{"id":2424,"date":"2018-11-30T22:10:37","date_gmt":"2018-12-01T03:10:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/y90sclassroom.blog.ryerson.ca\/?p=2424"},"modified":"2022-03-01T14:36:40","modified_gmt":"2022-03-01T14:36:40","slug":"radical-femininity-and-new-woman-fiction-in-michael-fields-equal-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/2018\/11\/30\/radical-femininity-and-new-woman-fiction-in-michael-fields-equal-love\/","title":{"rendered":"Radical Femininity and New Woman Fiction in Michael Field’s “Equal Love”"},"content":{"rendered":"
\u00a9 Tanis Smither, Ryerson University 2018<\/h6>\n
\"Frances
Figure 1, “Self Portrait as a New Woman”, Frances Benjamin Johnston, 1896, wikimedia.org, public domain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In this digital exhibition, I have chosen to curate Michael Field\u2019s \u201cEqual Love,\u201d published in Volume 1 of <\/span>The Pageant <\/span><\/em>(December 1896) because I want to find out how Michael Field\u2019s use of a New Woman character was informed by their own lifestyle, to better understand Victorian femininity. Michael Field was the joint pseudonym of Katharine Bradley and Edith Cooper. Bradley, born in Birmingham on October 27th, 1846, was the aunt of Edith Cooper, who was born on January 12th, 1862 in Warwickshire. Bradley went to live at the Cooper household after Edith\u2019s mother became ill, and the two women formed a fierce bond. They developed a romantic attachment and lived together for the rest of their lives. \u201cEqual Love\u201d is their blank verse drama, and although it is situated in a fantasy and folklore heavy issue of <\/span>The Pageant<\/span><\/em>,<\/span><\/i> it stands out starkly as one of the only female-produced entries in the larger work. For the purposes of this exhibit, a working definition of folklore is necessary. The Oxford Dictionary of English Folklore defines folklore as: <\/span><\/p>\n

A record manner of customs that are retold through different forms of media over several generations, often in different languages. This is done as a way of passing on information and traditions from the past to dynamically educate those in the present. A survival of the past that is constantly developing to educate future societies\u201d (Simpson & Roud, 2003). <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is by no means a summative definition of all folklore, however it is pertinent to represent how the editors of <\/span>The Pageant <\/span><\/em>may have characterised the genre for this specific work. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEqual Love\u201d is based on a real Emperor and Empress of Byzantine, although Theodora (the Empress) is the protagonist of choice for Michael Field. In the context of my research, it is important to note here that I believe \u201cEqual Love\u201d is an ironic title. It is my contention that the title suggests that although Theodora may be powerful, she is still unequal to her husband. In \u201cEqual Love,\u201d<\/span> Bradley and Cooper emphasise Theodora of Byzantium’s real-life qualities in order to position her as a Roman New Woman, bringing their Victorian modernity to a historical drama and use\u00a0fin-de-si\u00e8cle<\/em><\/span>\u00a0notions of radical femininity and the taboo. This digital exhibit will use \u201cEqual Love\u201d<\/span> in conjunction with the unorthodox nature of the relationship between Katharine Bradley and Edith Cooper as a lens through which to explore\u00a0fin-de-si\u00e8cle<\/em><\/span>\u00a0femininity and position Michael Field as Victorian New Women.<\/span><\/p>\n

Michael Field is a (New) Woman<\/h3>\n
\"portrait
Figure 2, Katharine Bradley and Edith Cooper, or “Michael Field”, source unknown, before 1913, wikimedia.org, public domain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Although Bradley and Cooper (right) were not necessarily the New Women of the Victorian photographs\u2014they reportedly eschewed cross-dressing and champions of the Rational Dress movement (Pionke 27)\u2014it can be argued that the two women who penned under the Michael Field name were in their own way champions of the New Woman movement. In her essay \u201cMichael Field: Gender Knot,\u201d Katharine (JJ) Pionke argues that Bradley and Cooper took more to the New Woman lifestyle in their writing than their personal life (27). While it is relatively undisputed that their writing is radical for the Victorian era, I argue that the very decision to use their male pseudonyms in their day-to-day lives with friends and each other states undeniably that the two women were attempting to \u201cchallenge the male literary privilege\u201d (Pionke 27), which is a hallmark of New Woman fiction.<\/span><\/p>\n

