The seventeenth century women in
Chudleigh’s poem work with their societal expectation to be subservient to men
when they enter into marriage and allow their husbands control their fate. With
a negative voice, Chudleigh explains how marriage in her century is not about
true love, but instead focuses on emphasizing that a wife is expected to comply
with her husband’s regulations. Chudleigh further laments that the wives allow
themselves to “be governed by a nod, / and fear [their] husband as [their] god” (Chudleigh 15-16). The
women in Chudleigh’s era consent to their treatment as servants by their husbands.
Although these women are not born into male authority contracts like Eveline,
if they resist to conform to the expectations imposed by society, Chudleigh
implies that they will be social outcastes despised not just by men, but all of
society.
Unlike the wives in 17th
century England, Eveline initially does not give into the external expectations
imposed by her family. She plans to escape her father’s control and violence by
running off to Buenos Aires with her lover, Frank, who was a sailor. Even though
“her father had found out the affair and had forbidden her to have anything to
say to him” (Joyce 411), she continues to meet Frank clandestinely. Eveline
wants to have her destiny in her own hands and build her own family and home by
escaping her troubled past. “The pitiful vision of her mother’s life” (Joyce
411) worries her of her own future and makes her want to break the cycle of
women’s maltreatment in her family. Like the wives in Chudleigh’s poem, as a
woman, Eveline is expected to have a life filled with “commonplace sacrifices”
(Joyce 411). However, unlike the wives in the poem, Eveline is determined to
create a new pattern of female treatment within her family by escaping to
Buenos Aires with a man who respects her.
Just as Eveline first chooses to rebel
against the expectations of her family, Chudleigh as an author defies her
society’s expectations of women in her era. Her voice is explicitly understood
in the last lines of her poem. The very act of writing a pro-feminist poem in
the 17th century displays that Chudleigh is actively defying those expectations
of women. The title of the poem “To the Ladies” indicates that the author
intends to write this poem as a message to women in her era. She urges wives to
work against the expectations, inflicted upon them by society, to be like a
servant to their husbands. In the final stanza, Chudleigh urges wives to “value [themselves], and men despise: / [They]
must be proud, if [they’ll] be wise” (Chudleigh 23-24). Her use of the imperative
tense in the final stanza emphasizes the urgency with which she seeks to change
the society in which she lives. In this way, she inserts her own plea to her
contemporary women to regain their pride despite the potential social backlash.
In this way, Chudleigh would argue
against Eveline’s final decision to conform to the expectations imposed by her
family. Even though Eveline initially decides to gain her freedom and live to
her potential, her sense of family duty takes over and she gives in to her
externally imposed expectations as a daughter. In her last steps onto the ship,
which will sail her to freedom from her abusive father, she suddenly becomes
“passive, like a helpless animal. Her eyes gave him no sign of love or farewell
or recognition” (Joyce 412). Joyce’s reference to an animal indicates how
Eveline’s soul becomes like an animal’s, without free will. This treatment of
women as abused animals draws a line to the wives in Chudleigh’s poem who obey
their male authority.
Both Chudleigh and Joyce display how the
expectations of women in society ultimately hinders the development of individual
woman from realizing their potential happiness. Chudleigh emphatically implies that
society’s gender expectations ultimately hamper women’s empowerment. Furthermore,
she shows how marriage degrades women because in marriage “ all that’s kind is
laid aside / And nothing [is] left but state and pride” (Chudleigh 7-8). The
lack of emotional happiness in a marriage reveals that in this era, marriage is
a business transaction in which women are treated more like objects than loving
wives. Similarly, Joyce uses Eveline’s character to clearly portray that gender
expectations significantly hinders Eveline’s development into an independent
women. Instead of choosing her freedom, the end of the story implies that she
returns to her abusive lifestyle in which “she sometimes felt herself in danger
of her father’s violence” (Joyce 410). However, it is interesting to note that
even if Eveline chooses to escape to Buenos Aires with her lover, Frank, she
would still be dependent upon a man to save her: “He would give her life,
perhaps love too. But she wanted to live” (Joyce 412). Joyce’s stance on
marriage reinforces Chudleigh’s criticism that women rely too much on their
husbands.
Even though women today are considered to
have by far more freedom than in Chudleigh’s and Joyce’s eras, women are still
faced with unfair expectations. Like the wives in Chudleigh’s era and the
protagonist in Joyce’s short story, Eveline, women today are still faced with
disadvantages compared to men due to societal norms. For instance, though modern
society encourages women to pursue a career, women are simultaneously expected
to be the primary homemaker and nurturer of carchildren. This therefore makes it
a challenge for women to succeed in their careers because they typically have
to juggle between their domestic life and profession. Women ought to take
Chudleigh’s advice to “be proud, if [they’ll] be wise” (Chudleigh 24) and
continue their struggle for equality.
