Part 13- Iman Mohamed
The American All Year Round and British The Harper's Weekly, are two completely different magazines. As the British magazine remains true to its traditional form, it includes no forms of illustrations. The Harper’s Weekly takes a different approach to the magazine world, it includes advertisements, illustrations, and writings from politics, poems, and proverbs. I am interested in how the woman’s sphere is depicted in both magazines and how there is a hierarchy of class, gender, and disability, work together to determine their place and freedom in spheres. Though they both depict some level of woman’s sphere, the traditional British magazine depiction of femininity is much stronger. As in the Harper’s Weekly there is some form of illustration that shows women coming out of the domestic zone, it still adheres to a hierarchy of social class and gender. So while it may be slightly progressive that the women are depicted in the streets, they are not free from social norms. As seen in Wilkie Collins The Moonstone, segregation between male and female characters is present. Male characters such as Cuff and Betteredge take the lead in the investigation. Franklin and other male characters is depicted to have more autonomy and freedom, as they travel as they please. Women like Rachel still have some form of power, except Limpying Lucy is different becuase of her disability and is therefore depicted without having any power. Despite the two magazines being across the Atlantic, they still send the same message of gender and social norms, showing the constraintment of abled-women to fit into societal standards. Wheras the men are given endless opporunties, truely reflecting the values of the Victorian period.
In the Harper's Weekly, Winslow Homer's drawing titled “Young Ladies School Promenading the Avenue" catches one's eye as it depicts the social norms of the time. The image illustrates a group of young school girls walking in an orderly fashion, suggesting the outing is a display of their feminine conduct in the public space. Each woman carries herself with poise reflecting their social values of refinement. The young women are dressed in long skirts, and coats representing Victorian modesty. What is interesting here is their different use of scarfs, there is one that ties underneath the neck, one that hangs behind the head, and more simpler ones. Many of them have their hair pulled back in a bun, demonstrating their class. Their modest walk, good posture, relaxed faces, speaks to their wealth and social status. This image reminds the reader of Rachel's class, and manners.
The depiction of the young women in this scene, shows the standards for women of this time, as they must dress and behave in a certain way. A man who appears to be a chaperone, stands a few feet away from them, a depiction of the Victorian norm that women require protection. An article “ The Politics of Bourgeois Sociability in Nineteenth-Century New York” written by David Scobey states that promenading “was an encounter between bourgeois women and men in public (205). Thus, learning that walking in public at this time is seen as an encounter with men, it illustrates how the young girls are performing their femininity in the public sphere. The article states that pomedrating, had a “code of politeness demarcated special times, places, costumes and scripts within which women could safely venture into public and be recognized there as ladies” (220). Despite being in public, women still had to uphold society's standards of “politeness” as seen with the young ladies' walk and dress. The quote demonstrates the society's anxieties of women's shifting role. It highlights the constraints of allowing women to go “safely” into public as such in the drawing as it depicts the woman's modesty and chaperon. This could relate to the “woman” problem, as an overwhelming woman are seen following feminist movements. This image differes greatly from how Limping Lucy is drawn.
This scene depicts Lucy's encounter with Betteredge. Betteredge is dressed in a fashionable coat that consists of two different colours, paired with a top hat, and a cane that could be for fashion. In contrast, Lucy is dressed in clothing that is not tailored to her. Her jacket arm appears to be ripping apart, and the sewing on her arm is clear. Betteredge stature displays power and dominance, whereas Lucy is hunched over desperately.
As we have previously seen, what wealthy women of this time wear, Lucy's image is a wide contrast. She wears a bonnet, whereas the young girls wear stylish scarves, an indicator of her class, as her choice of headwear is not as fashionable or wealthy as the previous girls. In all aspects, she violates the image of a refined woman. The decision to make her have a hunched back also goes back to the unrefined appearance of poor, disabled women and how they violate Victorian norms. She walks with no male chaperone, and no one else is drawn in the background, emphasizing the secrecy and oddness of this meeting. It depicts it as an abruption of Bettridge's day, depicting her approach as an intrusion. The cold, stern look on his face is emphasised, as well as how he looks over her, as she is unwelcome and beneath him. This choice may be to demonstrate how people may choose to overlook Lucy because of her lack of wealth and disability.
This photo relates back to the reading of the Moonstone, as it depicts that disabled people are miserable. In the book, they all die in tragic endings. Rosanna commits suicide, leaving her best friend, Lucy, heartbroken and ruining their future plans to run away together. The last disabled character, Ezra, dies, depicting all disabled people as disposable characters, reflecting the Victorian ideas of this time.
This ad for a magazine presented in the All Year Round is titled "Boys Own Magazine" and displays exploration, travel, and colonization stories such as "The World's Explorers" and" "Bruce and the Abyssinia." It highlights world-renowned travellers such as Marco Polo, reminding young boys of their agency and independence to travel the world. The male sphere is portrayed as wide and open, emphasizing the Victorian ideal of men as adventurers and conquerors. An example of this is Franklin, who is seen as a master of all languages and has travelled around the world. In comparison, Rosanna and Lucy's plans to move are hindered by their class and gender.