Theodora: The Roman New Woman<\/h3>\n

\u201cEqual Love\u201d<\/span> is remarkable in its historical context. Despite the fact that the rise and fall of the Roman Empire is dominated by stories of men and their rule, the focal point of interest to Bradley and Cooper is the woman behind the great Emperor of Byzantium. Theodora was a real Byzantine Empress (Britannica 2018). Bradley and Cooper do dramatise her relationship with her illegitimate son Zuhair, however most other aspects of Theodora\u2019s character are based in fact. She was initially a prostitute, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. She was also rescued from destitution by her husband Justinian, who had to change the laws of\u00a0<\/span>Byzantium in order to marry her. It is known that she co-authored and pushed forward many laws for the Empire, as her name is on almost all of them from the time of her Empressdom to that of her death. Finally and perhaps most importantly, Theodora is \u201cremembered as one of the first rulers to recognize the rights of women\u201d (Britannica 2018). Her political prowess at a time when women were expected to be wives and mothers firmly situated Theodora as a Roman New Woman.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Mosaic
Figure 3, “Theodora”, Meister von San Vitale in Ravenna, before 547, wikimedia.org, public domain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In her book <\/span>The New Woman and The Victorian Novel<\/span><\/em>, <\/span><\/i>Gail Cunningham characterises Victorian New Woman fiction as having a basic pattern in which the protagonist suddenly and\u00a0<\/span>inexplicably marries the wrong man, making an initially successful bid for freedom and then collapses into \u201ccrushing conformity\u201d (106). Although it is clear Theodora\u2019s character does not fit entirely into this category, it is obvious that Bradley and Cooper followed this formula at least loosely in the trajectory of Theodora\u2019s story. They highlight her political power and her feminist approach toward lawmaking in one fell swoop: she asks her husband to leave the room to work on the laws they discussed together, and it is more command than gentle request. The proposed law requires marriage regulations contain more freedom for women (Field 204). Like Bradley and Cooper themselves, Theodora can be read at surface level as a Roman New Woman, but she is still bound by certain unavoidable gender conventions of the time period. For example, when Justinian threatens divorce if she does not get rid of her illegitimate son, Theodora begs him to reconsider, saying: \u201cDivorced? That shall not be\/That were an annihilation…If you dis-espouse me,\/have you thought how I must perish?\u201d (Field 215). <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>For Bradley and Cooper history is \u201ca screen upon which to discuss the contemporaneous\u201d (Parejo 237), and if they felt at all stifled by Victorian notions of marriage and femininity, it is clear they used their writings in \u201cEqual Love\u201d and the character of Theodora as a vehicle to comment on and discuss those feelings. <\/span><\/p>\n

Lesbianism, Incest and Infanticide (Oh my!)<\/h3>\n

There has been ample debate in the scholarly community surrounding Michael Field and their relationship. Many scholars have argued that the two women, although deeply attached to one another, were not romantically entwined. These arguments suggest scholars collectively fetishise Victorian female friendship by stating the two were at all involved in incestuous behaviour. However, it is my contention that in an ironically stiff-collared, Victorian-like necessity to stifle the taboo of Bradley and Cooper\u2019s relationship, the scholars who argue they were simply close friends do a disservice the radical nature of their relationship and therefore the success of their works, which are undeniably tied to their personal relationship. According to Carolyn Tate and her essay \u201cLesbian Incest as Queer Kinship: Michael Field and the Erotic Middle-Class Victorian Family,\u201d sexual relationships between family members were not as uncommon in Victorian society as one may like to think (181). Indeed, much of Victorian and Edwardian literature about the middle and upper classes involve at least one marital match between first cousins. It is, however, the combination of Michael Field’s status as aunt and niece, their romantic connection and their relatively conspicuous presence in the literary scene that makes their relationship radical. The two were infamously outed as women unintentionally after the roaring success of their first published work under the name Michael Field by their friend Robert Browning (Pionke 27). Instead of choosing to change their pseudonym and continue under a different male guise, the two women remained \u201cMichael Field.\u201d This, according to Pionke, suggests that Bradley and Cooper \u201cwanted to experience life not necessarily as a man would, but rather as strong women\u201d (27). This is an obviously radical decision for the time, given Bradley and Cooper\u2019s overtly erotic poetry in conjunction with the Victorians public attitude toward same-sex and incestuous relationships, and further cements Bradley and Cooper as themselves New Women. <\/span><\/p>\n

In \u201cEqual Love,\u201d the most radical action Michael Field\u2019s protagonist takes is to murder her son. At the beginning of the play, there are a few references to a curse placed on Theodora that she may never bear a living child. Theodora believes this curse to be true after her daughter with Justinian dies in infancy, and foreshadows a self-fulfilling prophecy which hinges upon Theodora\u2019s decision to save her Empire and her place in the political spectrum. There are many instances of Theodora\u2019s radicality throughout the play. She is politically powerful; she is intelligent and beautiful enough to have a statesmen raise her up from the depths of poverty and prostitution to the throne; Justinian does not even seem phased by the idea that she has an illegitimate child, until he thinks his position as Emperor might be threatened. Most radical of all, the matriarchal character takes away her own matriarchy (Field 1896). The stability of the empire rests on the notion that Theodora birth a living male heir to succeed her husband. Unfortunately, when Zuhair enters the picture a bastard, Theodora is confronted with a choice: her husband will divorce her if she neglects to get rid of the potential usurper. Clearly, she sees Zuhair and his illegitimacy as a more unfortunate fate for the Empire than potentially having no biological successor at all. So the taboo writers create a taboo story, in a time when women were expected to marry men, have children by them and stick to their wifely duties. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Purple
\nFigure 4, Selwyn Image, Front cover design, The Pageant, vol. 1, December 1896, The Yellow Nineties Online. Public Domain.<\/p>\n

