{"id":5466,"date":"2020-12-15T14:16:56","date_gmt":"2020-12-15T19:16:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/y90sclassroom.blog.ryerson.ca\/?p=5466"},"modified":"2022-03-01T15:17:37","modified_gmt":"2022-03-01T15:17:37","slug":"the-yellow-books-decorative-women-critiquing-the-victorian-aesthetic-ideal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/2020\/12\/15\/the-yellow-books-decorative-women-critiquing-the-victorian-aesthetic-ideal\/","title":{"rendered":"The Yellow Book&#8217;s Decorative Women: Critiquing the Victorian Aesthetic Ideal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a9 2020 Sabrina Pavelic, Ryerson University.<\/p>\n<h1>An Introduction<\/h1>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5482\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5482\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-5482\" src=\"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/victorianlady-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/victorianlady-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/victorianlady-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/victorianlady-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/victorianlady-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/victorianlady.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5482\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fig. 1. An illustration from French fashion magazine <em>Le Mode Illustr\u00e9e<\/em>, 1885. <em>New York Post<\/em>. Getty Images.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Victorian ideal and the New Woman seem, at first, to be dichotomies of one another. The two, however, cannot be so starkly opposed. This is not because the ideal Victorian woman is, in some inconspicuous way, actually a New Woman. She is not. We will discover as much as we explore a series of images and a central text in the <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.1890s.ca\/Volumes.aspx?p=The%20Yellow%20Book\"><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yellow Book<\/span><\/em><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Short-story fiction writer, co-editor of the <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yellow Book<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and New Woman herself, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.1890s.ca\/HTML.aspx?s=darcy_bio.html\">Ella D\u2019Arcy<\/a>, created <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">women in <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/yellowjan189712uoft#page\/n343\/mode\/2up\">\u201cAt Twickenham,\u201d<\/a> who cannot be so boldly dichotomized. The sisters, Minnie Corbett and Loetita Wray, are painfully portrayed as existing inside their home so passively as to become the decoration that surrounds them. The woman as d\u00e9cor motif, then, is crucial to unpack. I argue that the decorative women and decorative tropes that appear in each image and text, in fact, critique the aesthetic ideal of the Victorian woman.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Alongside Ella D\u2019Arcy\u2019s \u201cAt Twickenham\u201d in Volume 12, I will also unpack <a href=\"http:\/\/www.1890s.ca\/HTML.aspx?s=YB6_hammond_yellow.html\">Gertrude D. Hammond&#8217;s illustration titled \u201cThe Yellow Book,\u201d<\/a> which appears in <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/yellowjul189506uoft\">Volume 6<\/a>. My focus on the aesthetics of the Victorian ideal as a critique forces a consideration of the <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yellow Book<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2019s own art editor: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.1890s.ca\/HTML.aspx?s=beardsley_bio.html\">Aubrey Beardsley<\/a>. The infamous Beardsley not only edited artwork for the <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yellow Book<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> until 1895 but also contributed much of his own talent. As such, we will examine Aubrey Beardsley\u2019s women in illustrations such as <a href=\"http:\/\/www.1890s.ca\/HTML.aspx?s=YB1_prospectus_image.html\">the woman on the Prospectus to Volume 1<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.1890s.ca\/HTML.aspx?s=YB1_beardsley_night.html\">\u201cNight Piece\u201d<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/yellowapril189401uoft\">(Volume 1)<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.1890s.ca\/HTML.aspx?s=YB2_beardsley_cinderella.html\">\u201cThe Slippers of Cinderella&#8221;<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/yellowjuly189402uoft\">(Volume 2)<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.1890s.ca\/HTML.aspx?s=YB3_beardsley_camelias.html\">\u201cLa Dame aux Cam\u00e9lias\u201d<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/yellowoct189403uoft\">(Volume 3)<\/a>, and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.1890s.ca\/HTML.aspx?s=YB4_beardsley_rose_garden.html\">\u201cThe Mysterious Rose Garden\u201d<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/yellowjan189504uoft\">(Volume 4)<\/a>. As we will see, the concept of the male gaze or male perspective follows throughout each image and text. As such, we also embrace and incorporate this perspective rather than rejecting it. <\/span><\/p>\n<h1><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-5486 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-300x37.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"37\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-300x37.png 300w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-1024x127.png 1024w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-768x95.png 768w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-1536x190.png 1536w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-2048x254.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>Methodology<\/h1>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As we navigate through these images and text, we must take into consideration the very medium in which it appears. The <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yellow Book<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is the epitome of the \u201cBritish avant-garde journals\u201d in the Fin de Si\u00e8cle (Claes 1). As such, it was particularly concerned with \u201can integration of medium and message, form and content, ethics and aesthetics, that would be necessary to produce what has come to be known as the \u2018Total Work of Art\u2019\u201d (Claes 1). We know that the <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yellow Book<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> considers itself in this vein of \u2018Total Work of Art\u2019 because its inaugural volume makes an explicit statement in separating Letterpress from Picture (later Literature from Art). The <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yellow Book<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2019s \u201cfullest expression to the double resistance of graphic artists against literature, and Art against commerce\u201d was symbolized in these words on the contents page (Dowling 118).