Concetti Chiave
- Dorothea is portrayed as an unconventional female figure in Victorian society, challenging the norms through her actions and thoughts.
- Despite being an orphan, she comes from a well-connected family, with ancestors who were clergymen or admirals.
- She resides at her uncle Mr. Brooke's estate with her sister Celia, with Mr. Brooke acting as their guardian.
- Dorothea is highly literate and devoutly Christian, adhering to a strict moral code that influences her life choices.
- Her unique views on marriage involve seeking a husband who is both a mentor and intellectually stimulating, reflecting her desire for a profound partnership.
Dorothea is a complex figure, which represents an ecception in what a woman in Victorian Society was.
The autor presents her through her actions, her thought and the public opinion, in order to express how the girl was anticonformist for that time and what was the society’s reaction at such a personality.
She’s a young girl, not yet twenty, who lost her parents when she was a child. Although she’s an orphan, she has good connections. In fact, her ancestors weren’t properly aristocratic, but neither belonged to the lower classes.
Dorothea lives with her sister Celia in an estate in Tipton Grance, belonging to their uncle. Mr. Brooke is not just a relative: he’s also the guardian of the women.
She has a strong personality and particolar thoughts: she’s not certainly as a typical woman in Victorian Age was.
She knows many passages of books by heart: she’s literacied and acculturated.
Dorothea is a fervid cristian and prays a lot: she also fasted to follow cristian doctriny and read theological books.
Her having such a strong personality and respecting such a rigid cristian code make her hardly a good catch. She was handsome, with a good prospect and expected to marry, but her behavior might keep men at distance and make herself refuse of marriage offers.
The protagonist has a strange idea of marriage. She would marry a great man with personality and “whose odd habits it would have been glorious piety to endure”. She refuses the idea of marrying a person with weak thoughts, and who always gives her the reason about all the matters, without having a debate. Using the sentence in the extract: “but an amiable handsome baronet, who said "Exactly" to her remarks even when she expressed uncertainty, - how could he affect her as a lover?”
For her, “the really delightful marriage must be that where your husband was a sort of father, and could teach you even Hebrew, if you wished it”, so she expresses a sort of devotions in her husband’s regards.
The author reports that she had a child-idea of marriage, and although she doesn’t express her opinion explicitly, she seemsto criticise this aspect of her character.
Domande da interrogazione
- Quali sono le caratteristiche che rendono Dorothea un'eccezione nella società vittoriana?
- Come viene descritta l'idea di matrimonio di Dorothea?
- Qual è la reazione della società vittoriana alla personalità di Dorothea?
Dorothea è anticonformista per il suo tempo, con una forte personalità e pensieri particolari. È acculturata, conosce molti libri a memoria, ed è una fervente cristiana che segue un rigido codice di condotta.
Dorothea ha un'idea particolare del matrimonio, desiderando sposare un uomo di grande personalità, capace di insegnarle e con cui poter avere dibattiti, piuttosto che un uomo che le dia sempre ragione.
La società vede Dorothea come una figura complessa e anticonformista, e la sua forte personalità e il rispetto di un rigido codice cristiano la rendono difficilmente un buon partito, allontanando potenziali pretendenti.
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