Mahmut Deniz
Nature is a perfect model for the writers of Romantic Era. According to
their philosophy, nature is described as representing the best and properly
ordered aspect of things. Also, nature is the representation of sincerity,
equality and perfection. It is good to Romantic writers because they try to be
emotional in their works and they express their feelings sincerely. They
believe that the core of human nature is his emotions. Therefore the emotions
should include the sympathy and empathy towards people. By putting these ideas
into practice they can create an equal society for humankind. In the nature,
every living being has its own opportunity and place. However nature is
distinct from social existence. Society can distort natural feelings and
destroy the perfect order of nature. As parallel to this, writers believe that
every individual should have equal rights and have place in the society. For
instance, two women Romantic writers Mary Wollstonecraft and Felecia Dorothea
Hemans take the Romantic idea of equality as basis for their writings. In her A
Vindication of the Rights of Women Mary Wollstonecraft argues about the
roles which are loaded to women’s shoulders by the society and she implicitly
demands for equality. On the other hand, in India Woman’s Death Song
Felecia Dorothea Hemans introduces an Indian woman with a baby who is at the
edge of death. By showing the pitiful situation of the Indian woman, she
implies how society can be influential on a woman’s life in a negative way.
That is why, the two writers respond to the social restrictions placed on
women’s lives by traditional gender expectations clearly but differently.
In Indian Woman’s Death Song, Hemans expresses the social
restrictions from an Indian woman’s point of view. In the poem, she sings a
mournful death song. The poem can be divided into two parts. The first part
consists of one paragraph and one stanza which includes fifteen lines. The
first part serves as background information for the reader. In the paragraph,
Hemans introduces the situation of that pitiful woman because she is deserted
by her husband and she is with her children in a canoe which goes to the edge
of the cataract. Also the Indian woman and mournful death song are important
clues for understanding the social pressure that she exposed to. In the poem it
is expressed “Her voice was heard from the shore singing a mournful death-song,
until overpowered by the sound of the waters in which she perished” (1)As we
can understand from the quotation, while the sound of death song represents the
pitiful Indian woman, the sound of water represents nature that she wishes to live. At the end of
sentence we see that she is overpowered by the waters in other words she is
taken control by the nature.
Also the first stanza is a kind of narrative because it has no fixed
rhythm and no rhyme. The speaker is the third person in other words it is the
poet. Like in the paragraph she continues to give background information for
the reader and it tells about Indian woman’s suffering. In order to focus on
the Indian woman’s situation, she makes a connection between nature and her. In
other words the thunder of the cataract shows the nature’s power. In the first
lines the words such as “forest glooms”, “tempest’s wing”, “cataract’s thunder”
show that the place which refers to nature and its superiority. Also the words
such as “proudly”, “dauntlessly”, and the sentence “A woman stood. Upon her
Indian brow sat a strange gladness and her dark hair wav’d as if triumphantly”
(1) shows that Indian woman sees nature as a protection for her and her
children from the social pressure. That is why by using these words she characterizes
a proud and strong woman but glad one for going to death in the face of
social pressure.
Also, her high and clear song is the symbol of voicing out her existence to the
society.
The second part of the poem consists of seven quatrains of two rhyming
couplets. We see that in comparison to the first part, there is strict pattern
and regularity which emphasizes the Indian woman’s certainty against the social
pressure. In first quatrain, she talks about her suffering and miserable condition
after her husband’s desertion. In two lines she wants nature to take them to
heaven by using the word “Spirit’s land”. Also she refers to the nature’s
supremacy by using the words “Father of ancient waters”. In last lines she
describes herself like tired bird and wounded deer who wants to go to a place
so that no one would interfere with her.
In the second and third quatrains, the Indian woman starts to talk about
her husband’s betrayal and her feeling about him. For instance, she describes
her husband as a warrior and she says “Roll on!-my warrior’s eye hath look’d
upon another’s face”. Here we see that her husband betrays her with another
face referring to another woman. She loses her importance in the eyes of her
husband that is why she is disappointed. Also in the third quatrain, she goes
on the same theme. She expresses that her husband forgets her easily but she
does not. That is why she says “but mine its lonely music haunts, and will not
let me rest” she does not stop thinking about him. She describes him as a light
which she cannot live without it.
In the fourth and fifth quatrains, she remembers her domestic life with
him. Also, she implies that she have done enough to make him happy. However, he
chooses another woman, he will not be happy with another woman. That is why in
the fifth quatrain, she decides to forget him and starts to imagine after life.
