Abstract
M.A. (English)
The fallen woman is the central figure in much of the fiction written in Britain during the nineteenth century, and she frequently reappears in colonial writing. In this study, fictional interpretations of the English victorian stereotype of the fallen woman in The story of an African Farm and From Man to Man by Olive Schreiner and in The Beadle by Pauline smith are examined. The first chapter of this dissertation is an attempt to establish the fallen woman's classic stereotypical qualities as exhibited in five British novels. Location in their historical context explains the subtle changes in metropolitan attitudes towards women in general, and fallen women in particular, brought about by the advent of organisations designed for the protection of young girls and the assertion of women's rights. Analysis reveals certain clearly defined conventional trends in characterisation, plot and imagery. The novels studied are Ruth (1853) by Mrs.Gaskell, Adam Bede (1859) by George Eliot, The Ordeal of Richard Feverel (1859) by George
Meredith, East Lynne (1861) by Mrs. Henry Wood, and Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1891) by Thoma~ Hardy. In chapter two, the close interrelation between the predominant
Western conceptions of manhood, colonialism, and racism is examined and an explanation given for the exaggeration in the colonies of the dual role of woman - as chaste angel or fallen devil. Examples of the social engineering undertaken in tribal or chieftainly patriarchies in Southern Africa and by the British Imperial administration at the turn of the century are given. The strong link between the oppression of blacks and women is illustrated. Dutch hierarchical notions of social caste and attitudes to women, which were in place when the British arrived, are discussed. The rapid internalisation of white male attitudes towards women of other races as reflected in the writing of white women in South Africa is then shown. Texts examined are The Letters of Lady Anne Barnard to Henry Dundas (1793 - 1803), edited by A.M. Lewin
Robinson, Lady Duff Gordon's Letters from The Cape edited by John Purves, Sophie Levisseur: Memories, edited by Karel Schoeman, AVictorian Lady at the Cape (1849 -1851) edited by Alan F. Hattersley, Charlotte Moor's Marina de la Rey (i903), W.P.Livingstone's Christina Forsyth of Fingoland, the Story of the Loneliest Woman in Africa (circa 1911), Gertrude Page's The Pathway, and A Sketch of Women's Work (1893) edited by Lady Loch. It becomes evident in Saul Solomon's collection of letters entitled The contagious Diseases Act : Its operation at the Cape of Good Hope (1897), in G. Emily Conybeare's treatise entitled Womenly Women and Social Purity (1892) and in the Reverend C. Spoetstra's open letter to the editor of the Volksstem, published as a booklet under the title Delicate Matters (1896), that feminists, Members of the Cape
Legislature, and clergymen were opposed to the double standard against women enshrined in Cape statutes. The reasons for their opposition are discussed. The character of the Afrikaner patriarchy which predominated at the turn of the century and into the early years of the twentieth century is described, and reasons suggested
for the more mystical and sacrificial approach of this group towards the fallen woman as detected in the Reverend Spoetstra's letter. Having outlined the distortion of British attitudes towards women in South Africa in chapter two, I then examine the fictional
interpretations of the fallen woman in Olive Schreiner's novels The story of an African Farm and From Man to Man. Her treatment of this character is related to the British stereotypes and to the influence of colonial attitudes to women and race already established. Biographical details and facts related to the composition of From Man to Man, which are of value in determining why the novelist chose, or was compelled, to represent her characters in the way she did, are studied. A progression of ideas regarding female autonomy and independence is traced in her novels by means of close textual analysis. The chapter ends with an evaluation of Schreiner's attitude to race and racism and of Schreiner's colonial version of a fate of women.