Although both written by men, to what extent could you describe Arcadia and The French Lieutenant’s Woman as being feminist texts?
John Fowles’ ‘French Lieutenant’s woman’ and Tom Stoppard’s ‘Arcadia’ offer a unique perspective in the portrayal of women, sharing great consonance in it’s parallels regarding female empowerment and independence. Similarly both texts are known to present progressive feminist conventions during a time in which these ideals were not of common belief. Although both texts actively challenge and reprove female stereotypes through various character interactions, it is John Fowles’ ‘French lieutenant’s woman’ which best elucidates the notions of modern independence and breaking social conventions, illustrating struggles faced by 19th century women. Conversely, it is Stoppard’s ‘iteration’ of ‘Arcadia’ which delineates concepts of intelligence and sexuality with respect to propriety of two different generations. While both explore feminism to a great degree, both texts portray radical misrepresentation and contradictory aspects of female society, a result of being written by men unaccustomed to gender oppression and societal discrimination.
French Lieutenant’s woman indicatively symbolises aspects of female gender stereotypes, accounted to by specific character interactions, breaking social conventions and enabling us, the reader, to understand development of feminist paradigms across the historical accords. It is most significantly noted in the character, Sarah Woodruff. She is labelled as the ‘French Lieutenant’s whore’ a common imputation towards women who sleep with men other than their husbands during this time; hence shown. ‘Given the veneer of a lady, she was made the perfect victim of a caste society.’ [Narrator speaking about Sarah] Charles’ and Sarah’s relationship is so outrageous and implausible that is completely obliterates the conventions of the era as shown in the quote: ‘Charles did not know it, but in those brief poised seconds above the waiting sea, in that luminous evening silence broken only by the waves’ quiet wash, the whole Victorian Age was lost. And I do not mean he had taken the wrong path.’ [Narrator speaking about Charles] It is known in her interactions with Charles that Sarah has embraced who she is, making a conscious decision to be a social outcast, disregarding crude opinions of her, stating “I could not marry that man. So I married shame.” [Sarah Woodruff]. Sarah is a modern woman and believes she does not have to act accordingly to the rules of Victorian society. On the other hand, the text imparts an adverse view in the character of Ernestina, ‘After all, she was only a woman. There were so many things she must never understand: the richness of male life, the enormous difficulty of being one to whom the world was rather more than dress and home and children.’ [narrator speaking about Ernestina] Here it is shown that Charles has a feeling of superiority over Ernestina and believes it is equitable because he is a man and must be able to carry additional burdens that come with society. This stereotypical view of societal norms contrasts the independence and modern feminist view that is held by Sarah, providing a unique dissimilitude into Victorian society.
Arcadia on the other hand portrays feminist concepts by representation of intelligence and sexuality in the form of a play, differing from that of French Lieutenant’s primary premise of gender stereotypical roles. In this text, Stoppard explores female autonomy by analysing female desirability and its contrast with intelligence and wisdom by character interactions, in comparison between two different time periods. Female characters are depicted as more intelligent and bolder compared to male counterparts, thereby confronting stereotypes of the age that women were unintelligent and should be reserved. Prompted by Thomasina’s natural born curiosity emanating from her young intelligence, she actively opposes the imposed stereotype that women should be less academically proficient than men. Her spontaneous discoveries and formulations of ‘iteration theory’ and ‘chaos theory’ with her tutor Septimus Hodge derides male mathematicians who have come before her, as such her parody of Fermat’s last theorem and explication of thermodynamic laws, poking fun at even Sir Isaac Newton who even ‘Newton left out’ [Thomasina]. This thinly veiled discrimination is known whereby even her own mother, lady Croom says, “we must have you married before you are educated beyond eligibility,” suggesting it is a societal norm for women to behave as such, and those unable to are shunned, and known as being a pariah, a woman unable to marry a man, evoking shame, and embarrassment to the woman’s family. Tom Stoppard also explores concepts of female desirability and sex from a different angle to Fowles’ French Lieutenant’s Woman. In Thomasina’s interactions with Septimus, topics about sex and eroticism are often enshrouded shown in the following dialogue, ‘Thomasina: Septimus, what is carnal embrace? Septimus: Carnal embrace is the practice of throwing one’s arms around a side of beef.’ [Thomasina and Septimus] Even though it is humorous, this discourse as a whole encapsulates the patriarchal bigotry and hypocrisy of men of the time deciding when women will learn about basic human biology and female sexual desire. Additionally, Thomasina’s views on love is shown when she says, “Everything is turned to love with her. New love, absent love, lost love — I never knew a heroine that makes such noodles of our sex. It only needs a Roman general to drop anchor outside the window and away goes the empire like a christening mug into a pawn shop. If Queen Elizabeth had been a Ptolemy history would have been quite different — we would be admiring the pyramids of Rome and the great Sphinx of Verona.” Here it is known that Thomasina sees love and by extension, sex as an omission of priorities, a distraction if you will, very similar to the opinions of Hannah, a scholar from many years in the future. She also is able to separate intellectuality from sex, often ridiculing the notions of marriage and commitment, ‘Hannah: What the hell is it with you people? Chaps sometimes wanted to marry me, and I don’t know a worse bargain. Available sex against not being allowed to fart in bed.’ Stoppard offers two sides to the story, challenging bias gender discrimination and emancipating women to strive to be more academic, independent, and confident.