In Conclusion<\/h3>\n

There are many possible interpretations of the Field\u2019s chosen title \u201cEqual Love.\u201d The allegorical approach to the title is to note Theodora\u2019s sacrifice\u2014the love of her Empire winning out over the love of her child, and perhaps in the process this positions Theodora as power-hungry. I posit that this reading is too simple. By \u201cEqual Love,\u201d Bradley and Cooper meant to comment on the\u00a0<\/span>trappings of femininity in Victorian society by highlighting the trappings of Theodora\u2019s Byzantine femininity. This illustrates that women in Victorian society may have more options or power than a woman of Byzantium, but they are still in no way equal to their male counterparts. It is arguable that Michael Field\u2019s Theodora knew Justinian would be a less effective ruler were she not informing the majority of his lawmaking and warfare decisions. As such, her decision to kill Zuhair and remain Empress of Byzantium was made for the greater good rather than personal happiness. This idea that a woman can reject her maternal instinct in favour of her political position is a radical one, no doubt. It is also, however, a telling choice to have Justinian utter the final speech of the play: \u201cours is an equal love\u201d (Field, 1896). This is where the irony lies. The New Woman of both the Roman Empire and Victorian England, it seems, is incapable of transcending gender enough to have everything. Theodora cannot have her empire and her illegitimate son, and Katharine Bradley and Edith Cooper could not have their Victorian literary success while conforming to the expectations of Victorian middle-class women.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Works Cited<\/h3>\n

Cunningham, Gail. <\/span>The New Woman and the Victorian Novel. <\/span><\/i>The MacMillan Press Ltd, 1978. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Field, Michael.<\/span> \u201cEqual Love\u201d<\/span>. The Pageant,<\/span><\/i> Vol. 1, 1896. <\/span>Yellow Nineties Online. <\/span><\/i>Centre for Digital Humanities: Ryerson University,<\/span> 2018,<\/span> https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/Pageant1896_201609\/Pageant1896#page\/n7\/mode\/2up\/search\/Equal<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pionke, Katharine (JJ). \u201cMichael Field: Gender Knot.\u201d <\/span>Michael Field and Their World, <\/span><\/i>The Rivendale Press, 2007.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Roud, Stephen and Jaqueline Simpson. \u201cFolk Lore (the word)\u201d. <\/span>A Dictionary of English Folklore, <\/span><\/i>Oxford University Press,<\/span> 2003. <\/span>Internet Archive,<\/span><\/i> http:\/\/www.oxfordreference.com.ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca\/view\/10.1093\/acref\/9780198607663.001.0001\/acref-9780198607663-e-375?rskey=sC2LIw&result=375<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tate, Carolyn. \u201cLesbian Incest as Queer Kinship: Michael Field and the Erotic Middle-Class Victorian Family.\u201d Victorian Review, vol. 39, no. 2, 2013, pp. 181\u2013199. JSTOR, <\/span>www.jstor.org\/stable\/24497077<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. \u201cTheodora.\u201d Encyclop\u00e6dia Britannica, Encyclop\u00e6dia Britannica, inc. October 19, 2018 <\/span>https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/Theodora-Byzantine-empress-died-548<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Vadillo, Ana Parejo. \u201cOutmoded Dramas: History and Modernity in Michael Field\u2019s Aesthetic Plays.\u201d <\/span>Michael Field and Their World, <\/span><\/i>The Rivendale Press, 2007.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Disclaimer:\u00a0Images in this online exhibit are either in the public domain or being used under fair dealing for the purpose of research and are provided solely for the purposes of research, private study, or education.<\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a9 Tanis Smither, Ryerson University 2018 In this digital exhibition, I have chosen to curate Michael Field\u2019s \u201cEqual Love,\u201d published in Volume 1 of The Pageant (December 1896) because I want to find out how Michael Field\u2019s use of a New Woman character was informed by their own lifestyle, to …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,78,18,95],"tags":[393,394,395,396,189,219,397,271],"class_list":["post-2424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-eng-810-f2018","category-folk-legend","category-section-031","category-the-pageant","tag-blank-verse","tag-drama","tag-edith-cooper","tag-katharine-bradley","tag-michael-field","tag-new-woman-writing","tag-theatre","tag-victorian-femininity","column","threecol"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2424"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2424\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8155,"href":"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2424\/revisions\/8155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}