Cleverly voiced: The narrators’ uncommon perceptions and depictions of the bad woman in Middlemarch and Vanity Fair

Abstract

This thesis explores the way in which William Makepeace Thackeray‘s Vanity Fair and George Eliot‘s Middlemarch present a different point of view towards their “bad” women than the one usually expected in the Victorian Period. This is done through subtlety and clever intrusions by their narrators, thus avoiding the certain rejection from their Victorian readers. Victorian Novels usually depicted female characters that represented what was considered good (commonly known as “Angels of the House”) and female characters that represented what was considered bad in the Victorian Period. Obviously, it was expected for the good female characters to succeed and the bad ones to fail. Nevertheless, by studying how these “bad” women are perceived and depicted by their narrators in these two novels, this thesis demonstrates how by subtle patterns in the narration and ultimate endings, the “bad” women, despite first impressions, were preferred over the Angel of the House.

Esta tesis demuestra como las novelas Vanity Fair por William Makepeace Thackeray y Middlemarch por George Eliot presentan un punto de vista diferente sobre la mujer “mala” de lo esperado en la Era Victoriana. Esto es hecho mediante intrusiones sutiles e inteligentes a través de los narradores de las novelas, así evitando el rechazo de sus lectores Victorianos. Novelas Victorianas usualmente presentan dos tipos de personajes femeninos; una que representa lo que era considerado bueno (conocida comúnmente como las ”Ángeles de la Casa”) y la otra que representa lo que era considerado malo en el periodo Victoriano. Obviamente, era esperado que las personajes ”buenas” fueran exitosas y las “malas” fracasaran. A pesar de esto, mediante la observación de como estas personajes ”malas” son percibidas y presentadas por sus narradores, esta tesis explora como ciertos patrones en la narración y el final de las novelas, demuestran que, a pesar de primeras impresiones, son preferidas sobre las ”Ángeles de la Casa".