Representation of an “Angel in the House” and “Fallen Woman” in Elizabeth Gaskell’ s Ruth

Abstract

Since a woman in Victorian England was expected to be a manager of household, there was a stereotype of Victorian woman called the “angel in the house”. There was also another stereotype of Victorian woman called “fallen woman”. As literature represents life, woman’s roles and stereotypes in Victorian are also reflected in Elizabeth Gaskell’s Ruth. The objectives of this study are to describe the representation of angel in the house and fallen woman in this novel and to describe social perspective and how the fallen character struggle to face and overcome the social construction surrounding her. The study employs library research and sociological approach to analyze Victorian woman’s roles and the stereotypes. It analyzes the character, conflict and setting that brings the study to the analysis of Victorian woman’s roles in this novel. From the analysis, it can be concluded that there are woman’s roles performed by female characters in this novel that is “angel in the house” and “fallen woman”. Ruth, as the main character, performs both images. She performs “angel in the house” when she becomes a governess. Beside that, she falls into fallen woman because of her naivete and her innocence. However, as fallen woman, she succeeds to struggle to get her position in society and becomes an honorable woman even though she has to die in the end of the novel.