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5490\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5490\" style=\"width: 238px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-5490\" src=\"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/tea-and-books-228x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"238\" height=\"313\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/tea-and-books-228x300.jpg 228w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/tea-and-books-778x1024.jpg 778w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/tea-and-books-768x1011.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/tea-and-books.jpg 892w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 238px) 100vw, 238px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5490\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fig. 2. Ankicoleman Designs, &#8220;Tea and Books.&#8221; <em>AliExpress<\/em>. Public Domain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">From its very conception, the <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yellow Book<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> situated itself as ambitious, but overall, it was representative of something new: the avant-garde. Indeed, it was arguably \u201ccommercially the most ambitious and typographically the most important of the 1890s periodicals\u201d (Dowling 117-118). As we move to dissect the contents of the <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yellow Book<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and its decorative women, we must keep in mind this little magazine\u2019s dedication to existing as a \u2018<\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Total<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Work of Art.\u2019 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It also speaks to Walter Pater\u2019s wisdom on \u201cpoetic passion, the desire of beauty, the love of art for its own sake\u2026. For art comes to you proposing frankly to give nothing but the highest quality to your moments as they pass, and simply for those moments\u2019 sake\u201d (Pater 2-3). Consider both the text and images of the <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yellow Book<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as art for art&#8217;s sake.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Additionally, Agnieszka Setecka\u2019s article \u201cNeedles, China Cups, Books, and the Construction of the Victorian Feminine Ideal in Rhoda Broughton&#8217;s <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Not wisely, but too well<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and Elizabeth Gaskell&#8217;s <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">North and South<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">,\u201d provides a foundation for understanding the connection between objects and women. Setecka outlines objects as becoming \u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">a site where the material and immaterial meet, where the borders between the economic and the domestic world blur\u201d (Setecka 49). I, too, assert that objects provide a transcendental site for the blurring of the economic and domestic world. However, I do so in asserting that women portrayed as stereotypically passive, quiet, and dependent, only furthers their portrayal into the realm of the <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">aesthetic<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Victorian ideal. It is this depiction of an aesthetic Victorian ideal that, in turn, acts as a critique of itself.<\/span><\/p>\n<h1><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-5486 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-300x37.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"37\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-300x37.png 300w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-1024x127.png 1024w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-768x95.png 768w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-1536x190.png 1536w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-2048x254.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>What is the Victorian Aesthetic Ideal?<\/h1>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I would like to consider the Victorian aesthetic ideal under the same lens as Sarah E. Maier. She outlines it as one where women are \u201c[u]nfortunately\u2026 constantly judged according to their ability to live up to or to project the ideal image which men desire\u201d (Maier\u00a0 36). What is interesting in Maier\u2019s interpretation is her emphasis on image, appearance, or aesthetics. This is one which I also emphasize. Additionally, she considers the image that is projected onto women <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">by<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> men or the male desire. This is also key to my argument. As we work through the portrayal of women by women in Ella D\u2019Arcy\u2019s \u201cAt Twickenham\u201d and Gertrude D. Hammond\u2019s \u201cThe Yellow Book,\u201d we also notice hints of the male perspective. <\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5503\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5503\" style=\"width: 320px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-5503\" src=\"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/image-300x180.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"320\" height=\"192\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/image-300x180.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/image-1024x614.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/image-768x461.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/image.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5503\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fig. 3. Fenton, Roger, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, Photograph 1854. <em>The Guardian<\/em>. Getty Images.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These hints become overt as we outline Aubrey Beardsley\u2019s women. The integration of the male perspective through each text and image is one that shapes my argument. If the male gaze shapes the ideal, then is his depiction of the ideal a critique or a desire? I find that male desire does influence an overall understanding, especially in \u201cAt Twickenham.\u201d As such, male desire is often not in line with the aesthetic Victorian ideal. Indeed, the two cause friction, friction that ultimately shapes the critique of this ideal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Before we move into discussions on each piece, I would like to keep in mind gender distinction in the periodical itself. Margaret Beetham connects \u201cfemininity\u201d as that which \u201cwas always located in and defined by appearance, as masculinity was not, [and so] the stress on the visual character of the periodical was a further \u2018feminisation\u2019\u201d (Beetham 121). The very nature of the periodical as particularly concerned with being a \u2018Total Work of Art,\u2019 placed it within the realm of feminisation. This feminisation of \u201cNew Journalism\u201d thus connects it to the New Woman (Beetham 111). And so, we must remember that each moment inside the <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yellow Book <\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is but a part of a greater whole.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-5486 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-300x37.