Breaking Down The Spell Of Female Claustrophobia

George Eliot is one of the most outstanding representatives of female writers inVictorian literature. She is attractive to people not only because of her influential andimportant works in the literary history but also her legendary out-of-track life. Shemakes herself a free soul who is rebellious enough to defy the prestigious conventionsto cohabitate with a married man but her heroines are either “angel in the house” or“mad woman in the attic”, both of which are distinctively man-made woman images.With the application of Elaine Showalter’s feminist theory, this paper purports toargue about the deeply rooted Victorian patriarchal mindset in women and Eliot’sstereotypical treatment of the two women in Middlemarch by probing deep into thedistorted heroines’ complicated psychology and analyzing their struggle and fight inthe male-dominated society. In doing so, it intends to conclude that Eliot hasconsciously exposed the two heroines to patriarchal prejudices and manipulations andif real harmonious men and women relationship were to be achieved, women shouldpermanently break out of the spell of female claustrophobia.This thesis is composed of five parts. The first part is the introduction. Thesecond part analyses the typical positive image of woman—the angelic and virtuousDorothea and how her ambition is frustrated and sacrifice eulogized. The third part isabout the defense of the “notorious” Rosamond who is unjustly accused of ruining apromising young man’s future by exposing the inveterate patriarchal mind patternwhich exists in both men and women’s conception. The fourth part mainly deals withthe solution to the problem of female claustrophobia and proposes the ways to trueequality between the two sexes. The fifth part is the conclusion.