Pregnancy and Childbirth in Victorian Literature.
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Authors
Merrill, Jordyn
Issue Date
2022
Type
Thesis
Language
en_US
Keywords
Undergraduate research. , Undergraduate thesis.
Alternative Title
Abstract
This honors thesis reviews the development of the fields of obstetrics and gynecology during the nineteenth century, and the subsequent changes that occurred in the cultural understanding of the female body. Women, once regarded as naturally hedonistic, were instead refigured as undesiring, supportive, and spiritual. Motherhood became their primary purpose. This mostly had an impact on middle-class mothers, who were depicted as saintly. Working-class women, on the other hand, assumed the bodily aspects middle-class women were expected to reject. In order to draw out this progression, I explore three novels that respond to the trope of the ideal mother.
Description
57 leaves.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 53-57).
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 53-57).
Citation
Merrill, Jordyn. (2022, May 16). Pregnancy and childbirth in victorian literature. Retrieved from:
Publisher
Wheaton College. (Norton, Mass.)