Wayward Women, Virtuous Violence: Feminine Violence in Restoration and Eighteenth-Century British Literature by Women

This dissertation examines the role of "acceptable" feminine violence in Restoration and eighteenth-century drama and fiction. Scenes such as Lady Davers's physical assault on Pamela in Samuel Richardson's Pamela (1740) have understandably troubled recent scholars of gender and literature. But critics, for the most part, have been more inclined to discuss women as victims of violence than as agents of violence. I argue that women in the Restoration and eighteenth century often used violence in order to maintain social boundaries, particularly sexual and economic ones, and that writers of the period drew upon this tradition of acceptable feminine violence in order to create the figure of the violent woman as a necessary agent of social control. One such figure is Violenta, the heroine of Delarivier Manley's novella The Wife's Resentment (1720), who murders and dismembers her bigamous husband. At her trial, Violenta is condemned to death "notwithstanding the Pity of the People" and "the Intercession of the Ladies," who believe that although the "unexampled Cruelty [Violenta] committed afterwards on the dead Body" was excessive, the murder itself is not inexcusable given her husband's bigamy. My research draws upon diverse archival materials, such as conduct manuals, criminal biographies, and legal records, in order to provide a contextual grounding for the interpretation of literary works by women. Moving between contemporary accounts of feminine violence and discussions of pertinent literary works by Eliza Haywood, Susanna Centlivre, Delarivier Manley, Aphra Behn, Mary Pix, and Jane Wiseman, the dissertation examines issues of interpersonal violence and communal violence committed by women.

Grantor dc:publisher

University of North Texas

Year dc:date

2000

Author dc:creator

• Collins, Margo

Contributors dc:contributor

• Pettit, Alexander
• Preston, Thomas R.
• Vann, J. Don (Jerry Don), 1938-

• English literature -- Women authors -- History and criticism.
• Violence in literature.
• Women in literature.
• Violence in women.
• English literature -- Early modern, 1500-1700 -- History and criticism.
• English literature -- 18th century -- History and criticism.
• Restoration
• feminine violence
• violent woman
• gender
• interpersonal violence

Statement dc:rights

• Use restricted to UNT Community
• Copyright
• Collins, Margo
• Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

Language dc:language

English

Identifier

oclc: 47151682
untcat: b2300320
https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2474/
ark: ark:/67531/metadc2474

OAI identifier oai:identifier

info:ark/67531/metadc2474