QCQ #3: Bronte Chapters 34-End

Quotation: “There! You’ll find nothing gone but your money, and the jewels, and a few little trifles I thought it advisable to take into my own possession, lest your mercantile spirit should be tempted to turn them into gold. I’ve left you a few sovereigns in your purse, which I expect to last you through the month; at all events, when you want more you will be so good as to give me an account of how that’s spent”…“you thought to disgrace me, did you, by running away and turning artist, and supporting yourself by the labour of your hands, forsooth?” (Bronte, ch.40, 408-409).

Comment: This section was a perfect example of how a wife’s property was essentially her husband’s during this time. Specifically, this section made me think about Bodichon’s summary of the, “Laws Concerning Married Women”. The wording in the quotation above practically matches Bodichon’s summarization on page 4, “What was her personal property before marriage, such as money in hand, money at the bank, jewels, household goods, clothes, etc., becomes absolutely her husband’s, and he may assign or dispose of them at his pleasure whether her and his wife live together or not”. The second part of Huntington’s quote is about Helen earning a profit from her paintings. The language he uses, such as “disgrace”, was prominent, as it represents the attitudes men had regarding a woman’s independent wealth. It reminded me of the discussion our class had about the ideas of “protection” and “providing” from a male point of view. Clearly, Huntington is distraught over losing control over Helen, because he would have to face the social ramifications of his wife having her own source of income.

Questions: Huntington is obviously a bad husband/person (seen through his constant emotional/verbal abuse of Helen), but I wonder if there were any male critics that empathized with him when the novel was published. As said above, as men had the social pressure of providing/protecting their wives, there were probably some male readers that could rationalize Huntington’s feelings during this scene.