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"37\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-300x37.png 300w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-1024x127.png 1024w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-768x95.png 768w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-1536x190.png 1536w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-2048x254.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<h1>&#8220;At Twickenham&#8221; by Ella D&#8217;Arcy, Volume 12<\/h1>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The short story <a href=\"http:\/\/www.1890s.ca\/HTML.aspx?s=YBV12_darcy_twickenham.html\">\u201cAt Twickenham\u201d<\/a> by Ella D\u2019Arcy explores a seemingly mundane plotline wherein the character of Loetitia finds a fianc\u00e9 in Dr. Jim Matheson. Matheson ends the engagement before they marry, and Minnie\u2019s husband, John Corbett, confronts Matheson. Corbett effectively leaves Matheson having apparently affirmed that Matheson is nonetheless the \u201ccleverest, the most entertaining, the most lovable of men\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/yellowjan189712uoft#page\/n361\/mode\/2up\">(D\u2019Arcy 331)<\/a>. In such a seemingly familiar tale of love and courtship, D\u2019Arcy twists the predictable outcome. This atypical conclusion helps us understand the characterization of the women (Minnie and Loetitia) as critiques rather than perpetuations of the Victorian aesthetic ideal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Firstly, the characters live in \u201ca villa that rejoiced in the name of \u2018Braemar\u2019\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/yellowjan189712uoft#page\/n343\/mode\/2up\">(D\u2019Arcy 313)<\/a>. The fact that their villa is named effectively personifies it. The inanimate building becomes a character itself, to be dressed and tended to. Further, the home is almost excessively described. It is\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">a villa that flared up into pinnacles, blushed with red-brick, and mourned behind sad-tinted glass. The Elizabethan casements let in piercing draughts, the Brummagen brass door-handles came off&#8230;, the tiled hearths successfully conducted all the heat up the chimneys\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/yellowjan189712uoft#page\/n343\/mode\/2up\">(D\u2019Arcy 313-314)<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The descriptions also tend toward feminisation. For instance, the villa \u201cblushed,\u201d and \u201cmourned,\u201d which are emotional qualities that are often associated with women. The characterization of the villa also continues into the characterizations of the women. This characterization of the women alongside the house itself is what helps us distinguish the women as depicted so passively as to become a part of the home: women as mere domestic decoration. Minnie is arguably the most passive of the two. She has accomplished the only important task in a Victorian woman\u2019s life: marriage. As such, she no longer has any active thoughts. She cannot even seem to \u201cteach her family to remember to call her [Rita],\u201d the name she prefers <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/yellowjan189712uoft#page\/n345\/mode\/2up\">(D\u2019Arcy 314)<\/a>. First, we see Loetitia introduced to us through her dressing \u201cof \u2018Braemar,\u2019 with frilled Madras muslin, drap[ing] the mantel-pieces with plush, [hanging] the walls with coloured photographs, Chinese crockery, and Japanese fans\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/yellowjan189712uoft#page\/n345\/mode\/2up\">(D\u2019Arcy 314)<\/a>. This description is the first we receive of Letty. It is undeniably attached to that of the home, insinuating an inherent connection between the character and the decoration to which she tends.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5519\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5519\" style=\"width: 297px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-5519 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/victoriandrawingroom-297x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"297\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/victoriandrawingroom-297x300.jpg 297w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/victoriandrawingroom-1014x1024.jpg 1014w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/victoriandrawingroom-768x776.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/victoriandrawingroom.jpg 1269w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 297px) 100vw, 297px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5519\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fig. 4. Drawing-room, 1890. Pinterest. Public Domain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Minnie is also implicated in this decorative trend. Both sisters \u201cmade expeditions into town in search of pampas grass and bulrushes, with which in summer-time they decorated the fireplace, and in winter the painted drain-pipes which stood in the corners of the room\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/yellowjan189712uoft#page\/n345\/mode\/2up\">(D\u2019Arcy 314)<\/a>. The women\u2019s activity here is exclusively to deal with decoration and the home. There is an inherent connection in such insistence on the decoration and the women. Both the personification of the house and the painful passivity of the characters work together to situate them almost on the same level of activity. After all, \u201c[t]he sisters suffered terribly from dulness, and one memorable Sunday evening\u2026 they took first-class tickets to Waterloo, returning by the next train, merely to pass the time\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/yellowjan189712uoft#page\/n345\/mode\/2up\">(D\u2019Arcy 314)<\/a>. These two characters are described so uselessly to the point of exaggeration. It is difficult to believe that they actually take a first-class train ride to Waterloo \u201cmerely to pass the time.\u201d And, further, it is this minimal and utterly useless activity that makes their evening \u201cmemorable.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To a modern readership, this depiction appears overtly passive and exaggeratedly pathetic. While it is exaggerated, it is also exaggerated from the quintessential Victorian ideal. D&#8217;Arcy does so to highlight the image or the aesthetics of the ideal Victorian woman. Sarah E. Maier recognizes that Ella D\u2019Arcy often exaggerates these stereotypical tropes in her characters, but this is to show how they, indeed, subvert cultural ideals. For instance, the character of Nettie in \u201cA Marriage\u201d exhibits power from \u201cher ability to subvert the perceived ideal\u201d (Maier 41). However, she only appears \u201cto represent the domestic ideal\u201d (Maier 42). Instead, she uses her perception to manipulate the situation. This is similar to what happens in \u201cAt Twickenham,\u201d except that the characters do not use this perception for manipulative purposes. Instead, it is the perception itself that becomes critiqued in Dr. Matheson\u2019s reaction to it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If the ideal is shaped by the male desire, then Matheson\u2019s desire goes in complete opposition to the conventionally accepted ideal: one the two sisters embody. When Matheson explains his rejection of Loetitia, he states that it is because \u201cshe\u2019s too good, too normal, too well-regulated. [He] could almost prefer a woman who had the capacity, at least, for being bad! It would denote some warmth, some passion, some soul\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/yellowjan189712uoft#page\/n361\/mode\/2up\">(D\u2019Arcy 331)<\/a>. It is, therefore, in this crucial confessionary moment, that we discover the male ideal is not in line with the Victorian ideal. And, further, it is this affirmation that men do not want what women have been taught to do that allows us to understand the critique as it plays out in this short story. In fact, this objectification of Minnie and Loetitia in their state as women of decoration completely reverses itself when both Matheson and Corbett agree on Matheson\u2019s leaving Loetitia. The aesthetic ideal is not the ideal because it is not upheld by the men in the story. That is not to say that this is a cultural truth. It is merely how D\u2019Arcy is able to portray her point: through the use of these male characters and their support of, and desire for, \u201cbad\u201d women.