This paper examines the status of women in Victorian period literature through two contrasting works: Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poem "Lord Walter's Wife" and Henry Mayhew's journalistic piece "Prostitution Among Needlewomen." The paper traces Browning's bold challenge to social hypocrisy — illustrated by Thackeray's refusal to publish her poem — and compares it with Mayhew's interviews documenting how poverty drove working-class women to prostitution. Together, both works reveal that women across all social classes were exploited and marginalized, differing mainly in the class dynamics each author chose to expose.
Women in English literature have always occupied a subservient place akin to that of a second-class citizen. This was especially pronounced during the Victorian period, when it was widely believed that marriage was the only possible career for women. They were expected to prepare themselves for courtship, make themselves skilled enough to be liked by men, and finally secure a good husband. That was considered the be-all and end-all of their lives.
However, not everyone subscribed to that viewpoint, and some voices rose against the status of women in society and how it contributed to their poor standard of living. One such voice belonged to Elizabeth Barrett Browning, whose ballad "Lord Walter's Wife" was refused publication in 1861 on the grounds that it might provoke public outcry, since it depicted a man's improper love for a woman. The person refusing publication was none other than William Makepeace Thackeray — who had himself written more openly about love and passion than Browning could ever be accused of. In his rejection letter, he wrote:
"…one of the best wives, mothers, and women in the world writes some verses which I feel would be objected to by many of our readers . . . . In your poem, you know, there is an account of unlawful passion felt by a man for a woman, and though you write pure doctrine, and real modesty, and pure ethics, I am sure our readers would make an outcry, and so I have not published this poem." (Barrett Browning, Letters II 444, 77)
Browning was well aware of her poem's possible influence on readers but believed that corruption in society needed to be exposed rather than swept under the carpet. She responded sharply:
"…I am deeply convinced that the corruption of our society requires not shut doors and windows, but light and air: and that it is — exactly because pure and prosperous women choose to ignore vice, that miserable women suffer wrong by it everywhere." (Letters II 445, 77)
Browning's poem is both initially disorienting and boldly confrontational. It depicts a woman's calculated response to a man who is guilty of making an improper advance toward her, despite knowing that she is his best friend's wife. Rather than recoiling in shock or retreating into coyness, Lord Walter's wife takes matters into her own hands and beats the man at his own game by adopting a far more assertive stance than he had anticipated.
The Victorian period was reluctant to engage with something as provocative as a woman's bold resistance to male advances. Browning aimed to expose the corruption and hypocrisy of society, and she achieves that goal effectively in this poem. The conversational style of the verse shows how the man initially attempts to draw close to the lady, but when he realizes she is neither frightened nor submissive, he becomes alarmed and begins attacking her honor by accusing her of promiscuity.
At first, the man who wishes to seduce the lady tells her: "because I fear you . . . because you are far too fair." Refusing to take the bait, the lady replies that fairness is highly desirable and therefore gives him no reason to leave. Sensing her boldness — she is, as it were, like a rose on the other side of the fence — she retorts: "If two should smell it, what matter?"
Now alarmed, the man claims he loves someone else. The lady responds:
"Love's always free, I am told. / Will you vow to be safe from the headache on Tuesday, and think it will hold?"
Her husband's friend grows increasingly agitated and begins accusing her of bad character:
"Why, now you are no longer fair! / Why, now, you are no longer fatal, but ugly and hateful, I swear!"
The lady remains untroubled. She tells him plainly that his accusations arise because she has seen through him. This confrontational poem strikes directly at the hypocrisy embedded in Victorian social norms, where women who refused to be passive victims were themselves recast as the aggressors.
Comparing and contrasting Browning's poem with Henry Mayhew's journalistic piece "Prostitution Among Needlewomen" is an illuminating exercise. Both works address the status of women in the Victorian period, but while Browning spoke to the hypocrisy of polite society, Mayhew exposed the extreme poverty that drove many women toward prostitution.
"Poverty drives factory women into prostitution, interviews reveal"
"Elite hypocrisy versus lower-class exploitation across both works"
Barrett Browning, Elizabeth. The Poetical Works. Ed. Ruth M. Adams. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1974.
Browning. Letters. Vol. II. Ed. Frederic G. Kenyon. New York: Macmillan, 1897.
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