, society in general adhered to a strict moral code and values that praised hard work, honesty, sexual propriety, and thrift. The life of the queen regnant, her personal morality, and prudishness influenced her subjects to imitate her, and she became a role model for the British people and the world. During this century, another major economic and political change occurred in England that transformed the country and positioned it at the center of the world: The Industrial Revolution. With the development of innovative technological …show more content…

Due to this mass production, periodical publications like magazines and newspaper also took advantage of this and started to distribute serialized fiction on a weekly or monthly basis. One of the genres that developed thanks to the advances in printing methods was the Sensation Novel. The genre became a success because of its portrayal of the anxieties of the Victorian period: bigamy, murder, madness, and loss of identity, among other controversial subjects. One of the finest examples of the Sensation Novel is Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s Lady Audley’s Secret. In her text, she develops several anxieties of her time such as the pollution of the sacred space of the home and loss of identity as results of the Industrial Revolution and the changes it brought to the social structure and the concepts of class and gender. In fact, Braddon portrays in Lady Audley’s Secret atypical types of women in the female characters of Lady Audley, Alicia Audley, and Clara Talboys that contrast with the model of the Victorian woman proposed by John Ruskin in an excerpt of “Of Queens’

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Lady Audley’s. In Lady Audley’s Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Lady Audley's character’s versatility allows her to present both sides of herself, making her seem in some instances the angel in the house and the femme fatale, simultaneously reflecting the opposition of morals in the Victorian

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In the text “Lady Audley’s secret (1862)”, written by M. E. Braddon, there are many literary devices that came together and gave it a special effect for readers. From the begging to the end of the piece, the author uses unique techniques such as imagery, symbolism, and characterization to create an unforgettable scene that leaves the reader speechless. In multiple ways the passage can be related to the text “Medea” written by Euripides. Out of all the techniques imagery is perhaps the most effective techniques used within the text.

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In Charlotte Perkins’ “The Yellow Wallpaper” we are shown the oppression of one's individuality, particularly women’s during the Victorian period, where men and women became more sharply defined than in any other time in history. In earlier centuries it was common for women to work in conjunction with husbands and brothers in family businesses, but this had changed with the assistance of momentous events such as the Second Great Awakening that swept the nation and gave a rise to more active and optimistic religious sensibility, and the Market Revolution which led to the commercialization of economic life and the decline of household production and work diminishing the economic role of women. This concluded with the complete isolation of women in society. “The Yellow Wallpaper” represents this

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Braddon’s Lady Audley’s Secret, which is on the other hand a sensation novel (novels that focused on the world of criminality) similarly, explores themes of criminality, bigamy, adultery, sexuality and a series of transgressions that shocked the audience to illustrate the economic, social

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Nine years before, she learned of her future role and responded with the phrase “I will be good,” which she lived up to until her dying breath (Veldman et al.). During Victoria’s reign, she ruled under a constitutional monarchy, meaning that Queen Victoria had no real authority over government matters; however, she could influence and guide Parliament in her favor (“Victoria” The Royal Family). Queen Victoria is said to have been a good monarch, despite the disrespect the majority of Britain put on the royal family at the beginning of her reign (“Victorian Era: Information about Society & Daily Life”). Victoria came to rule “on the brink of a profound social and technological transformation,” which made Britain one of the wealthiest, and most populated, empires in the world (Felder 134). The Victorian Era, which was named after the British queen, was largely centered on the middle-class and the unjust regulations of the workers in society (Loftus).

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Jane is a composed, modest English girl who is small and pale, contrastingly, Bertha is tall, dark, intemperate, and unchaste. (page ) The representation of Bertha Mason reinforced the fear of racial difference and of women that didn’t fit the cultural British norm. In another sense, Bronte’s use of race is also an allegory for 19th century inequality of class and gender - women’s dependence on men.

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Wilde’s representation of the British upper class, its values and opinions, is presented most notably through Lady Augusta Bracknell. She is a dignified aristocratic residing fashionable London society circles. On the surface, she is very typical Victorian woman. As a mother to Gwendolen Fairfax, she has a great authority over her controlling her life. She has even a list of ”eligible young man” whom she is ready to interview in order to select a suitable partner for her daughter.

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The expected role of Victorian women was limited to childbearing and housewife: caring only for the home and family while catering to their husband. The women of the 1890’s in Britain lived a highly restrictive existence, with their life centered around their husband and subsequently their children. However, Irene Alder does not fit into this stereotype because she is an intelligent and powerful female, who is independent and capable of subsisting outside the environment of home and family. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “A Scandal in Bohemia,” challenges traditional social perceptions and gender assumptions toward Victorian women by creating social tension between female character Irene Alder and the male characters Sherlock Holmes and the King of Bohemia. Doyle’s character, Alder, is incongruent for her time in history.

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She concludes that “during the Victorian period [is when] men and women’s roles became more sharply defined than at any [other] time in history. In earlier centuries it had been usual for women to work alongside husbands and brothers in the family business… As the 19th century progressed men increasingly commuted to their place of work – the factory, shop or office. Wives, daughters and sisters were left at home all day to oversee the domestic duties that were increasingly carried out by servants” (Hughes, n.d, para. 1). Men and women began living in essentially two different worlds.

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“Daily life for women in the early 1800s in Britain was that of many obligations and few choices. Some even compare the conditions of women in this time to a form of slavery” (Smith). Women weren’t given much of a

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She is an upper class Victorian woman and her ideals correspond to her stature in society. One of the most evident examples of Lady Bracknell’s outspoken ideals is seen in her interrogation of Jack Worthing. Once Lady Bracknell finds out that Jack and Gwendolen are interested in each other, she examines Jack with a series of questions. Lady Bracknell likes the answers to the first few questions she poses but calls Jack a “cloak-room” and “a parcel” after finding out he was found in a handbag as a baby (Wilde 25). The comments Lady Bracknell makes about Jack’s upbringing shows the reader that she looks down upon him.

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Charlotte Brontë´s novel Jane Eyre is considered one of Britain´s most classical literary work. The story consists of a hybrid of three genres, the Gothic novel, the Romance novel and the Bildungsroman and many critics have praised the novel. Though, the novel got a great deal of good criticism in contemporary time, its immediate reception was controversial. The story plays out during the Victorian period in Britain where the social norms were strict and there was a big gap of equality between the genders. This essay will analyse how the gender roles are portrayed and if they are modern or traditional.

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