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-5486 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-300x37.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"37\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-300x37.png 300w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-1024x127.png 1024w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-768x95.png 768w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-1536x190.png 1536w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-2048x254.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<h1>&#8220;The Yellow Book&#8221; by Gertrude D. Hammond, Volume 6<\/h1>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5592\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5592\" style=\"width: 485px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-5592\" src=\"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/YB6icon8_hammond_yellowbook_edited-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"485\" height=\"843\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/YB6icon8_hammond_yellowbook_edited-1.png 501w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/YB6icon8_hammond_yellowbook_edited-1-173x300.png 173w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 485px) 100vw, 485px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5592\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fig. 5. Hammond, Gertrude D., &#8220;The Yellow Book.&#8221; Reproduced in the <em>Yellow Book<\/em>, vol. 6, 1895, p. 119. <em>The Yellow Nineties Online<\/em>. Public Domain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hammond\u2019s commissioned artwork for Volume 6 of the <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yellow Book<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (see <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/yellowjul189506uoft#page\/n133\/mode\/2up\">fig. 5<\/a>) was itself titled \u201cThe Yellow Book.\u201d This illustration shows a young woman looking down on a copy of the <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yellow Book<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. The man in the image is showing her its contents, and she looks seemingly uninterested. The woman\u2019s face appears notably blush. The room in which the man and woman appear is also crucial. We assume the two are upper-middle-class due to the man\u2019s suit attire and the woman\u2019s dress. The drawing-room in which the image is captured is also particularly decorated with \u201c<\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">japonaiserie<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d (Stetz and Lasner 29). The man appears quite engaged and animated in showing the woman what is inside this copy of the <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yellow Book<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. The woman, however, appears disdainful, quiet, and rather passive. Even though we can see that the woman becomes part of her own d\u00e9cor as a minimal, subdued, and passive presence, there is more to the image than this. Margaret D. Stetz and Mark Samuels Lasner state that \u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the two upper-middle-class figures\u2026 were evidently in conflict over the magazine\u2019s propriety\u201d (Stetz and Lasner 29). What both the d\u00e9cor and the woman\u2019s disdain suggests is that \u201ceven those who might consider the magazine daring would still find it fit to be placed in the most tasteful, distinguished houses\u201d (Stetz and Lasner 29). This suggestion speaks to both the marketing and perception of the magazine. Indeed, the image was used on behalf of the editors to produce a guided response from the public towards the <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yellow Book<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (Stetz and Lasner 29).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let us return to the apparent passivity, or rather, the disdain in the woman. She is effectively likened to her surrounding decorations as she leans on the couch. She also looks reluctantly to the <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yellow Book<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, while her male counterpart expresses clear enigmatic vibrancy and activity. He is engaged, and active, while she appears to represent the very opposite. The fact that her indifference is directed <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">towards <\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yellow Book<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the image is significant. It points to an awareness that must not be overlooked. She can dislike the avant-garde periodical if she so chooses (as would the ideal Victorian woman), but she nonetheless may feel comfortable placing it amongst the items in her home. As such, the image acts as both a critique and perpetuation of the <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yellow Book<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> itself and so, too, does it critique the trope it seems to perpetuate: the passive or decorative aesthetic of the Victorian ideal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-5486 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-300x37.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"37\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-300x37.png 300w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-1024x127.png 1024w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-768x95.png 768w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-1536x190.png 1536w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-2048x254.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<h1>Aubrey Beardsley&#8217;s Women, Volumes 1-4<\/h1>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let us turn to a select few works of Aubrey Beardsley\u2019s from his time as art editor of the <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yellow Book<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. As we do, we must keep in mind Beardsley\u2019s own inclinations. For instance, Arthur Symons notes that<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of his poses, as people say, one of those things, that is, in which he was most sincere, was his care in outwardly conforming to the conventions which make for elegance and restraint; his necessity of dressing well, of showing no sign of the professional artist (Symons 27).