PROPRIETY AND PASSION: Images o£ the New Woman on the London Stage in the 1890s by Doreen Helen Thompson B.A., University of Victoria, 1982 M.A., University of Victoria, 1984 A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the A ( ' C i' T 1) Requirements for the Degree of ' a c u l rY I.M ' ! I. uLj!t;> DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in the Department of Theatre OATF-__ We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard Dr. Alan Hughes, ^Sapervisor "(bepartment of Theatre) Dr. Michael R. Booth, Departmental Member (Department of Theatre) Professoy Linda. Hardy, Departmental Member (Department of Theatre) Dr. Anthony W. Jenkins, 0uts4de Member (DC^T^tme^jof English) Dr. G»<Jrdana Lazarevich'. OutXide Member (Department of Music) r --- :-- 7— rr-- r------------- t-7------- :----- 7--------------- ;----- r Dr. JojA Kaplan, Exterr)#! Examiner (Department of English) (cT) DOREEN HELEN THOMPSON, 1992 University of Victoria All rights reserved. Dissertation may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopying or other means, without the permission of the author. ii Supervisor: Dr. Alan Hughes ABSTRACT The emergence of the New Woman in the 1890s was the result of a broad spectrum of feminist demands: equal advantages with men in education, entrance into "male" professions, and a share in the government of the country. Women's desire for personal freedom led to the removal of conventional restrictions with regard to dress, manners, and modes of living and to a rebellion against inequalities in marriage and double standards of morality. Within the theatre community, bold new patterns of thought developed out of a growing discontent with outworn forms. The New Drama and the New Woman became 'nseparable in the public mind, and socially aware dramatists attempted to create a contemporary heroine who would reflect the way modern woman was perce ived. The first chapter, "Relics of the Past," documents legal and social changes in wonv.:. s status prior to 1900 and reveals how the 19th century woman was held back, not only by men claiming educational and political advantages by virtue of male superiority, but by other women who fought ag-.inst any change to well-defined sex roles, and by her own reluctance to free herself from conventional patterns. The second chapter, "Removal of Ancient Landmarks," is concerned with women in the creative arts who seized the opportunities for female emancipation that life in the artistic community promised, particularly to those 'n the i i i theatre. The third chapter, "Treading on Dangerous Ground," links the impact of Ibsen on British drama with the new bre«>d ot actresses who were willing to represent the New Woman on stage and t.o replan* tin* feminine ideal with their defiant portrayals of selfhood. The next three chapters explore* dramatic image's of the* Ne*w Woman as she was depicted in plays writte*n for the London stage in the* 1810s. In Chapter IV, "Shall We Forgive Her?," the former "fallen" worn,an of fiction and melodrama, now updated to the "woman with a past.," demonstrates the extent to which prior sexual misdemeanours make* he*r a social outcast, even if the playwright does not condemn he*r to an untimely death, insanity, or suicide. Chapter V, "New Lamps for Old," deals with the "advanced" woman who is either aggressive* in courtship or chooses a cart over marriage, overturns parental authority, engages in activities formerly reserved for males, and often talks and dresses like a man. By pushing against conventional boundaries which define woman's intellectual and moral territory, she seeks to overthrow the patriarchal system and to upset the double standard. In Chapter VI, "A Modern Eve," another aspect of the New Woman manifests in the married heroine who attempts to establish greater freedom for herself within the old patterns of respectability yet must face the* psychological pressures which tend to keep women in their traditional place. Throughout the decade, proponents of the New Drama allowed the heroine to expess her own mind as a necessary step towards selfhood. Conservative playwrights clung to legal marriage and most assumed that a woman's role was decreed by Nature and was basically unchangeable iv More progressive* playwrignts advocated free union and accepted the premise that freedom is attained only when both sexes are released from bondage* to old ideals. Examiners : Dr. Alan Hughes, Sugt^visor (Department of Theat re) Dr. Michael R. Booth, Departmental Member (Department of Theatre) Professor Linda Hardy, Departmental Member (Department of Theatre) Dr. Anthony W. Jonfeiiis, Outside Member (Department of English) DCordana Lazarc6/ich, Outside Member (Department of Music) Dr. Xjo"eI Kaplan, Ex^idrnal Examiner (Department of English) V TABLE OF CONTENTS Title Page.................................... ............................. i Abstract............... ....... .................. ...................... i i Table of Contents.......................................................... v List of Illustrations.................................................... vi Acknowledgements........................................................ vi i Introduction.........*..................................... ............... 1 Chapter I. "Relics of the Past": Victorian Society and tin- New Woman.....................r> Chapter II. "Removal of Ancient Landmarks": Cre- ive Arts and the New Woman........................ 12 Chapter III. "Treading on Dangerous Ground": Ibsen and the New Woman.......................... r>b Chapter IV. "Shall We Forgive Her?" The Woman with a Past: Old Themes and New Images 79 Chapter V. "New Lamps for Old" The 'Advanced' Woman: Dethroning the Ideal...........109 Chapter VI. "A Modern Eve": Marriage and the New Woman: Passion versus Duty l'S9 Notes..................................................................... 1 69 Bibl iography............................................................. 1 96 Appendix I: Ibsen Plays on the London Stage........................... 208 Appendix II: "New Woman" Pla/s on the London Stage1................... 209 vi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PI,ite 1. "The Senior Wrangleress" [Phillipa Fawcett].................215 Plate 2. "Removal ot Ancient Landmarks"............................... 216 Plate 3. "Donna Quixote" [George Egerton]................. 217 vi i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful to my family and friends whose moral support has been a sustaining force throughout the research and writing ol mv thesis. My thanks to Maureen Archambault for coming to the rescue when help was needed with photocopying and collat ing. I am i idehted to Corinna Gilliland for generously sharing her collection ol articles and illustrations from 19th-century periodicals, thus saving me conside-able time* and effort; and to Jennifer Wae1Li-Wa1 tors ot Women's Studies who suggested specific texts relevant to social and political history. Thanks are due to David Mayer (whom I met at the University ol Manchester in 1986) who provided insightful observations on literary heroines and furnished a copy of an otherwise unavailable playscript. 1 was also assisted by the Archivist and staff of the British Library's Manuscript Collection, and by staff members 'f the McPherson Library, particularly in Interlibrary Loans and the Microprint Reading Room. I owe special thanks to my supervisor, Alan Hughes, for arranging my PhD program in Theatre History when other avenues had failed. I am grateful to him and to the members of my committee, Michael Booth, Linda Hardy, Anthony Jenkins, and Gordana Lazarevich, for their suggestions and encouragement. I especially acknowledge t lie lengthy collaboration I have enjoyed with Anthony Jenkins whose tutorials on late Victorian drama generated the idea behind "Images of the New VI 1 1 Woman." From that. first inception, Dr. Jenkins' guidance and inspiration have been invaluable to the ongoing creative process and to the work's completion in its final form. In addition, the ideas contain-'d in his book, The Making of Victorian Drama, have been useful and stimulating. INTRODUCTION The last decade of the 19th century, popularly known as the fin-de-siecle, was ? time for contemplating what the coming century might bring. Romanticism, impelled by the French Revolution, cl.timed freedom and equality for the individual. The extension ot those rights to women was part of a gradual and fundamental shift in philosophic.il beliefs. But for a majority of women, the 1890s were marked by .1 continuing struggle against a dominant conservatism which -'•■a I < i rtiied traditional sex roles, although new laws gave impetus to women who were determined to break with old patterns. The emergence of the New Woman in the 1890s has been seen as an ill-defined and undeveloped forerunner of the present century's "liberated" woman. But while a new role tor women, or at least a new way of looking at commonly accepted roles, can be traced back to that particular period and the ongoing debate surrounding the "Woman Question," a deeper realization of personal selfhood was altering the lives of unique individuals. These "pioneers" typified the woman whose main concern was with her own creative activity is writer, actress, musician, or as worker in any profession previously dominated by men. Only a few were interested in shaping their personal philosophy into a polemic call for the universal emancipation of women. Yet to a degree-, every woman who expanded the dimensions of her intellectual, emotional, and physical capacities 1-n contradiction to