The magazine ad also highlights scientific knowledge and states, "Never so much now was it necessary for the young to learn to observe, to increase their technical knowledge, and to become acquainted….". It emphasizes the "young to learn" demanding that they seek out this information. However, these opportunities were not extended to young women, making the content heavily one-sided. The Boy's Own Magazine establishes a focus on history, knowledge, and exploration specifically for boys, reinforcing gender divides in education and independence.
This is a magazine ad targeted towards young middle class English women, and emphasizes domesticity, traditional roles, and societal expectations of the Victorian era. It highlights the “pretty patterns” and “new fashions” alongside household-focused titles, such as The Young Englishwoman’s Receipt Book, reinforcing the image of women as central to managing the home. And that is not the only one, the magazine highlights “letters to dear old granny”, a story of a grandmother, and “our old drawing room”, which tie the woman back to the home setting again. The other two stories “Mildred’s Wedding” and "The Love Match…”, depict a young girl's interests being only love and marriage, highlighting how during this time, the life course of a woman was to get married. Or else the woman would be seen as if she has not fulfilled her role, which can be read in Rosanna's sucicide after Franklin's rejection.
The woman’s sphere is heavily demonstrated in this magazine ad, as it stereotypes the woman's feminine interests, demonstrating nothing outside the societal norm ad. Instead,“Sheets of Patterns and Diagrams equal to thirty two pages”, is highlighted and through this focus on embroidery and other feminine hobbies, it seems as if society is only preparing the young woman for a role in the household as a wife or mother. The magazine ad reinforces ideas of Victorian women as confined to domesticity, family, and traditional feminine interests. This stands in great contrast to the intellectual freedom afforded to their male peers in the“Boys Own Magazine”.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the ad and illustrations in both magazines reflect the social norms depicted in The Moonstone. As seen, Penople is dimissed as she wants to help with the invesitgation, and instead the males take charge of the search for the diamond. In this specific chapter, Cuff, Betteredge, and the gardener dominate the conversation and it is a place for them to demonstrate their masculinity. Other male characters are seen travelling after the dinner party, while almost all men are depicted having autonomy as they are seen smoking, or removed from the domestic space and instead in the gardens.
In the “Young EnglishWoman", a high emphasis is put on domestic work, marriage, and familial relations. In constrast the "Boys Own Magazine", highlights adventure, indepdence, and knowledge, reflects the privlege of male characters in The Moonstone. The advertisments for the magazines highligh the gender divide of the time, and how women were almost always associated with the home. Even the name difference in magazines is striking, the "Boys Own Magazine" implies ownership and freedom, whereas the"Young Englishwoman" magazine reflects what society seeks in a woman.
What is interesting is the depiction of able-bodied wealthy girls versus the depiction of Lucy. Though she is poor, it appears she has more freedom than the wealthy girls in the portrait "Morning Walk" as she walks alone displaying that Victorian rules do not apply to her. The depictions of the woman's sphere is highlighted in the Harper's "Morning Walk" and The Year Round's "Young Englishwoman" as they both reflects the immense pressure placed onto the Victorian women, and reveal as well as the deeply rooted gender roles where women's autonomy is decidede by society. The magazines work to upkeep the hierarchy that puts down the poor, disabled, and women.
Works Cited
Advertisement for Charles Dickens. “Boys Own Magazine”. All the Year Round, 28 March 1868: pg. 394. vol. 19, no. 466, 1868. ProQuest, https://www.proquest.com/docview/7865077/fulltext/9BED16D0BCE14392PQ/25?accountid=9838&sourcetype=Historical%20 Periodicals.
Advertisement for Charles Dickens. “The Young EnglishWoman”. All the Year Round, 28 March 1868: pg. 393. vol. 19, no. 466. ProQuest, https://www.proquest.com/docview/7894122/fulltext/9BED16D0BCE14392PQ/24?accountid=9838&sourcetype=Historical%20Periodicals.
Homer, Winslow. "The Morning Walk- Young Ladies School Promenading the Avenue” Page." Harper's Weekly, 28 Mar. 1868: pg. 201. vol 12, no. 587. American Historical Periodicals from the American Antiquarian Society, https://go-gale-com.ezproxy.lib.ucalgary.ca/ps/navigateToIssue?volume=12&loadFormat=page&issueNumber=587&userGroupName=ucalgary&inPS=true&mCode=96EY&prodId=AAHP&issueDate=118680328&aty=ip.
Scobey, David. “Anatomy of the Promenade: The Politics of Bourgeois Sociability in Nineteenth-Century New York.” Social History, vol. 17, no. 2, 1992, pp. 203–27. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4286016. Accessed 6 Dec. 2024.
Unknown. "She Limped a Step Nearer To Me And Looked As If She Could Have Eaten Me Alive ." Harper's Weekly, 28 Mar. 1868: pg. 197. vol 12, no. 587. American Historical Periodicals from the American Antiquarian Society, https://go-gale-com.ezproxy.lib.ucalgary.ca/ps/navigateToIssue?volume=12&loadFormat=page&issueNumber=587&userGroupName=ucalgary&inPS=true&mCode=96EY&prodId=AAHP&issueDate=118680328&aty=ip.