\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This tendency toward outward conformity is particularly interesting. In his life, Beardsley clearly enjoyed the ability to blend into conventional society, yet his art remains so highly ambitious and avant-garde. It is clear this same tendency flows into his artwork: a propensity for the conventionally subversive.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">The Woman on the Prospectus to Volume 1 and &#8220;Night Piece,&#8221; Volume 1<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5546\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5546\" style=\"width: 345px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-5546\" src=\"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/YB-01_Page_1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"345\" height=\"419\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/YB-01_Page_1.png 400w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/YB-01_Page_1-247x300.png 247w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 345px) 100vw, 345px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5546\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fig. 6. Beardsley, Aubrey, &#8220;Prospectus: The <em>Yellow Book<\/em> 1,&#8221; Pen and Ink, 1894. <em>The Yellow Nineties Online<\/em>. Public Domain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5547\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5547\" style=\"width: 385px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-5547\" src=\"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/7.-Beardsley-Night-Piece-221x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"385\" height=\"522\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/7.-Beardsley-Night-Piece-221x300.png 221w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/7.-Beardsley-Night-Piece-755x1024.png 755w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/7.-Beardsley-Night-Piece-768x1042.png 768w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/7.-Beardsley-Night-Piece.png 790w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 385px) 100vw, 385px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5547\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fig. 7. Beardsley, Aubrey, &#8220;Night Piece.&#8221; Reproduced in the <em>Yellow Book<\/em>, vol. 1, 1894, p. 127. <em>The Yellow Nineties Online<\/em>. Public Domain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Both of the women in these pieces are depicted alone at night. The woman on the Prospectus is searching through stacks of books, while a grotesque salesman looks disdainfully at her (see <a href=\"http:\/\/www.1890s.ca\/HTML.aspx?s=YB1_prospectus_image.html\">fig. 6<\/a>). The decorative nature of these pieces lies in each woman\u2019s clothing. They are, for the most part, shrouded in darkness. Beardsley utilizes blank space here to emphasize their being out at night. We also notice the similarities in their hats. They are grand pieces, likely with feathers atop both their heads. This playfulness with outward conformity in their garments and clear unconventional actions in their being out at night highlights the critique errant in Beardsley\u2019s work. The women are dressed in upper-middle-class garments, which in itself alludes to the decorations prevalent in the Victorian home. If we look closely at \u201cNight Piece,\u201d (see <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/yellowapril189401uoft#page\/n139\/mode\/2up\">fig. 7<\/a>) you may notice that the woman\u2019s neckline appears provocatively low. At first glance, that is. If we look closely we can see a bow tied to her neck. This may be a necklace of sorts, but it also implies a neckline. The garment could switch from dark black to white, and this high collar is the only piece of the garment in white. The illusion comes because the woman\u2019s skin also remains white, and so we assume that the neckline must be this low. However, this is not so easily the case. As such, the women Beardsley portrays here are indicative of the woman-as-decoration motif because their garments are so illustrative of the decoration inside Victorian homes. In this sense, they are also indicative of the Victorian aesthetic ideal. However, as we know Beardsley to be, it is not so simple. The critique lies in his portrayal of them as New Women: that New Women dress and appear just as conventionally as the ideal Victorian woman does.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">&#8220;The Slippers of Cinderella,&#8221; Volume 2<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This illustration (see <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/yellowjuly189402uoft#page\/n113\/mode\/2up\">fig. 8<\/a>) follows in suit with our previous two: a woman outside alone. However, it differs more dramatically in her depiction wearing a short dress. Her heels and, indeed, part of her legs are showing. The title even forces the eye downward to her legs, effectively emphasizing the bareness of them. This woman is also adorned with a feather, a rather large one, atop her head. And, further, she wears an apron-like garment above her dress. These objects allude to the domestic sphere and bring her garments back to the decorative motif. The feather, especially, implies decoration. There is no clear use for this feather other than to augment the outfit itself, such is the nature of decoration. The darkness, here, also reminds us of the previous two images. This woman, Cinderella we assume, is also alone at night.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5565\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5565\" style=\"width: 229px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-5565 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/cinderella-229x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"229\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/cinderella-229x300.png 229w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/cinderella-782x1024.png 782w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/cinderella-768x1006.png 768w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/cinderella.png 790w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 229px) 100vw, 229px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5565\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fig. 8. Beardsley, Aubrey, &#8220;The Slippers of Cinderella.&#8221; Reproduced in the Yellow Book, vol. 2, 1894, p. 95. The Yellow Nineties Online. Public Domain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The use of a fairytale character in his title is also significant. Remember that fairytale stories must be found inside the pages of a book. Agnieszka Setecka posits that<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Books\u2026 are the most ambiguous\u2026 signifiers of genteel feminine virtues\u2026. Although\u2026 they are associated, at least to some extent, with women and to construct the ideal of (middle-class) femininity they, nevertheless, traditionally belong to the male domain of learning (Setecka 58).<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Beardsley takes this contentious trope even further by alluding to a fairytale. Fairytales are often associated with children, and children, by extension, with their mothers. As such, Beardsley\u2019s allusion to fairytale books in his \u201cThe Slippers of Cinderella\u201d help critique the woman-as-decoration motif. It does so because of Setecka\u2019s assertion that books are both \u201csignifiers of genteel feminine virtues\u201d as well as belonging to the \u201cmale domain of learning.