Although both texts are known to be feminist texts, they are evidently written by men and as such have fundamental misrepresentations in ideology, plot and character interactions ranging from both texts. Confined to Victorian societal stereotypes, in Arcadia, Chloe Coverley, portrayed as less educated, is infatuated by Bernard’s charm, often blindly following him, believing in the misconception that sex is the reason why the world doesn’t according to Newtonian determinism. Similarly in the French Lieutenant’s woman, Sarah, despite her principal role of feminism, lacks any proper interactions with women and is primarily seen through the eyes of Charles, a man. As a result of this, she is unable to be understood by individuals other than males, often referred to being ‘the French Lieutenant’s whore’, deterring her extrication from the patriarchal society she wishes to leave behind. Additionally Thomasina is manifested throughout the entire book as the classical Victorian woman who is apparently weak minded, ‘frightened’ of sexual thoughts and ‘oppressed of desire’, adhering to the stereotypes that her only purpose is to marry a successful man. These representations of female characters do not change the story but do however mitigate modern feminist paradigms pushed in both texts. Another radical issue is the integration of women required male assistance. This is evident in the French Lieutenant’s woman where Charles provides ‘a rather large amount of money’ to Sarah which as a result enables her to leave Lyme Regis and settle down and be in a position where she is financially stable and happy. This flawed ideology completely contradicts the convictions made towards independence and self-regulation made throughout the book. Similarly Arcadia questions the paragon of modern feminism by again relying on male characters such as Septimus to teach the brilliant Thomasina, Mr Chater to fight Septimus to the death for Mrs Chapter’s dignity as if she did not make a consensual adult decision, Noakes a gardener, who assists Mrs Croom with reshaping her ‘picturesque’ landscape of Sidley Park, constantly getting up to trouble, undermining his employer’s authority. All in all both texts portray many fundamental issues regarding the radical notions of feminism which to an extent contradict themes of breaking stereotypes, independence, and intelligence.
Arcadia and French Lieutenant’s woman are both texts which explore feminism through various approaches and aims to influence young minds to modern feminism in today’s society. The French Lieutenant’s woman aims at debasing gender stereotypic roles, societal discrimination and gender oppression whilst promoting female independence. Arcadia on the other hand concentrates on themes of intelligence and female desirability, in contrast with wisdom and sexuality. Although there were contradictions and flaws present in the primary premise, the good easily outweigh the bad.
By Hemjitha Fernando
Bibliography:
- Medium. 2021. Feminism in The French Lieutenants Woman and Arcadia. [online] Available at: <https://medium.com/@lehanjayatilake/feminism-in-the-french-lieutenants-woman-and-arcadia-18b600db78d1> [Accessed 23 November 2021].
- Guy, C., 2021. Feminist texts written by male authors. [online] Medium. Available at: <https://medium.com/@corvetteguy6.20/feminist-texts-written-by-male-authors-ae95c269327> [Accessed 23 November 2021].
- Sim, B., 2021. The Shackles of Victorian Society (The French Lieutenant’s Woman and Arcadia). [online] Medium. Available at: <https://medium.com/@brendansim27/the-shackles-of-victorian-society-the-french-lieutenants-woman-and-arcadia-246e9cdeab66> [Accessed 23 November 2021].
- Lit Charts. 2021. The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles Plot Summary | Lit Charts. [online] Available at: <https://www.litcharts.com/lit/the-french-lieutenant-s-woman/summary> [Accessed 23 November 2021].
- SparkNotes. 2021. Arcadia: Full Book Summary | SparkNotes. [online] Available at: <https://www.sparknotes.com/drama/arcadia/summary/> [Accessed 23 November 2021].