She says that after life takes away her “the burden of the heavy day” and “the
sadness of the day”. In other words, after life will help her to eradicate her
mournful memories.
In the sixth and seventh quatrains, we see that she gives up her husband
and gets rid of from the social pressure. For instance, in the sixth quatrain,
she is talking to her daughter. By doing, this she universalizes her experience
as women’s experience. She tells her that she will not experience the same
miserable life that her mother has. She promises not to leave her. In order to
escape from the social restrictions, she takes the baby with her. In the
seventh and the last quatrain, Indian woman wants to go to Heaven in order to be
beyond social bonds because throughout her life, she lived for her husband. Now
she breaks the bonds of patriarchal society completely. Also she makes a room
or “kingdom” for her and her children. As the line states that she will find
her youth there. That is why at the end of the poem Indian woman has gained
enough confidence and endurance to live with her children in the Heaven.
In A Vindication of the Rights of Women, Mary Wollstonecraft
defines and makes a criticism about women position in society in order to
respond to social restrictions. Although she accepts gender differences as
natural, she rejects the social indoctrination that women are inferior to man.
Furthermore, she thinks that women are made deliberately by society as inferior
people. In the first paragraph, she tries to explain how and why society sees
woman as inferior to men. For instance, she asserts that women “have acquired
all the follies and vice of civilization.” This means they are not inborn
foolish or have not bad morality but they get it afterwards. Also in the first
paragraph it is very clear that she argues about excessive sensibility
for women. She asserts that due to women’s inflamed senses and neglected
understanding, they become “the prey of their senses”. In other words their
judgment is not formed by the society. They have no good to themselves and to
others. That is why she rejects the society’s perception of “a mixture of
madness and folly”. By stating these reasons she tries to show women’s position
in the society.
In the second and the third paragraph, in order to respond the social
restrictions, she focuses on the stereotypes of woman which is imposed by the
society. According to her, society makes woman to learn about novel, music,
poetry and gallantry in order to develop their sensational parts. She thinks
that these are acquired skills. So that patriarchal society will have ultimate
control on women. By having overworked sensibility, they are not capable of
thinking rationally. Also in the third paragraph; she continues to emphasize
the stereotypes. She says that women are seen as “abortive eagerness” and
“defiled body”. They have no joy without their sensibility. And she expresses
that due to these stereotypes “women are made slaves to their senses”
In the fourth and fifth paragraph, she starts to tell the other dimension
of the woman issue. She implicitly accuses society for making women as
listlessly inactive and stupidly submissive towards them. She constructs her
argument saying that if they are not made stupid and foolish, they could have
ability to make distinction between good ad evil and to think rationally. She
thinks that this perception of society prevents woman to rise in the society.
Also in the fifth paragraph, instead of telling women’s cares and sorrows, she
continues accusing society’s perception about woman. According to patriarchal
society women are “fine by defect, and amiably weak”. Due to their ultimate
dependence, woman can not change their position in the eyes of patriarchal
society. Society sees them morally bad because of their tendency on emotions.
In the sixth paragraph, we see that she not only criticizes the
perception of the society about women, but also criticizes woman in order to
submit to these kinds treatment. She accuses woman that they cannot live
without man’s help. Also she makes an irony about men by writing the word
“natural” in italics. In other words she does not agree with the idea that men
are the natural protector for women. Also she criticizes women’s demanding help
from
men by seeming
pitiful creatures. According to her, these kinds of attitudes are the sign of
“imbecility” and acceptance of men’s supremacy.
In the last paragraph, she
emphasizes the important point of women issue. In order to gain position in the
society she asserts that woman can not allow man to treat hem as inferior
beings. Metaphorically she says that women can not be confined to closed rooms.
In other words she advises that they should see themselves as equal to the men.
If they are successful seeing in this way, they can be accepted “more
respectable members of society”. She continues to advice and she states they
should get rid of “the important duties of life by the light of their own
reason”. Finally she wants women not “to have power on men but themselves”.
Namely she firstly wants women to gain their belated rights from man.
In conclusion, both Felecia Dorothea
Hemans and Mary Wollstonecraft deal with the social restrictions on women’s
lives. While Hemans writes about an Indian woman’s voice about the women’s
position, Wollstonecraft touches this issue by writing a well-developed essay.
Although their ways of dealing the issue is different, their aim is the same
which is to break social restrictions on women.
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