\u201d These seemingly opposing forces can be applied to the artwork, too. The mixture of the avant-garde and New Woman clashes with allusions to the Victorian aesthetic ideal in \u201cCinderella\u201d\u2019s garments.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">&#8220;La Dame aux Cam\u00e9lias,&#8221; Volume 3<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5568\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5568\" style=\"width: 411px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-5568\" src=\"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/camelias.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"411\" height=\"545\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/camelias.png 400w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/camelias-226x300.png 226w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 411px) 100vw, 411px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5568\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fig. 9. Beardsley, Aubrey, &#8220;La Dame Aux Cam\u00e9lias.&#8221; Reproduced in the <em>Yellow Book<\/em>, vol. 3, 1894, p. 57. <em>The Yellow Nineties Online<\/em>. Public Domain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The French title of this illustration, \u201cLa Dame aux Cam\u00e9lias,\u201d directly translates to The Lady of the Camellias. A camellia is, of course, a type of flower. This is significant because the woman in the illustration (see <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/yellowoct189403uoft#page\/n77\/mode\/2up\">fig. 9<\/a>) is enveloped in a coat reminiscent of a camellia flower. She is literally engulfed by it. Unlike the other artworks, this woman is located indoors. She is standing in front of a richly decorated table, with candles and (presumably) plenty of food. The rest of the room appears bare as the floor remains completely coloured in black. The perspective is stretched so that we assume the corner of the room is where the wallpaper begins. The wallpaper shows a zig-zag pattern, reminiscent of flowers. Perhaps, even, the camellia flower.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This illustration is interesting because the woman appears enveloped by her wardrobe. As we have seen in previous images, the woman\u2019s wardrobe mostly alluded back to the domestic sphere and decoration. This time, we can only see the embellishment of her gown at the bottom. Instead, the coat is the primary focus and it is the coat that takes us outside of the domestic sphere. Because the coat alludes to the camellia flower in its collar and sleeve, we are taken outside of this domestic sphere. The woman, though she passively stands in front of the beautifully adorned and decorated table, is thus taken outside as well. She appears weighed down by her coat. The need for the woman to step outside of her intended sphere is all-consuming. Even though she is ideally depicted (there is no scandal in her garments and there is, too, no scandal in being indoors), Beardsley nonetheless critiques this idealistic and conventional outward appearance. All that he does brings us back to the fact that appearance is not sufficient for meaning. As, too, does the depiction of the woman as decorative. It does not suffice for our understanding. Indeed, the image becomes a critique of this Victorian aesthetic ideal.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">&#8220;The Mysterious Rose Garden,&#8221; Volume 4<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This illustration (see <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/yellowjan189504uoft#page\/n301\/mode\/2up\">fig. 10<\/a>) appears in the final volume of Beardsley\u2019s run as art editor at the <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yellow Book<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. The insinuation of the garden and the depiction of an androgynous being whispering in the ear of a woman is a clear implication of the original sin in the Garden of Eden.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5578\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5578\" style=\"width: 401px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-5578\" src=\"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rosegarden-229x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"401\" height=\"525\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rosegarden-229x300.png 229w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rosegarden-782x1024.png 782w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rosegarden-768x1006.png 768w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rosegarden.png 790w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 401px) 100vw, 401px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5578\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fig. 10. Beardsley, Aubrey, &#8220;The Mysterious Rose Garden.&#8221; Reproduced in the <em>Yellow Book<\/em>, vol. 4, 1895, p. 270. <em>The Yellow Nineties Online<\/em>. Public Domain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Firstly, let us look at the background. Although this is meant to be a garden, and, indeed, we do see roses behind them, the background implies wallpaper more than it does a garden. The darkness behind the lattice fence forces this interpretation. The characters appear lit up while their background does not.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The woman, or our \u201cEve\u201d character, is naked. This also falls in line with the Garden of Eden implication. The human figure whispering to her could be either male or female. From the fairy-like wings on the figure\u2019s shoes, we get the impression that this figure is meant to be neither gender. The inhuman implication also alludes back to the original sin, in which Satan tempts Eve as a serpent. Interestingly, the figure that Beardsley portrays is overwhelmed with garments. Its pattern implies the drapery that can be found in the Victorian home. The wallpaper-esque lattice fence also draws us back into the domestic sphere and the decorative trope. Even though the gender of our figure is unknown, there is a clear mixture of the decorative and domestic as well as the shocking and avant-garde.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Not only is the woman\u2019s nude figure rather shocking to a Victorian audience, but the allusion to the original sin is also a poignant commentary. Women are deemed inferior primarily because of this original sin, and so the illustration is entrenched in gender commentary. In creating something of this sort, Aubrey Beardsley successfully portrays the conventional ideal (in the original sin allusion as well as nods to the domestic and decorative realms) but brings it once again into critique. The figure is not a representation of Satan, nor is it of a serpent. The woman clutches her chest as if shocked by the whisperings of this figure. The use of the word \u201cmysterious\u201d in the title, also alludes to a certain ambiguity. There can be no certainty as to what the figure says, and no certainty as to what the woman does. It is this ambiguity itself that helps critique the woman-as-decoration motif. It is one that rests in the ideal but alludes to something much more than it appears on its surface.