The Natural Feminine in Romanticism: A Commentary Essay -- Gender F

After Bethany and Sarah's presentation, "Nature as Woman," I was interested and confused - as were they, I think - by the multiplicity of contradicting views of nature as it relates to gender. According to dominant views on Romanticism, access to nature required a distinctly feminine perspective. Paradoxically, this feminine perspective, entitled ycleped 'sensibility' was to be taken utilized most effectively by men, yet it rested on 'feminine' "emotion [as] †¦ a more pure response to nature" (Fay 5). According to G.J. Barker-Benfield's The Culture of Sensibility "the sentimentalizing process" involved the temperance of a certain 'manliness' that is "uncouth and savage" (288) unless moderated by a feminine influence, thus woman was to use the so-called 'natural' gifts of her sex to lend culture to her more robust and virile counterpart. On first glance, this moderation of 'manly' characteristics appears to lend legitimacy to 'feminine' ideals; however, this apparent liberation o f the feminine illuminates two very serious problems. First, as Barker-Benfield points out, 'feminine' ideals are privileged, but only as they serve to improve upon man; woman is not idealised in her own right. In this service of a masculine purpose "woman was to be 'fashioned' by men rather than by herself" (288). Second, the seemingly legitimisation of 'feminine' ideals can appear progressive but, as a result, ultimately serves to authenticate an idea of 'natural femininity that is, in the opinion of many a feminist, a repressive patriarchal social construct that lacks any real biological referent. Thus it is very fitting, - but not the least bit subtle - that this artificial idea of femininity should be directly applied to Nature herself. If, as Betha... ...constantly striving and failing to solidify and naturalize its gender assumptions. In the end, gender and patriarchy itself are proven unstable and fundamentally paranoid. Works Cited Bethany and Sarah. "Nature Being Represented as Woman." Romantic Travellers. 10 Feb. 2005. David S. Miall. 18 Feb. 2005. http://www.ualberta.ca/~dmiall/Travel/index.htm Fay, Elizabeth A. A Feminist Introduction to Romanticism. Malden: Blackwell, 1998. Privett, Anne. "Appropriating Nature: Gilpin, the picturesque and Landscape Gardenting." Appropriating Nature: A Presentation for English 409. 10 Feb. 2005. Khaghan Parker, Anne Privett and Luke Ingberg. 18 Feb, 2005 2006. http://members.shaw.ca/weaters/index.htm Mulvey, Laura. "Visual Pleasure in Narrative Cinema." Literary Theory: An Anthology. Ed. Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan. Malden and Oxford: Blackwell, 1998.