Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons^™

The Cultural Crime Of Femininity: Advocating For Viable And Successful Womanhood In Charles Dickens And George Eliot, Mary K. Leigh

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Mid-century Victorian England creates an environment for women in which they are expected to adhere strictly to a socially inculcated view of gender and prescribed behaviors. Difficulty arises, however, because women who follow these cultural expectations ultimately fail as they are not given the appropriate skills to function as wives or mothers. On the other hand, women who choose to disregard these social norms for gender are crushed by a cultural policing force that includes both women and men. Thus, prior to legal and educational reforms that allow for women to progress beyond these restrictive gender norms, they are unable …