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-5486 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-300x37.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"37\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-300x37.png 300w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-1024x127.png 1024w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-768x95.png 768w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-1536x190.png 1536w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-2048x254.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<h1>A Conclusion<\/h1>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All that we have encountered contributes to the understanding that women depicted as decoration acts as a <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">critique of <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and not <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">perpetuation of<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the Victorian aesthetic ideal. What we see, on its surface, is an inherently objectifying trope. Instead, it becomes a subversive critique. The lens through which we have dissected images from Hammond\u2019s \u201cThe Yellow Book\u201d to Aubrey Beardsley\u2019s women, and, crucially, Ella D\u2019Arcy\u2019s short story \u201cAt Twickenham,\u201d helps to hone in on this trope and its subversive practices. When we look at these nuances within the context of the late-Victorian era and within the context of the <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yellow Book <\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">itself, it helps to understand how depictions of an ideal act as critiques unto themselves. While there is still more that can be done, this is nonetheless the first foray into such a perspective. We must remember that everything is not like it at first may seem.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-5486 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-300x37.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"37\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-300x37.png 300w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-1024x127.png 1024w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-768x95.png 768w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-1536x190.png 1536w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-2048x254.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\">Works Cited<\/h1>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An illustration from French fashion magazine <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Le Mode Illustr\u00e9e<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. 1885, Getty Images, <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New York Post<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, \u201cThe beauty routine of a Victorian woman was anything but glamorous,\u201d by Rachelle Bergstein, 23 Oct. 2016, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2016\/10\/23\/the-beauty-routine-of-a-victorian-woman-was-anything-but-glamorous\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/nypost.com\/2016\/10\/23\/the-beauty-routine-of-a-victorian-woman-was-anything-but-glamorous\/<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ankicoleman Designs. \u201cTea and Books.\u201d <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">AliExpress<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aliexpress.com\/i\/4000218649374.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/www.aliexpress.com\/i\/4000218649374.html<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Beardsley, Aubrey. &#8220;Prospectus: The <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yellow Book<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 1 (Apr. 1894).&#8221; Pen and ink. Mark Samuels Lasner Collection, on loan to the University of Delaware Library, Newark. <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Yellow Nineties Online<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Ed. Dennis Denisoff and Lorraine Janzen Kooistra. Ryerson University, 2011. Web. Dec. 2020. <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.1890s.ca\/HTML.aspx?s=YB1_prospectus_image.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">http:\/\/www.1890s.ca\/HTML.aspx?s=YB1_prospectus_image.html<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Beardsley, Aubrey. &#8220;Night Piece.&#8221; The <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yellow Book<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 1 (Apr. 1894): 127. <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Yellow Nineties Online<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Ed. Dennis Denisoff and Lorraine Janzen Kooistra. Ryerson University, 2010. Web. Dec. 2020. <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.1890s.ca\/HTML.aspx?s=YB1_beardsley_night.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">http:\/\/www.1890s.ca\/HTML.aspx?s=YB1_beardsley_night.html<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Beardsley, Aubrey. &#8220;The Slippers of Cinderella.&#8221; The <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yellow Book<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 2 (July 1894): 95. <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Yellow Nineties Online<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Ed. Dennis Denisoff and Lorraine Janzen Kooistra. Ryerson University, 2010. Web. Dec. 2020. <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.1890s.ca\/HTML.aspx?s=YB2_beardsley_cinderella.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">http:\/\/www.1890s.ca\/HTML.aspx?s=YB2_beardsley_cinderella.html<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Beardsley, Aubrey. &#8220;La Dame aux Cam\u00e9lias.&#8221; The <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yellow Book<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 3 (Oct. 1894): 57. <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Yellow Nineties Online<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Ed. Dennis Denisoff and Lorraine Janzen Kooistra. Ryerson University, 2010. Web. Dec. 2020. <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.1890s.ca\/HTML.aspx?s=YB3_beardsley_camelias.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">http:\/\/www.1890s.ca\/HTML.aspx?s=YB3_beardsley_camelias.html<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Beardsley, Aubrey. &#8220;The Mysterious Rose Garden.&#8221; The <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yellow Book<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 4 (Jan. 1895): 270. <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Yellow Nineties Online<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Ed. Dennis Denisoff and Lorraine Janzen Kooistra. Ryerson University, 2011. Web. Dec. 2020. <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.1890s.ca\/HTML.aspx?s=YB4_beardsley_rose_garden.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">http:\/\/www.1890s.ca\/HTML.aspx?s=YB4_beardsley_rose_garden.html<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Beetham, Margaret. \u201cThe New Woman and the New Journalism.\u201d <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A Magazine of Her Own? : Domesticity and Desire in the Woman&#8217;s Magazine, 1800-1914<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Taylor &amp; Francis Group, 1996, pp. 111-125.<\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> ProQuest Ebook Central<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/ebookcentral.proquest.com\/lib\/ryerson\/detail.action?docID=179720\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">http:\/\/ebookcentral.proquest.com\/lib\/ryerson\/detail.action?docID=179720<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Claes, Koenraad. \u201cIntroduction.\u201d <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Late-Victorian Little Magazine<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Edinburgh University Press, 2017. <em>ProQuest Ebook Central<\/em>, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca\/lib\/ryerson\/detail.action?docID=5454643\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca\/lib\/ryerson\/detail.action?docID=5454643<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">D&#8217;Arcy, Ella. &#8220;At Twickenham&#8221; The <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yellow Book<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 12 (January 1897): 313-332. <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Yellow Nineties Online<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Ed. Dennis Denisoff and Lorraine Janzen Kooistra. Ryerson University, 2013. Web. Dec. 2020. <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/1890s.ca\/HTML.aspx?s=YBV12_darcy_twickenham.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">http:\/\/1890s.ca\/HTML.aspx?s=YBV12_darcy_twickenham.html<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dowling, Linda. \u201cLetterpress and Picture in the Literary Periodicals of the 1890s.\u201d <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Yearbook of English Studies<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, vol. 16, 1986, pp. 117\u2013131. <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">JSTOR<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, www.jstor.org\/stable\/3507769. Accessed 10 Dec. 2020.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fenton, Roger. \u201cQueen Victoria and Prince Albert.\u201d 1854, Getty Images, <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Guardian<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, \u201cThe Victorians were no prudes but women had to play by men\u2019s rules,\u201d by Kate Williams, May 23 2019, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2019\/may\/23\/queen-victoria-sex-nudes-paintings-prudes-women\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2019\/may\/23\/queen-victoria-sex-nudes-paintings-prudes-women<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hammond, Gertrude Demain. &#8220;The Yellow Book.&#8221; The <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yellow Book<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 6 (July 1895): 119. <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Yellow Nineties Online<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Ed. Dennis Denisoff and Lorraine Janzen Kooistra. Ryerson University, 2011. Web. Dec 2020. <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.1890s.ca\/HTML.aspx?s=YB6_hammond_yellow.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">http:\/\/www.1890s.ca\/HTML.aspx?s=YB6_hammond_yellow.html<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Maier, Sarah E. \u201cSubverting the Ideal: The New Woman and the Battle of the Sexes in the Short Fiction of Ella D&#8217;Arcy.&#8221; <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Victorian Review<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, vol. 20, no. 1, 1994, pp. 35-48.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pater, Walter. \u201cConclusion.\u201d <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Renaissance: Studies in Art and Literature<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, VictorianWeb, 25 Oct. 2001, www.victorianweb.org\/authors\/pater\/renaissance\/conclusion.html.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Setecka, Agnieszka. \u201cNeedles, China Cups, Books, and the Construction of the Victorian Feminine Ideal in Rhoda Broughton&#8217;s <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Not wisely, but too well<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and Elizabeth Gaskell&#8217;s <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">North and South<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u201d <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Studia Anglica Posnaniensia<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, vol. 47, no. 1, 2012;2011, pp. 47-60.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stetz, Margaret D. and Mark Samuels Lasner. \u201cIntroduction.\u201d <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Yellow Book: A Centenary Exhibition<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, The Houghton Library, 1994, pp. 7-47.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Symons, Arthur. <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Art of Aubrey Beardsley<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Project Gutenberg, <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gutenberg.org\/ebooks\/50171\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">http:\/\/www.gutenberg.org\/ebooks\/50171<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Victorian drawing-room with William Morris wallpaper and carpet. 1890, <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pinterest<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Dec. 2020, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.ca\/pin\/331859066264206868\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/www.pinterest.ca\/pin\/331859066264206868\/<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-5486 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-300x37.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"37\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-300x37.png 300w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-1024x127.png 1024w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-768x95.png 768w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-1536x190.png 1536w, https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/12\/rose-line-art-2048x254.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em>Images in this online exhibit are either in the public domain or are being used under fair dealing for research purposes, private study, or education.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a9 2020 Sabrina Pavelic, Ryerson University. An Introduction The Victorian ideal and the New Woman seem, at first, to be dichotomies of one another. The two, however, cannot be so starkly opposed. This is not because the ideal Victorian woman is, in some inconspicuous way, actually a New Woman. She &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[246,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-modernity-the-visual-image-and-text-in-little-magazines","category-the-yellow-book","column","threecol"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5466","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\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5466"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5466\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8244,"href":"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5466\/revisions\/8244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}